Glenn Beck’s legions head to the town halls

The world's a scary place, Fox News host reminds his fans. Now they're making sure the rest of us know too

By Gabriel Winant

Topics:Glenn Beck, Fox News, Healthcare Reform, War Room

Staring down an angry crowd of constituents in his Spartanburg town hall meeting last week, Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., found himself competing with Glenn Beck for the audience’s loyalties. And, though Beck wasn’t even there, Inglis wasn’t coming out ahead. When the congressman advised his constituents, “Turn that television off when he comes on,” he was greeted with jeers.

Beck’s name doesn’t usually come up that explicitly in the town halls that have gotten so much attention recently. But the Fox News host is, in a sense, the voice of the protests. The spirit of impending, apocalyptic conflict and deep civilizational peril that pervades his show certainly animates the protests, for one thing. Plus, he’s even had a hand, albeit somewhat indirectly, in organizing the people who are showing up at community centers and schools all over the country.

Back in March, Beck launched what he called the “9-12 Project.” Meant to recall the spirit of the country right after the attacks of September 11, the project has nine “principles” and twelve “values,” which mainly run along the lines of “America is good.” (Literally.) The episode in which he announced the idea is probably the most famous of the show’s whole run. It’s the one where Beck repeatedly appears to choke up and cry, and declares, “They don’t surround us. We surround them.”

The 9-12 Project looked like a vanity project for Beck at first, a gimmick to promote his show. But apparently, it’s really taken off. There’s virtually no place in the country that doesn’t have a 9-12 chapter. They’re organized, generally, along the lines of Meetup.com, the online club-forming system that was the backbone of the then-innovative online presence of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.

I clicked through the websites of about a dozen 9-12 chapter websites. Every single one of them has got listings of upcoming congressional events in the district. (See Georgia’s here, for example.) The fact that organizations are helping to make the protests happen doesn’t make the protests fake. The protests would be fake if the people raising a ruckus were just paid goons. They obviously aren’t, and nor are the union folks showing up to support healthcare reform.

Beck talks some about the town-halls and endorses the protests, but this is clearly a freestanding, grassroots phenomenon. The 9-12 organizers are also getting a hand from a group called Recess Rally, the basic idea of which is to extend the organizations behind the Tea Parties into the town hall-disrupting business. (Here is Beck recommending Recess Rally as a resource.)

Reports of disorderly town halls are peppered with references to Glenn Beck. This story of a protest outside President Obama’s New Hampshire event quotes the head of the New Hampshire 9-12 project. The chaos at a meeting in Tampa appears to have been incited by the local chapter there. And Salon’s Caitlin Shamberg found a couple different references to Beck at the Pennsylvania town hall they attended Wednesday. The man speaking in the beginning of this video (posted below), brandishing 1,000 pages to show how scary healthcare reform is, is Peter Trippett, the head of the central Pennsylvania 9-12 chapter. Also note the woman explaining later in the video, “A lot of it [my information] is from Glenn Beck, from Fox News.”

It’s clear that the hyperbolic fears voiced by town hall protesters borrow a page out of Beck’s book as well. The woman who shouted at Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., “I don’t want this country turning into Russia,” is hardly the only person to express such a concern. And Beck is arguably the pioneer of the “Obama is a [insert type of totalitarian here]” genre. He’s repeatedly warned that insufficient vigilance will mean a dictator in the White House.

In addition to helping to organize attendance for congressional events, the 9-12ers seem especially interested in preparing for the day when they lose the political battle and have to fight a real one. The Asheville, N.C. chapter is learning Krav Maga, a martial art developed for the Israeli Defense Forces. In Rochester, N.Y., there’s a workshop on how to make 72-hour survival kits.

Of course, there’s no way for those of us who don’t think Obama is the risen-again Hitler to convince these people otherwise. Nor is there any way to tell them that whatever disasters are ahead, it’s probably not helping to have one side quibbling over healthcare co-ops versus public buy-in options while the other is almost literally preparing for war.

Video: Talking to town hall participants in State College, Pa.

: Gabriel Winant is a graduate student in American history at Yale. More Gabriel Winant

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If he can silence Glenn Beck, he can handle Barack Obama in a debate, right?

VIDEO

By Alex Pareene

Glenn Beck, being filibustered by Newt Gingrich (Credit: GBTV.com)

Topics:2012 Elections, Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck, Republican Party

While it’s easy to pick through any Newt Gingrich interview and conclude that he comes out looking silly, because he is silly, I have to agree with Dave Weigel that Gingrich handily won his encounter with streaming Internet talk show host Glenn Beck. Look at the excerpts Weigel quotes: It’s typical word-salad nonsense from Gingrich, but those responses successfully cow Beck into changing the subject.

Just watch the first couple of minutes of this and watch Beck sit there, dumbstruck, as the disembodied voice of Gingrich rambles about Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” the Wright Brothers, and Alexander Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures (which Gingrich incorrectly refers to as his “First Report on Manufacturing” — such shoddiness from Freddie Mac’s historian in residence!).

This isn’t just because Gingrich is smarter than Beck, though he is.

There’s a reason Glenn Beck’s show generally featured monologues: The guy doesn’t do interviews very well. He’s easily filibustered. Remember him looking completely lost and dejected while attempting to get anything worthwhile out of a babbling Eric Massa?

And Gingrich, who’d agree to sit down for a day-long “Lincoln-Douglas-style debate” with a Teddy Ruxpin doll, is selling himself as a candidate based in large part on his ability to talk. Republicans think Obama talked his way into the White House, mesmerizing voters with his fancy words and soothing tone. And certain conservatives are itching for Gingrich to face Obama in a talking contest. They think Gingrich would destroy him. And they base this impression on the sight of Gingrich dominating interviews with morons like Glenn Beck.

What Newt is good at — and it’s the exact thing Romney is awful at — is defending himself against charges of apostasy. Gingrich has been all over the political spectrum during his career, but when you try to nail him on some sort of offense against conservative orthodoxy, he talks his way out of it. Glenn Beck says Gingrich compared himself to Teddy Roosevelt, lately a “Progressive” villain. Gingrich responds with a history lesson and a defense of very basic public safety regulations that no one would argue with. Beck criticizes Gingrich’s support for ethanol subsidies, Gingrich responds with crowd-pleasing nationalism about competitiveness with Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and a bit of Obama-bashing.

When directly confronted with his attack on Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan, an attack that almost ended his campaign before it began, Gingrich defended himself by saying that he was right and also he’d vote for Ryan’s plan.

GINGRICH: Well, let’s go back to what I just said. What I was asked was if a program is unpopular, should the Republicans impose it anyway. We can go back and we can listen to exactly what I was asked on that show and what I said I stand by, which is in a free society, you don’t elect officials to impose on you things that you disagree with. We just went through this slide over ObamaCare.

Now, I also, ironically, I would implement the Medicare reforms that Paul Ryan wants, I would implement them next year as an optional choice and I would allow people to have the option to choose premium support and then have freedom to negotiate with their doctor or their hospital in a way that would increase their ability to manage costs without being involved, you know ‑‑ but I wouldn’t impose it on everybody across the board. I think that’s a very large scale experiment. But I think you could migrate people toward it. I’m proposing the same thing on Social Security. I think young people ought to have the right to choose a personal Social Security insurance savings account plan and the Social Security actuary estimates that 95% of young people would pick a personal Social Security savings account over the current system but they would do so voluntarily because we would empower them to make a choice. We wouldn’t impose it on them. That’s a question of how do you think you can get this country to move more rapidly toward reform, and I think you can get it to move toward reform faster.

GLENN: All right.

GINGRICH: By giving people the right to choose.

Gingrich even successfully spins his longtime vocal support of government action to reverse climate change by saying he was talking about tax credits for nuclear power and besides he never liked Al Gore and thought cap-and-trade was an attempt to establish government control over the private sector.

And because Beck’s a bad interviewer, Gingrich got away with all of this. But even if Beck wasn’t a bad interviewer, Gingrich is quite good at making himself sound good to conservatives. It’s a skill Mitt Romney lacks; in his long career, Gingrich has only ever managed to sell himself to credulous Beltway journalists and the right-wing rabble. Everyone else has tended to find him more than slightly ridiculous.

A Gingrich-Obama debate would certainly be more fun than a Romney-Obama debate, but I can’t imagine it’d be as easy for Gingrich as outwitting Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren.

: Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene

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"Remembering the day we forgot the lessons of the day we swore we had sworn we would always remember"

By Peter Finocchiaro

Topics:Morning Clip, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Ten years ago, a tragedy brought us all closer together. Last night, Jon Stewart recalled another moment, just two days after, when all the solidarity engendered through a national trauma began to dissipate into the political ether. Opportunists — first Jerry Falwell, then Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, all the “Ground Zero Mosque” people (not to say anything of the folks in power) — began using the memory of that historical moment for their own personal advantage. “The Daily Show” paid tribute:

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In Jerusalem, the right wing commentator styles himself as a religious leader of the Jerry Falwell variety

By Noga Tarnopolsky, GlobalPost

U.S. conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck address the crowd during his "Restoring Courage" rally in Jerusalem August 24, 2011

Topics:GlobalPost, Glenn Beck

JERUSALEM — House speaker John Boehner banned members of congress from attending Glenn Beck’s rally-cum-religious revival next to the Wailing Wall, in Jerusalem’s Old City, but Republican presidential candidates can do as they wish.

So if anyone was wondering what happened to Hermann Cain after his disappointing showing at the Ames straw poll, one had only to look toward the Holy City, where he was enjoying center stage with Glenn Beck at the final of three events set in Israel.

Under the aegis of “Courage to Stand,” Beck addressed a fairly sparse crowd of 2,000. Also on stage was Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and cantorial music superstar Dudu Fisher, who sang the Fiddler on The Roof’s version of a Sabbath psalm.

Outside the venue, in an archeological garden located on the spot where King David, it is claimed, established the city of Jerusalem over 3,000 years ago, Beck intoned, “The world is expecting movement, the world is expecting someone to lead!”

A hodgepodge of opponents weakly demanded that Beck go home. Leftists condemned his anti-Islamic views whereas religious Jews decried the un-Jewish character of his extravaganza being held so close to the Temple Mount. Former left-wing member of Parliament Yossi Sarid published an Op-Ed entitled, “Glenn Beck, Don’t Come Back.”

Beck, who appears to be drawing smaller crowds since leaving Fox News, ignored his detractors.

“He’s a guy who shares the beliefs of Christian Zionists throughout America,” said Zev Chafets, author of “A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists, and One Man’s Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance,” and “Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One.”

Those beliefs, he said, are rooted in Genesis 9:12: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”

Nonetheless, Beck has a spotty history with Jews. In the not-so-distant past he accused the financier (and Holocaust survivor) George Soros of collaboration with Nazis, and in a similar vein, referred to the children murdered in the recent terror attack in Norway as akin to Hitler Youth. In addition, he authored a strange novel blaming the attacks of 9/11 on a sniveling public relations executive based on the real life Edward Bernays, an American pioneer in the field of publicity and a nephew of Sigmund Freud.

Now Beck looks poised to claim the mantle of pro-Israel Christianity, which was previously championed by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and is now held by the Rev. John Hagee, who accompanied Beck to Israel.

“I think this is positive for Beck, because I think he wants to be the head of this parade when Hagee dies,” Chafets said. “He’s the prominent figure out there right now. He is reinventing himself as a religious leader, not a media figure. He is placing himself at a very advantageous spot. And at the same time, he is doing something very good for Israel.”

In the audience was Ronald Wiltsey, a Sarah Palin fan from Texas, who came to Israel with Beck along with his mother, Emma Caldwell, 76, and his uncle, Sam Miller, who is 68.

“I’m a history buff,” Wiltsey said. “I don’t agree with what we normally get back home about the Israelis. This is the land given to the Jews.”
Wiltsey, 52, spent 23 years in the army and is veteran of Desert Storm. “I did not get a good impression of Islam,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot. This is easy street now. This is a great trip.”

Before heading to South Africa and South America, Beck wrapped up his Israeli sojourn with an invocation, “We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We have abused our positions and show no love for others. We are here to say, Israel, the Holy Land, you are not alone. … May God bless Israel, may God bless the Palestinian people, may God bless the United States of America. Amen.”

“He is a history nut,” Chafets said. “He garnishes his speeches with things like Christian anti-Semitism of which needs to be atoned for, and the close kinship between Muslim anti-Semitism and Christian anti-Semitism, which has to be repudiated.”

Two days before the rally, a uniquely Jerusalemite commotion threatened to do away with the musical accompaniment altogether. Eli Yaffe, the choirmaster and conductor of the Great Synagogue’s Choir, which was to accompany Fisher for the Israeli national anthem and other tunes, grasped the Christian nature of the event and hastily backed off. With him went 16 performers, all of whom are to sing at the synagogue’s High Holy Day services next month.

It then fell to Meir Briskman, a young acolyte, to improvise a replacement group with hours to go. One of the bass singers on stage with Beck was Steven Timoner, 39, a graduate of the Yale Conservatory and a Chicago native who is now married to an Israeli and living in Jerusalem. He made $500 for the gig. From his perch, he could see that people gave Beck “scores of standing ovations.”

“I think he gave a decent speech,” Timoner said, smiling. “Look, it was very good. It was coherent. He had a real message. It was nothing like seeing him on TV, where he’s just, um, a moron.”

: More Noga Tarnopolsky

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Watch: The worst way to advertise an iPad app, Glenn Beck blames Michelle Obama for "Spider-Man," and Post-it love

By Drew Grant

Being able to power down your girlfriend is a huge plus these days.

Topics:Viral Video, Celebrity, Glenn Beck, Michelle Obama, Spider-Man, Television

1. Post-It with love

Brazilian footwear company Melissa created a giant mural using 300,000 pages of sticky pads to open their flagship store. Bonus: viewers could write little notes of endearment on the Post-its, creating a huge mural composed with a lot of love.

: Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant

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The Current TV host discusses hateful conservative reactions to the Norway terror attacks

By Natasha Lennard

Keith Olbermann (left) and Democratic strategist and columnist, Karl Frisch

Topics:Morning Clip, War Room, Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Norway

In a move a Norwegian official called a “new low” for Glenn Beck, the firebrand talk show host compared the shooting victims of the Norway youth camp to the “Hitler Youth” on his Monday show.

Speaking with Democratic strategist and syndicated columnist Karl Frisch, Keith Olbermann on Tuesday asked what was behind Beck’s comment: “Is this ignorance? Is he obtuse? Is he insane?”