The first I heard of Glenn Beck
Was when he keynoted the NRA Annual Meeting banquet in Louisville in 2008. Never heard of him before that and got to watch him give a speech. A few other folks there told me that they liked his show and, so, I awaited his speech. It was a good speech. It was delivered well but I could have done without all the crying. His radio show wasn’t on here until recently and I never really thought much about him. Until all the press and lefties (but I repeat myself) started going on about him. This rekindled a faint bit of interest. And I read some stuff he’d written.
But something happened. Apparently, that guy giving a decent, patriotic, freedom-oriented speech at NRA-Con had gone bat shit fucking crazy.
He is now packing up his chalk and jumbo-pack of Kleenex and leaving FoxNews.
April 8th, 2011 at 9:19 am
I enjoy Savage, I like Limbaugh, I can tolerate Hannity, but I cannot stomach Beck.
April 8th, 2011 at 9:37 am
I dont think he changed much from then. meh.
k-dAUG, how you can enjoy Savage is past me, unless you like hearing about how important he is, and that he is banned in Britain. There is very little else that gets on his show.
As for the other 2 big talk hosts, some day they might not have a hard on for any person that ends their name in an R.
April 8th, 2011 at 9:58 am
He’s probably quitting to prepare for a run for president…
April 8th, 2011 at 10:01 am
Beck as a candidate would be AWESOME. The sound bites and debates would be fun to watch. But even he says that anyone voting for him would have to be an idiot.
Besides, he couldn’t take the pay cut.
April 8th, 2011 at 10:06 am
http://www.therightscoop.com/beck-mocks-gma-expose-of-his-bitter-divorce-with-fnc/
http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2011/04/exclusive-truth-behind-beck-shutting.html
Savage called US troops hessians. Screw him.
April 8th, 2011 at 10:19 am
Savage is trying to be the “Shock-Jock” of talk radio. It was just too obvious for me. I don’t see how anybody can go for his shit either.
Beck has been on the Radio in knoxville for years, but you had to listen to weekend talk radio to catch him. I actually enjoy his books and radio show quite a bit. I find myself chuckling the whole time he is on. He’s pretty funny. His “Emporer Palpatine” impersonations are excellent.
April 8th, 2011 at 10:25 am
I loathe Savage, Hannity’s voice is fingernails on a chalkboard to me, Beck is a little nuts, and Limbaugh is generally hugely entertaining, when I have time to listen.
I used to think Beck was bug-nuts crazy, but I’m beginning to think he may be more right than not. Not to say that he still isn’t wrong on a whole bunch.
April 8th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Beck’s principal defect is his reference of his politics to his religion.
“Any false or partially false premise extended with accurate logic will generate an approximate simulation of insanity.” (Robert Anton Wilson)
April 8th, 2011 at 10:32 am
He was definitly a good speaker at the convention.
April 8th, 2011 at 10:32 am
The Michale Savage Kel-Tec
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/09/21/kel-tec-freedom-p3at/
April 8th, 2011 at 10:34 am
BTW Beck’s radio show is terrible… His TV show is great, so if you have not watched his show b/c of what you have heard on his radio show…. Dont completely write him off.
April 8th, 2011 at 10:39 am
You can literally *hear* Savage going nuts. Not a bad performance for a former boyfriend of Allen Ginsberg, and it’s cheaper than Comedy Central.
Beck, on the other hand, with his maudlin faith and Kleenex belongs on the Lifetime channel. A weird 70’s Mormon conspiracy nut Lifetime.
April 8th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Savage is entertainment. He has a huge ego, but I think every talk show host on TV / radio has one. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I find his style entertaining.
April 8th, 2011 at 11:10 am
I had a roughly similar arc with Beck. His show appeared on my local talk radio in late 2001. And it was great. He was right leaning, but not overly religious. He talked more about issue than straight partisan water carrying. I listened everyday.
He was even responsible for one of my favorite radio momments ever. Back in 2002 on Halloween, he did a live remake of the War of the Worlds broadcast which was a lot of fun.
But then somewhere in 2003-2004, he went nuts. Suddenly it was all about conspiracy theories and how various shadowy groups were going to destroy the world if we didn’t stop them. I stayed on for a while, hoping it was just a passing phase and things would go back they way they were. But it kept getting more nutty, and eventually I just couldn’t stand to listen any more and stopped.
He’s since been dropped by the local station, which is kinda significant, because WPHT was the station that originally started him as a nationally syndicated show.
The only thing I wonder now is which Beck is the real one? Was he always crazy and just had to rein it until he thought he was big enough to get away with it? Does he not really believe what he says now, but has made a concious decision to say whatever will make him money.
I don’t know.
April 8th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
He’s gotten nuttier, but he doesn’t cry anymore.
April 8th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Beck is no nuttier than the froot-bats on NPR.
April 8th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Forget the crying and the God talk – that’s the paint job. Look under the hood. If you’re going to call someone nuts, you’ll have to point where they’ve made materially incorrect assertions and held on to them, never correcting themselves, or point to materially significant data that is being ignored. By that standard, anyone in the Old media is bat-shit insane, and Beck is probably bordering on sane.
April 8th, 2011 at 11:37 pm
How can you just ‘forget the God talk’? What drove Beck nuts is an overdeveloped ability to believe total nonsense.
April 9th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Beck exploits Ma and Pa Kettle in the flyover states who are already afraid that those of different skin colors, different religions and different nationalities are already on their way to destroy the US. I’m Libertarian (what Beck “says” he is), but I rarely agree with him on anything. He preys on the uneducated. He steals ideas from other radio and tv hosts; he has throughout his career. Don’t forget he started as a stand-up comedian, then became a shock-jock and transitioned into a talk-show host. It was ok when he gave “history” lessons. They were questionable in the history area; but at least his zombie-like followers felt they were learning something. But over the last year, he’s been on his Chicken-Little OMG(!!) the World Is Coming To An End and It’s All the Communists, George Soros and Muslims fault! He lessens conservative/libertarian ideas to the point that the rest of us are not taken seriously. I’m happy to see Fox drop him. I hope he disappears.
April 9th, 2011 at 4:45 pm
I used to like to listen to Beck on the radio. he kinda went off the deep end when his wife died though.