I wrote a newspaper column this week noting the rank hypocrisy in political and media circles when it comes to their supposed concerns about the deficit. I noted that Tea Party protesters are among the biggest hypocrites -- and chief among them is political terrorist Glenn Beck, because, as you'll see, the truth is the bailout is the Beck Bailout.
As Frank Rich notes, Beck has been promoting himself not only as a racist culture warrior, but as an economic populist who rails on government giveaways to Wall Street. In that sense, he's sort of trying to be a neo-Buchananite... except, there's just one problem with his economic argument: Glenn Beck championed the Wall Street bailout he claims to be leading the fight against. In fact, when progressives were fighting tooth and nail against the bailout (and taking significant criticism for doing so) Beck was promoting it, offering criticism only for it not being bigger:
"I think the bailout is the right thing do. The "REAL STORY" is the $700 billion that you're hearing about now is not only, I believe, necessary, it is also not nearly enough, and all of the weasels in Washington know it." - Glenn Beck, 9/22/08
That's right -- this is the Beck Bank Bailout. So the next time you hear Glenn Beck railing on government spending and corporate giveaways and the failure to crack down on Wall Street largesse, remember -- Glenn Beck is railing on the very largesse that Glenn Beck intensely promoted and supported on the national Glenn Beck television show.
(huge h/t to Jenkins Ear and ThinkProgress)
NOTE: Beck sometimes calls the stimulus bill a "bailout" - but let's be clear: As you can see from the transcript, he's referring not to the stimulus bill, but to the TARP bailout that he now rails on.
UPDATE: Time magazine, and its reporter David Von Drehle, just published a cover story puff piece on Beck. The fact that the magazine devoted substantial resources to such a piece -- and didn't bother to even mention this central hypocrisy of Beck -- is not only an absolute embarrassment, it shows exactly why journalism is in a severe crisis
So can we, all of us who'd like to see reason brought into the equation, accept once and for all that Glenn Beckistan is a place where reason has no place. Calling him out on intellectual consistency is like criticizing Dancing with the Stars because it doesn't have the depth of Bill Moyers' Journal. It won't work. The deluded followers will first of all completely deny the evidence of their own eyes and ears, even if you play the tape for them. They will denounce you as a liberal who just wants to shout down their hero, the only man standing between them and a Communist takeover. They won't even bother trying to hold Beck to any standard because what they want from him and from their other adrenaline pushers is the high: the high of righteous indignation, paranoid ideation, and certainty that they are in the Elect as real Americans. They are addicted to their own anger.
That mainstream outlets can treat the stuff that Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh pull out of their ass-tronomically large posteriors as a legitimate point of view is proof that the end is near.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/emtimeem-magazine-gives-g_b_292161.html
I just wanted to follow up on your concluding thought...
I agree that it’s embarrassment and is one example demonstrating how journalism is in crisis. Taking this a step further, I’d point you to Katie Couric’s interview with Glenn Beck tonight.
We are to assume that Katie Couric is an unbiased journalist and that the interview, although largely the result of a book promotion, will include questions that are not biased or self-serving. At the very least, the interview should avoid the appearance of being biased or self-serving.
Well, as it turns out, Katie Couric and Glenn Beck share the exact same publicist. Now, given the function of publicists and the controversy that Glenn Beck is currently embroiled in, it seems that this information should at the very least be disclosed prior to the interview. Because they share the same publicist, their interests intersect at some level, and please correct if I am wrong, but it seems as though disclosure of this information would be important so that the audience can provide a check on any bias/self-serving questions.
Source: http://jenkinsear.com/2009/09/21/katie-couric-set-to-interview-glenn-beck-tonight-but-wait/