The Glenn Beck Problem

October 7, 9:32 AMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

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Glenn Beck

While Rush Limbaugh may still be the top dog in the party, Fox News' Glenn Beck is quickly becoming a major leader amongst the rightest-of-the-right.

Beck, who was featured on the cover of a recent Time magazine, could be referred to as the Nancy Grace of politics or the Pee-Wee Herman of news but appears to be a weird combination of those two if they were both heavily medicated.

Despite his eccentric demeanor, his propensity to cry on camera, and apathy for facts, the rookie Fox News host has been a thorn in the side of Washington, and more importantly, the majority of the population who want Congress to get things done.

Just as the case for Rush Limbaugh, the left and the middle have yet to find a way to circumvent the Beck effect. That's because the Democrats are still shy about taking a page from the right's book.

The key to the success of conservatives in silencing the reasonable voice of the left has been to completely discredit the opposition. By going after the person rather than the facts, conservatives have been able to prevent anyone from doing any serious damage to their talking points.

Just look at their hit list: Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame, Van Jones, Richard Clark, ACORN, and even Colin Powell.

Attacking Beck's strength, his contempt for facts, the Democrats can mitigate the Beck effect and make him an even more radical figure in the conservative camp.

Just consider these flat lies that Beck has passed as the truth on his variety show.

He once said that John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, "has proposed forcing abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population."

Does that sound like the coherent on-air report of a mentally sound news show host?

Just last week, Beck said that Vancouver lost $1 billion when they held the Olympics. Vancouver will hold their first ever Olympics next winter. Talk about pulling this stuff out of thin air.

Beck has stated that the September protest in Washington was attended by two million people. It was in fact attended by 70,000 people, an official number provided by the Washington D.C. fire department. Beck must have been referring to the Obama inauguration that saw around two million in attendance.

Come on progressives and moderates, how hard is it to discredit a guy who compares Al Gore and Barack Obama to Hitler and has been caught staging protests for himself to cover?