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THE ANATOMY OF A SMEAR: How the Left is fighting to silence GLENN BECK
media.glennbeck.com ^
| June 22, 2010, for TOWNHALL July 2010
| Meredith Jessup
Posted on 06/25/2010 5:51:02 AM PDT by Yosemitest
THE ANATOMY OF A SMEAR:
How the Left is fighting to silence Glenn Beck
by Meredith Jessup
Rule #11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.
Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals
We shouldve seen it coming.
As his Fox News Channel television audience exploded in 2009, it was only a matter of time
before the liberal Left organized itself into a full-court press against Glenn Beck.
Since the conservative radio phenom made the jump from CNNs Headline News to FNC,
Beck has set cable ratings records, adding more fans to his radio audience of millions.
His five oclock timeslot on Fox has grown to rival the primetime titans of cable news, Bill OReilly and Sean Hannity.
Though OReilly and Hannity are no strangers to hatred from liberals,
Glenn Becks fusion of entertainment and enlightenment incites a particularly unique level of vitriol
unmatched by any other television commentator today.
The concentrated disdain for Beck has also united the Left behind one common goal: Various levels of the Leftfrom grassroots organizers to the Obama White House
are working in an all-hands-on-deck concert to discredit Beck with a barrage of attacks in a relentless smear campaign.
LET THE BOYCOTTS BEGIN
To Becks regular audience, his disregard for political correctness and adherence to no-nonsense common sense are refreshing.
To his detractors, he is a fear-mongering extremist whose opinions represent reckless vitriolic rhetoric.
When third-year University of Wisconsin law student Angelo Carusone was annoyed by Becks controversial opinions, he launched StopBeck.com an online effort aimed at pressuring advertisers to withdraw their commercial support from Becks broadcast on Fox
and, in turn, force Beck off the air.
Working from an office in his two-bedroom apartment in Madison, Wis., Carusone sends sound bites of Becks show to corporate sponsors
and questions whether their products and services should support Becks programming.
In many cases, this slight nudge is enough to make the targeted advertisers pull their commercials.
If advertisers dont pull their support, Carusone uses his website and social networking sites to organize other Beck opponentsincluding his nearly 8,000 followers on Twitter
to bombard the companies with messages in support of a Beck advertising boycott.
And if the snowballing effect of thousands of outspoken anti-Beck activists doesnt stir enough commotion for a company to relent,
Carusone picks up the phone to personally confront them.
In what he calls his least flattering method of persuasion, Carusone argues with corporate media executives until they give in.
StopBeck.com also claims that Beck uses his media platform to disseminate vitriolic hateful rhetoric and stoke racial anxieties,
and the group works in conjunction with ColorofChange.org
a group founded by dismissed Obama green jobs czar Van Jones
in boycotting Becks commercial sponsors.
Both organizations disparaged Beck for questioning President Obamas personal motives in condemning the Cambridge, Mass., Police for arresting Harvard professor Henry Gates in 2009.
ColorofChange.org Executive Director
James Rucker told Townhall that the groups goal has been to bring Becks pattern of race-baiting to advertisers attention,
to let them know about our members concerns
and to ask whether those companies feel comfortable enabling Becks rhetoric.
But when rapper
Kanye West infamously stated that President George W. Bush doesnt care about black people following Hurricane Katrina,
there was no boycott of Wests album sales.
And when pressed by Townhall about uber-Leftist comedian
Bill Mahers recent comments about Barack Obama not being a real black president
because he didnt carry a loaded pistol in his waistband,
Rucker and Color of Change did not respond.
By Color of Changes own standards, these comments seem repulsive and dismissive,
yet Beck and Fox News remain the groups only boycott targets.
Color of Change and StopBeck.com represent a small niche of the anti-Beck movement on the Left
that uses advertising dollars as leverage to silence what they refer to as Glenn Becks brand of hate a brand they've constructed by using selective interpretation of mere fragments of Becks contextual dialogue.
But the Lefts efforts in smearing and silencing Beck run well beyond the limits of these two online campaigns.
The complex structure of the Lefts Glenn Beck smear campaign also includes some familiar big players in liberal politics.
ENTER GEORGE SOROS MEDIA MATTERS
Beck is a daily fixture of self-described progressive media monitor Media Matters.
However, instead of pointing out factual errors in Becks programming,
Media Matters merely inserts its own political opinion.
Media Matters obsessively posts nearly a dozen anti-Beck stories on their website daily
and thrives on clipping apart Becks statements to paint crude and incomplete pictures of Beck and his large devoted audience.
Media Matters also publishes media research on its site
that other liberal outlets pick up and disperse across the Internet and blogosphere.
Among these hard-hitting items: Glenn Becks disturbing use of race and race-baiting
Becks embrace of violent, anti-government rhetoric
Becks slavery fetish
Beck promotes book rife with anti-Semitism and racism
Beck pushes bogus evidence of socialism in Obamas policies
Media Matters joins StopBeck.com and Color of Change in supporting a widespread boycott of Becks programming and advertisers
and runs a daily list of companies who advertised during the Fox show.
Another group providing the Left with invaluable out-of-context quotes and blatantly slanted interpretations
to use in attacking Beck is
John Podestas Center for American Progress (CAP), which talks about Beck claiming [Van] Jones proverbial scalp
and complains about Becks vitriol that is increasingly allowed to infect our public discourse. Incidentally, Podestas CAP and Media Matters not only spread each others research, but also share staff.
In fact, Podesta was a pivotal figure in founding Media Matters.
And CAPs
Eric Alterman, who writes about Becks hatred for sale,
likes to remind readers that hes a senior fellow at surprise! Media Matters.
Not surprisingly, Media Matters and the Center for American Progress share common donors
that keep operations running smoothly, including generous financial gifts from
George Soros and his Open Society Institute.
Soros affiliate MoveOn.org has also joined in spreading the Lefts disdain for Beck, in constructing a fake broadcast video that pokes fun at Becks conspiracy theories.
THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ASSAULT
Saul Alinskys fifth rule for radicals says,
Ridicule is mans most potent weapon.
Against irrational ridicule, there is no defense and an enemy is forced into concessions.
Taking a page right out of Alinskys playbook, the Left uses various media outlets to push
not only its policy agenda but also to advance its campaign against Glenn Beck.
By himself, Beck represents a formidable opponent in the media market.
Hes a media giant in every sense of the word commanding a broad audience in radio, television, books and public appearances
and it drives the Left and their friends in the mainstream media crazy.
On average, Becks five oclock timeslot ratings wallop cable competitors CNN and MSNBCs combined primetime line-up ratings.
When Beck had his regular show on HLN, the media could largely ignore him.
But when he was added to the Fox roster with the policies of a new Democratic administration to comment on,
Beck became an unstoppable force and Foxs cable competitors and other mainstream media outlets have had to put up a concerted effort to drown out his success.
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it, Alinsky wrote.Dont try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies.
Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
Time magazine recently ran a cover story on Beck titled, Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America? Times own
Joe Klein lobbed a heavier accusation while appearing on MSNBCs The Chris Matthews Show,
claiming that people like Glenn Beck
rub right up close to being seditious.
Further, Times managing editor,
Richard Stengel, appeared on Joe Scarboroughs Morning Joe on MSNBC to plug the magazine and personally attack Beck.
Becks work, he claimed, plays a part in the lack of civility in political discourse, Stengel said.
He also claimed Beck was stoking the publics angst about many things,
including the fact that President Obama is an African-American.
The New York Times dubbed Beck mad and apocalyptic.
Veteran liberal journalist
Cokie Roberts dubbed Beck a traitor to the American values he professes so loudly to defend
and claimed he is corrupting the very essence of democracy.
MSNBCs
Rachel Maddow cherry-picked statements from Glenn Becks radio show to accuse him of lying about global warming (see Maddows Snow Job sidebar ).
MADDOWS SNOW JOB
To illustrate how the liberal attack machine works,
follow this sequence of exchanges between MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and Glenn Beck:
Friday, Feb. 12: As the East Coast was pounded with record amounts of snow fall,
Beck joked on his morning radio program (in a stereotypical mobster voice, no less) that God was sending people like Al Gore a message,
but noted that one large snowstorm does not prove or disprove anything.
Friday, Feb. 12: In a brief segment on her primetime MSNBC show, Maddow quotes Becks joke as if he were seriousin claiming the snowstorm disproves Al Gores global warming theory.
Maddow conveniently leaves out Becks comment that one storm does not prove anything.
Monday, Feb. 15: Beck takes to the radio airwaves and responds to Maddows Friday segment,
calling her dishonest and reminding listeners that his stereotypical fake mobster/God voice
was nothing more than a joke.
Beck implied that it was irresponsible for Maddow to present his joke as evidence in an attempt to discredit him.
Tuesday, Feb. 16: Maddow fires back at Beck: I think its between you and your God or you and your conscience as to how much youre willing to stir up Americans fear and prejudice for profit.
But its between you and me when you accuse me of lying.
I didnt lie. Back o! .
Wednesday, Feb. 17: Beck plays the audio of his original comments,proving that Maddow had indeed selectively edited the audio
in order to suggest Beck based his opinion of global warming on one large snowstorm: The very next line that I said was youre an idiot if you believe this one storm in Washington proves theres no global warming.
I mean, its the very next line.
They are so dishonest they have to go that far.
In many cases like this, there is not one ounce of truth in the attacks on Beck.
The tactic is also known as propagandaand its just another tool in the Lefts smear arsenal.
Ex-CBS anchor
Dan Rather considers Beck controversial, but says he loves Keith Olbermann of MSNBC.
Speaking of MSNBC not content on merely calling him a racist,
the network cut right to the chase and called on Fox News to fire Beck.
Following his comments that Obama has deep-seated problems with white people,
MSNBCs First Look said that it was amazing that what Beck said isnt a fireable or even a suspendable offense.
Arianna Huffington, the namesake of President Obamas suggested reading for the American people, the Huffington Post, says she resents spending even a second of my life thinking about him.
But part of me recognizes that [Beck]s too dangerous to ignore.
She goes on to accuse him of inciting violence and anger
and argued that while the government cannot hold him legally liable,
he should be held morally liable and subsequently fired from Fox News.
The New Yorker calls Beck energetically hateful, truth-twisting, and blasts the negative, regressive take on politics he expresses with raw-throated outrage, smiley sarcasm and, occasionally, a display of hurt, even tears.
Newsweek went so far as to prominently feature Beck in an article titled, HATE: Antigovernment Extremists Are on the Rise and on the March.
Pictures in the article link Beck and former Alaska Gov.
Sarah Palin to 1930s socialists with a caption that reads: Huey Long castigated the rich
and Father Coughlin denounced Jews in the 1930s.
Today, the microphones belong to Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.
![](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j186/DonaldDouglas/QuicksShots014-1.jpg)
![](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j186/DonaldDouglas/QuicksShots012-1.jpg)
A week before Becks latest best-seller, a novel titled The Overton Window, was even released, the Left was already working to discredit the book and its author.
Media Matters derided the fictional work as sheer lunacy and once again labeled Beck a conspiracy theorist.
The Huffington Post critiqued a short video trailer promoting the book, which featured stanzas written by British poet Rudyard Kipling, stating,
The trailer for Glenn Becks new book is just as nuts as youd expect.
Baseless charges like these are hurled at the conservative talker on a daily basis from the mainstream media a liberal salute to Alinskys Rule 8: Keeping the pressure on your opponents.The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.
When the medias feigned outrage over Becks opinion does not hinder the growth of his audience, they turn to the next slanderous charge.
When Fortune ran a cover feature on Becks unique ability to turn his political and comedic commentary into cold, hard cash,
the media accused him of being a money-grubbing showman.
When Beck warned viewers about Black Liberation Theology and the Lefts ideas of social justice, newspapers such as the Washington Post reserved copy space for a rebuttal.
The radical progressive
Rev. Jim Wallis, Obamas own spiritual adviser,
urged Christians to stand up to Glenn Beck and accused him of picking a fight.
Time echoed Wallis with an article asking, Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Jesus?
Its not uncommon to go through a week with a different Glenn Beck hit piece splashed across the pages of all the countrys major newspapers, magazines and left-wing cable channels.
Simply put, the media are reacting to a threat to their agenda and their agenda is Barack Obama.
As a result, the mainstream media have joined the liberal blogosphere and organizations like Media Matters
and the Center for American Progress in an organized effort to attack Beck with amazing coordination from coast to coast.
With a close look at various media outlets coverage, it seems clear they all use the same set of recycled Glenn Beck talking points
and all regurgitate the same distortions and outright lies.
MODERN-DAY GOVERNMENT BLACKLISTING
In addition to Wallis, others close to President Obama have played a role at various levels of the Lefts smear machine.
The White House began waging war with Fox News last spring,accusing the cable network of spreading false information
about the presidents health care plan and pedaling propaganda from the Republican Party.
Ironically, then-communications director Anita Dunn said the White House would not just sit back and defend itself
because the conservative media will say anything.
They will take any small thing and distort it.
Most recently, the Lefts attack machine has moved to a new level, incorporating the power of the federal government.
Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., is accusing Beck of misleading his viewers in an attempt to profit off Americans economic jitters.
Weiner is accusing Beck of maintaining an unholy alliance with Goldline, one of Becks television and radio sponsors,
and suggests that Beck talks about Americas dangerous levels of debt only to try and scare people into purchasing gold.
Lost on Weiner, apparently, are the fact that Beck himself is a customer of the gold dealer
and the fact that Americas debt is indeed at a dangerous level.
Goldline rips off customers, uses misleading and possibly illegal sales tactics and deliberately manipulates public fears,
Weiner claims, yet the company maintains an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Typical of government bullies, Weiner promises a future congressional investigation into Becks business relationship with Goldline.
Finally, when all else fails, the Left brings in the big guns.
President Obama himself has singled out Becks programs,
calling Beck and Rush Limbaugh troublesome and telling Americans to get their news somewhere else.
During a recent commencement address at the University of Michigan, Obama told the audience, If youre a fan of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh,
try reading a few columns on the Huffington Post website.
But even with the power and prowess of the president behind the Lefts smear of Glenn Beck,
its doubtful Beck fans will happily hop over to a websitethat promotes a Twitter protest against Beck
or features headlines such as Lewis Black: Glenn Beck Has Nazi Tourettes;
or stories about how Glenn Beck hates Mothers Day;
or riveting video of HLNs Joy Behar telling Beck, I dont give a flying f**k about you.
SOLDIERING ON
To a regular viewer and listener of Becks programs,
the accusations thrown at him from the Lefts smear campaign machine are ludicrous, untrue and sometimes even comedic.
Suggesting Glenn Beck hates Jesus or leads an axis of the obsessed and deranged
serves only to unite Becks loyal bloc of viewers against the Left.
Though he does from time to time
use over-the-top imagery and sarcasm on his shows that may be lost on many people,
its not this behavior that causes the Left to froth at the mouth and howl with outrage.
Perhaps most offensive to the far-Left is that Glenn Beck refuses to succumb to the rules of political correctness
and doesnt try to soften the blow of the harsh realities the country faces today.
The American people appreciate honesty, and Beck dishes out his own daily dose.
Above it all, Beck has sparked a movement toward enlightenment in America both political and historical
and this movement represents a significant threat to the Obama agenda and, subsequently, the media.
He has reignited the publics interest in our nations founding principles,
exposes left-wing policies and individuals that make up the Obama administration
and serves as the common mans advocate against their disastrous economic policies.
For a self-educated, self-described rodeo clown, Glenn Beck must be doing something right.
For the time being, Beck is a pivotal public figure in the fight against the agenda of President Obama and his liberal progressive cohorts.
And as long as hes able to withstand the onslaught of attacks from the Left,
Beck will remain a de facto leader of the movement working to take our country back.
Beck has sparked a movement toward enlightenment in America
both political and historical
and this movement represents a significant threat
to the Obama agenda and, subsequently, the media.
Meredith Jessup is assistant editor for Townhall.com and a contributing editor for Townhall Magazine.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: beck; democrats; glennbeck; inman; lds; liberal; liberalfascism; liberalprogressivism; mormon; progressives
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To: MozarkDawg
He was condemning Hayworth when McCain was virtually doing the same thing. But, you never heard him attack McCain. Singling out Hayworth makes Beck look like a shill for McInsane and that will bite him in the butt.
21
posted on
06/25/2010 6:40:17 AM PDT
by
MBB1984
To: Yosemitest
His Friday Founding Fathers shows are awesome.
I have never learned so much about how we got to where we are and what makes the US so special.
Keep up the good work Glenn.
Fight the good fight. It is worth the effort.
22
posted on
06/25/2010 6:41:39 AM PDT
by
Only1choice____Freedom
(FDR had the New Deal. President 0bama has the Raw Deal.)
To: MBB1984
I’m sorry, “never heard him attack McCain”?? We must not be listening to the same radio show. Anyone who can possibly read Beck as a shill for McCain is paying no attention whatsoever.
To: MozarkDawg
The issues this year 2010 are not subtle and nuanced. On one side we have the Left trying to subvert the US Constitution and trying to open the borders to 100 million+ new Socialist voters. John McCain has consistently proven that he sides with the Left.
The only person who can stop McCain or a(nother) Democrat Socialist being elected this year is J.D. Hayworth.
The crisis facing us is just that simple. Black and white. No shades of gray. Pointing out the fact that Hayworth is less than Christlike is just cover for McCain/Obama.
(I could also mention that Glenn Beck certainly has no room to criticize someone else for doing unethical commercials.)
24
posted on
06/25/2010 6:45:53 AM PDT
by
iowamark
To: Only1choice____Freedom
We don’t have cable and have to watch Beck online.
Last night we were watching the show. My husband stated.
“Watching Beck is like reading a history book.” and it’s true.
Beck is making us unlearn everything we have gotten spoon fed to us, with humor and props.
No wonder they are afraid of him.
25
posted on
06/25/2010 6:46:55 AM PDT
by
netmilsmom
(I am inyenzi on the Religion Forum)
To: central_va
26
posted on
06/25/2010 6:49:11 AM PDT
by
FrdmLvr
( VIVA la SB 1070!)
To: wita
One thing you can add here is that the Left cannot survive if the truth is known. That is why they fight the truth at every turn.
27
posted on
06/25/2010 6:50:02 AM PDT
by
RC2
To: Yosemitest
I love Glenn Beck.
I love Rush. I learn a great deal from both of them and I will continue to support their sponsors.
Funny that the left wants them silenced. They have no reason to fear or even pay attention to these 2 if they are not telling the truth.
To: iowamark
The only person who can stop McCain or a(nother) Democrat Socialist being elected this year is J.D. Hayworth.
The crisis facing us is just that simple. Black and white. No shades of gray. Pointing out the fact that Hayworth is less than Christlike is just cover for McCain/Obama.
(I could also mention that Glenn Beck certainly has no room to criticize someone else for doing unethical commercials.) First off, you're making the classic logical fallacy known as "the false dilemma;" just because McCain is horrible does NOT mean that JD Hayworth is good. (i.e. black v. white)
Secondly, if the "unethical commercials" you're referring to are the Goldline ones you apparently haven't heard his "Gold isn't for everyone [...]" saying; which is so common that a comedian guest on the radio-show did it multiple times getting laughs from everyone.
29
posted on
06/25/2010 6:54:25 AM PDT
by
OneWingedShark
(Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
To: MozarkDawg
He didn’t attack McCain on the same issue when he had ample opportunity to do so.
30
posted on
06/25/2010 6:58:52 AM PDT
by
MBB1984
To: Only1choice____Freedom
Me too. I was in school in the 50s and 60s, when patriotism and American exceptionalism were taught. But on Founders Fridays, I feel like a young schoolgirl again learning American history for the first time.
To: Yosemitest
I’m sure they believe the worst part of his hate speech is quoting the Constitution and the founders.
32
posted on
06/25/2010 7:00:41 AM PDT
by
saganite
(What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
To: The Sons of Liberty
"Ive begun to seriously question just where he actually stands."
Sons,
He really pushes your leader Sam Adams. You should appreciate that!! Seriously, I love a lot of what Beck does. I am not able to watch and follow him daily, but I try to watch him as much as I can. He reminds me of that great high school teacher that most of us have had at least one of. The one you remember even 30 years later. The one that made it a pleasure to learn. I do disagree with him on a few things. Such as now he is against the Patriot Act. However, he doesn't give any specifics of what the Patriot Act did that curtails our liberties.
Every criticism I've ever heard of the Patriot act curtailing citizen's rights, simply was not true. No one is out there using the act to review what books you read at the library or listening in on U.S. citizen's phone calls. It's Democrap BS and I think that Beck is falling for it.
To: Erik Latranyi; dcwusmc; wita; ken21
You only take Flak when you’re over the target...
Just like cockroaches (an apt comparison), the left doesn’t like any disinfectant sunlight shining on them...
34
posted on
06/25/2010 7:09:18 AM PDT
by
NFHale
(The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
To: Only1choice____Freedom
Have been riveted by his Founding Fathers series etc
I have learned a lot.
It’s like being back in class with the best teacher out there.
I can see why Soros is trying to destroy him.
35
posted on
06/25/2010 7:10:20 AM PDT
by
pugmama
To: ken21
"I said: because GEICO left the Glenn Beck Show.
he exclaimed: because of THAT? !!"
Good for you.
Nail 'em to the wall!
Also, check out an "Independent Agent", because you might save even more money.
Me, I'm a State Farm user, because of many different types of polices all together.
36
posted on
06/25/2010 7:23:39 AM PDT
by
Yosemitest
(It's simple, fight or die.)
To: Yosemitest
Samuel Adams trumps Saul Alinsky all day long.
37
posted on
06/25/2010 7:24:29 AM PDT
by
DTogo
(High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
To: Yosemitest
I was really turned off by what he said regarding the McCrystal affair. Generals MUST respect the CIC. There was no acknowledgment of the current reality - i.e. Obama’s hatred of the US, how Obama never speaks of the US patriotism with positive body language, etc., etc. To miss this is to miss a whole lot and I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to listen to Beck anymore. I agree, it’s like he’s trying to play both sides now to keep his job - he’s tumbling down to an O’Reilly.
To: MozarkDawg
Emphasis needed.
"Anyone who can possibly read Beck as a shill for McCain is paying NO ATTENTION WHATSOEVER!!! "
39
posted on
06/25/2010 8:01:35 AM PDT
by
Yosemitest
(It's simple, fight or die.)
To: The Sons of Liberty
Lately Beck has been all over the map. B$. Tell me the show, I will fact check your reply because I archive all his shows.
40
posted on
06/25/2010 8:03:59 AM PDT
by
itsahoot
(Each generation takes to excess, what the previous generation accepted in moderation.)
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