He’s Mad, Apocalyptic, Tearful, and a Rising Star on Fox News-Glenn Beck

[RamboLiberal]

“You are not alone,” Glenn Beck likes to say. For the disaffected and aggrieved Americans of the Obama era, he could not have picked a better rallying cry.

Mr. Beck, an early-evening host on the Fox News Channel, is suddenly one of the most powerful media voices for the nation’s conservative populist anger. Barely two months into his job at Fox, his program is a phenomenon: it typically draws about 2.3 million viewers, more than any other cable news host except Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity, despite being on at 5 p.m., a slow shift for cable news.

With a mix of moral lessons, outrage and an apocalyptic view of the future, Mr. Beck, a longtime radio host who jumped to Fox from CNN’s Headline News channel this year, is capturing the feelings of an alienated class of Americans.

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The conservative writer David Frum said Mr. Beck’s success “is a product of the collapse of conservatism as an organized political force, and the rise of conservatism as an alienated cultural sensibility.”

“It’s a show for people who feel they belong to an embattled minority that is disenfranchised and cut off,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/business/media/30beck.html?hp

[BlooInBloo]

1. Shorter: He's a rightwing drama queen bigot.

[arcadian]

2. alienated class of Americans? WTF? They had 8 friggin years to plow through with their agenda.

People saw that they were basically liars and faux conservatives and they jumped ship. Yeah Beck, you're so fucking persecuted. Fuck you, asshole.

[MercutioATC]

9. Absolutely not. These people are not your run-of-the-mill Republicans...

...they're the right-wing extremists. They didn't like Bush any more than we did. They DO feel disenfranchised.

That said, if you strip away the hype, Beck's apocalyptic scenarios are sort of entertaining, they contain some valuable information, and thry make great thought problems.

[arcadian]

13. To be an extremist you have to actually get out and do something.

Staring at a TV screen tends to render people ineffectual.

[MercutioATC]

15. Depends on your definition.

People with extreme views qualify as extremists in my book.

That said, many of these people ARE acting...and they'll be much more prepared than most when things go south.

[arcadian]

18. Okay, people with extreme views can by extremists.

But if they are watching Beck/Faux News then they are caged extremists.

[libnnc]

3. He's Father Coughlin with a flat top. n/t

[Lex]

4. They love hysterics.

Emotional, hysterical, non-rational, non-logical . . . it's what they thrive on.

[Idealism]

5. Inciting rhetoric was used by radio in Rwanda and Nazi Germany, I wonder what Beck's legacy will be.

[mr_smith007]

6. We could not ask

for a better rising star for the conservative mind set. I never thought conservatives could get more ignorant and wackier than Limbaugh but they pulled it off.

Glenn Beck combined with Rush Limbaugh will yield wonderful political results for progressives for years to come. They both turn off moderate republicans and independents much to our gain...I'm delighted to have Glenn Beck around and I say give him MORE air time.

David Frum's assessment that Beck "is a product of the collapse of conservatism as an organized political force" is right on the money. Beck and Limbaugh are splitting conservatives into two subgroups. These two nutjobs are doing our divide and conquer dirty work for us.

[Skittles]

14. wonderful analysis

me, I cannot stand to watch or listen to either one of them - they literally make me feel sick

[RamboLiberal]

7. Paranoid Faux Populist Glenn Beck Walls Himself Off From Humanity

Glenn Beck has been milking his faux populism for ratings gold, but he's walled off his $4.2 million estate behind a 6-foot barrier to keep the poors out. And we hear his neighbors aren't happy.

Beck applied for a permit to build a six-foot wall around his New Canaan, Conn., home (pictured above and below) last year, citing security concerns and claiming that he had been "besieged by angry audiences." Most homes in New Canaan are limited to four-foot fences.

But illegal Mexicans and faceless Illuminati assassins can easily hop four-foot barriers, so Beck asked the town for permission last year to completely encircle his home in a 6-foot wall, and he actually brought a security guard with him to the town meeting where his application was being considered because they are everywhere. Beck had begun construction of the wall prior to receiving permission from the town, a big no-no.

But the request was "approved with conditions," according to the minutes of a May meeting of New Canaan's planning board, and a subsequent June meeting makes mention of a five-foot fence that Beck was trying to reduce to four feet by "grading"—apparently he was just building up earth around the base of the fence so it only extended four feet above the ground. The application called for a fence along the length of Ponus Ridge Rd., in front of Beck's house, as well as Lake Wind Rd., which as you can see from the Google Maps image above, means it would wrap around the entirety of his property.

http://gawker.com/5187225/paranoid-faux-populist-glenn-beck-walls-himself-off-from-humanity?skyline=true&s=x

[JenniferJuniper]

11. And we all know how those illegal Mexicans just love scaling those walls

in New Canaan, CT.

I think it is great that this utterly unhinged guy is the new face of Fox. He makes O'Reilly look only mildly psychotic. Rock on, Glenn or Glenda!

[Birthmark]

8. Beck is a delusional loon...

...with an apatite for drama based on his own paranoic fantasies. He should seek professional help.

[libodem]

10. He truly is disturbed

[PM Martin]

12. He's having a temper tantrum because

his loser of a candidate lost.

[Supersedeas]

16. "alienated cultural sensibility" -- Eric Cantor and Boehner gave Beck-types reins of the party

[Johonny]

17. I seriously don't believe 2.3 million people watch that show

the rating system is clearly broken.

[LeftinOH]

19. When are they gonna do a 'Howard Beale solution' on him? I'd watch that...n/t