Glenn Beck On TIME Magazine Cover: Is The "Mad Man" Bad For America?

Glenn Beck has landed on the cover of TIME magazine.

Beck is featured in a cover story by David Von Drehle titled, "Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad For America?"

"As melodrama, it's thumping good stuff," Von Drehle writes. "But as politics, it's sort of a train wreck - at once powerful, spellbinding and uncontrolled."

Von Drehle adds:

Extreme talk, especially as practiced by a genuine talent like Beck, squeezes maximum profit from a relatively small, deeply invested audience...The more the host is criticized, the more committed the original audience becomes. And the more committed the audience, the bigger target it presents to the rant industry on the other side of the spectrum... How can we trust each other, though, when the integrated economy of ranters and their delighted-to-be-outraged critics are such a model of profitability? A microphone, a camera and a polarizing host is all it takes to get the money moving.

Read the full story here. See the cover image below:

Watch TIME Managing Editor Rick Stengel discuss the cover on "Morning Joe" Thursday:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Comments

[Fletcher Reede]

Glenn Beck is what America has become......loud, uninformed and stupid. Oh, and rich as heck for having no discernible skills. He is a reality show where the fix is in. He's Heidi and Spencer, he's Sanjaya, he's Simon, He's O'reilly, He's Olbermann. We follow the loudest piper over the cliff like lemmings and then thank them for the trip. Want to know whats gone wrong in America? Look at that face.

[TaxDayMan]

I know one thing Glenn is BAD FOR YOU, LIBS!

[3ddan24]

Glenn Beck rules!!!!

[MKSinSA]

YUP!! The Kingdom of the Insane.

Glenn's Horrifying Hemorrhoid Story?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX1rLv_hNeI&feature=player_embedded

[MyDogJack]

"Patriot : the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about."
--Mark Twain

[cesarportugal]

this (glen cry baby beck ) is the example that the withe racist minority is afraid and they are loosing all the fights, they are became a danger and desperate group, that you must pay attention.
now the racist withe people will do everything to defeat this unstop direction. after 500 years of slavery, we are now seeing the exact moment of this finish.
Barack Obama will be remember in future as the man that conquer the withe slavery country and with is election he become the real first president of USA.

[Bulbul]

Cancelled Newsweek to subscribe Time, and this one comes in the mail. So I tore the cover off and trashed it.

[navretvet]

I cancelled my Time subscription today and will be getting a refund for the remainder. Hope they get the message.

[Opygollopy]

Now that is a great picture of Glen Beck. It captures his intelligence remarkably. I wonder if his I.Q. is bigger than his shoe size? Somehow, I doubt it.

[tre 03]

Isn't there a similar picture of Einstein?

[CtDude]

HuffPo, get ready for your worst nightmare.

He already gets over three million people a day at 5 pm Eastern, 2 pm Pacific. When he replaces Greta Van Susteren (and he will) at 10 pm Eastern and 7 pm Pacific, he will beat at least one of the major networks ever night.

Then Olbermann's head will explode.

Must See TV.

[imsosure]

He may be bad for America if you take him seriously, otherwise helike a perpetual joke.

[Bariis]

I can't believe Time Mag would further promote Beck's no-witted, sensationalism, propaganda and hate-filled program by plastering his face on their cover. The man is all hype. He's got no class, no style and no substance whatsoever.

[lapdogs]

Yet another reason why I refuse to subscribe to CNN's Time Magazine!!

[klucker]

I think the cover of Mad Magazine would be more appropriate for the new head of the Republican Party.

[swift goat pet for truth]

I do not know if Mr. Beck is bad for America, though I have my opinion. (yes)

I DO know for sure that Time Magazine is.

[junior111]

You must be kidding.

[biabouman41]

It appears that all you need to do to get on Time's cover is to act out your bipolar disorder.

[Tulka2]

The editors of "Time Magazine" unveil themselves. As the Nora Jone's chorus goes, "Now you know".