Glenn Beck Makes TIME's Cover
Not just for the trouble he is causing the White House. Not just for the odd "czar" investigations he has launched on Capital Hill. Not just for the dramatic political attack he has choreographed against ACORN. And not just because of his considerable talent. As David Von Drehle argues in the piece, Beck is a man for our moment, when fear, distrust and paranoia are rising, and Americans increasingly find themselves thinking the worst of each other.
Glenn Beck: the pudgy, buzz-cut, weeping phenomenon of radio, TV and books. Our hot summer of political combat is turning toward an autumn of showdowns over some of the biggest public-policy initiatives in decades. The creamy notions of postpartisan cooperation — poured abundantly over Obama's presidential campaign a year ago — have curdled into suspicion and feelings of helplessness. Trust is a toxic asset, sitting valueless on the national books. Good faith is trading at pennies on the dollar. The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called "the paranoid style" — the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country — is aflame again, fanned from both right and left. Between the liberal fantasies about Brownshirts at town halls and the conservative concoctions of brainwashed children goose-stepping to school, you'd think the Palm in Washington had been replaced with a Munich beer hall.
No one has a better feeling for this mood, and no one exploits it as well, as Beck. He is the hottest thing in the political-rant racket, left or right.
A gifted entrepreneur of angst in a white-hot market. A man with his ear uniquely tuned to the precise frequency at which anger, suspicion and the fear that no one's listening all converge. On that frequency, Frankowski explained, "the thing I hear most is, People are scared."
Read the whole story online here, or buy the magazine on a news stand--it comes packaged with lots of other, easily-flippable stories, with bright photos. All very cutting edge.
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1
A disgrace, plain and simple. "Beck is a man for our moment, when fear, distrust and paranoia are rising" - what a load of tosh. There are people who fear, distrust and are paranoid and there always have been. To say this is the mood of the moment when he gets, what, 3.5 million viewers? out of 300 million viewers? double disgrace. In the middle of a supposedly serious debate about healthcare? triple disgrace.
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1.1
Homerhk, that's 3.5 million magazines they can sell, which is far more important to them than actually reporting news that matters.
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1.2
Thank Neptune's stars me dead tree subscription be expired a few week ago! I were toyin' wi' th' idea o' signin' up ag'in t' give 'em another shot, bu' wi' this? I'll ne'er be payin' a dime t' TIME - e'er!
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Th' day after t'morrow me hearties! ITLAPD be me last hurrah in th' swamp!
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Kt give us a Pirate health care thread!
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Michael me lad - a Pirate...wha'e'er!
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AS - a Pirate religion thread!
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JNS - a Pirate gossip thread!
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JK - ah, ne'er mind!
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Anyone - a Pirate 1000 words picture!
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Ye can all say wha'ever ye want 'bout wha'ever ye want, but say it all Pirate, all day!
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An, we'll be needin' a rousin boisterous, bawdy pirate shanty an' much drunken revelry t' send th' Wench on 'er way!
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YARR! -
1.3
Arrg, Wenchy! It be lookin' like we be rushin' wi' ya t' the door, lassie!
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1.4
Hoooey! Charles Kaiser lays the smackdown on David von Drehle, extracting from him in an interview that he hasn't seen Olbermann's show in about a year and a half, and has never watched the Rachel Maddow show -- so his phony attempt at equivalency between them and Glenn Beck is based on nothing but his own hypocritical prejudices and assumptions.
Read Kaiser's writeup here:
http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/blog/time-magazine-loves-glenn-beck-again
The key excerpt:
Von Drehele also seems to think that the progressive hosts on MSNBC are really just like the right-wing crazies on Fox. But when FCP pressed him about that, he admitted that had no basis whatsoever for making any comparison:
"I haven't seen Keith Olbermann for at least a year and a half," the Time writer said. "And I've never seen Rachel Maddow. I have four children and a wife. I don't sit around watching cable TV. I don't understand why anybody watches any of these shows. I know what these opinions are based on: they're based on nothing."
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2
God, how vile. If you guys are so hurting for customers, maybe you should just start running naked women on the cover.
A little background on the most disgusting man on TV:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/16/beck_skousen/index.html
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3
Pathetic.
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3.1
Worse than pathetic.
Scabrous.
Jamison Foser says it all right here:
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200909170033
Need I, or anyone, say more?
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3.2
Thanks for giving me a reason to let our subscription to Time lapse next month.
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4
Sadly, in the the type of politics that incites fear, stooges like Glen Beck are revanchist to reckon with. He's an entertainer, who joined the ranks at Fox News, an organization that financially thrives on human insecurities.
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5
Time magazine actually had a tiny bit of courage and journalistic integrity at one point in its history (the Joe McCarthy cover is an obvious comparison).
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Michael Scherer:
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I can't believe that the task falls upon you to hawk this crap.-
6.1
Really, Stuart? Seems like just the task for Time's Lifestyles writer.
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The reason, in no small part, why people are frightened and confused is because the media refuses to report the news. (link is here) I'm so glad I followed the example of the rest of America and let my Time subscription lapse. -
6.2
Stuart doesn't strike me as the sarcastic type, yet how can I interpret this any other way? Mikey earned his bones powdering McCain's flabby old behind.
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6.3
I don't think a lot of folks around here get that this article is incredibly, colossally poor journalism ("If you get your information from liberal sources, the crowd numbered about 70,000"...err..that would be the liberal source named "The Washington Post" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/09/11/DI2009091103246.html , I guess), not just a cover-story on a celebrity entertainer that they don't like.
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6.4
I think we get how atrocious this article is, Stuart. It imitates satire-- Colbert: "reality has a well-known liberal bias", and Krugman on what would happen if President Bush said the Earth was flat: "shape of Earth: views differ."
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That is what Time magazine is. That is what Michael Scherer does. No one is surprised anymore.
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The funny thing is, it's not even good business. Mark Halperin went running around to the Hewitts of the world, begging them to love him, but they never will. (link). And Beck followers can't stomach the idea of being exposed to facts, which admittedly might make their way into the magazine sometimes, so they'll never buy it. Time is catering to people who hate despise and fear them, by definition, and alienating people who want to learn about the news.
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The cartoon linked at this sentence is quite instructive. -
6.5
Elvis Elvisberg:
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I got a good laugh out of that one, thanks so much! -
6.6
I thought the liberal sources were the DC area police? Poor commie bastards!
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Mr Beck & all of the media interest in Mr Beck are as interesting as looking a fish bowl to see a bubble that might be generated by a fish fart.
The media are acting if they were flatulent frogs croaking in distress from gas pains.
Mr Beck is as attractive as an oversized carp who has grown from a common Goldfish. Put him a fish tank; that's where he should be.
Mr Beck is another good reason for not repairing my telly & not buying a new telly to replace my broken telly. -
8
ugly ugly ugly.
At best Beck is a sincere but delusional paranoid that is helping to stoke the fires of our country's worst fears and insecurities. At worst, he's a cynical showman who has recognized our society's insecurities and is actively exploiting them for his own personal gain.
Drawing more attention to Beck only feeds him.
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9
The issue should pair nicely with the Coulter cover story from a while back.
MS-probably a good time to take a break on linking to the 6 months for 6 dollar offer or whatever the deal is you push periodically.
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10
I'm not even going to comment on this drivel...the cover story, not your post MS, you're just the messenger in this case, which unfortunately doesn't help your case as a blogger here.
Anyway, other commenters, interesting article:
http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/09/17/glenn-beck-makes-times-cover/
It makes me wonder, how different policies would be and laws being passed if we had better representation. hmmm, interesting, southern strategy indeed.
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10.1
Sorry wrong link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/us/politics/18baker.html?hp
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Thanks Michael. Do you send your "royalty" to Beck or Fox? Coattails are usually rode in situations like this for sure.
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But, what Beck is "exploiting" is nothing more than what has been exploited over the years. For the past 2 years, it was Obama exploiting the public with his "fears" that "America needs change".
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Now it is Beck challenging those "changes", and pointing out that "maybe change isn't what the doctor ordered". Maybe most Americans believe in what we have, have always had, and do not want Obama's change.
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Perhaps this article is like most, simply disqualifying a real movement and attempting to disquise it as a "bunch" of consipracy quacks. A right-wing racists surge because we now have a BLACK President.
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Or it is simply what it is. A very liberal President, I dare say the MOST liberal President to ever hold the office. Someone who has employed communists, socialist, progressives and now the new buzz word for them, "COMMUNITARIANS".
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One thing is certain, Obama is trying to "change" America. He is attempting to put his liberal spin on our ideals, values and morals. He is attempting to use Saul Alinsky as his guide-book for change, and using community activism as his grass roots of support. But, he is meeting a big brick wall.
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In general, most all people resist change, period. People in general do not like the un-known. You see it now with healthcare reform. We believe that what we have is working for the 80% of people who do have healthcare, and we do not want to risk losing it so that 20% may have healthcare.
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It is still the old argument that liberals want big government entitlement programs to care for those who cannot or will not care for themselves versus free market enterprise and individualism.
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But, what I do believe is that both Obama on his far left, and Beck on the right have nudged the middle awake. The middle being the vast majority of Americans, and they do not like what they are hearing from either of them.
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What remains to be seen is the clash of the Left and RIght Titans to see who indeed comes out on top. (My bet is on the right, as most of the money is also bet on that direction).-
11.1
rustyreturns,
Thanks for your comments. It's nice to read something from a sane person occasionally on this and many other websites.
The Liberal/Progressives always demonize those that don't share their views. Times fails to mention that Beck gives facts to back up his reports.
Time has become so Liberal in its writings, that a majority of Americans don't take them seriously. They and Newsweek and other Liberal magazines will be out of business within 5 years because their views are not of interest to the vast majority of Americans.
Maybe it's good that we have a very Liberal President. it will educate Americans why we never want one again.
Liberals are using the race card for those who disagree with President Obama. For the vast majority of Americans race has nothing to do with their dislike for the extreme policies of this President and his administration.
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Can the "man for our moment" answer these questions?
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13
Famous TIME covers of great Americans
March 8, 1954 - Senator Joseph McCarthy
January 4, 1934 - Father Charles Coughlin
If either of those extremists had
a vehicle as powerful as Fox News the
USA would not exist today.Beck is ten times worse.
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14
"3. Why did the Secret Service allow Bush to complete his elementary school visit, apparently unconcerned about his safety or that of the schoolchildren?"
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/the-protection-racket/
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"5. Why haven't authorities in the U.S. and abroad published the results of multiple investigations into trading that strongly suggested foreknowledge of specific details of the 9/11 attacks, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of traceable gains?"
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A comment from jayrosen_nyu via Twitter.
Your vacuous "both sides do it," we're the truthtellers in the middle first paragraph http://jr.ly/kj7m FAILS fact check 101, Time magazine.
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16.1
Jay Rosen is really pissed.
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I think his problem is he expects better from TIME.
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Beats me why he would.
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17
Good grief. His "considerable talents"??
what the h*ll is wrong with you?
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17.1
John Holmes had "considerable talents". Glenn Beck is the very embodiment of those considerable talents.
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18
"6. How could Flight 77, which reportedly hit the Pentagon, have flown back towards Washington D.C. for 40 minutes without being detected by the FAA's radar or the even superior radar possessed by the US military?"
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18.1
Enough. Flight 77 didn't "reportedly" hit the Pentagon. It DID hit the Pentagon, and with it a family of four who were my friends. They found the mom and dad's remains in the wreckage, and the 9-year-old, but not the 3-year-old, because she was too small. They existed that morning when they called the mom's parents from the boarding area, and they did not fly to Australia that day, or to Mars.
Enough.
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For all those so fascinated by the ACORN story here are some (horrors!) facts.
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The other thing I don't quite understand is that whoring yourselves out in this case doesn't even seem like it'll pay off too well. You should get a little more bang for your buck if you're going to sell your soul, I'd think. Speaking truth might actually benefit your bottom line more than this garbage. I only hope that all the actual journalists you guys admire are dead right now so they don't have to see this.
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21
Time has reached a new low.
If something terrible happens to Pres Obama, I will blame not Fox News, not the crazies like Beck, but so-called mainstream news organizations like Time and CNN.
You people give these haters legitimacy.
No wonder more and more Democrats distrust the media.
This article was way too easy on Beck and made my stomach turn.
This man is NOT a Libertarian. He's from the hard-right fringe that is just as inflexible in their ideology as any Marxist they so despise.
Shame on Time.
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22
Also from the first paragraph -- more he said, she said drivel trying to masquerade as journalism.
If you get your information from liberal sources, the crowd numbered about 70,000, many of them greedy racists. If you get your information from conservative sources, the crowd was hundreds of thousands strong, perhaps as many as a million, and the tenor was peaceful and patriotic.
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Beck works for Murdoch.
KMPH Fox 26 does not work for Murdoch:
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/truth-and-friends/
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Oh Lord. Time = lost cause. I got as far as the comparison to William Jennings Bryan before I gave up. I'm outta here.
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Ivy, that bit infuriated me, too.
If the two reporters covering this story weren't so lazy, they would have asked officials who actually keep count of crowds the estimate, which was, as the liberals reported, between 50,000 and 70,000.
Michael, couldn't you and your colleaugue actually done some background checking instead of just going straight for the false-equilency Kool-Aid?
- michaelscherer @alangrayson TIME told your story (http://bit.ly/cdG9qb), tho not how you would have told it, here: http://bit.ly/YSRHh - 3 hours ago
- michaelscherer RT @PElliottAP: Obama makes surprise visit to White House briefing room. Tune in. - 5 hours ago
- michaelscherer RT @ryssiebee: 92 magazine covers, 10 years, 2 minutes. http://bit.ly/5d7oCo - 8 hours ago
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