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Glenn Beck has at times claimed he should not be taken seriously on political views. AP Photo Jose Luis Magana
In a recent interview with Forbes magazine, Glenn Beck claims he is only an "entertainer" who does not give a "flying crap about the political process." If Beck was being sincere, he is making a lot of profit from his entertainment business. Talking Points Memo reports that Glenn Beck Inc. has taken in around $32 million over the last year from radio, print, and speaking engagements.
The problem for Beck's progressive critics is not that he makes money, or that he is an entertainer. Instead, their issue is that Beck is taken seriously by millions of followers. In addition, this phenomenon is no accident. As demonstrated in the clip below, Beck often gives his audience serious political advice. In the clip Beck goes through the Republican candidates for 2012 and suggests which should be taken seriously and which should not. Beck then proceeds to give foreign policy advice, saying the United States should "vaporize" any country that gives us trouble with nuclear weapons.
Of course, Beck would likely respond by saying he should not be taken literally and that he was merely entertaining his audience. However, the reality is that Beck's listeners do take him seriously and regard his advice as real political solutions. When Beck gave the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he spoke for 45 minutes on the dangers of progressivism and what conservatism should really look like. At no point did Beck stop in the the speech to say, "You should realize that this is all for entertainment purposes. You should not really believe progressivism is a cancer." Much of Beck's rhetoric is held up as gospel by his most loyal followers.
The real issue is that Beck is both a political leader and entertainer with no clear lines separating the two roles. Every reasonable, objective viewer of Beck realized he was joking about poisoning Speaker Pelosi in one skit last year. However, the skit may be taken more seriously by the crazed conservative who believes Pelosi is organizing FEMA internment camps. If Beck truly does not give a "flying crap" about the political process, he, should because the reality is his message has a real impact on many viewers.
Comments
Beck is the Wrestlemania of Cablenews
And we all love him!
Glenn Beck and Joe the Plumber's helper and Sarah Palin and the family, Ann Coulter and Ted Nugent! Please don't change the way you are. Also, a shout out to Dick Morris! This is a really lovely group of Americans.
It is a well know progressive statistic that 95% of the population is below the average of measured intelligence.
Those Beck viewers are so easily fooled. Yeah right!
Most of them have maintained their current beliefs and opinions for years but believed they were alone in their opinions and so remained silent. Glenn Beck was the first to come out and tell them that others share their opinions. That their opinions mean something. And mostly that they are not alone. We surround them. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LIBERATING THAT IDEA CAN BE?!!!
That man is a glass of water in a waterless desert. I don't know how much more I can express my thanks.
Glenn Beck rocks! Go Glenn!
My advice to you two is to load up on survival seeds. I miss the Glenn Beck that called all of his followers sick twisted freaks and then went on to yodel bible verse while wearing lederhosen and goose stepping around the studio. He's really cleaned up his act ! LOL
I guarantee you guys will deny ever following him in a years time.
If you are a conservative you will like Glenn's show, if you are a liberal, you will hate it. Very simple. Watch MSNBC and FOX. Get a mix of opinion's. Try to keep an open mind, there are truth's to be found on each side. Try to understand the point of view behind each belief system. Neither is perfect, they need to be in balance. If one side gets too much power then there is trouble. Be honest, try not to hate.
Frump, Go to hell. You don't scare me.
LiveFree: Much of what you say has truth. I just can stand MSNBC or any of the alphabets right now.
Sorry I left the 't off of Can't
No you have it all wrong. It's Glenn's job to scare you...... and now a word from our sponsor Goldline .............
Klatoo, I know, it's hard to watch for more than a few minutes at a time. I am trying to understand the liberal point of view because there are people I know and relatives I love who believe in it. I will never believe it, but I am trying to understand why they are inclined to believe it. Because so many of them are decent people, I think they have good intentions, just poor judgment on how to truly help their fellow citizens.
did you idiots not read the part where Beck said "he doesn't care about the political process", or "he's just an entertainer concerned with making money" How do you read this article and then go yeah! Beck???? Are your heads so far up your own asses you can't read the words right on the screen? Do you just see this clowns name and start commenting?
I recall the recent study which quantified the phenomenon that people who are strongly convinced of a viewpoint, and shown contradictory facts that prove their points wrong, will strongly disbelieve the facts and go on their way as before, even stronger. The more strongly they hold to the mistaken ideas, the more strongly they'll reject correction.
Hanuman I don't know about you but I read the whole thing and all the comments attached. I am not sure you read it but i'll take your word for it. You are either frustrated or not nice or both. It is more than just his listeners that are taking him seriously. (That's one of the conclusions above.) The president takes him very seriously and doesn't appreciate the fact that GB catches him in one lie after another. GB doesn't just make it up he always shows a video of these tyrants in thier own words. It is entertaining and I don't have a thing against him making money from the show.
George Soros makes money. The Rolling Stones make money. The MSM doesn't seem to care about that. But you don't like GB to make it. That's interesting. I hope Ryan Witt is making a ton of cash. It is a good web site to visit and comment.
Sorry, heads are not up the old you-know-what.
I've searched for 'context' for Witt's Beck quotes from the Forbes article and I can't find any. I'm Beck he was kidding, but it would be nice to know what he was responding to when he made the remarks.
Context was so important to Witt in his article yesterday about ACORN (No amount of context could change the monologues the fools at ACORN gave to the cameras which we all saw)
Beck spent an entire show proving the 'FEMA Camp' conspiracy was a bunch of hooey, which I've mentioned to Witt at lest twice, but he still insists on using it to make Beck look bad. It must be a Media Matters talking point.
Beck had great shows this week on the truth about the founding fathers and evidence that Obama is a socialist, which Obama denied that he had. They are worth watching if you are trying to educate yourselves and not just swallowing the propaganda spoon fed to us by the lame stream media.
Libs must be worried. The desperation has increased to a new level with this article.
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I thought he just sold Ice Cream.....with Gold sprinkles on top.??
Spoken like a true monkey, Hanuman......careful cause as Republicans we can send Ganesh after you...with Prajupati added for good measure. Nevertheless Shanti..:-).
I can tell you I don't give a crap about politics and neither do most Americans. (Can I still use that term "American" now that our liberties have been taken from us?) I hate politics. That means I won't be running for public office any time in the future. Neither will GB. I work my ass off 5 days a week and when I am on my time I would love to think about other things and have little energy left for it. Now the Congress collapses the global economy and has put us all on a direct path for bancruptcy. That in itself is bad enough but when they take away my God given liberty that is when it is time to turn things around. I don't want to be this guy but our Tyrants have forced this upon us. And with the lies and subterfuge coming out of Media Matters I am joining the giant movement to push back.
So far it is showing real promise. You can add Stupak to the growing stack of names that are being forced out. Hazzah!
What a drama queen!
Ah So, Frumpy Frolicks here too.!!!
OK let's review the Liberal Phrases so popular now:
A Difference of Opinion = HATE-SPEECH.
Describing the fascistic and dictatorial aspects of the health bill Social Control and TaxScam = WHINING.
Giving a clarion call about our loss of Liberties = being a DRAMA QUEEN.
I know what you mean Klatoo...I work 10-12 hour shifts, then have family commitments. I would love for the current Political situation to not be the case....But we feel compelled because we love the Country as it was set up and believe the American Republic IS the best hope for the World as to true and enduring Freedom. Your posts are very inspiring!
I will feel proud to continue to be a "drama queen" and "whine" about maintaining Liberty and the right to live free as we see it best for our families to live. We have good company in fellow 'drama queens' and "whiners" like the Founding Generation.
Giver me one example of how your liberty has been taken away in the last 18 months.
Frump We have to get you some short hand OK because you keep repeating yourself. For example when you want to say GB is goose stepping in Lederhosen that can be Frump saying #1. See how that shortens the message? And when for example you want to say What a drama Queen that can be Frump saying #2. See what I mean? Hate speech can be #3. and now a word from our sponser Goldline #4. Glenn Beck lies and smears Van Jones all the time would be #5. You can stack them any way you like and we'll get the message.
For example when someone disagrees with Witt you can go like,
"Frumpy says: @klatoo - #3, #2 and #4."
That would all save us a lot of time and Cyberspace.
klatoo, with all due respect, may I ask what liberties have you lost? How is your life different? I am curious and sincerely want to understand. From my admittedly progressive point of view Obama seems to be carrying on with alot of Bush's policies that I disagreed with and is as much the corporate man as Dubya was.
The wars have not ended, the banks and big-rollers have not been re-regulated, heck, the man didn't even purge the Dept of Justice of all the bush hires. What's the deal here?
........crickets chirping............. Marilyn you'll have to wait for a Sean Hannity inspired response. And he's busy defending his Freedom Concerts.
Marilyn says : "..Obama seems to be carrying on with alot of Bush's policies that I disagreed with and is as much the corporate man as Dubya was.
The wars have not ended, the banks and big-rollers have not been re-regulated, heck, the man didn't even purge the Dept of Justice of all the bush hires. What's the deal here?.."
Conservatives have mentioned this aspect of the Bush/Obama non-duality MANY times before. To answer your question....the "deal" is that you don't listen except perhaps to 'oh so precious sound' of your own little heart bleating.
There's no rush Frumpster, people have other obligations and interests. Ryan has a good site here and I'm looking to build bridges. I know that feeling of outrage and frustration, it's been a rough decade. Heck, it's been a rough half-century. The best way to get through it is with humor and good-will. Don't let the anger eat away at you from the inside and remember, this too shall pass.
jaime, it appears you haven't checked out that whole disagreement hierarchy thingy yet. Are you capable of having a civil discourse?
Marilyn
My April 2 response to Ryan's "Pres Obama addresses rhetoric of Glenn Beck...
If saying that I can go to any Disco I want is an example of liberty free from government interference then I don't buy the argument. I want a personal right to not buy health care if I don't want it. I want a bank account and a job without a social security number. I want to carry a firearm if I choose. I want my income secret from federal authorities. Our borders secure. A medium of exchange free from government inflation (hard currency). I don't want to spend my wealth on somebody else's abortion. I want less government intrusion. Elected officials that follow the constitution not Karl Marx. I shouldn't pay more taxes if I am single I shouldn't pay more in taxes if I don't have a mortgage. When the government takes increasingly larger amounts of my wealth, liberty to do what I want becomes greatly diminished. Oh but I still get to vote for a progressive rep or dem.
Nope liberty all gone.
Marilyn OK April 4 Walrus is using Article 5 amendment process as an example of the constitution being a living document. Jaime is saying no that isn't right. So I go to Wikipedia and quote, "Opponents of the idea of a living constitution often argue that the Constitution should be changed through the amendment process." Walrus says, "you do realize that your babbling was proof of nothing, don't you? you're starting to sound like a homeless guy on the corner babbling away, thinking that what you say makes sense."
This is typical Progressive hate speech. And having a debate with a progressive is simply a waste of time. They will tell you one thing on one day and evolve into something else the next. Look at Obama and all the lies he has been quoted on video. And Media Matters boy can they parse language, twist it and stretch it until the harmonics are above the human range of hearing. In the mean time I am a slave to every progressive overspent entitlement. My liberty is gone zip nada
...And boy those republicans Like I can depend on them to bail us out of this mess? Not! Most of those in congress including republicans aren't listening to the voices of liberty. Republicans are saying, "Hey you guys are really mad. This looks like a good year for us." Not much will change. The progressives own the republican party for the same reason I have a spare tire in the trunk; just in case they are needed.
I like to quote Jaime. He said, "Because the Truth is they passed a Healthcare plan written by a committee whose chairman who says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president who hasn't read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke.
OK Frump I am ready for Frump saying #2.
Marilyn..... Doll....what makes you think you have a "lock" on discussion by refering to some "disgareement hierarchy 'THINGY'".
This is the kind of arrogance that will defeat you in the end. Civil discourse is only civil if "marilyn"(Carl Herman perhaps) says so. Here's the rules fellas...if your not discoursing by the rules you're not discoursing at all....
Question for Marilyn...why can't you just respond without an abstract crutch. Stick with the topic, noone (except you) is interested in your little mind games of "Discourse authority".
As such...your comment to the Frumpster was a restatement of the Communist strategy of taking your successes one inch at a time. What is important is that people see what all of your game plans are. And how they have been applied MANY times before.
So for the record, I do not recognize your authority to dictate to ANYBODY what is and isn't allowed to be Discoursed. A bit of advise..get over yourself we have already before you've started.
klatoo, thank you. I would like to take some time to consider what you have said before offering a response.
Klatoo....GREAT as always. Thanks for 'quoting' me, a friend sent me that in an e-mail. I didn't check to see if they had gone through the proper thought or discourse matrix before they sent it. If not I'll fine them a dollar.
Man...you people are getting Ryan up into the higher tax brackets. I love it. There is nothing that will turn a lib into a con more than paying for his own lifestyle.
Keep prostituting for posts and you will be in the 53% that pays taxes Ryan. Do you feel good paying for the other 47%?
Klatoo, you sound like a young person. As you grow in to an adult, you will have to do a lot of things that you don't necessarily agree with. You will have to buy auto insurance before you can drive. That will mean having to get an ID card with your picture on it. You will have to work at a job to earn money, and a big chunk of that money will go to the Federal government and to your local school district so that we can educate your children and build roads for you to drive your car on. You'll find that we are forced to work together on a lot of projects. Try not to think about it or your head will hurt.
Now back to the question about a loss of liberty ....
I'll tell you a problem that I see you two have. You like to quote Hannity and Beck, but then you don't really provide any substance to go along with it.
Frump let's make that Frump statement #6.
It shouldn't be long from now before we have all ten.
klatoo, can you describe your ideal America in a bit more detail? There would have to be some tax to pay for the secure border, roads? Is business regulated in any way? Is there any legal recourse if a citizen is accidentally shot? Am I free to pay for my own abortion? Am I allowed to live free from the imposition of religion on any of my liberty? In my ideal America, taxes wouldn't go excessively to weapons and our views on corporate charters would be more in line with our founding fathers views.
Just to set the record straight, jaime, I am not now and have never been a Communist. Went to a commune once and found out it was a crock. The men were all about their great ideas while the women cooked, cleaned, tended the children and the fields. How different is that from real life? Never even heard of Saul Alinsky until the right started talking about him a year or so ago. Also may I point out that I was not "dictating" anything and that you are the one veering off topic with ad hominum attacks and condescending name calling. The arrogance you perceive is your own. Finally, I am not now and have never been Cal Herman.
Some interesting viewpoints expressed. A few examples: 1. What rights/liberties have been lost under the current progressive regime? Well, based on the constitutional argument that the feds have the authority under the commerce clause to mandate purchase of health insurance, I would like to know exactly what are the limits to what the feds can do? When I am taxed or mandated to spend my money, I feel as though I have lost the freedom to choose how to spend what I earn. 2. We spend too much on defense and give too much liberty to corporations. The constitution is very clear about the main responsibilities of the federal government. Common defense is at the top. DEFENSE. The notion that the U.S. is an imperialist country is absurd. If that were so, we would have marched to Moscow at the end of WWII, and there would have never been a cold war. When USSR caved, we could have done anything we desired. Our military defends our country, and does the cost really surprise anyone?
Marilyn: 1.) America is a diversity of people. How it looks 10 years from now who knows so let me skip the "My ideal America" question. America is made up of a lot of liberty loving people. People that want and do contribute. They play by the rules everyday they do the right thing and they get punished for that. I am proud to be a tax paying citizen and I pay every dime I owe to local, state and federal authorities and I recommend everyone do the same. I feel like I get taken for a sucker by unprincipled rulers. 2.) I am paying taxes for a secure border. Federal authorities have not secured the border. They could. They don’t. There are plenty of laws on the books enforced only by caprice. 3.) Tax cheating bureaucrats. Take our Treasury secretary. He was issued a large check for services, was told he had to pay taxes on the income and signed a form that said he was notified of the tax liability. He decided to keep the cash, all of it.
...4.) Federally Regulated business that is a laugh. Regulated business is all about transfer of wealth and power. The federal gov't and big business are both in cahoots. Let's take a look at big Coca Cola. A new federal unfunded mandate comes out which raises the cost of the aluminum can. Their competitor Pepsi will have to pay it also so regardless of the cost not a problem the consumer will carry the cost. But if you are a small business with lower volume and the cost puts you further at a disadvantage to big business. Coke and Pepsi thinks this is a swell deal. The little guy goes under and the big guys grow the business.
...Take Monsanto. They have developed a soybean that is more competitive from that offered by DuPont. DuPont doesn’t want to compete against Monsanto so DuPont goes to the federal government and asks that monopoly regulations be applied so they can have it too. This is still being played out. Why should DuPont develop something better if the feds are going to give it to them at Monsanto’s expense. Look to California for an example of business regulation. They are driving business away with regulation. they can’t refund over paid taxes and issue IOUs. The internet has very little regulation. It doubles in growth every six months.
...5.) Somebody accidentally shot someone? You mean like they were holding the gun and it went off? Guns don’t “go off”. If the barrel is pointed at someone and the trigger mechanism is actuated it fires. There are plenty of laws on the books that deal with that. We don’t need more unless you have a progressive agenda to take them away. The federal government is not against guns. Look at all the thousands of federal agents that are armed to the teeth with fire power. No the federal government is against you owning a gun.
6.) Your abortion? I don’t want to pay for it. Abortion is a government sanctioned death camp for those who are least able to protect themselves. I know all the arguments for it. The results are the same. Someone has to die.
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