Glenn Beck, Restoring America and Fascism - Part 2 - The Man

In part one, we covered the overwhelming desire for liberty inherit in the American Tea Party movement. In part two we cover the man himself, Glenn Beck.

First, I must confess that I was an individual who used to regularly listen to the Glenn Beck program if, for no other purpose, the sheer entertainment value. This was a ways back in the era of “Bobo the Puppy” (2003) and Terri Schiavo and I used to listen to his program daily. Beck, to me, seemed a fairly sincere, but perhaps a little over the top in his delivery, his seemingly incredible ability to catch individuals and entities in massive illogical positions.

After some time, I began to grow suspicious of Beck’s seemingly uneven “awakenings” that would he would embrace at various times throughout his program. Beck would ardently defend a given position and when it seemed as though he was losing popular ground, he would 'come to his senses' and repent of his former position, generally in his melodramatic, sobbing, 'God save me, a lonely sinner' sort of way.

At the time, I couldn't necessarily nail down any specific position that seemed inconsistent, at least not one I can remember now, however it suffices to say I was growing more suspicious of his sincerity on any given issue. At that point, perhaps around 2004, I stopped listening altogether.
Fast forward to today and it seems as though he is still following the same script. Let's look at a few of these issues shall we?

• The Banker Bailout - On September 22, 2008 Beck came out in ardent support of the bill stating - “The $700 billion dollars that you’re hearing about now is not only I believe necessary, it is also not nearly enough.” True, Beck claims he came to his senses after the bill passed, but then again, with such vehement outrage against the bill, did he have much of a choice?
• Torture - Beck supports it as a counter-terrorist tactic.
• Ron Paul - In 2007, the underdog political story of the year was the rapid ascendence of Ron Paul and the Campaign for Liberty. In a stunning display Beck went so far as to imply Ron Paul and his supporters were dangerous potential terrorists. Ron Paul's campaign effectively stalled while faithful Beck supporters investigated Ron Paul. This is especially egregious when one considers the positions that Paul was taking on the economy before the 2008 crisis.
• Debra Medina - Ron Paul was not a lone example, as in 2010 Glenn again torpedoed Debra Medina's gubernatorial aspirations as he latched onto the 9/11 conspiracy angle with Debra, a position that wasn't even in the debate at the time. Once again, the Beck faithful turned on a candidate who was discussing ending property taxes and many other critical liberty issues.
• In 2009, without any basis whatsoever, Glenn Beck falsely stated that the Holocaust museum shooter, James W. von Brunn, was a “hero” to people who question the official story of 9/11– a transparently deliberate attempt to associate the Truth movement with violence.
• Glenn's support of a VAT tax - Yes, this would "simplify" the code, but in practice this equates to more money being taxed out of the system and a slowdown on production as every step of production becomes taxed. This says nothing of a repeal on the Income Tax, repudiation of egregious debt or heaven forbid, cuts in spending on the Federal level.
• The Patriot Act
• Fake crying - This is his thing, his schtick.

At a bare minimum, who can take this man as anything other than an entertainer? Which incidentally, is exactly what he purports to be.

In part 3, we will examine the rally itself; what was it, why the Lincoln Memorial?