Posted on 05/27/2010 8:27:56 AM PDT by Evil Slayer
On rare occasions, a unique figure bursts onto the national stage and has a dramatic impact on politics, culture, or both. Glenn Beck is one of those figures. He is surely the biggest, fastest, most controversial star in the political commentary business in my lifetime.
Beck is a real-life version of Howard Beale, the fictional television commentator in the 1976 film classic "Network." Beale whipped his cultish TV audience into a frenzy, exhorting them to stick their heads out the window and chant, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Much to the chagrin of the oligarchy in Washington, however, Glenn Beck is not a fictional character. He's real, and he has succeeded in enlightening his audience far beyond Beale's simple rants about the unfairness of life. Beck is much more knowledgeable, much more factual, much more rational and much more focused on the key issue: America's loss of liberty.
I find it more than just a bit ironic that ultra-liberal CNN Headline News gave Beck his first forum on television. There, he created a huge stir with his "rodeo-clown" antics and his willingness to talk openly about his drug- and alcohol-addicted past. But as he increasingly added his political views to the mix, people started asking, "Why isn't this guy on Fox News?"
What will it take to restore common sense and rein in out-of-control government? Get Glenn Beck's book inspired by Founding Father Thomas Paine
Of course, Roger Ailes was closely observing Beck all along, and, in January 2009, he brought him to Fox and fit him into the 5 p.m. time slot. While Beck had been moving more and more toward political commentary at CNN Headline News, from the moment he came to Fox his transition to near-total politics was swift.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Roger Ailes was closely observing Beck all along, and, in January 2009, he brought him to Fox and fit him into the 5 p.m. time slot. While Beck had been moving more and more toward political commentary at CNN Headline News, from the moment he came to Fox his transition to near-total politics was swift.and:
Today’s show happens to have been one of the greatest yet ... and the business folks at FOX don’t seem dumb enough to lat the golden goose go. Has there ever been a 5PM time slot show on a news network that has even come close to the following Glenn Beck now has supporting him?
who else? Rush fits all the qualifiers except “fastest,” as his trailblazing rise took a bit longer. And, one would suspect, his stay at the pinnacle will be a lot longer.
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