Glen Beck is an Idiot...

[velkyn]

just love how Beck just lies and lies and lies. Oh and has a bit of that good ol' OneTrueChristiantm claim in there too:

It shouldn't have been said," the 46-year-old former disc jockey said on Fox News Sunday. "I have a big fat mouth sometimes and I say things, and that's not the way people should behave. And it was not accurate."

What does Beck wish he had said? He's not racist, he's just a "Marxist."

"He is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology," Beck told Chris Wallace.

Founded in Latin America during the 1950s and based in Christian beliefs, "liberation theology" involves the belief that the poor need to be freed from economic, political or social injustice.

Calling the theology "Marxism disguised as religion," Beck argued it goes against what most Christians believe.

"That is a direct opposite of what the gospel is talking about," he said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/08/29/2010-08-29_glenn_beck_i_shouldnt_have_called_obama_racist_hes_really_just_a_liberation_theo.html#ixzz0yNV2SBlM

it's always amusing since BEck himself was trying to claim Obama was a muslim: http://coloradoindependent.com/60345/watch-glenn-beck-obama-submission-to-jesus-is-islamic

[jedweber]

Beck has apparently recruited James Dobson into his "Black Robe Regiment," a group of clergymen he's forming to advocate for right-wing causes: 

Dobson and Beck form an alliance, Beck says
August 31st, 2010

Glenn Beck, who along with Sarah Palin has showed incredible ability at mobilizing conservative Christians, may have formed a partnership with James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and Family Talk.

On his radio show recently,  Beck said he and Dobson plan to work together on the Black Robe Regiment, a new politcal action group dedicated to conservative Christian politics. Beck said several conservative Christian leaders he wanted to be part of Black Robe passed, fearing they’d “lose half (of their) congregation,” Beck said. But Dobson wants on board.

Dobson “looked me in the eye … and he said: ‘I will start tomorrow,’” Beck said on his radio show.
...
http://thepulpit.freedomblogging.com/2010/08/31/dobson-and-beck-form-an-alliance-beck-says/6985/

[screwtape]

for future reference, Jetson, if you want to research a particular right wing dingus, like Beck, go to Media Matters website.

[jetson]

for future reference, Jetson, if you want to research a particular right wing dingus, like Beck, go to Media Matters website.

Thanks!

[Gimpy]

OMGOMGOMGOMG.


"Black Robe Regiment"?

Is that for real???

That just sends shivers down my spine!

It's like merging the Brown Shirts with the Inquisition!

[Nick]

Well, they thought calling it the "White Robe" was to close to the KKK.

[velkyn]

perfect, nick.

This seems to remove any doubt that some Christians are indeed all for a theocracy.

[SherB]

I think he becKKKster is feeling the waters for a run for the white house in 2012. I already see Beck/Palin 2012 (and Palin/Beck 2012) bumper stickers in my very republican neck of the woods. If they don't try, the only reason will be that neither of those total prima donnas will want to be VP! I think becKKK, at this point, is looking for more power and followers, and money of course. Adulation, though, has to be a pretty powerful drug. I've never seen anyone who had it and voluntarily gave it away. Fundie preachers, rock stars and actors, sports stars, some politicians come to mind.

I'm seeing right now, though, that he's working on keeping the mormons on board while convincing the other fundies that he's a serious preacher dude, or at least should be seen as one. Jedweber had some excellent links so I'm not going to add more. I'm a little surprised that he's given up the gay marriage opposition, but I see that as calculating as well.

Will it get him more sheeple to drop the gay issue and maybe get some gays behind him or at least their friends and families? Or does that cost him too many of his fundie and catholic followers? From the press I see, I expect god to tell him shortly that he better get back on the gay-bashing bus as his lemmings want that. And BecKKK wants nothing more than to give them what they want as long as he's being worshipped all the way to the bank.

His current agenda seems to mainly be a semi-covert white supremacy playing on the fears of old white folks that their world is changing is fundamental ways. They've always known an America that deep-down, knew that "real Americans" are the white ones. Of course the irony of that is they came over here and committed genocide against the people who already lived here, but nobody talks about that.

Actually I disagree with the subject line of this thread---Glenn BeckKK is a lot of things, but he's closer to an evil genius than he is to being stupid. And by himself it wouldn't be such a big deal. It's his followers that are as dumb as dirt, and as bigoted as any southern sheriff that ever lived. Without lemmings to lead, BecKKK would just be a ridiculous radio/TV shock jock. It's all those scared old white people who believe everything that comes out of his mouth that are the problem.

[Nick]

I wonder what other Western countires would think or a Beck/Palin or Palin/Beck ticket?

Anyone have a nice small cabin in Canada for sale?

[screwtape]

I think he becKKKster is feeling the waters for a run for the white house in 2012.

Never happen.  There is not enough money in it.  Plus, why risk having to put your money where your mouth is?  Beck is in a better position where he is.  He just has to sit back, throw stones and rake in the dough.

[Positiveaob]

I would LOVE to see a Beck/Palin or Palin/Beck ticket, because there is no possible chance they would win.  I don't agree that Beck is that bright, but I think he is at least smart enough to realize that his place is in the comfort of the broadcast booth, stoking fires and raking in the money.  But as far as his intellect goes, the guy has no real substance to his ideas, just a whole lot of fear mongering.  And I can't think of anyone in the 21st century that has a fundamentalist christian belief system as being at all intelligent, sorry.

It doesn't take much intelligence to be a shock-jock.  It's easy during hard economic times to stir up some fire among the masses.  The only quality I can give him any credit for is being a good public speaker.  That takes a certain amount of talent I guess.

[Whateverman]

I've been following a home-schooled Christian girl's blog for a year now.  She's now writing opinion pieces for a local newspaper, and posted something topical recently:

Glenn Beck: Insane or inspired?

Friday, September 3, 2010 - Not Your Average Read by Amanda Read

“You’re a Jehoshaphat,” a pastor told Glenn Beck before the August 28, 2010 Restoring Honor rally that drew a crowd whose quantity climbed in the hundreds of thousands.  The panelist drew a parallel between the Fox News host and a Biblical king of Judah who restored his nation’s godly heritage. Glenn Beck himself has named God as the solution to America’s deep problems. Why would anyone in this day and age take this guy seriously?

American people are listening to Glenn Beck because he is shattering a glass ceiling in the mainstream media: shamelessly invoking the faith of the individual within the political newsroom.  Recently, faith in God has been segregated in public life because of secularist pretensions.  The God of our fathers has been segregated from information and policy.  The politically correct consensus that dominates talking points has insisted that we don't need God or honor anymore because society has evolved to a much higher caliber than that which the Founders experienced.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/not-your-average-read/2010/sep/3/glenn-beck-insane-or-inspired/

[velkyn]

^^^^^^ how sad, but not suprising that more lies are being spread by ignorant Christians.  What a little liar for saying that no one has honor except those who agree with her. 

[xphobe]

I think he becKKKster is feeling the waters for a run for the white house in 2012.

Never happen.  There is not enough money in it.  Plus, why risk having to put your money where your mouth is?  Beck is in a better position where he is.  He just has to sit back, throw stones and rake in the dough.

He said on air that he was going on a trip to Alaska, but was secretive about the purpose.  He finally admitted he was meeting with Sarah Palin, but then when pressed whether it was political planning in nature, he made a joke about not being able to hear the question.  So maybe he's not running himself, but he's up to something.

[HAL]

 He finally admitted he was meeting with Sarah Palin, but then when pressed whether it was political planning in nature, he made a joke about not being able to hear the question.  So maybe he's not running himself, but he's up to something.

The journalist that was renting a house next to Palin said in his opinion she was going to run for president of the United States. I'll see if I can f1nd the article where he said it.

[Whateverman]

More than two decades ago, Rush Limbaugh was an interesting guy to listen to...

I was more politically Liberal then, and Rush was less of an extremist.  I liked listing to his ideas because even though I disagreed with half of them, it seemed to me that he said reasonable stuff too; things I could both agree and identify with.  As we both got older, we BOTH got a bit more conservative; however, *I* ended up somewhere near the middle while he ended up nowhere near "reasonable".

Beck (it seems to me) is maddeningly extremist, yet I think it's important to recognize that he says things we can all agree with.  I don't know of a single person who rejects the idea of personal responsibility; I don't know anyone who lacks respect for the men and women in military service.  Nearly everyone I know wants changes made to the US in order to make it a better country.

If you reject everything Beck says, your critics will rightfully paint you as an idiot.  And since he appeals to the less edumacated segments of our population, lots of people see "rejection of Glenn Beck" as "commie". 

So, in my humble opinion, when you're talking to a supporter, make some effort to show that common ground exists.  Lacking this, he's going to continue demonizing the opposition and people are going to continue lapping it up.

[velkyn]

The problem is that Beck doesn't say that everyone should respect the military.  He says only his people do it. He doesn't say that changes should be made, he says only his changes should be made.  Those are things I don't agree with and could never agree with. I have yet to hear him say anything that I can agree with.  And I certainly don't think I'm an idiot because I don't agree with him on anything.   

[Nick]

He probably wont run on a ticket but I would not be surprised if he did.  Once you built yourself up like he has it becomes a kind of personal drug and you need to keep climbing.  It would be fun to watch as long as it did not become a reality and he ends up in or near the White House.  Some for the moose hunter.

[SherB]

 He finally admitted he was meeting with Sarah Palin, but then when pressed whether it was political planning in nature, he made a joke about not being able to hear the question.  So maybe he's not running himself, but he's up to something.

The journalist that was renting a house next to Palin said in his opinion she was going to run for president of the United States. I'll see if I can f1nd the article where he said it.

I remember seeing the article mentioning the author but couldn't find it right away so I went with this one. From an article on huffington-post, a liberal rag I realize, but news is news, and they are quoting the folks...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/sarah-palin-and-glenn-bec_n_702434.html

Glenn Beck addressed his trip to the Frontier State on his radio show this week, calling it a "vacation" but keeping the nature of the event vague.

"I'm gonna give a speech up there and Sarah's gonna give a speech, but that's it," Beck said.

The highly significant time, place, guest list, and venue -- the Dena'ina Center is indeed lavish and large -- have led some, such as film-critic and sometimes political commentator Roger Ebert to speculate that the event has been planned in order to announce a Palin, or perhaps Beck-Palin or Palin-Beck 2012 presidential run.

"The symbolic date of 9/11 invests this event with the inescapable possibility that he and Palin plan to announce their Presidential candidacy for 2012," Ebert wrote Thursday.

But here's the snippet that really got my attention:

Others such as AllahPundit at conservative blog HotAir have scoffed at this idea, however, saying that neither would be foolish enough to "co-opt 9/11 for something as self-aggrandizing as a campaign launch."

There is nothing too self-aggrandizing for Palin or Beck. They both have egos that are beyond belief. I do think that Caribou Barbie would take the top spot, though, for a calculating reason. Beck's followers are starry-eyed, but Palin's are fanatical in the extreme and I truly believe that many would do anything for their messiah. Both are dancing around the edges of saying very messianic things.

The concepts that only those who believe in them have honor or support the troops or want to fight the evil islam are part and parcel of good salesmanship. If you want to sell a product, you get the mark saying "yes." Yes I believe in honor, yes I think muslims are evil terrorists, yes I think democrats are socialist nazis who are weak on terror and can't defend the country, yes I'll vote for someone who can protect me and think for me.

And as for what other countries think about all this? Well, I don't have quotes, but everyone I've talked to laughs hysterically until they remember that we have the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet and have already proven that we'll use it.

[xphobe]

The concepts that only those who believe in them have honor or support the troops or want to fight the evil islam are part and parcel of good salesmanship. If you want to sell a product, you get the mark saying "yes." Yes I believe in honor, yes I think muslims are evil terrorists, yes I think democrats are socialist nazis who are weak on terror and can't defend the country, yes I'll vote for someone who can protect me and think for me.

Great point, SherB, and one I'm using to start a thread on another topic here:
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/forums/index.php?topic=15687

[jedweber]

If you reject everything Beck says, your critics will rightfully paint you as an idiot.  And since he appeals to the less edumacated segments of our population, lots of people see "rejection of Glenn Beck" as "commie". 
So, in my humble opinion, when you're talking to a supporter, make some effort to show that common ground exists.  Lacking this, he's going to continue demonizing the opposition and people are going to continue lapping it up.

Making himself the leader of a quasi-religious movement wrapped up in Christian symbols and patriotic Americana was probably a smart move for Beck. He's shifted attention away from his crackpot conspiracy theories, revisionist history, smear tactics and hatchet jobs, crying and histrionics, etc. They're all still there of course, but they've become part of something larger and seemingly more noble and inspiring to his supporters.   

Responding by calling him a racist or labeling his followers stupid (as many liberals foolishly do) is not going to reach his potential audience - they simply look like ad hominem attacks that reflect badly on the attacker.

I don't think his followers are necessarily stupid. When there's an orchestrated campaign to feed people propaganda and misinformation, I blame the people pulling the strings more than the people who fall for it. And I blame the professional journalists and commentators who should be analyzing it and calling it out, but don't. Many of the deceptive claims people hear all day long on Fox News and talk radio go totally unchallenged in the so-called mainstream media, or are even echoed there. How are average people supposed to know when they're false?

What we really need is someone who can explain to mainstream audiences just how Beck is misleading and manipulating people. But that's hard to do, so our leading liberal media figures (think Keith Olbermann) would rather just go for the condescending snark, easy mockery, and feigned outrage over isolated silly quotes pulled out of context from his show (vs. the overall message.) This is fine if you want to preach to the choir, but it's not going to touch Beck's audience, or millions more who might be somewhat sympathetic.

[screwtape]

Caribou Barbie

heh.  good one.

[SherB]

Making himself the leader of a quasi-religious movement wrapped up in Christian symbols and patriotic Americana was probably a smart move for Beck. He's shifted attention away from his crackpot conspiracy theories, revisionist history, smear tactics and hatchet jobs, crying and histrionics, etc. They're all still there of course, but they've become part of something larger and seemingly more noble and inspiring to his supporters.   

Responding by calling him a racist or labeling his followers stupid (as many liberals foolishly do) is not going to reach his potential audience - they simply look like ad hominem attacks that reflect badly on the attacker.

I don't think his followers are necessarily stupid. When there's an orchestrated campaign to feed people propaganda and misinformation, I blame the people pulling the strings more than the people who fall for it. And I blame the professional journalists and commentators who should be analyzing it and calling it out, but don't. Many of the deceptive claims people hear all day long on Fox News and talk radio go totally unchallenged in the so-called mainstream media, or are even echoed there. How are average people supposed to know when they're false?

What we really need is someone who can explain to mainstream audiences just how Beck is misleading and manipulating people. But that's hard to do, so our leading liberal media figures (think Keith Olbermann) would rather just go for the condescending snark, easy mockery, and feigned outrage over isolated silly quotes pulled out of context from his show (vs. the overall message.) This is fine if you want to preach to the choir, but it's not going to touch Beck's audience, or millions more who might be somewhat sympathetic.

Well said. Something that really pissed me off lately was after the big rally, when the numbers of attendees were being thrown around, every single news organization besides CBS accepted the number that fauxSaudiNoise put out. They said 500,000, and even MSNBC regurgitated that number. CBS hired an actual expert who estimated the crowd using mapping techniques and aerial photography, at great expense I'm sure, and came up with 80,000 to 87,000. So virtually all of the 'lamestream media' repeated lies from faux and beckKK that were more than FIVE TIMES the actual number.

While I don't know if any of his lemmings can be dissuaded from their hero-worship, I agree that if someone doesn't at least try we've already lost. It amazes me how short people's attention spans are any more. That's been happening since radio was invented and has become more and more pronounced with every new technology. Now that he's wrapping himself in the flag and carrying a cross (remember how fascism walks in) it seems that everyone has completely forgotten his racism and white supremacist views as of a couple of weeks ago.

As for news orgs, the only people I respect are Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert. And the last two aren't serious news, they're comedy! They seem to be the only people left with the ability to think critically and put the information back out to the rubes in a way that is geared down so they can get it without appearing to patronize them. It was priceless how he played up the fact that the arab who is "funding the terrorist mosque" in Manhatten is the same saudi that owns 7% of Rupert Murdoch's little media empire. No mainstreamer even caught it.

[Nick]

Well, all I know it that there is no God but the Christian God and Beck is His prophet.

[jedweber]

Poll: Glenn Beck the Wrong Leader to Lead Religious Movement
...
Fewer than one in five Americans (17 percent) believe Beck is the right person to helm a religious movement, according to a PRRI/RNS Religion News Poll released Thursday by Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service.

Half of respondents say he's the wrong person; the rest either don't know or declined to answer.

Beck was only correctly identified as a Mormon by 17 percent of respondents -- the same number who think he is either Protestant or Catholic.
...
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2010/09/poll_glenn_beck.html

Of course, it's still disturbing that almost 1 in 5 Americans think he IS a good religious leader..

The poll also shows that Beck has good reason to keep his Mormonism under wraps (he rarely mentions it, usually describing himself only as a Christian), since Americans tend to have more negative views about Mormonism than other leading sects.

[xphobe]

^ the fact that people feel there is a religious movement that could be led by the right person is frightening enough!

[GrokkusMaximus]

Go easy on him. He's just trying to be the 21st Centuries Thomas Paine...................

I agree that this is one of Beck's strategies - embracing Thomas Paine as a  hero of "conservatism" - but I think that the last thing that we should do is "go easy on him". It's this sort of historical revisionism that is leading states like Texas to fubar their historical and science textbooks. I've been trying to debate Beck's nonsense fairly successfully in the "Politics" section at the Huffington Post, but their "Religion" section is driving me absolutely crazy. They're very close minded to Thomas Paine's kind of Deism over there. Half my posts, free of foul language and ad hominem, never get past the "religious" bloggers. They also don't seem to care too much for me quoting from the WWGHA book site over there either.

[Hatter23]

There's no left-wing equal of Fox News

Actually I would think "Democracy Now!" is the equivalent. Except instead of owning a muliti-billion dollar media network, It is a shoestring budget group of tapes being circulated on Public Access.

[Agamemnon]

Then it isn't equivalent, is it? Not even close, in fact. In order for them to be equivalent, they would have to have similar media networks.