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Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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You are here: Home / Notes from the fear chamber

Notes from the fear chamber

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I don’t know how Steve Benen has the stomach to watch this stuff, but I’m grateful for the summaries:

Yesterday was especially astounding. He argued on the air, for example, that President Obama intends to create a “civilian national security force,” which will be similar to Hitler’s SS and Saddam Hussein. Apparently, this has something to do with AmeriCorps, which Beck initially said has a $500 billion budget. (He corrected himself later in the show, though his guest didn’t blink when he originally made the claim.)

Towards the end of the show, after scrawling on a variety of boards and pieces of paper, Beck summarized his key observation. On a chalkboard, Beck had written the words, “Obama,” “Left Internationalist,” “Graft,” “ACORN Style Organizations,” “Revolution,” and “Hidden Agenda.” If you circle some of the first letters of these important words, Beck says, it spells “OLIGARH.” Beck told his viewers there’s only one letter missing. If you’re thinking that letter is “c,” you’re not medicated enough to understand Beck’s show.

The missing letter is “y,” because the word he hoped to spell is “OLIGARHY.”

I thought it might amuse you to read some of this transcript from Mark Halperin’s appearance on Beck’s old HLN show in 2006:

MARK HALPERIN, AUTHOR, “WAY TO WIN”: Glenn, first of all, mega dittos. Just need you to know, I`m not doing this segment on my meds, so watch out.

[….]

HALPERIN: No. Glenn, you and I are in what we call rare agreement. And I think the important thing, when somebody like Michael J. Fox offers to make an ad or asks to make an ad, or Cindy Sheehan says I want to go down to Crawford, Texas, they better have somebody in there like telling them, “You`re entering the arena. Strap on the armor.” Because our politics is tougher today than it`s ever been. And people have to be challenged on their ideas.

People have to be challenged on their ideas.

Bring on the apocalypse.

Reader Interactions

72Comments

  1. 1.

    catclub

    oligarh also spells “hog liar”.

    I think Beck fears Limbaugh.

    OT: Instead of renaming the health reform bill after Ted Kennedy,
    rename it after Ronald Reagan and include carving his face into
    Mt Rushmore. Then dare the Repubs to vote against it.

  2. 2.

    SGEW

    Where is the shark, and when can we just jump that motherfucker already?!

    Maybe the Mayans were on to something. 2012 really does look, well, eschatological.

  3. 3.

    YellowJournalism

    I don’t think what Glenn Beck has are ideas, necessarily. Crazy, insane ramblings masquerading as journalism and political commentary? Unfortunately, yes.

  6. 6.

    freelancer

    Hooray for local journalism:

    http://www.omahacityweekly.com/article/2009/08/27/web-exclusive-map-quest-town-hall

    Many sneered. Most at least glowered. Four accused the test itself of being somehow biased. About half way through the polling I mistakenly blurted out “yes” when I meant to say “no” after a Tea Partier asked if they had answered correctly in this little game of “where’s Waldo?”
    “So much for your gotcha politics,” the woman with more tattoos than teeth snarled. “And you want to say that we are all so stupid!”
    Think about that for a moment. She knew that hers was what could only be described as a wild guess. She knew that she didn’t know the location of Iraq. And yet when told that her answer was correct she became smugly defiant, sending me away shaking my head at such blatant disingenuousness.
    Accustomed to being lied to by her own party and by the right wing noise machine, she apparently didn’t think twice about lying to the media – and to herself.
    And then it hit me. I must always answer “yes,” even when an answer was incorrect. Not a single pro-reform person gave me a “so there”-style response, but five on the other side gleefully did, including four who had answered incorrectly.
    Perhaps saddest of all was the Viet Nam vet who spat, “Why the hell should I care where Iraq is?”

    Facepalm for fellow constituents in my district.

  7. 7.

    geg6

    If it wasn’t for Benen, I wouldn’t know about what is said on shit like Beck’s show. No fucking way would I watch that, unless I was on thorazine or something.

    As for Halperin, the only difference between him and Beck is that Mark hides his mental illness better than Beck. If Beck isn’t suffering from bi-polar disorder, then my brother isn’t either. For which, by the way, he is being treated quite nicely by that commie health program, the VA. Too bad Beck never served because if I ever saw a soul in need of lithium and the intensive therapy in which the VA seems to excel based on my brother, it’s him.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    Can we take up a collection and buy Glen Beck a tinfoil hat? Seems that he really really needs one.

    -dms

  9. 9.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    Kos, Dave Waldman (Kagro X) and few others were lighting up Twitter yesterday using #secretarmy and some of it was golden. Poor Glenn was whining like a little boy who had his lunch money stolen by the class bully.

    Markos haz a funnie:<blockquoteWith his @secretarmy, it’s nice for @glennbeck to give conservatives another army to avoid serving in.

    Between Stewart, Colbert and following a few people on Twitter I get hours of entertainment.

  10. 10.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    People have to be hallenged on their ideas.
    Bring on the apoalypse.

    Fixt, for Glenn Bek viewers. Ontinue with the razy. If you don’t stand up for the onstitution, nobody will.

  11. 11.

    Sentient Puddle

    Based on that “OLIGARHY” story, I’m actually tempted to start watching Beck for the unintentional humor.

  18. 18.

    Citizen_X

    It has to be watched to be believed. He really, truly does say, “There’s one letter missing,” and then spells out “OLIGARHY” on the board. (And pronounces it “oligarchy.”) And then they go back and focus on the word at the end!

  22. 22.

    JGabriel

    The missing letter is “y,” because the word he hoped to spell is “OLIGARHY.”

    Well, of course there’s no “C”. If you could “C” it, then the agenda wouldn’t be “H”idden anymore, silly.

    .

  24. 24.

    SpotWeld

    Glenn Beck is starting to make the over-the-top and insanely-contrived super villians that Marvel has been spewing out look sane in comparison…

  26. 26.

    Xel

    Naturally, the right cuddles up to Beck because people dared to challenge him with a boycott for his insanity. The minute he is attacked by the left, he is one of them and gets instant approval and defense despite his being so incredibly right-wing. Dog pack mentality.

  28. 28.

    Max

    Doesn’t Glenn Beck do stand up comedy also? I seem to recall a promo before a film at the movie theatre (I’m an early arriver).

    Has anyone seen it? How different is his act from his show?

  29. 29.

    Comrade Jake

    Is it possible that ratings are up because people have gotten the channel confused with Comedy Central?

    “I caught that Glenn Beck the other day. He’s a lot better than Colbert!”

  30. 30.

    David Hunt

    @Citizen_X:

    It has to be watched to be believed. He really, truly does say, “There’s one letter missing,” and then spells out “OLIGARHY” on the board. (And pronounces it “oligarchy.”) And then they go back and focus on the word at the end!

    Ahh, we can forgive him this. It’s so obvious that Obama is a Communist that he simply forgot to put it up there. Communism and its “C” are assumed.

    /Beck

  32. 32.

    Xenos

    I just checked the Beck twitter thing — his top post:

    “Oh, by the way: OLIGARH? Really? You are so predictable… don’t miss the open.”

    What the heck does that mean? What is an ‘open’?

    Heck, we might as well admit it, whatever it means, he got us libs!

  33. 33.

    David Hunt

    @SpotWeld:

    Glenn Beck is starting to make the over-the-top and insanely-contrived super villians that Marvel has been spewing out look sane in comparison…

    That makes sense. Comic book supervillians have to have discernible goals that make sense to people with a third grade reading level.

  35. 35.

    lawnorder

    @10: You are missing a C on your keyboard

    @6
    the Viet Nam vet who spat, “Why the hell should I care where Iraq is?”
    THIS is pretty much who they are: “Fuck you, I got mine”

  36. 36.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    I can’t wait to see video of “the Plan” and how Glenn will break the shackles of his servitude! The man can’t keep him down! He’s gonna save us all from the jack booted thugs of ACORN!

    (Has he ever seen any of the ACORN people? Not exactly the scariest people I’ve ever seen, but hey what do I know. I ain’t skeered of Obama. So there!)

  37. 37.

    jibeaux

    You know, I don’t know what the context of that 2006 interview was but if the idea is that a well-liked actor and victim of Parkinson’s needs to be prepared to feel the full wrath of the “arena” for advocating more effective scientific research that could help in the fight against Parkinson’s, well God help your hollow, bitter soul.

    Is it wrong that I like to picture a purgatory for people like Beck in which they are subjected to years in some sort of direct instruction-style remedial elementary spelling classes? And they have to raise their hand to go to the bathroom and they’re not allowed to call each other names and they don’t get to move on from purgatory until they resemble in some way a human being?

  40. 40.

    geg6

    @Napoleon:

    Actually, most people with bi-polar disorder also have major substance abuse issues. My brother doesn’t but it is a common side issue due to poor impulse control, especially during periods of mania. My brother didn’t abuse drugs or alcohol during manic spells, but he did have a shopaholic issue for which my parents had to bail him out to the tune of several tens of thousands of dollars. So Beck being a recovering (and I honestly question that since the guy is so unhinged) alcoholic would only make me more sure that the guy needs lithium in a big way.

  43. 43.

    JGabriel

    David Hunt:

    Comic book supervillians have to have discernible goals that make sense to people with a third grade reading level.

    Whereas Beck only needs to make sense to Republicans.

    .

  46. 46.

    Morbo

    @freelancer:

    Oh, whom am I trying to kid? With an estimated 1,200 people in attendance, the City Weekly, try as we might, could not find a single African American who was against HR 3200.

    ba-ZING!

  47. 47.

    FormerSwingVoter

    @Max:

    I was curious about his comedy act and found this:

    Calling this a “comedy” show was a very ballsy move. I would call it an energetic history lecture, or cheap, fear-mongering propaganda, or some kind of religious evangelical movement (if Glenn Beck was a religion), but never a comedy show. Not because it wasn’t funny (it wasn’t), but because there just didn’t seem to be any jokes.

    http://www.cracked.com/blog/i-watch-glenn-becks-comedy-tour-regret-it/

  48. 48.

    Oy Vey

    At this point, I would only be mildly surprised if Beck turned out to be a mole for the Democratic party to discredit conservatives, working under deep cover. Like, really, really, really, all-the-way-to-China, really deep.

  49. 49.

    jibeaux

    @lawnorder:

    Well, that would be torture to any normal person. But somehow I get the feeling these guys might actually enjoy it. At least nod along in agreement and at most, well, let’s not talk about.

  50. 50.

    b-psycho

    @Comrade Jake: I’m starting to suspect that Glenn Beck is the reason Colbert is taking such a long break. Parody of right-wing talk gets rather difficult when the real thing becomes so funny, Steve’s gotta retool his approach.

  51. 51.

    jibeaux

    @Comrade Jake:

    “Keep being a watch dog. FIND OLD SOUND OR VIDEO on the czars before it is all deleted. Copy it and send links please. Look 4 radicals quick

    I am sure that if BUSH wanted control of the INTERNET in ‘an emergency’ the left would have left all the yelling ‘ over my dead body’ to me.”

    That is some commercial grade paranoia right there.

  53. 53.

    MikeJ

    I’m starting to suspect that Glenn Beck is the reason Colbert is taking such a long break.

    Installing HD equipment in TDS, so I assume they’re doing his studio too.

  54. 54.

    Demo Woman

    @Oy Vey: One would have to assume that most conservatives are smart enough to figure out that he’s unbalanced. His viewership has grown since he called President Obama a racist.

  55. 55.

    GambitRF

    Some of this is starting to remind me of A Beautiful Mind when John Nash starts just posting random papers full of nonsense on his walls and starts circling them, sticking pushpins in them, etc. because he’s seeing patterns that aren’t actually there.

  56. 56.

    freelancer

    @MikeJ:

    Full Circle:

    Didn’t the wingnuts claim gov’t takeover and blame Obama because of the HD broadcast digital switch? I mean if he can control the internet emergencies, why can’t he be overlord of the Daily Show?

  57. 57.

    Chad N Freude

    @dmsilev:

    Can we take up a collection and buy Glen Beck a tinfoil hat? Seems that he really really needs one.

    There’s no point in putting a tin roof on an empty barn.

    I’m surprised that Beck knows the word “oligarchy” (no matter how he misspells it). Do you suppose his audience does?

  59. 59.

    georgia pig

    This nutjob is my brother-in-law’s hero. I’ve always suspected my brother-in-law was crazy, but now I’m not letting my kids anywhere near him. BTW, bipolar disorder runs in the family, and he has had substance abuse problems that he self-treats. Not good.

  60. 60.

    lumpenprole

    “Fear mongering” is too elevated a phrase for this stuff. It’s more like “dunce herding.”

  62. 62.

    Anne Laurie

    Actually, most people with bi-polar disorder also have major substance abuse issues… it is a common side issue due to poor impulse control, especially during periods of mania… So Beck being a recovering (and I honestly question that since the guy is so unhinged) alcoholic would only make me more sure that the guy needs lithium in a big way.

    See also “self-medicating”. And Beck would not be the first untreated bi-polar alcoholic to use the dual excuse that (a) he isn’t ‘mentally ill’, he’s just a drunk; and (b) those mean doctors who want him to take lithium don’t understand that a recovering addict must NEVER take ‘mind-altering’ medication on a regular basis, because, shut up that’s why. (It’s a real issue but it’s also an escape clause.)

    The real problem, though, is that Beck is being rewarded, quite literally, for spiralling out of control, live and on camera. Why, in the pure economics sense, should he pay some medical professional to make him less capable of drawing a large viewing audience and therefore a bigger paycheck?

  64. 64.

    SGEW

    All I know is that whoever plays the character “Glenn Beck” in the blockbuster Hollywood movie, twenty years from now, is gonna win themselves an Oscar all right.

    What a role!

  65. 65.

    gocart mozart

    On a related note, McMegan can go fuck herself. Fuck herself with a hardbound edition of “The Fountainhead”.

    “Megan McCardle August 27, 2009 6:24 PM
    Reagan was shot by a certified lunatic, as was Garfield. Kennedy and McKinley were shot by left wing loners. I give you John Wilkes Booth as right wing in his own social context, but that was a while back, and I think we can forgive the Democrats by now.”

    An excerpt in comments, but read her whole post for an example of clueless asshatery

    p.s. I wanted an excuse to use that Fountainhead line.

  67. 67.

    gocart mozart

    SGEW, yes it would be like “Network” except the lead character would be really crazy.

  68. 68.

    El Cid

    Reagan was shot by a certified lunatic, as was Garfield. Kennedy and McKinley were shot by left wing loners.

    This is important because of all the left wingers bringing guns to Obama events.

  69. 69.

    tripletee

    @Xenos:

    What the heck does that mean? What is an ‘open’?

    The beginning of his show – the opening segment. He seems to be building up to something big – I’m guessing he’s going to reveal the location of the Obamarmy’s training camps (probably somewhere near the FEMA death camps). Then he’ll bite the head off of a live bat or cut off one of his own ears with a utility knife or something before lapsing into his own private, made-up language (like Jodie Foster in “Nell”, only whinier) for the remainder of the show.

    Seriously, though – Hannity is a pig-ignorant blowhard and Rush is a cynical assclown, but Beck is on another level entirely. I honestly think he’s on the verge of some kind of mental health crisis.

  70. 70.

    calipygian

    Barack Obama, half-black/half-white son of a Kenyan and a teenage mom is the harbringer of oligarchy.

    George W Bush, Son of a President, grandson of a Senator/Industrialist/convicted Nazi collaborator, great-grandson of the man who earned the most from the arms trade during WWI, inlaw to the Koch family of billionaires – guy Glenn Beck used to get fucked up with everynight on Jack and beers everyman.

    I am baffled. It’s beyond parody.

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