Colbert Went Where the New York Times Feared to Tread on Glenn Beck

Was it another Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer takedown? Another case of a faux newsman going where the mainstream media dared not go?

It was shocking last night to watch the usually pro-right-wing Colbert persona lay into Beck without an ounce of sympathy. It came just one day after the New York Times' front page profile of Beck that failed to fully air his dirty laundry and mainly treated him as just another popular entertainer.

Colbert, as you will read and see following this link, expressed (albeit with his usual twinkle and silly Halloween coda) all of the passion, and skill, shown by Stewart when he went after Cramer. He was not just foolin' around.

Something obviously got to him. Perhaps it was a part left out of the Times' piece, which covered Beck's new "9/12" movement without mentioning that Beck had attacked 9/11 families and said he was sick of hearing about it and them. The punch line: "The 9-12 project is not for families directly affected by 9/11 -- just people building their careers on it."

Compare this to the Times' treatment of Beck as largely a voice for "conservative populist anger" with his "moral lessons" and "passion" and "outrage."

Now, will Beck go on Colbert's show, a la Jim Cramer? One doubts it, but watch Beck's show tonight for any quick response.

Colbert earlier had mocked Beck's "war room" wankery.

And it all comes on the heels of the new Rasmussen poll showing that 1 in 4 Americans now see the Comedy Central late-night shows as "viable" news outlets.

Greg Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher. His new book is "Why Obama Won." He tweets here.

Comments

[Ellyllon]

Stephen Colbert is my hero. That piece was perfection. I bow!

[lisakaz2]

Colbert was correct in being offended by Beck and the 9/12 chicanery. The Times was weak in doing a puff piece. One would wonder if they'd let Ann Coulter say the same things unchallenged, given how she insulted 9/11 widows. I wonder if Colbert wasn't responding to Stewart and they're engaging in one-upsmanship in their outrage over pundits who lie for their own gain. The audience seemed a bit taken aback when Colbert got so savage in his assessment but I don't any thought he was wrong. His own tape of Beck slamming families as somehow ungrateful showed otherwise.

[gisellestwocents]

I think the audience was a bit taken aback -- I know I was -- by the sheer hypocrisy that was being exposed. I actually didn't remember Beck's former statements. But I trust Jon and Stephen's honesty to the fullest ... especially since they actually back up their statements with footage!!!

You can't deny soundbites...

[Durango]

Isn't it amazing that these fools who make their living in broadcasting seem to think nobody will find copies of what they have said?

Thank Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert because apparently no one else in the American media has a video library. Or knows how to find anything in it.

[NJmikeV]

I stopped buying the Times when they hired that Iraq war cheerleader and PNAC mouthpiece Bill Kristol.
Steve Colbert should have a space station named after him.

[LTCKal]

Let's face it, we're in a race as to who will become the incarnation of Howard Beale. Will it be done as a satire (Colbert), or -- gasp -- for real (Glenn Beck)? I'm waiting for Glenn Beck to have an audience, a band, and a cheerful announcer. The more I revisit satires, the more real and less over-the-top they become.

[TrooAmerican]

The NYTimes are BALL-Less. They have been cowed and tail between the legs by the republicans and I wrote to them to tell them they'd go down harder if they kept being afraid to attack those that deserve attacking and continued to just play everything safe and occasionally attack democrats who never fight back and slink away in a dark room.

[tm68]

Satire is based in truth and frankly, things have gotten so insane in DC that I need to laugh or I'm going to go insane myself. Why do you think Obama chuckled in that 60 minutes interview? The mess we are in so utterly ironic that you can't do anything but laugh and wonder how the h*ell we got here.

[Tim303]

Well, I unsubcribed from the NYT the day they showed McCain hugging Palin above a pic of Obama whom they claimed was losing money.

[theone718]

It is THE MOST VIABLE news channel. They are the best truthtellers we have right now. I hope they don't change.

[buddydave]

From the NYT article:

"In an interview, Mr. Beck, who recently rewatched the 1976 film 'Network,' said he identified with the character of Howard Beale, the unhinged TV news anchorman who declares on the air that he is 'mad as hell.'"

How can you take a TV personality seriously after they admit that?

Either: (a) he really is insane and identifies with an insane character or (b) he sees significant potential for success in creating the very type of TV show the movie was warning against.

Of course, he's no Peter Finch. After seeing the clips Colbert showed, my wife said of Beck: "He's a really bad actor."

[BlackJAC]

I remember Howard Beale wanting to kill himself at the beginning of that film. I also remember how the guy who signed his paychecks had to tell him how the world really worked.

[drgrph]

Would I be interpreting your post correctly if I believed you haven't actually watched Glenn Beck? If so, then is it really fair to make a judgment about someone solely on the basis of a comedy program? I think that would be a mistake.

Not everyone "gets" Glenn Beck, just as I don't "get" Keith Olbermann. But are you even aware that Beck hasn't complained about Colbert's fixation with him? He seems to understand the role of a faux news/comedy show and even thinks what's been done is in bounds and humorous.

What's important to understand, or look out for, is the media's marginalization of any who deviate from their leftist orthodoxy. I'm not one of his "9/12ers" - but I understand it is successfully rallying people to stand against the attempt to destroy the values of our Constitution. Anyone who can do that will clearly be a target - if not of the press then this current Olinsky-based Administration.

[Peacedog]

I don't remember hearing you complain when Bush and his cadre gutted habeas corpus from our beloved Constitution. Just as you were probably behind the "Curve" in evaluating Bush and Cheney's arguments for invading Iraq, you are once again all wrong about Obama. It isn't his "socialist" tendencies we all need to be worried about... and I'm afraid we have plenty to be worried about. As far as the Constitution goes though, it can only be safer now that the Republican party is out of power. I don't really need to start listing all of the ways Bush and Cheney wiped their behinds with our sacred document.

[cinecity]

"Attempt to destroy the values of the Constitution" - spoken like someone who has never read the Constitution, knows nothing about the Deists and Humanists who wrote it, and was silent when the previous administration violated it.

Turn off your TV and read a book.

[Tim303]

For "our values" read "your values" or better "your pseudo-values that you try to cram down our throats, like libertarian neglect of people bleeding to death in the street for want of cash to pay an ambulance."

[berzelius]

I made my dad, a staunch conservative, watch the Glenn Beck show, the episode they showed on the Colbert Report actually, and even he said he couldn't stand the guy and that he is a fraud, and all the emotions are fake.

Of course he can stand OReilly, Limbaugh, or Savage either. So maybe he is only a conservative because of taxes or just doesn't like Charlatans.

[gloriousbeing]

Glenn Beck is an opportunist just like Rush Limbaugh.

[WestcoastSteve]

Here's simple intelligence test. If you think Glenn Beck makes any sense and cares for anyone other than himself, then you failed.

[OLEGAR]

Bek is a wannabee flush limberbaw just not as acidic........ but just as stoopid

[sisterdebmac]

Much, much stoopider, actually.

[trisha08]

Well, as the rest of the media sleeps (through the Iraq war, through Cheney recently trying to rewrite history, through the Bush years as our Country was on a downward spiral, throught the economic meltdown last year, through Limbaugh as the GOP leader, etc) only Colbert and Stewart have actually shown up and done their job.

[OLEGAR]

A true tonic for the slime from Faux Noise or cnbc . . I love the comedy but really dig the satire that goes straight for the core of the liars and flim flams. And not "ALL" the media is asleep - - watch Oberman and Madow on MSNBC for more real journalism.

[timregler]

Colbert just might be the most courageous man on television. He's certainly one of the funniest.

[BlackJAC]

If it hadn't been for Colbert, I would never have known that our government as a policy of appeasement towards Decepticons.

[salamanca1]

If you haven't seen his performance at the Washington Press Club dinner, with Dubya sitting right there next to him, YouTube it now. Talk about courageous. Frankly, Glenn Beck makes creeps and snake-oil salesmen look like the Sisters of Mercy.

[Havnagudtim]

That performance is CLASSIC, and Ol Dubbayew had to sit there and take it full in the face. You must see it to believe.

[ibivi]

This was a terrific piece of journalism by Colbert. Hope he got a Peabody. For Beck to say that he is tired of the 9/11 victims shows that he is a totally heartless windbag. Nothing matters to him except his "issues". Shame on the NYT for doing a puff piece on this Limbaugh wannabe.

[liberalchick]

Right wing? You really don't watch the show, do you? He makes fun of the right by pretending to be part of it. He makes more fun of the right than anything.

[bamabluedotgirl]

Read carefully. He referenced Colbert's "persona", not Colbert himself.

[allonfla]

I think he gets it, sweetie.

[Katherine Lott]

He does watch the show. He just means that Colbert didn't do the whole "I'm with this guy, srsly." bit as ~thoroughly~ as he usually does.

[scubalady]

He probably watches it and understands it since the complete quote is "pro right wing Colbert persona", persona being the key word here.

[debwk]

He said "right-wing persona" that's very different from "right-wing". I'm pretty sure that Mitchell, like the rest of the country, understands that Colbert is playing a satiric role.

[RodgzK]

I'm glad you pointed out the word "persona." Like Liberalchick, I , too, missed that on my first read.

[robbo24]

Excellent post, Greg.

[brooklyncitizen]

Also aired on last night's program was an interview with the lobbyist for the newspaper industry. It may have been a subtle slam to the uselessness of papers particularly since they turn away from doing investigative journalism or any kind of balanced reporting.

The NYT piece on Beck is precisely an example of more covert conservative propaganda by a paper that has presented a "liberal" face . The NYT has always fallen in line with the conservative agenda and fed govt propaganda to its public so we can buy in on the disastrous policies and lies that the conservative govt's of Reagan,Bush and Bush have generated.

Colbert is amazing and brave.