Glenn Beck Attempts a Laughable Make Over as a Libertarian

[sailingaway]

With a straight face, the king of ranting is cynically trying to recast himself as a sensible libertarian. John Avlon isn’t buying it.

It took me a few days to stop laughing.

Glenn Beck is rebranding himself as–get this–the alternative to “far-right, far-left” polarized debates on cable news, dominated by people “yelling at each-other.”

“We're not going to play in that crazy space as a network," he announced earnestly.

The irony meter just died. Hypocrisy and chutzpah had a child....

Glenn Beck used his 15 minutes of fame to cast himself as King of the Wingnuts, eventually becoming too extreme for even Roger Ailes to put up with on FoxNews.

But Glenn Beck can read the tea leaves and the ratings. He can see that Sean Hannity’s viewers are tanking post-election. Rush Limbaugh’s audience is aging out of existence and advertisers are looking elsewhere. And so the man who once described himself as a “Rodeo Clown” decided it was time for a new disguise.

So in this announcement, Beck positioned himself beside Sean Hannity and Chris Matthews on side-by-side television monitors, and declared “I consider myself a libertarian ... I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel."...

At his core Beck is closer to Father Coughlin than Ron Paul, let alone his hero Orson Welles.
But Beck sees a space open as a libertarian in the center of the political spectrum, trying to appeal to the independent voters who make up a plurality of the electorate. That space exists. But Glenn Beck is the wrong messenger. It’s too late.

Back in 2000, when he first launched his syndicated radio show in Tampa, he described his politics by saying, “I don’t really consider myself a conservative. I know I don’t consider myself a liberal,” he said. “I have a brain and I like to use it sometimes.” It was a smart pitch, one he more or less continued during his brief Bush-era stint at HLN, when he was billed as an independent.

But when he got his big payday and highest perch to date on FoxNews, he made a strategic decision to go the full crazy. A talented broadcaster, he decided to use fear and hate to pump up his ratings. It worked for a while. But it’s a civic sin that can’t be undone. Forgiveness is for faith. In political debates there is always the videotape.

In some ways, this new guise is clarifying because it definitively answers a lingering question about Beck–is he sincere in his beliefs or was his right-wing rhetoric just showmanship, part of a business plan to appeal to an agitated audience?

It was all just an opportunistic con job. And the dupes are the folks who bought into the shtick, carrying signs at Tea Party rallies that read “Glenn Beck is my hero.”

Real libertarians look at Beck’s latest attempted incarnation with a mixture of disgust and annoyance. They don’t want this rodeo clown anywhere near their bandwagon.

“Beck correctly identifies a libertarian moment,” explains Owen Brennan, who is a partner at Madison McQueen LLC, an ad agency that works almost exclusively with free market and libertarian groups. “As the size and scope of government grows, it’s no coincidence the popularity of our lawmakers is below that of root canals, cockroaches, and lice.”

“But the Beck brand is incongruent with many libertarians. Strong brands don’t tell people who they are, they show them through action,” continues Brennan. “And plenty of freedom fighters who went to the Beck Restoring Honor event in Washington, D.C. expected tar and feathering but got a revival meeting instead.”

Beck’s revival meeting on the Washington Mall was one of many attempted reinventions we’ve seen from the one time Top 40 radio shock jock, putting him on pace to compete with Madonna or Bowie for discarding different phases of his career. And while his entrepreneurial experiment with The Blaze has proven financially successful, thanks in part to talented players like Will Cain, at his core Beck is closer to Father Coughlin than Ron Paul, let alone his hero Orson Welles.

Demagogues always do well in economic downturns, and Beck’s us-against-them exhortations and apocalyptic intimations had their moment. But the man who predicts the end of the world loses credibility, especially among his followers, when the sun rises after the appointed day.

Maybe Glenn Beck has belatedly discovered that his own brand of bile is the problem in our political discourse–or maybe he’s just realized that unhinged hate doesn’t sell as well as it used to. Either way, his aspiration to be an independent, sane and substantive voice in political doesn’t even begin to pass the laugh test. Instead, it’s just the latest reminder of what Eric Hoffer once said: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

I cut out a bunch of stuff, you can read it all here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...s-a-laughable-make-over-as-a-libertarian.html

 

[angelatc]

Yeah, I'm not ever going to click on a Daily Yeast link. But thanks for the synopsis.

They didn't drop Beck because he was too crazy. They dropped him because the left pressured the advertisers off his shows. The right should be doing that right now with Piers Morgan.

 

[camp_steveo]

What if Beck is sincere?

 

[dinosaur]

What if Beck is sincere?

Impossible, I'm serious. He is way more intelligent than his statement about Santorum being the closest thing to Geroge Washington. He has shown that he is more intelligent than that. He has shown that he knows better than many of the statements that he has made.

 

[sailingaway]

What if Beck is sincere?

No. I watched his progression. I simply think that is impossible. if he were sincere in the 'firm beliefs' he attributed to himself in some stages,in the throwing under the bus stage he could never have acted as he did.

I agree that he is quite smart. A very able businessman. Not someone I'd trust ideologically, for a moment.

 

[NewFederalist]

Beck is nowhere near being a libertarian but he sure can mess up the meaning of that word forever.

 

[Sayzak]

Beck has called himself a libertarian for many years. But he's always been a fear-mongering neo-con Libertarian (if there can be such a thing). So, either way, forget about him, the old him and/or the new him.

 

[cajuncocoa]

What if Beck is sincere?

Donkeys will fly.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

What if Beck is sincere?

LOL sincerely what, exactly?

If you say "sincerely a tool" then I think I can easily go along with that.

 

[NorfolkPCSolutions]

Glenn Beck must first complete the evolution from pond scum to human being before I will consider him as anything more. Laughable doesn't even begin to cover the idea...

 

[satchelmcqueen]

sorry. i was fooled by him several times. he then severely turned and made a mockery of true freedom. i will never fall for anything beck has to say again. he is one of the MANY people who could have pushed what ron paul stood for , but didnt in the end. he had years to correct this but didnt. i think glenn beck is a joke. hes bigger than any imo, and this is from a north Georgia hillbilly, and fucking proud of it!!!!

What if Beck is sincere?

 

[paulbot24]

Back in my neocon days I actually bought a copy of his "Arguing with Idiots" book. Time and time again, he took credit for the Tea Party and waking people up to the fact that our government is only as good as the people we choose. It resonated well with me at the time since I liked the idea of people finally getting involved instead of just blaming "the other party." Then, years later, I found Ron Paul. The REAL father of the Tea Party and I could not believe throughout Beck's entire book there was not one single mention of Ron at all! I cannot stomach him at all after realizing that. What an opportunistic little weasel. It does not matter which tit you are sucking on, or which one you say you prefer, the left or the right. You are no different than the liberals you blame for everything with your hypocritical self-righteousness, and you are serving the same masters. He is as much a man of conviction and principle as Rachel Maddow. Well, he is just a little softer and more emotional than Maddow.

 

[satchelmcqueen]

plus rep mf~!!!

Back in my neocon days I actually bought a copy of his "Arguing with Idiots" book. Time and time again, he took credit for the Tea Party and waking people up to the fact that our government is only as good as the people we choose. It resonated well with me at the time since I liked the idea of people finally getting involved instead of just blaming "the other party." Then, years later, I found Ron Paul. The REAL father of the Tea Party and I could not believe throughout Beck's entire book there was not one single mention of Ron at all! I cannot stomach him at all after realizing that. What an opportunistic little weasel. It does not matter which tit you are sucking on, or which one you say you prefer, the left or the right. You are no different than the liberals you blame for everything with your hypocritical self-righteousness, and you are serving the same masters. He is as much a man of conviction and principle as Rachel Maddow. Well, he is just a little softer and more emotional than Maddow.

 

[mad cow]

The dude endorsed Santorum for pity's sake.With Ron Paul in the running.His endorsement would have been massively helpful,he has a lot of influence.

Bill Maher also claims to be a Libertarian.He gave a million bucks to Obama.I will leave Glenn and Bill to fight over those stupid enough to think either one of them is a libertarian.

 

[Brett85]

Well, the libertarians that I talk to on Facebook seem to think that supporting gay marriage is the most important litmus test issue for whether someone can be called a "libertarian" or not. Apparently everyone who supports gay marriage is a libertarian, which would make Beck a libertarian.

 

[cajuncocoa]

Well, the libertarians that I talk to on Facebook seem to think that supporting gay marriage is the most important litmus test issue for whether someone can be called a "libertarian" or not. Apparently everyone who supports gay marriage is a libertarian, which would make Beck a libertarian.

Has he cleared that with Rick Santorum?

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Well, the libertarians that I talk to on Facebook seem to think that supporting gay marriage is the most important litmus test issue for whether someone can be called a "libertarian" or not. Apparently everyone who supports gay marriage is a libertarian, which would make Beck a libertarian.

Why would any sort of libertarian go to 'marriage' as a litmus test of any kind? I would consider supporting "gay marriage" as anti-libertarian, and supporting "no government sponsored marriage at all" as being libertarian. that makes no distinction between gay, bi, or straight.

 

[KrokHead]

What if Beck is sincere?

Glenn Beck just follows the buck and goes for whatever will give him attention at this point.

 

[COpatriot]

It was one thing for this guy to hijack the tea party, but we can not let this lying con-artist hijacked the word "libertarian".

 

[TonySutton]

I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel.

I would love to see a Penn Jillette video response to this statement