Cenk Uygur Takes On the Right-Wingers Politicizing the Boston Marathon Bombing

Get 'em Cenk!

The Glenn Beck TV Program Is Going Off the Air: The End of an Error

As you probably know, it was announced on 4/6 that Glenn Beck would "transition off of his daily program" on Fox "News" later this year. In just over two years of hosting his program on Fox, this lying, race baiting, fearmongering fraud has set new lows in political discourse. For a recap, Media Matters has documented the 50 worst things Glenn Beck said on Fox right here. Although it was hard to keep up, Diversity Ink also did its best to chronicle the nonsense spewed by Beck.

I've read some of the conservative blogs and their take on Glenn parting ways with Fox. Not surprisingly, The Lollipop Guild (aka suckers) who view Glenn as a hero are swallowing his "Paul Revere" speech in regards to why he is discontinuing his TV program on Fox. Oh yeah, he's on to bigger and better things...please! I thought it didn't get any bigger than Fox?!

Earlier this year there were reports about Fox and Beck not being able to come to terms on a new contract. That's probably the main reason his TV program is going bye-bye. The fact that Beck's ratings have steadily eroded didn't help his cause. If you follow television history, it was easy to predict Beck wouldn't be able to sustain the astounding ratings he achieved in the first year of his Fox program. When saying outrageous things, peddling fear, and cooking up tinfoil hat conspiracy theories is your schtick, it's going to wear thin rather quickly with all but the most ardent followers (paging "The Lollipop Guild"). Also, the massive boycott by advertisers (thank you Color of Change) likely made it easy for Fox to decide Beck simply wasn't worth the headache. In addition to the ratings drop and the advertiser exodus, Fox president Roger Ailes couldn't have been happy that it was the Blaze (the conservative blog launched by Beck) which debunked James O'Keefe's fraudulent exposé of NPR. 

In the clip below, Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks gives his analysis of the Glenn Beck/Fox "News" situation. Included in the clip is footage of Beck telling viewers about his plans. It's amazing the amount of B.S. that Beck can spew in just over 3 minutes! If I had been drinking a beverage, I might have done a spit take at the 6:45 mark of the clip. 

Why do you think Glenn Beck's TV program is ending?

New Left Media Talks To Attendees At Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally

Although I first saw this video in late August, I think it's still worth posting.  At Glenn Beck's recent "Restoring Honor" rally, the group New Left Media (which consists of college students Chase Whiteside, Erick Stoll and a camera) interviewed and filmed some of the folks in attendance.  Just as they've done in the past at such events as a Sarah Palin book signing and Tea Party rallies, New Left Media exposes the ignorance and mindlessness by some of the people on the right.  As you'll see, the interviewer (Chase Whiteside) doesn't have to work hard to bring out the ignorance and mindlessness of these people.  This video is loaded with priceless nuggets.  Some of the highlights or (depending on your outlook) lowlights include:

• A man asserts that Al Sharpton is the leader of The Black Panthers (at the 2:48 mark of the clip)
• People say they had never heard Glenn Beck's infamous comments in which he called President Obama a racist (3:23)
• A woman (with no evidence to back it up) accuses President Obama of pitting blacks and whites against each other (4:20)
• Plenty of anti-Muslim sentiment (7:00)

Credit goes to Chase because he somehow manages to keep a straight face throughout all the madness. While watching Hardball with Chris Matthews last night, I was pleasantly surprised to see a piece of this clip. It aired during the segment about the organization (TeaPartyTracker.org) that monitors racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement. The video put together by New Left Media is on the TeaPartyTracker.org site.

Joe Madison Vs. Glenn Beck

On Friday, Glenn Beck (aka "The Silver Gopher") was a guest on the program of XM Radio talk show host  Joe Madison  (aka "The Black Eagle").  During the segment, the two went toe-to-toe on such topics as the civil rights movement, social justice, and Beck's outrageous 2009 comments in which he called President Obama a racist.

Through his appearances on MSNBC, Joe Madison has quickly become one of my favorite pundits.   He's a strong progressive who doesn't let any BS slide.  This is why I'd love to see him as a guest on Glenn Beck's programs and Fox "News" in general because Joe would have plenty of chances to shut the BS down! 

Below is the clip of Glenn Beck's segment on The Madison Show:

Glenn Beck Plays the Race Card... From the Bottom of the Deck

Just when I thought Glenn Beck couldn't get any lower, he manages to reach a whole new depth. On both his radio and TV programs on June 14, Beck aired an edited audio clip of President Obama in order to paint Obama as being racist against white executives.

In the clip below, Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) breaks it down:



If you don't believe the remaining part of the quote read by Cenk was real, below is a link to the 1995 interview Obama did with Bill Thompson (host of the online series Eye On Books). The clip is almost 13 minutes so if you only want to hear the portion where Obama talks about responsibility on the part of blacks and whites, go to the 12:24 mark.

1995 interview

I've heard some conservatives accuse liberals of divisiveness and race baiting, yet these same conservatives are reluctant to call out anyone they feel is on their side such as Beck. If you believe Beck is on your side, stop snoring and start paying attention because he's playing you. His brazenness in airing the cropped clip shows that he feels his core audience is either too dumb to do any research or that they simply don't care. Although I think President Obama was wrong not to talk to BP CEO Tony Hayward sooner than he did, Beck's injection of race into this matter is a reach to say the least.

For all of you in the anti-Obama camp, put down your Haterade for just a moment and look at this objectively. Can you honestly say that Glenn Beck was playing it straight by saying President Obama didn't want to talk to Hayward because he's white? If so, I'd love to hear your argument(s). If you think Beck is the greatest thing since Sen. Joe McCarthy, but feel he's wrong in this case, there's no shame in saying so.

Glenn Beck Plays the Name Game With President Obama

Proving yet again that a certain famous phrase isn't necessarily true, Glenn Beck let his buffoonery shine as only he can. On his 2/4/10 radio program, Beck gave his theory (which you can hear in the clip below) as to why President Obama decided to start going by Barack instead of Barry during his collegiate years.




First, the suggestion that one can't have a name such as Barack and still identify themselves as American completely misses a key aspect which makes this country great: the U.S. is inclusive and one doesn't need to have an Anglicized name to be an American. I wonder what fellow Fox employees Bill O'Reilly, Greta Van Susteren, and Alisyn Camerota think of Beck's assessment. I guess Beck would be happier if President Obama was named Jack Armstrong.

Beck also foolishly plays a portion of the audio version of Obama's bestselling memoir Dreams From My Father to suggest that when Obama started going by the name Barack, he began to seek out fellow college students who were radicals. Although Obama doesn't really address the reasons why he chose to go by Barack instead of Barry in Dreams From My Father, he did offer the following explanation in a 2008 Newsweek story:

"It was not some assertion of my African roots … not a racial assertion. It was much more of an assertion that I was coming of age. An assertion of being comfortable with the fact that I was different and that I didn't need to try to fit in in a certain way."

A real bright 3rd grader could have looked this explanation up, but not Glenn Beck.

Note: Although Barack is his birth name, I'm going to let Beck's "he changed his name from Barry to Barack" business slide because that could just be a question of semantics.

When referring to Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann often uses the name Lonesome Rhodes. I wonder if there is a Marcia Jeffries in Beck's life with the ability to expose him for all the world to see. Sadly, even if it's proven that Beck is the maniacal fraud that many think he is, there would probably still be people in his audience who will refuse to believe it.

Tiger and O.J. Are Connected How?!

And the buffoonery continues! During the December 8 edition of his radio program, Glenn Beck (in regards to the medical emergency that happened at the home of Tiger Woods earlier that morning) does a bit of schtick where he compares the troubled golfer to O.J. Simpson! I'm sure the Glenn Beck lovers will defend him by saying it was just a joke. Whatever. Since Beck is fond of telling his fan base to ask questions, I have one for him. Why make the Tiger/O.J. comparison?! Whether or not it's a joke, his linking of the two athletes may provide a window into how Beck's mind works. Could he be implying that a black man in a relationship with a white woman= violence? Let's say that all of the events surrounding the Tiger Woods controversy were the same... but instead of Tiger Woods being at the center, it was white golfer Phil Mickelson. Do you think Beck would have compared Phil to O.J. Simpson?



The next thing you know, Beck will have his followers believing that Tiger Woods was behind the wheel of that white Ford Bronco during the infamous low-speed chase back in 1994. I can see the crazy chalkboard conspiracy now...

Over 30 and Counting

It appears that Glenn Beck's comments in which he called President Obama a racist have caused some concerns on Madison Avenue. To date, over 30 companies have directed that their commercials not run on Beck's Fox program. Below is a partial list of the companies that have pulled out:

Progressive Insurance
Walmart
Proctor & Gamble
Best Buy
CVS Caremark
Sprint
Clorox
GEICO


When I received a forwarded email earlier this month from a dear family friend about the actions the organization Color of Change was taking to urge advertisers to pull their commercials from Beck's show, I was down for the cause without a pause. I am all for constructive political debate, but the fear mongering/race baiting antics of Glenn Beck only serve to further fracture our country along racial lines.

One of my favorite bloggers (Field Negro) wrote an outstanding post about the Glenn Beck vs. Color of Change showdown and how Beck and some of his fans are fighting back. No matter what side of the fence you stand on in regards to Beck, I hope you make an effort to check out Field Negro's post and share your thoughts on the matter.

Fox News Pundit Glenn Beck Calls President Obama A Racist

During an appearance Tuesday morning on Fox and Friends in which the topic was the "beer summit" scheduled to take place on Thursday, July 30th at the White House, Glenn Beck called President Obama a racist. The tired old right-wing talking point about the Rev. Wright and Obama's criticism of the police were two of the reasons Beck listed for why he feels the way he does about the president. As I said in my previous post about the Henry Louis Gates incident, Obama's criticism of the police wasn't race related. It would be different if he called Sgt. James Crowley a "stupid, white cop". Unfortunately, Beck and several others jumped on the "stupidly" remark and are automatically assuming that the reason for Obama using the term is because Gates is black and Crowley is white.

I do give credit to Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade because he did call Beck out for his nonsensical theories. I wonder if Glenn listens to himself when he speaks because when Kilmeade defended Obama, Glenn said that he's not saying that President Obama doesn't like white people... then he turns around and calls Obama a racist again!

There has been speculation that Glenn Beck is nothing more than the Fox News Channel's version of Stephen Colbert, meaning that his on-air persona is a character spouting off things that the "real" Glenn Beck couldn't possibly believe. When I've watched Beck in the past, sometimes I wasn't sure if he was for a real or if it was all a joke. After viewing his recent appearance on Fox and Friends, I'm convinced that he does believe what he says. If I am wrong, Glenn needs to take his show to Comedy Central and let everyone in on the joke because his recent comments about President Obama are irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

Below is a clip of Glenn making his comments about President Obama on Fox and Friends: