Glenn Beck: Well, Not To Bury Him, Exactly

As if I could bury Beck with a blog. lol But I do throw a little water on him in my PJM editorial. May as well tick everyone off while I'm at it. I have so few friends left out here. I'm all broke up. heh!

I think what I think, you're free to do the same. Just try and express it calmly if you choose to is all I ask - 143 comments at PJM. Woot!

I Come Not To Praise Glenn Beck, But To Bury Him

Comments

[Lala]

There's 162 on freerepublic. Best part is that your name is David in the headline.

[SacTownMan]

Damn Dan after reading the first 20 or so comments I have come to the conclusion that you are not loved by their readers!!!

Talk about stepping in it!!

Speaking for the regulars here we still think you're alright (even if you voted for Carter)!!

[Dan Riehl]

I wonder how many are paulbots and how many are real. The only part that really annoysd is so many calling him a conservative. I'd care much less if he identified himself as whatever jumble of ideas he actually is. But I suspect they change everyday, or with the wing. He called Ron Paul a kook and a nut now he's mouthing Paul everyday. Go figure that one out. But I think he saw a path to the professional success he's always wanted and it's no more complex, or serious than that.

I'm not big on evangelicals when they are represented as what they are not - I also see him as a real threat in a third party sense. Nothing would give Obama a better path to re-election. And Beck has the kind of ego Perot had, which gives me serious pause.

[WBestPresidentEver]

Dan, why don't you just come out and say it..that you DISPISE GLENN BECK. Goodness, don't beat around the bush about.
To each his own I guess.
I was not impressed with your post. LOL
Still have not figured out what your beef is with him. Don't let it get to you.
Now that you got it off your chest, go beat up on someone else. Barney Frank, Chris Dobb, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, etc. to name a few. CROOKS, LIARS THIEVES, AND TAX CHEATS.

[WestWright]

Woot indeed, 'David'. Are you a glutton for pain? I saw that @ FR and wondered who is 'David' Riehl until I read a few comments and it was Dan and not his brother or something! I listen to Beck occasionally and his 'both parties are the same' schtick is pretty tiresome....that is usually what the Left says when someone points out a scummy Drat. But I think GB has done pretty good work on waking up voters in the mushy middle to concepts like Constitutional Rules, Crooked Politicos and Organizations and more. I am not a fan of his hysterics but evidently many are.

[Dan Riehl]

West, I'm thinking he may be more preaching to the choir than attract any moderates. They don't usually go for that type of play. It's usually reserved for the base.

WB, my beefs with Beck are clear and have been clearly stated. You know you don't have to distrust my motives, or you should. If you won't accept my arguments at face value, you don't have to, obviously. But I don't get your suggesting that I'm somehow not saying what I really think. I have no reason to despise him, don't even know the man.

I don't think he has the potential to expand jack. If anything, I see him giving people many reasons to turn tail and run the other way because he comes across as unhinged too often for me. I turn on his show and just can't get through it.

If you feel differently, fine. But stop suggesting I'm being disingenuous somehow before I get pissed off about it. You have no right to suggest that about me after all this time. I've never done that with you.

If my not loving Beck is a deal breaker - cool. Break the deal. But don't accuse me of of crap like that for no reason. You're better than that.

[Jana]

Yawn.

[the bishop]

You've done a lot of good work in the past, Dan,
so I won't treat with a broad brush dismissal.
But I don't really see the point of it, Beck has made accessible issues and perspectives that don't get much play otherwise. The media didn't make Beck, in fact they are trying their best to try to silence him and the Tea Party
movement in toto. You get it much more than Rick Moran, certainly does, and your fisking of Conor F, is well an art form. I don't see the
reason for the fullthroated critique, paraphrasing Marc Anthony's funeral oration.

[Dan Riehl]

Wasn't my headline, ask PJM. I was solicited to write an editorial on Beck and I did. I certainly don't regret taking them up on the offer. It's my first piece for PJM, for all I know, my last. If they ask again, I see no reason why I wouldn't be happy to.

If not for that, I wouldn't have written anything on him other than what I already have, so far as I have planned, anyway. If he comes up for some reason, I may blog on it, I may not. I have no agenda here as regards Beck. I don't think I blogged on him since last week or so. I pretty much had my say.

[tally]

It was interesting to see what your thoughts are on Beck. I don't agree with all of it, but that's cool. It didn't bother me for some reason that Beck called Obama a racist, however I understand your point. Beck's comment about McCain last week was the one that disturbed me, lol. My main problem with Beck is that half the stuff he is reporting was researched two years ago by Hillary's bloggers. Where was he? I guess I should just be happy that he's reporting it now regardless. Beck should be reporting on the Tea Parties, not making them about him. He didn't start them, the mooch. Anywho, Beck's on my last nerve, but then so are all the other talking heads.

[Xavior]

“Beck Heads”???....”Beck Heads”!!!....WTF. So let me see if I got this straight. No responsible, thinking adult can like or even respect Glenn Beck without some condescending, snide, priggish remark? Jeez Dan, are you so starved for recognition that you absolutely must go down this path? I have read your blog for several years….wonderful, fun filled, and informative years. Now this! And, it’s not the first time that you have hinted, nay, insinuated that only the unwashed among us could be fans of Beck. Well, so be it. Adios.

[Terrye]

Hey, I appreciate your efforts.

[Sheik Yur Bouty]

Dan,

I'm curious how you reconcile your previous post with this one. As I was reading your previous post, it seems to me that you are the handwringer when it comes to Beck and he is the one going forth boldly and unafraid.

You say you don't have an agenda where Beck is concerned and yet hardly a day goes by lately where you don't bash him in some form or fashion.

I just don't get it. On just about any other subject, you are quite cogent. When it comes to Beck you are well past tedious and tiresome. Please, please, please just stop already.

[syn]

My problem with Glenn Beck is he attracts too many RON PAUL!!!! who remind me of charles johnson and his little green lizard spleen.

As to who hurt what, wouldn't it be lovely if moderate Blue Dog Democrats and Independents took a stand for a change instead of their usual flaccidity. If Glenn Beck is one of few who are leading the charge against Statist ambitions then Moderate Centrists have no right to bitch about protecting their f*&king wallets.

Perhaps if Moderate Centrists and Independents had principles there would be need for a Glenn Beck.

[trentk269]

Dan, you've always spoken your piece and I enjoy that. Now let me speak mine. We on the right have been given a huge gift- an arrogant, incompetent leader that refuses to gauge public opinion before acting. I would think that everyone on our side would put a shoulder to the wheel and help get this catastrophe mitigated by working for a common cause- the defeat of as many Democrats in 2010 and 2012 as possible.

Do we really have the luxury of peeing on those in our own camp while we attempt to win the next two elections? Political scores are far easier to settle after a win. I pine for the days when we had Ronald Reagan preaching the Eleventh Commandment- thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. You can change that to "righty," "anti-socialist," or whatever, but Reagan's point is one we'd all do well to take.

[louis c]

Fine article at PJM. I think you've got a good point. Beck ought to adhere to Rush's maxim: the media didn't make him so the media can't break him. The MSM want a single representative of our movement because it'd be easier to take us all down. Again, that's what they tried to do with Rush.

[Terrye]

trent:

Are you sure Beck wants to see the Democrats defeated? Or that he wants to see the Republicans win? I am afraid, that I am not so sure about that. And I say that because of things Beck himself has said. I do not understand why it is that when Beck says it might be better to not even vote Republican that people can just blow that off.

[trentk269]

Terrye,

I am sure that Beck wants to see Obama defeated. So, yes, I do think that he's currently a force for our side. Please keep in mind that the media goes its own way,in its own time, and we would be fools to blow off a chance to profit from a show that presently has skyrocketing ratings. There is a reason for those huge ratings: the network big three have become a mouthpiece for an administration that is governing against the will and desires of the voters that elected it. Are you really prepared to say thanks, Glenn, but you're not enough of a righty for me? I don't think people should watch you?

You know, Terrye, we have a choice. We can be like Barry Goldwater and insist on a wide array of ideological purity with little support, or we can build a coalition of people opposed to an unpopular and incompetent leftist who is clearly screwing things up. Is there someone currently working at CBS, NBC, or ABC that you actually believe is in a position and is willing to do more electoral good for our side than Beck? Let me know who that is, please. I'll sing their praises to everyone.

The solution to me seems obvious. If you're not sure, google the presidential election returns for 1964, then compare them to the prsidential returns for 1980.

[Huey]

Some thoughts:

1) The "media" didn't "make" Beck. His nearly 3 million viewers per day in a crappy time slot "made" him.

2) The notion that thinking adults who find Beck to be someone who ferrets out information which not a SINGLE other major talking head on the television screen does is not in any fashion a "joke." His work isn't intended as a "joke;" it isn't taken as a "joke." The fact that he attempts (with middling success) to be humorous at times in no way is meant to make the substantive message a "joke..."

3) Few people who listen/watch/read Beck agree with him on every point, just as very few people who listen/read Levin agree with him on every point. (Or Hannity or O'Reilly or Rush, for that matter.)

4) I don't understand the desire to tear down someone who has handed Obama his hat on multiple occasions and is fighting the Obama agenda tooth and nail -- with more success than anyone up to this point. (With Breitbart a very close second.) Don't we have enough enemies already?

[Robohobo]

I just went over to your PJM article to read it and the comments!

ROFLMAO!

They pretty much said anything I could. If you ain't helping, it may be you are part of the problem?

See Ya!

[Lisa Graas]

Here's the comment I left at PJM:

Great article, Dan. I prefer commentators who are sober-minded, methodical and skeptical as opposed to cynical.

To those who are so critical of Dan, he is not attacking Glenn Beck as much as he is defending what will make us great again.

Common sense is vital, but it is uncommon sense coupled with common sense that will bring us to prosperity in America.

Sarah Palin called herself a ‘common sense conservative’ recently. She is, indeed, but she also has an uncommon sense that rises to the level of jaw-dropping brilliance at times.

I watch Beck almost daily through the week and I appreciate much of what he is doing….. but I frequently slap myself in the forehead and ask, “what on earth made him say that??” The comment about the president being racist and the comment about our being better off with Obama than McCain are two extreme examples, but there are many others for me.

I’m not a libertarian. I’m a faithful and practicing Catholic a la Bobby Jindal, and that’s how I vote. Sarah Palin has my vote. Glenn Beck is entertainment. Great entertainment,,,,,,but entertainment, nevertheless.

[Huey]

Lisa: why is the comment that our President is "racist" an "extreme example?"

Aren't commentators supposed to tell the truth as they see it? Isn't there sufficient evidence in Obama's past and current behavior (and who he surrounds himself with) to SUPPORT a claim that he is "racist?"

Or is it that we're not supposed to SAY it regardless of whether it is supportable and a reasonable interpretation of the facts as we know them to be? Isn't that why Holder called us a "nation of cowards?"

And, the McCain remark. If examined for its value establishing the "creeping progresssivism" notion that Beck expounded, didn't it have a ring of truth to it? With McCain, would we have just had 4 more years of governmental growth, making it even harder to push back against later -- while Obama's radical agenda has "awakened" (man -- gotta stop with the ""...) a sleeping giant?

[Gary]

One small observation regarding Beck's audience being a bunch of Paulbots. Last Fri he did a show with all women, one of those big audience participation Oprah things. One young woman did a small build-up to who she thought was the only pure honest savior Republican who gets it. (paraphrasing) Then she finally drops the name "Congressman Ron Paul". I was half expecting a wild applause of approval, but I was glad to observe almost total silence and indifference.

It's not Beck's intent or purpose to help or hurt GOP electoral outcomes. But minus some solid polling on the matter, it's my feeling that he's probably a net positive, in that he illustrates so vividly and clearly the problems regarding expanding and corrupt government. It's a politician's job to run with this general theme in a compelling yet practical way. If he/she does so, he/she will likely win. But Beck will have tilled the ground for him/her, and I suspect it will become more evident as time goes on just how much what Beck has covered contributed to overall persuasion.

Just like Rush saying he hoped Obama fails. Seemingly outrageous to many at the time, but now everyone knows very well what he was talking about, and agrees with him. He planted a seed. He is ever the pioneer.

Don't put shackles on our pioneers. They're vital to our cause, IMHO.

[Joan in Juneau]

I will side with Dan pretty much here. I have watched Beck perhaps 5 times since January when I pretty much gave up tv because they managed to sneak Obama onto Animal Planet and I got tired of the sneaker, and all the other Obama mdse ads everywhere all the time. Most people I know do watch his show though and it is almost cultish. The whole world stops for the show like it does for Survivor and Dancing with the Stars. They would say " You gotta watch Beck today" and I would and the things he 'revealed' in these 'gotta watch' shows were things that I had discussed with others on blogs or read elsewhere days before and in one instance I can recall over a year before. But he gets the credit for the revelation... don't get me wrong... if the info gets out and a mass audience finally starts taking it to heart that is a good thing no matter how it got there but my fear is that once the Repubs are back in control that those are the people he will be going after then. I also fear that with the audience that he has that there is the possibility that he could cause a party split and if that happens, the Republicans will not regain control in 2012. For my money, I will stick with Levin, Rush and a few of the others that have the track record over the years... warts and all.

[Bob]

Dan,
I think your post

Simple,Beck is not a Conservative
from September 21 @ 4:48

is what I would say if I could write.
PJM knew they were setting you up for the colliseum.
Good job.
The more people that look sideways at Beck the better.

[Babs]

Beck does good work. Terrific, even, and the relaxed format of his program serves as an excellent platform for a much wider exposure to Breitbart and other's good work in exposing this utterly incompetent government. He could be a little less manic in his approach but it appears to be a genuine personality trait, so I live with it. Regardless of his antics, I certainly don't question his motives.

And I'm not fussed that Beck called Obama racist. From the very idea of a potential Candidate Obama and increasing at hurricane strength since His (cap intended) election, the left has reduced the term to nothing more than an adolescent taunt. Sad, but entirely their doing, and their blown-up shock and indignation that Beck might DARE turn the word back on them drips with hypocrisy.

[William]

Why overly fret that Glenn is better at bringing us stories than being the story?

[tally]

I was just poking around Glenn's fan club and they spoke of him in biblical proportions. It did remind me of the Obots, creep factor deluxe. Apparently Glenn called for a day of prayer a couple of days ago, he tweated it. Sorry, that's sick.

[Huey]

A day of prayer is "sick?"

Please explain that.

[kawaika]

A few years ago (I forget how many) I used to listen to Beck's radio show and I enjoyed it. I do not watch his television show. Beck does seem arrogant (like Obama) and at times he can be quite creepy. I do not plan on purchasing any of his books. Like you I think that he has not done very much leg work and that he is more of a popularizer. However...

"He’s called Barack Obama a racist, for one. I’m appalled by my friends on the right who seem so willing to pass that remark off as insignificant — almost pretending it was never said. It was outrageous, undeserved, and represents nothing but the very kind of racist cudgel the left has been falsely charging the right with being for years. Maybe Beck is one, otherwise he could never conceive of making such a remark — and so publicly at that."

I think Obama is racist, but I guess that's just because I'm racist, right? Why did Obama immediately come to Gates' defense? I suspect it had more to do with race than friendship. What about the Black Panther getting away with intimidating voters?

"I thought the good friend he was “pal-ing around with,” domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, was white? In fact, Obama has probably broken bread with more white people than black over the years."

Racists can't pal around with members of races they dislike?

"We’ll be denounced en masse as a bunch of wild-eyed conspiracy freaks and racists."

By whom? Pelosi? (Nazis!) Clinton? (Right wing conspiracy!) Reid? (Evil mongers!)

"I understand the center-right’s frustration. For some time the Republican Party has failed us,"

It did, and it will continue to do so.

[Smarty]

The "center-right" is a place occupied by fools. Olympia Snowe lives there, Arlen Specter was hiding out there in plain view. The "center-right" is the land of RINOs, and you RINOs have failed us. You are the Democrat-Lite and we are sick of you.

[tally]

A day of prayer is "sick?"

Please explain that.

Posted by: Huey | Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 08:49 AM

//////////////////////////

Beck calling for a day of prayer is sick and creepy. He's a talk show host. Rush calling for a day of prayer would be sick. These are media personalities, not preachers.

[Fred Beloit]

Dan: "Wasn't my headline, ask PJM."
I do believe that headline was a major getter of an "Oh, a wise guy eh? Why I'll..." response. It primed the pump of the fire hose alright. I did have to wonder if you chose it?

[Dan Riehl]

No Fred, I didn't as I said above.