The Importance of Glenn Beck

Maybe he is a bit too histrionic; perhaps some of his views are reminiscent of the lone gunmen; whatever, Mr. Beck serves an important function as a counterweight to all the weight and mass of a media that is remiss in its obligations at best and either credulous or squarely partisan at worst. For instance, all this week, Beck is lifting the veil and outing the mess of radicals, cronies, and what not who serve in the Obama administration. The web of associations alone is enough to lead even the most reasonable to a degree of unease. It is also information I have yet to come across anywhere else in the Cable News world.

Not surprisingly, then, there is quite a bit of pressure to silence him. After he described President Obama as a racist who hates white people, ColorofChange.org orchestrated a campaign which purportedly resulted in at least 30 sponsors asking their spots not be shown during the program. I don't particularly agree with the comment, and I sorta wish he hadn't said it, but..... Gee, I don't remember that happening to Olbermann when he foamed at the mouth about Bush.

Although news accounts are bruiting the success of the organization in making sponsors run for the hills, a bit of research shows that some major corporations such as Clorox have actually pulled their advertising from political programming on all the cable networks. I pass the information along, including two websites that have been created in support of Beck here and here. Article here.

By the bye, one of the founders of ColorofChange.org is supposedly Van Jones, the green jobs Czar in the current administration.

Mr. Jones about the effect of being arrested after the Rodney King verdict:

"I met all these young radical people of color -- I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.' I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary. I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th. By August, I was a communist."

The head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality about Mr. Jones:

Van Jones has been a strong voice for green jobs and we look forward to having him work with departments and agencies to advance the President’s agenda of creating 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and utilize renewable resources. Jones will also help to shape and advance the Administration’s energy and climate initiatives with a specific interest in improvements and opportunities for vulnerable communities.