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Is Glenn Beck running out of ideas?

July 27, 2010 8:30 pm ET by Jeremy Holden

At the outset of his Fox News show tonight, Glenn Beck promised to take viewers on a "three-day journey" showing the "motive behind many of the actions that we're seeing today in this administration" and a war of ideas, one involving ideas that are "in direct contradiction to what our founders wished." The thrust of the next 60 minutes involved Beck insinuating that the Obama administration is governing from what he called the 1969 Weather Underground "manifesto" -- "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows":

BECK: This is the document. This is the document I've asked to you read. It's been on the website at GlennBeck.com now for a couple of weeks. I believe this document explains the reason for many of the actions that we are seeing from this administration, because I can't make sense of it.

This document is from June 18, 1969. It's the manifesto from the Weathermen. Now, I have to tell you, if somebody would hand this to me in the street and say, "Hey, Glenn, you got to read" -- zzzz. And I would also think this is ancient history. But if you don't know history, you won't know where we've been, where we are, or where we're headed. This manifesto, when you read it, sounds crazy to the average person. It does. But as you read it -- I know read it in bed one night, and I kept waking my wife up. "Honey, honey, honey, listen to this." It sure sounds an awful lot like the things that we're doing, and there are people in and around this administration who not only wrote this, but they still buy into the philosophy contained in these pages. You need to judge by their actions.

Can you remember a time, ever, where there were so many Americans, including the president, have labeled America the bad guy? How many apology tours has the president gone on all around the world? There's one thing to talk amongst ourselves and say, "Hey, we've got some problems," because we do. But it's everywhere -- it's in the media; it's in the administration.

When not suggesting that the Obama administration was governing straight out of Weather Underground position papers and moving pictures of William Ayers around his chalkboard, Beck was citing Jeremiah Wright to attack Obama over his level of support for Israel. Not lost in his rambling diatribe were Van Jones, the Tides Foundation, and the Apollo Alliance.

Ayers, the Weather Underground, and Jones are all familiar targets for Beck. The only new element here is his suggestion that the Weather Underground manifesto is actually guiding the Obama administration's actions.

At one point, Beck claimed that it "seems like we might be stuck in the 1970s." Increasingly, it seems that Beck is just stuck on repeat.

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    • Author by epkklk851 (July 27, 2010 9:24 pm ET)
      10  
      Glennie is a drug and alcohol addled ADHD sufferer. He may be bi-polar. His drug use has scrambled what little attention span he was born with. Of course, he has to recycle ideas. He just takes other people's stuff and shouts it out. I think he is stuck more in the late 1950s than the 1970s, but he's stuck alright.
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      • Author by phredicles (July 27, 2010 9:36 pm ET)
        12  
        We've speculated on this board that Bleck may be a dry drunk or suffering from a host of mental disorders. But let's not forget one important, incontrovertible fact: The guy is dumber than a sack of doorknobs. Or Pet Rocks, if we're going to stay stuck in the '70s.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by mk3872 (July 28, 2010 12:11 am ET)
          3  
          Yet he has an audience of millions. Go figure.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by MiniTru (July 28, 2010 8:11 am ET)
            1  
            Just barely millions. It's hovering right around 2 million (less than 1/150 of the population of the US) and dropping rapidly.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by MaineiacMan (July 28, 2010 12:01 pm ET)
                1
              Yeah...rapidly shrinking...keep telling yourself that! Every summer cable news ratings drop across all channels, people take vacations, get outdoors, etc.

              Here are the ratings for Monday -

              5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
              Glenn Beck – 2,222,000 viewers (582,000) (967,000)
              Situation Room—498,000 viewers (96,000) (177,000)
              Hardball w/ C. Matthews – 452,000 viewers (159,000) (217,000)
              Fast Money– 184,000 viewers (a scratch w/43,000) (101,000)
              Showbiz Tonight — 174,000 viewers (77,000) (76,000)

              8PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
              The O’Reilly Factor– 2,702,000 viewers (588,000) (1,136,000)
              Campbell Brown – 341,000 viewers (95,000) (154,000)
              Countdown w/ K. Olbermann – 1,004,000 viewers (284,000) (524,000)
              Marijuana Inc.– 383,000 viewers (258,000) (259,000)
              Nancy Grace – 685,000 viewers (148,000) (365,000)

              Olbermann is on at 8 PM, a much better time slot, and has less than half the audience of Beck.

              If you want to talk about "dropping like a rock" - Olbermann had his lowest ratings in July 2010 since April 2008.
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              • Author by mk3872 (July 29, 2010 12:07 am ET)
                   
                Classic Fox News kool-aid drinker obsessed with ratings #s just like Beck & O'Reilly. Who gives a F---. Beck is a lying media whore who just may be off his rocker.
                Report Abuse
                • Author by MaineiacMan (July 29, 2010 5:56 am ET)
                     
                  Take a chill pill. My responce was to the fallacy of MiniTru's "dropping rapidly" comment.
                  Report Abuse
    • Author by jim359 (July 27, 2010 9:45 pm ET)
      9 1
      Glenda and the rest of the whackjobs on the right ran out of ideas a long ago.
      Not that they had any thing worthwhile to consider to begin with.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by mmfa.fan (July 27, 2010 9:48 pm ET)
      5  
      Obviously a rhetorical question.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by thebewilderness (July 27, 2010 9:58 pm ET)
      6 1
      He's the CEO of White Club and you know the first rule of White Club, don'tcha?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ForTheLoveOfEllipsis... (July 27, 2010 9:59 pm ET)
      6 1
      As if Glenn had any idea at all other than--ahem!--

      "OBAMA IZ EEEVIL! GEORGE SOROS! ACORN! TIDES! AYRES! WRIGHT! WIL-SONNNNNN!!!!!11!1!!"...
      Report Abuse
    • Author by little poncho (July 27, 2010 10:36 pm ET)
      3  
      TIME FOR GLENNIE, TO CHECK INTO THE NEAREST WACHO HOUSE....
      Report Abuse
    • Author by chamay0 (July 28, 2010 8:52 am ET)
      1  
      Becky suffers from IACAH (I'm a crazy azz hole) and performs daily for the few zombies that will listen and continue to keep him rich.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by MaineiacMan (July 30, 2010 3:20 pm ET)
           
        Quite a bit more that 'a few'.....if you want to talk about 'the few zombies'...watch Olbermann!
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Moderate Man (July 28, 2010 9:04 am ET)
      1  
      I would hate to be his wife!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by MaineiacMan (July 28, 2010 9:33 am ET)
        2
      I didnt see any lies during this segment.

      Shouldnt people know more about Ayers, Jones, Rev. Wright, The Weathermen, Tides Foundation, Ella Baker Center, etc? The way that the MSM covers it...you'd know NOTHING...oh wait...yeah, never mind. That's pretty much what the media wants us to know.

      Report Abuse
      • Author by RedRightHand (July 28, 2010 9:44 am ET)
        1  
        You're right, asking "where are all the supporters of Israel on the Left" and then not doing any research on that (not that Beck's research is any great shakes) and going on to play an opinion clip from Jeremiah Wright isn't really a lie. I mean, Glenn's just trying to show that Obama, who divorced himself from Rev. Wright, still has tenuous ties to anti-semitism by playing a quote by the save Rev. Wright which says that he hasn't ... talked ... to Obama ...

        um ... so Obama and his policies are being influenced by the guy Obama put behind him, and a quote by that guy saying he "can't" talk to Obama because of "the Jews" proves that ... how?

        But since we're on the subject of people knowing more, yes people should know more about stuff the MSM doesn't cover, like the Mormon religion's history of decrying people of color. I mean, sure they changed it - recently - but they thought that way at some point. I'm sure the Weathermen might've changed their minds at some point, maybe eased up a little, maybe modified what they were thinking, but clearly, something that was done 20 years ago is DIRECTLY INFLUENCING SOMEONE'S THOUGHTS TODAY, RIGHT? I mean, something as far-reaching and arguably insidious as religion could be responsible for a man's actions years later, right?
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        • Author by MaineiacMan (July 28, 2010 3:17 pm ET)
            1
          Divorced himself! LOL you make me laugh. Sat in the mans "church" for 20 years. Lied about what he 'heard' and then 'divorced' himself from it. Pa-leeeze.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by soze169880 (July 28, 2010 6:04 pm ET)
               
            A) When "did" he lie about "what" he "heard", and "who" taught you how "quotation" marks "work"?

            and

            B) by your (and Beck's) logic, Beck is an anti-Semite, since he openly endorses anti-Semitic pieces of sh!t like Elizabeth Dilling, John Hagee and Henry Ford (and unlike Obama, has refused to "refudiate" them).
            Report Abuse
      • Author by epkklk851 (July 28, 2010 9:51 am ET)
        3  
        How would you feel about exposees of the Cato Institute, or the Heritage Foundation, or The Family, or Koch Industries, or Freedom Works, or the Teabaggers and the KKK? All of those wingnut organizations have a lot more power behind them than the Weather Underground. And Jeremiah Wright's words were taken out of context. If he was such a controvertial firebrand for his whole career, he would have made the news decades ago. Oh, and if we're going to look at him, what about John Hagee or Rick Warren? I find Hagee's vehement and continuing anti-Catholicism far more dangerous than a single sermon on American arrogance and cultural imperialism. Have you ever noticed, it's always the same snippet shown over and over again? If he had such an extensive backgound of hate speech, and his sermons were available for sale at the church, why just that snippet? So much for mainstream media bias.
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        • Author by MaineiacMan (July 28, 2010 3:21 pm ET)
             
          Have at it. If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.

          Shine the light of truth on all and watch the cockroaches flee....in ALL directions.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by bilbo_dies (July 28, 2010 10:27 am ET)
        1  
        [http://brimstone.us/5_june_MonkeySeeMonkeyBlog.gif]

        You've done your duty, now go away.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by Johaely (July 28, 2010 11:21 am ET)
           
        Why do we need to know about these people? The media isn't there to report on every NWO conspiracy theory.
        Report Abuse

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