The Rodeo Clown - #450

#450 GLENN BECK
FOX NOT THE NEWS COMMENTATOR WHO PRETENDS TO BE A NEWSMAN

Holy Shit. Where do we start?

GOP Cocksucker #385 (BILL O'REILLY) used to be the Big Cheese on Fox Not the News, packing the illiterates in to watch his program, The O'Reilly Factor, but then Billo's credibility started dropping as the helium slowly began leaking from his blimp.

First came the Andrea Mackris Affair, in which he sexually harassed a producer of his show by telling her on the phone about a fantasy he had of masturbating her with a loofah (Or a falafel. Billo gets things mixed up.)

Then he enriched Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota by suing him for libel, even though Fox Not the News attorneys told him not to. The judge in the case threw out O'Reilly's suit in record time, observing that it was "wholly without merit," thus providing Fox Not the News with another slogan.

Third, he fucked up the Malmedy incident of World War II, claiming American G.I.' s shot down surrendering German SS officers during the Battle of the Bulge when actually the opposite occured. After this beaut, even O'Reillly's aging audience were wondering "What the fuck?" They may be gullible, but they aren't THAT gullible.

(The same thing happened with GOP Cocksucker #70 (THE FAT JUNKIE) although to be fair, he's been looked upon as a joke for a lot longer. He was skewered by activist Janeane Garofalo, who said that he was a narcissist filled with self-loathing. In a classic line, Garofalo said The Fat Junkie would go to his grave "unfixed." The Fox demographic still listened to Limbaugh, but it was like listening to my great-grandmother continuing to use her old wood stove after she'd gotten a new electric one because, quote, "Dat ting yust don't cook right." I.e., they didn't place much stock in him.)

Since #386 and #70 have fallen from favor, who is the new kid on the block? Why #450, the Mormon alcoholic drug user and ex-shock jock who cries on his program at the drop of a hat and has been losing sponsors willy-nilly since he called President Obama a racist (he recanted that a couple of weeks ago.)

Beck, who in case you think I'm mean, calls HIMSELF "a rodeo clown" on his Facebook page and has in an interview, tries portraying himself as an unedcated man and a professional journalist at the same time. It's a variation of a schtick #70 still uses in which he portrays himself as a journalist until he gets caught, then claims he's anentertainer until the heat dies down and he can claim to be a journalist again.

What Beck IS is a huckster, who has gotten wealthy off merchandising books, his bogus university and Fusion magazine among other things to the Guillible that is his audience. Beck is also a ruthless self-promoter. His last appearance, a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the same day as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, featured Beck lauding himself for most of his speech, comparing himself to George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Beck has now launched a website where most of the content talks about the wonderfulness ofGlenn Beck.

Most of Beck's conspiracy theories--and they ARE conspiracy theories--have their origins in Cleon Skoussen, a Mormon racist, a fired former chief of police, virulent anti-communist, far-right speaker and all-around kook who died in 2006.

Beck would snarl that he doesn't--or if he does, they are of no consequence--make mistakes or tell lies. But he does. ALL the time. What he counts on is that he can make a pile off the Gullible before it catches on. Here are just SOME of them:

1. During his "I Have A Scheme" speech, Beck claimed half a million people showed up. (Actually, 85,000 did.)

2. Claimed on Fox and Friends July 28, 2009, that President Obama is a racist. (At first, Beck tried to bully his way through the charge but as he kept losing sponsor after sponsor--200 as of March 2010--he tried getting Fox Not the News owner Rupert Murdoch, to bankroll his show, which he did for a little while, but the pressure did not abate. Finally, after his "I Have A Scheme" rally, Beck apologized on Fox Not the News Sunday to Chris Wallace.)

3. Claimed to his followers at the "I Have a Scheme" rally that he held the original inaugural statement in his hand that was penned by George Washington. (True to form, Beck admitted that this was a lie but it really didn't matter.)

4. Claimed Green Jobs presidential adviser Van Jones had been convicted of a felony. (True to form, Beck admitted that this was a lie but it really didn't matter. This is a guy who's supposed to stand for honor and integrity?)

5. Claimed that Robert Creamer a liberal activist was a "unrepentant convicted felon." (Ummm. No. Creamer was very repentant, confessing to bank fraud and paying all the money back that he owed the IRS, plus penalties. Beck also said the security breach at a state dinner November 24, 2009 was to distract attention from Creamer. )

6. Swore that 45% of doctors said they would quit if health care reform passed. (It's passed. They aren't quitting.)

7. Claimed that John Holdren, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, promoted abortions and putting substances in drinking water that would leave people sterile. (This is blatantly false. He never said any such thing.)

8. We are the only country in the world that has citizenship on birth, (No we aren't. Guatamala, Canada, Romania, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, to mention a few, all have it.)

9. Beck claimed that the wife of Imam Rauf, the muslim heading up the construction of the Park 51 project claims that all Americans hate muslims. (She didn't, she said it was the protestors who seemed to hate muslims.)

10. President Obama wants to force doctors to perform abortions. (Title 42, § 300a-7 of the U.S. Code safeguards doctors from not performing abortions if their religious or moral beliefs say otherwise.)

With thanks to MediaMatters. com, PolitiFact.com and thedemocratichub.com.

S. Olson