Fraud, prostitutes not enough to interest Beck in latest Blackwater scandal

As reported on the New York Times' website on Wednesday (and in print Thursday), “Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide have accused the private security company of defrauding the government for years by filing bogus receipts, double billing for the same services and charging government agencies for strippers and prostitutes, according to court documents unsealed this week.”

It seemed to be a story tailor-made for Glenn Beck. Last year, during and following the ACORN “scandal” that Beck had worked to turn into a national story, he had railed again and again against the corruption choking Washington, D.C.

Beck's anger was also predicated on the nature of the supposed crimes being committed: specifically, ACORN's theoretical willingness to support prostitution.

And so, it was intriguing to watch his reaction to the latest accusations facing Blackwater, which is embroiled in numerous legal investigations. Beck's Thursday Fox News broadcast included seven mentions of the word “socialist” or “socialism” and five mentions of “communist” or “communists.” He even mentioned “fascism,” “Hitler,” and “Van Jones” once each.

But Blackwater? Beck didn't mention it once.

For the host, such obvious and overt hypocrisy is nothing new. Last September, Media Matters set out to establish if there was any consistency to his professed concern with “corruption” in Washington. Our researchers reviewed the transcripts of every episode of his television programs, beginning with his May 2006 debut on CNN Headline News and ending on September 18, 2009. During the period, several corruption scandals broke involving major U.S. military contractors Blackwater, KBR, and Halliburton, as well as Republican lobbyists and office-holders, such as Jack Abramoff and Bob Ney.

The results were striking: During the time period studied, Beck's programs were approximately 50 times more likely to reference ACORN than any of the military contractors and approximately 149 times more likely to discuss ACORN than either Abramoff or Ney. This, despite the fact that Halliburton, KBR, and Blackwater received tens of billions of dollars in military contracts. (By comparison, ACORN has received an estimated $53 million in federal funding over the past 15 years, which is an average of $3.5 million per year.) Furthermore, KBR was even connected to the fatal electrocutions of 13 U.S. service members between the start of the Iraq war and July 2008 due to faulty electrical work that the company performed.

In case there was any doubt about his priorities, Beck answered them just two days after our report came out. On September 25, 2009, he dismissed the idea that he was disproportionately focused on ACORN. After playing a clip of Roland Burris defending the organization and criticizing Blackwater, Beck said, “I don't think I can take the Blackwater thing anymore. I can't take any of it...What about ACORN?”