The ever-expanding tentacles of the Glenn Beck brand

He's constructing a world that allows his fans to avoid the pitfalls of introspection and critical thought

By Ned Resnikoff

It’s been obvious for quite some time that Glenn Beck is not your typical conservative pundit. In the early days of Beckmania, style distinguished him from his Fox News colleagues more than content. He disseminated the same talking points as Hannity, O’Reilly and Cavuto, but he did it in the appealingly histrionic style of a true paranoiac. It was somewhat like listening to Alex Jones, talk radio’s greatest conspiracy monger, if someone convinced Jones to vote Republican, gave him a radio show, and then got him very drunk.

That was then.

But Beck has put a lot of work into expanding his brand since then, to the point that it’s no longer sufficient to describe him as a mere right-wing pundit. Nor is he, as Reihan Salam suggests, some kind of pasty conservative Malcolm X. There is no analogy that can explain the totality of the Beck phenomenon, but there are dozens that can capture a single facet: a dash of Father Coughlin, a smidgen of Oprah, and even a little L. Ron Hubbard sprinkled on top.

It was more Oprah than Coughlin at last weekend’s big jamboree on the national mall. Those expecting a macro-scale outburst of the usual Tea Party frothing were disappointed to discover that the rally was, in David Weigel’s words, “about as angry as a Teletubbies episode.” About as angry, and only slightly more political. The keynote speaker was the cuddly, pious, group hug version of Glenn Beck. He wasn’t there to talk to you about the New Black Panther Party, but about your own spiritual health.

It was a canny move on Beck’s part, and not just because it made liberals predicting a white riot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial look like fools. It was also the final step in his transformation from a political commentator who does some other shticks on the side to arbiter of all that matters in life. Want to get mad about politics? Watch the TV show! Need an education? Go to Beck University! Looking to be titillated? He has the beach read for you! And for those who want a good, cathartic cry, there’s his Christmas special. With the “Restore Honor” rally, he came out as an amateur theologian as well. If you have a single emotional or intellectual need, Beck promises to fill it.

As if to underscore the point, this week saw the launch of the Blaze, a Huffington Post-style news and opinion aggregator. Now Beck’s fans can get their window into the political world exclusively from a Beck-approved outfit, and then tune in at night to hear Glenn Beck’s thoughts on what Glenn Beck said earlier that day. This is epistemic closure taken to new, dizzying extremes: It offers people the opportunity to voluntarily enter into an arrangement in which their political views, religious attitude, and even fundamental life philosophy are constructed and mediated by a single pseudo-messianic figure.

Viewed in that context, Beck’s fevered rants about “liberation theology” and Park51 head Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf’s alleged extremist ties take on a new meaning. That is because Rauf, the Rev. James Cone (the founder of black liberation theology), and most of the other suspiciously dark-skinned boogeymen in Beck’s rogues’ gallery are his opposites. These are men who explicitly advocate for minority representation and ideological pluralism. They directly confront and challenge homogeneity — both ideological homogeneity and other kinds. Whether you agree with their views or not, you conquer new intellectual territory and expand your own wisdom simply by giving them a fair hearing.

But doing so requires hard work, deep concentration and a willingness to question even your most deeply held values. Actively, voluntarily undermining your own beliefs and assumptions is a scary, lonely, even painful thing, especially when there are no easy ways out once the process has started, and potentially no end in sight. Our ability to do this is what makes us human, but so is our ability to be terrified by it.

Beck understands this terror. It is what he makes his livelihood off of. What he offers to his customers is a way to avoid that terror and the other pitfalls of introspection and critical thought. He already has all the answers. No need to look for any of them yourself.

That basic pitch is of a species offered up by hucksters of all kinds: political parties, radical religious sects, self-help books and so on. What makes Beck so remarkable — and the influence he wields so unsettling — is how he combines all of these things into a single all-encompassing product.

: Ned Resnikoff is a freelance writer and researcher for Media Matters for America. The opinions expressed above are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMFA. More Ned Resnikoff

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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?”