The Unbearable Lightness of Beck

Originally on CrooksandLiars.com

It used to be that if one held the belief that the “end is nigh,” one had to gather up one’s courage and visual aids and take to the streets to warn the unsuspecting masses of the evil in our midst. This avocation used to require conviction (albeit neurotic), the courage to mingle with the audience and look them in the eye to face their challenges or scorn, and, of course, one needed to have some outside source of reliable income. Historically, man-on-the-street doom-saying didn’t pay well at all. But this is the 21^st century and we have all evolved – even doom-sayers.

Due to the forward vision and largesse of Rupert Murdoch, we now have a sheltered workshop for doom-sayers called Fox News. Mr. Murdoch, brilliant capitalist that he is, discovered a way to get downtrodden nuts off the street and make money out of it, to boot. No more unsightly, smelly winos getting all up in our faces with scary signs, growling warnings of conspiracies and cabals. All one had to do was clean them up a little, get them through rehab if necessary, stick them in an Armani suit and a power tie and Voila! That’s entertainment . . . or, rather, the “fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.”

The Confusion of Entertainment With Enlightenment

During this evolution, we learned that traditional news, like many of us grew up with, was way too stodgy and time-consuming, too black and white, if you will, for the Information Age. All that fact-checking and reliable sourcing and verification just bogged the whole business down – by the time the news was out it was “old.” A new model was needed that didn’t rely so heavily on fact and that actually empowered the public to decide what the truth is rather than be told. TV ratings would be the new truth barometer . . . sort of like Dancing With the Stars but for news reporting. For example, “If you think Obama is a Communist/Nazi Antichrist, text us now with BO#AC . . .

This new model for reporting the news recognized and exploited something sexy and primeval in human nature, like the desire to see a good flaming crash (ideally with fatalities) rather than a smoothly run Daytona 500; or a street protest with blood, lots of broken glass and people carried off in handcuffs, rather than a sit-in of middle-aged ladies singing Amazing Grace. We still prefer the Coliseum and Fox News is there to bring it back to us. Target audience? Too young and uneducated to know better; old enough to think everything on the TV must be true; and too old to get on the Internet and check facts.

Our real misfortune, as a society, is that that target audience is large enough to influence policy and perceptions that impact us all and money attracts more money so the thing has the potential to swamp us in a backwash of disinformation. We could very well lose our moorings.

The Pundits Are Running the Asylum

Enter Fox’s apparently bullet-proof superstar Glenn Beck. Clearly, whatever life events preceded Beck’s rise to stardom “broke his brain.” One only has to peruse snippets of his comeback week rants to know that there is some serious affliction devilling Glenn. Unfortunately, it’s contagious. If you troll through any of the online debates about Beck’s ominous exposes, you’ll find that there are people out there that would die (or probably kill) for Beck.

This past week, though, Beck has been acting even stranger than usual. Clearly, there are some subjects that his handlers have deemed “off limits,” for the time being, which must be a terrible distraction for Glenn whose natural inclination is to shoot first, aim later. It was more than that, though, this past week. Beck seemed to be more out of his depth than usual. Every day he exhorted his audience to pay close attention, to take notes, to tape all broadcasts and write them to CDs (in case They shut down theInternets) and to tell friends to tune in because what he had to say was “RILLY, RILLY IMPORTANT!!! (I half expected to hear the Emergency Broadcast System break in.)

Now none of us should expect too much of Glenn, he’s had some misfortune in his life that he’s only too happy to share, his education consists of a High School diploma and, before you get started, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that unless of course you choose to set yourself up as a political pundit responsible for the “enlightenment” of a vast media market and spend your days dissecting, analyzing and criticizing heads of state, Supreme Court Justices, military leaders, Departments of Government, etc.

Throughout this past week, Beck proceeded to ramble, rave and flowchart about his theories on President Obama’s special advisors – a gang of radical, revolutionary “czars.” Beck levied the weighty charge that these czars were “community organizers,” Socialist/Marxist/Communist rabble-rousers who were setting up a “Thug-ocracy” and warning that we will all be sorry if we don’t stop them immediately. This diatribe was liberally laced with random photos of mostly black men in dark clothing with sunglasses on.

Enter Rasputin, Stage Right

Still, something just seemed a little un-Beckian about not only the depth and organization of the “research” but also the style of presentation. There were the usual visiting bobbleheads nodding sagely to egg him on, we learned that spelling is not Glenn’s strong suit, but he also seemed to be a little more studied and a little less spontaneous, a little more scripted than usual. Of course that could be chalked up to the gravity of the situation. Still . . .

Then, yesterday, still pondering this weirdness, I trundled over to Beck’s website to see if any of his fans noticed anything strange, too and – Lo and Behold! There was the answer, big as life, staring me right in the face. It was a big old banner ad for Scott Wheeler’s latest donation-getter – a book entitled Shadow Government: What Obama Doesn’t Want You To Know About His Czars.

If you click on the link, you’re taken directly to the donation page for the National Republican Trust PAC (which, despite the name, has nothing to do with the Republican party) where you can get the book (not available anywhere else) for free, with a $25.00 donation to the PAC. Which is killing me because I WANT that book but I REFUSE to give Wheeler any money.

Here’s the blurb for the book:

MAKE YOUR DONATION ONLINE

Learn the dirty secrets behind Obama’s team of Tsars and how their past will affect your future, and the future of America. Get the book Obama doesn’t want you to read. All 35 Czars covered. Take to your town hall meetings and have all the information you need and can demand answers. (My emphasis)

Order now and receive free shipping. Sign up with your email address and receive updates on the activities of the Czars free for six months.

This book is available exclusively though the National Republican Trust and is yours for free with a donation of $25 or more.

Not only does a contribution get you this invaluable material, your donation will help America get on the right path by educating the public with the truth about Obama. This book gives you the information you need to help educate others that can’t clearly see what is going on right before their eyes.

Ahhh, the clouds are beginning to part . . .

In case the name Scott Wheeler doesn’t immediately ring a bell, here are a few things that you should know about Scott Wheeler from SourceWatch.org:

Scott L. Wheeler is executive director of the National Republican Trust PAC.
“From 1996 to 2002, Scott served as a correspondent and later chief correspondent for American Investigator, a monthly TV newsmagazine of investigations into international breaking-news stories.
He was a contributing writer (2002-2004) for Insight, a national biweekly newsmagazine published by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s News World Communications.
Prior to his television career, Scott served as producer, host and reporter for Reporter’s Journal, a syndicated daily talk-radio program featuring exposés of daily news events which was part of America’s Freedom Network
Wheeler went on to a position with Paul Weyrich’s National Empowerment Television (also known as America’s Voice) which SourceWatch.org describes as a cable TV network designed to rapidly mobilize Religious Right followers for grassroots lobbying. It was created by Paul M. Weyrich, a key strategist for the secular and religious right. At its peak, it claimed to reach more than 11 million homes.

Here’s a video clip of Scott Wheeler speaking at – Guess What? a Tea Party! in Philadelphia this past April. Just so you can get the measure of the man . . .

Make Me Rich and Powerful.com

And here are a few things you should know about National Republican Trust PAC (as Will Evans, an NPR.org reporter said, last Fall: “You know you’re bigtime when Factcheck.org dedicates a full article to debunking your ad.”)

Right after National Republin Trust PAC came on the scene, in October, 2008, Joe Miller at FactCheck.org wrote an article that included these gems:

“An upstart group calling itself the “National Republican Trust PAC” mixes a pile of false claims and the image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta to create one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign.”

“The spot falsely claims Obama has a “plan” to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, Obama has said quite specifically, “I am not proposing that that’s what we do.”

“The ad implies such licenses would enable terrorist attacks. In fact, Atta wouldn’t have needed one to carry out his attacks.”

“It claims that Obama’s health care plan will apply to illegal immigrants. But Obama has stated quite clearly that his plan “does not” cover illegal immigrants.”

“The ad falsely claims that Obama’s plan ‘gives illegals Social Security benefits,’ which is also flatly untrue.

“The National Republican Trust PAC came into being Sept. 26, when it first registered with the Federal Election Commission. By Oct. 15 it had reported raising $463,000 for its anti-Obama campaign. (Update: In an e-mail to supporters on Oct. 29, the group said it had raised more than $3 million.) It has reported spending a total of $902,604 to attack Obama, according to the most recent report filed Oct. 26. It has reported spending substantial sums to the conservative Web site Newsmax and to other vendors for “email communication” opposing Obama’s election, and to a Virginia company called Integram for “direct mail.” It has also listed expenditures for “media production” and a “media buy.”"executive director as Scott Wheeler, who also writes articles for Newsmax, which the NRT PAC pays to distribute anti-Obama e-mail messages, many of which are little more than fundraising pleas.”

“Its Web site lists its

“It’s not uncommon for the final weeks of the presidential campaign to bring out some of the most deceptive ads of the cycle. We thought it would be tough to top the whoppers we’ve seen already, but it looks as if some of the third-party ads are out to prove us wrong. If this gem from the National Republican Trust PAC is any indication, we’d best brace for a blizzard of balderdash.”

UPDATE: During the 2008 presidential campaign, the NRT-PAC spent $8.19 million on ads attacking Barack Obama (in two months time).

And finally, Jim Harper, of the Cato Institute which advises the Department of Homeland Security on data privacy had this to say about NRT-PAC:

“This is terror-pandering of the highest order. While it’s true that several 9/11 hijackers got driver’s licenses and other documents, this has the same relationship to the success of their attacks as the brand of shoes they wore. They could have used their Saudi passports to board flights that day, and the same people in the same circumstances could get on planes today. Even if the REAL ID Act were implemented and we all carried a national ID, terrorists would not be prevented from boarding U.S. flights.”

“If it’s true that Obama would allow illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses — by the way, it wouldn’t be his decision because driver’s licenses are issued by states — it wouldn’t affect our security against terrorism.”

“By all appearances, this message looks like it is designed as much to raise money for the National Republican Trust PAC as to discredit Obama. Certainly, it doesn’t bring credit to Senator John McCain. In fact, it hurts him. To folks who don’t know campaign finance law, itlooks like a desperate and venal grasp by McCain for an issue against Obama.”

“Hyping terror threats damages our country by provoking overreactions that can be more damaging than direct attacks themselves. This message from the National Republican Trust PAC is offensive.”

Meet My New Best Friend

Clearly, the NRT-PAC has a new lease on life and a new promoter in the erstwhile Glenn Beck and his Fox News “family.” Take a look at these two compilation videos and draw your own conclusions. The first is a compilation of new and classic NRT-PAC ads; the video below it is a compilation of Glenn Beck’s programs from this past week. The Beck compilation was put together by Jed Lewison at DailyKos. And appeared on KosTv on August 28th.

I don’t feel that I’m over-reaching to suggest that Glenn Beck might have picked up a few talking points from his advertiser, Scott. I guess it’s possible that we have a chicken or egg situation but that doesn’t matter much. Whichever it is, it makes a gooey, ickey mess that you don’t want to get on you . . .

Drumroll Please

Just to put a cherry on top of this dog’s dinner here’s a clip of my fav, Dick Morris, pimping NRT-PAC out of the goodness of his heart regardless of super-picky SourceWatch saying this:

“Dick Morris has repeatedly promoted and encoraged donations to the (NRT) PAC while failing to disclose his own apparent financial ties to the group. The PAC has paid a firm apparently affiliated with Morris, Triangulation Strategies, at least $24,000 since October 2008, mostly for “Email Communication.”"