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don't recall his rallies

See Glenn Beck Archives: Rallies for America

Remember, this was 2003. The 25,000 people in Atlanta still probably remains as the biggest rally in the city in the last 20 years. The Atlanta Tea Party was in the 15,000 to 20,000 range.

"beck jumped out in front of the tea parties - he did not start them"

I never said Beck started the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party idea was started by CNBC's Rick Santelli on February 19th 2009. It was Dick Armey's FreedomWorks which was the driving force behind the rallies. Beck may have jumped on the bandwagon, but he was on it early. Beck's proposed the 9-12 Project on March 13th.

I do not know of any other talk radio hosts who sponsored, and were involved in, specific grass-roots projects during this time.

As I recall, many such as Rush and Hannity, were reluctant to get behind the Tea Party movement. I would note once the Tea Parties started happening, Hannity was happy to have his camera and face in front of them. So there are opportunists everywhere.

It is very odd for any other radio host to criticize Beck, who has a history of direct grass-roots involvement, for not being involved. It would be perfectly fair for a host who chooses not to be involved, such as Rush, who specifically chooses not to, to criticize another host for being an active participant rather than a detached commentator. But to claim Beck sits behind his microphone rather than being involved, is really dishonest.

Let me turn this to Levin, who started this discussion. Levin brings up his work 30 and 34 years ago with Reagan's campaigns. My question to Levin would be: "What have you done for me lately?" No offense to Levin, who has written some outstanding books, and contributed mightily to the cause, but my point is fair.

As for Bill Bennett, his criticism of Beck's speech is an very fair criticism of the first 15 minutes of Beck's 55 minute speech. But I can only conclude from Bennett's comments, that Bennett changed the channel and did not see the final 40 minutes of the speech.

Beck has a common man's humanity which connects with many people. A stoic academic like Bennett, and a cold lawyer like Levin, don't connect on the same level. Beck's comments on the role of failure as a sometimes necessary building block to later success, and how preventing someone from failing only delays ultimate failure were powerful. It was something I had not thought of, but I realized I have seen this in family members and friends.

It is very fair to criticize some of Beck's CPAC speech, as it is some of his other actions. But it is also very fair to praise other parts of both Beck's CPAC speech and his other activities.

"What have you done for me lately?"

levin does what his health allows - i don't know what he has done for you, but he educates me every time i listen to him - and probably a few others too - and we can use that knowledge in our debates with friends, families and neighbors - when pressed, that is levin's 'plan' (answer to the 'what can we do' question)

i don't listen to beck's radio show - and never watched him until he got his show on fox news - i missed the beck rallies - fox news did too i guess because i don't recall a lotta coverage

so what is beck's answer? march? stomp our feet? guns?

i am not sure if beck is thinking third party - i do think it is cowardly for people like beck and bor to try to make a virtue of their 'independence' - their 'independence' is only as devout as the paycheck they get

my problem with beck's 'grass roots history' is this - to what end? beck's rallies did not stop the democratz winning congress and the white house - we can all rally, stomp out feet and scream all day - but the fact is, congress votes on bills - the democratz have all but pissed in the face of the rallies - it will not change their vote on bills - our next chance is on election day

in beck's world, what party will his candidates caucus with? alone? if so, they will accomplish nothing - they will get no bill introduced or passed

i am not against rallies - but a rally alone accomplishes nothing - beck needs to man up and say what his answer is