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Then, there was the man. The myth. The legend. Glenn. F**king. Beck.Armed with chalk and his traditional Glenn Beckiness, he railed on for 60 minutes, indicting the "Establishment" which he seemed to define as the two main political parties, prompted and inspired the concert-goers, told stories whose historical accuracy is probably in doubt and plead with his audience to follow in the footsteps of the founders who pledged their lives, their fortunes and their Sacred Honor to each other and to the cause of freedom in the last line of the Declaration of Independence. A few times he lobbed cheap jokes at the Obama administration, once lambasting Michelle - a joke carefully crafted to raise the hackles of present media "elites" - but mostly he ran the gamut between motivational speaker, fired-up preacher and history professor, talking up the free market, empowering his listeners to replace the need for government with charitable contributions, to love thy neighbor (even - especially - the liberal ones), to spend the next 40 days trusting in the all-knowing power of a Christian God, and to "be the change they want to see." There were a lot of "we the people's" a few stories about George Washington, some talk about sacrifice, and a lot of reassuring his audience that the American experiment is not over - that, if they lived as Christians and honored the commitment of the Founders that the greatest days of America are ahead.And if you don't believe me that that was all he said, I pretty much transcribed it in my Twitter feed. Scroll down past my Starbucks tweets. It's there. I swear.There was a lot of God stuff, yes. There were a few jokes. But let me be really honest here - from the perspective of someone who has come to believe the hype surrounding Glenn Beck's slow descent from conservative talking head to universally-reviled public figure and who frequently answers questions about him with "I understand what he's doing, but I don't think he's moving anything in the right direction" - I actually left inspired. It was weird. I wasn't weirded out. I didn't feel like I'd listened to Adolf Hitler deliver a speech, or Father Coughlin. I wasn't offended, shocked or even surprised. In fact, I wasn't even bothered (and apparently, he's very polite, to boot). The protesters outside started to look fearful and even...dare I say it...ignorant. What was it about this man, seemingly content to deliver a universal - if not universally boring - message of faith and hope and charity - that was driving people to freak the hell out on the lawn of a rural stadium? The part where Beck blamed the Establishment for driving a wedge between Americans? The part where he asked his audience to contribute 10% to charitable causes? The part where he cried (and yes, he cried)?I just didn't get it.I'm not going to go out and get a cardboard cut-out for my bedroom ceiling or anything. I won't watch his show because it drives me bananas. I'm not going to go out and buy his books or probably even delve any further into the Glenn Beck world, but I will say that I left with a little more respect for the man and a lot less respect for his most vocal detractors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/business/media/07beck.html?_r=2&smid=tw-NYTimesAd&seid=automust be the benefit of not dealing witht the crazy a-holes at fox anymore
Jon Stewart is slaughtering GB tonight
Quote from: pike on April 07, 2011, 10:10:08 PMJon Stewart is slaughtering GB tonightDVR'd it. It was fantastic. Glen Beck is such a gigantic piece of crap. I don't care what your political leaning is, if you believe one word he says, you may as well be fitted with a tin foil at and put child proof plugs on all of your outlets because your a rough ridin' lunatic, and you're a danger to yourself and others.
Quote from: Panjandrum on April 08, 2011, 07:47:13 PMQuote from: pike on April 07, 2011, 10:10:08 PMJon Stewart is slaughtering GB tonightDVR'd it. It was fantastic. Glen Beck is such a gigantic piece of cac. I don't care what your political leaning is, if you believe one word he says, you may as well be fitted with a tin foil at and put child proof plugs on all of your outlets because your a effing lunatic, and you're a danger to yourself and others.Well, a lot of what he says I agree with regarding the economy. But then, there's some pretty stupid cac he says/does. And if you don't agree with him you're either a domestic terrorist/communist/liberal/truther ( )/racist etc.
Quote from: pike on April 07, 2011, 10:10:08 PMJon Stewart is slaughtering GB tonightDVR'd it. It was fantastic. Glen Beck is such a gigantic piece of cac. I don't care what your political leaning is, if you believe one word he says, you may as well be fitted with a tin foil at and put child proof plugs on all of your outlets because your a effing lunatic, and you're a danger to yourself and others.
Quote from: pike on April 08, 2011, 07:56:54 PMQuote from: Panjandrum on April 08, 2011, 07:47:13 PMQuote from: pike on April 07, 2011, 10:10:08 PMJon Stewart is slaughtering GB tonightDVR'd it. It was fantastic. Glen Beck is such a gigantic piece of cac. I don't care what your political leaning is, if you believe one word he says, you may as well be fitted with a tin foil at and put child proof plugs on all of your outlets because your a effing lunatic, and you're a danger to yourself and others.Well, a lot of what he says I agree with regarding the economy. But then, there's some pretty stupid cac he says/does. And if you don't agree with him you're either a domestic terrorist/communist/liberal/truther ( )/racist etc. I agree with Democrats on some things, and I agree with Republicans on some things, but just because they believe some of the things that I do, it doesn't mean that Keith Olbermann and Glen Beck aren't a couple of whack jobs.
