Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck
Beck at the Time 100 Gala, May 4, 2010
Born	Glenn Lee Beck (1964-02-10) February 10, 1964 Everett, Washington, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Sehome High School
Occupation(s)	Media personality (host/owner of eponymous talk radio show and television show, related website and magazine) author live entertainer
Spouse(s)	Claire (1983–1994), Tania (1999–present)
Children	Mary, Hannah (from first marriage); Raphe, Cheyenne (from second marriage)
Website	http://www.glennbeck.com/

Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative radio and television host, political commentator, author, and entrepreneur. He is the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally-syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Beck is also the host of a self-titled cable-news show on Fox News Channel.

As an author, Beck has gained success with six New York Times-bestselling books, with five debuting at #1. Beck is also the founder and CEO of Mercury Radio Arts, a multi-media production company through which he produces content for radio, television, publishing, the stage, and the Internet.

Beck has become a well-known public figure, whose provocative and often polarizing views have afforded him media recognition and popularity, along with controversy and criticism. To his supporters, he is a champion in defense of traditional American values from secular progressivism, while his detractors say he promotes conspiracy theories and uses incendiary rhetoric.

Personal life

Glenn Lee Beck was born in Everett, Washington to William and Mary Beck, who lived in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, and sometime later moved their family to Mount Vernon, Washington where they owned and operated City Bakery in the downtown area. He is descended from German immigrants who came to the United States in the 1800s. Beck was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended private Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Mount Vernon. At age 13, he won a contest that landed him his first broadcast job as a disc-jockey for his hometown radio station, KBRC.

In 1977, William Beck filed for divorce against Mary due to her increasing alcoholism. Glenn and his older sister moved with their mother to Sumner, Washington, attending a Jesuit school in Puyallup. On May 15, 1979, his mother drowned in Puget Sound, just west of Tacoma, Washington. A man who had taken her out in a small boat also drowned. A Tacoma police report stated that Mary Beck "appeared to be a classic drowning victim", but a Coast Guard investigator speculated that she could have intentionally jumped overboard. Beck has described his mother's death as a suicide in interviews during television and radio broadcasts.

After their mother's death, Beck and his older sister moved to their father's home in Bellingham, Washington, where Beck graduated from Sehome High School in June 1982. In the aftermath of his mother's death and subsequent suicide of his stepbrother, Beck has said he used "Dr. Jack Daniel's" to cope.

At 18, following his high school graduation, Beck relocated to Provo, Utah and worked at radio station KAYK. Feeling he "didn't fit in," Beck left Utah after six months, taking a job at Washington D.C.'s WPGC in February 1983.

While working at WPGC, Beck met his first wife, Claire. The couple married and had two daughters, Mary and Hannah; Mary was born in 1988 with cerebral palsy, the result of a series of strokes at birth. The couple divorced in 1994 amid Beck's struggles with substance abuse. Along with being a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, Beck has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He cites the help of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in his sobriety and attended his first AA meeting in November 1994, the month he states he stopped drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.

In 1996, while working for a New Haven-area radio station, Beck was admitted to Yale University through a special program for non-traditional students. Beck took one theology class, "Early Christology," and then dropped out.

In 1999, Beck married his second wife, Tania. They joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 1999, partly at the urging of his daughter Mary. The couple has two children, Raphe (who is adopted) and Cheyenne. Beck lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.

Viewpoints

Beck has described himself as a conservative libertarian. Among his core values Beck lists personal responsibility, private charity, the right to life, freedom of religion, limited government, and family as the cornerstone of society. Beck also believes in low national debt, and has said "A conservative believes that debt creates unhealthy relationships. Everyone, from the government on down, should live within their means and strive for financial independence."

Beck believes abortion is murder. He supports individual gun ownership rights and is against gun control legislation.

Beck believes that there is a lack of evidence that human activity is the main cause of global warming He also says there’s a legitimate case that global warming has, at least in part, been caused by mankind, and has tried to do his part by buying a home with a "green" design. He also views the American Clean Energy and Security Act as a form of wealth redistribution, and has promoted a petition rejecting the Kyoto Protocol.

In a 2010 interview in Forbes, Beck asserted that his business was not political, but is an entertainment company: "I could give a flying crap about the political process," continuing on to say that Mercury Radio Arts, his production company, is "an entertainment company". In a follow-up story, Beck said, while explaining why Tyler Perry is his hero, “[Perry] has the luxury of not doing the political stuff, which is really where I want to be as a company. I just happen to believe the Republic is on fire and it wouldn’t be as effective if I had Pluto come out with a cartoon fire hose to put it out.”

Influences

According to Joanna Brooks, a scholar of American religion, one pre-eminent influence on Beck's political ideology has been W. Cleon Skousen (1913–2006). Skousen was an anti-communist, a supporter (though not a member) of the John Birch Society, and limited-government conservative whose works involve a wide range of subjects (including the Six-Day War, Mormon eschatology, New World Order conspiracies, and even parenting). Beck praises Skousen's "words of wisdom" as "divinely inspired", referencing Skousen's The Naked Communist and especially The 5,000 Year Leap (originally published in 1981), which Beck said in 2007 had "changed his life". According to Skousen's nephew, financial and political commentator Mark Skousen, Leap reflects Skousen's "passion for the United States Constitution", which he "felt was inspired by God and the reason behind America’s success as a nation." The book is touted by Beck as "required reading" to understand the current American political landscape and become a "September twelfth person". Beck authored a foreword for the 2008 edition of Leap and Beck's on-air recommendations in 2009 propelled the book to number one in the government category on Amazon for several months.

9-12 Project and Tea Party protests

A group of protesters hold signs praising Beck at the Taxpayer March on Washington.

Main article: 9-12 Project

Beck put together a campaign, the 9-12 Project, that is named for nine principles and 12 values which he says embody the spirit of the American people on the day after the September 11 attacks. Beck has supported the tea party protests from their inception and held a broadcast from one of the April 2009 rallies in San Antonio, Texas.

Newsweek magazine opined on Beck's relationship with the Tea Party movement stating:

Tea partiers are driven by the belief that the America that elected Barack Obama isn't their America, and Beck comforts them by telling them they're right: that the America they love, the America they now feel so distant from, the America of faith and the Founders and some sort of idyllic Leave It to Beaver past, is still there, waiting to be awakened from Obama's evil spell. And he flatters them by saying that the coastal elites are too stupid or too lazy to figure out what's really going on; only his loyal viewers are perceptive enough to see the truth and, ultimately, to save the nation.

In September 2009, the conservative political activism group FreedomWorks organized the Taxpayer March on Washington, to rally against President Barack Obama's policies. The event was inspired by Beck's 9/12 project.

Media career and income

"Glenn Beck has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth."

 Forbes magazine, April 2010

In 2002 Beck created Mercury Radio Arts, a media platform which produces his broadcast, publishing and online projects, as well as his live performances. In addition to broadcasting, Beck has written six New York Times-bestselling books, and is the publisher of Fusion Magazine. He also stars in a one-man stage show that tours the US twice a year.

In June 2009, estimators at Forbes calculated Beck's earnings over the previous 12 months at $23 million, with 2009–2010 revenues on track to be higher. Although the majority of his revenue results from his radio show and books, his website's 5 million unique visitors per month also provides at least $3 million annually, while his salary at Fox News is estimated at $2 million per year. Additionally, Beck's online magazine Fusion sells an array of Beck-themed merchandise, while his website offers a web subscription service called "Insider Extreme" where for $75 a year one gets access to behind-the-scenes footage and a fourth hour of his daily radio show. In April 2010, Forbes calculated Beck's earnings for the previous year (March 2009 - March 2010) to be $32 million.

Beck's controversial views have potentially hurt his earning potential, however; despite millions of viewers, more than 200 companies have joined a boycott of Beck's television program, making it difficult for Fox to sell ads. The time has instead been sold to smaller firms offering such products as Kaopectate, Carbonite, 1-800-PetMeds and Goldline International Goldline International also sponsors Beck's radio show and was the exclusive sponsor of Beck's 2009 comedy tour; their sponsorship has brought Beck criticism.

Radio

See also: Glenn Beck Program

Beck began his radio career in 1977, at age 13, when he won a local radio contest on station KBRC in Mount Vernon, Washington, to be a disc jockey for an hour. It was then that Beck and his school classmates produced old-time radio with live scripts and sound effects for radio station, KGMI, in Bellingham. In his junior year of high school, he began working part-time at Seattle station KUBE 93 (FM) having to take a Greyhound Bus from Bellingham to Seattle in order to get there. After hosting a show midnight to dawn on Fridays and Saturdays, Beck would sleep in the station's conference room following his show.

After his high school graduation, Beck pursued his career as a Top 40 DJ. He moved to Provo for six months and worked at FM 96.1. Beck left in February 1983 to go to WPGC-FM in Washington, D.C., another First Media radio station. Later that year, he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, to work at radio station KZFM.

In mid-1985, Beck was hired away from KZFM to be the lead DJ for the morning-drive radio broadcast by WRKA in Louisville, Kentucky. His four-hour weekday show was called Captain Beck and the A-Team. Beck had a reputation as a "young up-and-comer". The show was not political and included off-color humour. One of his competitors, Terry Meiners, was critical of Beck for jokes regarding another competitor who was overweight. The show slipped to third in the market and Beck left abruptly in 1987 amid a dispute with WRKA management.

Months later, Beck was hired by Phoenix Top-40 station KOY-FM, then known as Y-95. Beck was partnered with Arizona native Tim Hattrick to co-host a local "morning zoo" program. During his time at Y-95, Beck cultivated a rivalry with local pop radio station KZZP and that station's morning host Bruce Kelly. Through practical jokes and publicity stunts, Beck drew criticism from the staff at Y-95 when the rivalry culminated in Beck telephoning Kelly's wife on-the-air, mocking her recent miscarriage.

In 1989, Beck resigned from Y-95 to accept a job in Houston at KRBE, known as Power 104. Beck was subsequently fired in 1990 due to poor ratings. He would later recount to the Houston Chronicle that his stint at Power 104 "was the worst time in [his] broadcasting career".

After leaving Houston, Beck moved on to Baltimore, Maryland and the city's leading Top-40 station, WBSB, known as B104. There, he partnered with Pat Gray, a morning DJ. During his tenure at B104, Beck was arrested for speeding in his DeLorean with one of the car's gull-wing doors wide open. According to a former colleague, Beck was "completely out of it" when a B104 manager went down to the station to bail him out. After a year of struggling personally and professionally, Beck found himself working alone when Gray's contract was canceled. When Beck was fired also, the two men spent six months in Baltimore living off of their severance, unemployed and planning their next move. Then, in early 1992, Beck and Gray both moved on to WKCI-FM (KC101), a Top-40 radio station in Template:City.

At WKCI, Beck and Gray co-hosted the local four-hour morning show, billed as the Glenn and Pat Show. On a 1995 broadcast of the show, Alf Papineau pretended to speak Chinese during a taped comedy skit. When an Asian-American listener called to complain, Gray and Beck made fun of the caller and played gongs in the background while Papineau spoke in a mock-Chinese accent. The listener contacted a number of human rights organizations, four of which formed the Connecticut Asian American Coalition Against KC101 Racism. The station manager read an apology on the air and the station issued a written pledge to refrain from offensive activities and instituted cultural sensitivity training for employees.

When Gray left the show to move to Salt Lake City, Beck continued with co-host Vinnie Penn. At the end of 1998, Beck was told that his contract would not be renewed when it expired at the end of the 1999.

The Glenn Beck Program first aired in 2000 on WFLA (AM) in Template:City, and took their afternoon time slot from eighteenth to first place within a year. In January 2002, Premiere Radio Networks launched the show nationwide on 47 stations. The show then moved to Template:City, broadcasting from new flagship station WPHT. On November 5, 2007, The New York Times reported that Premiere Radio Networks was extending Beck's contract. By May 2008, it had reached over 280 terrestrial stations as well as XM Satellite. It was ranked 4th in the nation with over six and a half million listeners.

Television

See also: Glenn Beck (TV program)

In January 2006, CNN's Headline News announced that Beck would host a nightly news-commentary show in their new prime-time block Headline Prime. The show, simply called Glenn Beck, aired weeknights at 7:00 p.m., repeating at 9:00 p.m. and midnight (all times Eastern) from May 8, 2006 to October 16, 2008.

CNN Headline News described the show as "an unconventional look at the news of the day featuring his often amusing perspective on the top stories from world events and politics to pop culture and everyday hassles." At the end of his time at CNN-HLN, Beck had the second largest audience behind Nancy Grace. On July 21, 2008, Beck filled in for Larry King on the show Larry King Live. In 2008, Beck won the Marconi Radio Award for Network Syndicated Personality of the Year.

On October 16, 2008, it was announced that Beck would join the Fox News Channel, leaving CNN Headline News. A news hour with Jane Velez-Mitchell filled Beck's former slot, with subsequent slots filled by Lou Dobbs Tonight encores. Chris Balfe, president of Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts, said that the reason Beck came to Fox was because of president Roger Ailes, remarking that they "have a fantastic relationship."

After moving to the Fox News Channel, Beck began to host Glenn Beck airing weekdays at 5pm ET, beginning January 19, 2009, as well as a weekend version. His first guests included Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the wives of Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. He also has a regular segment every Friday on the Fox News Channel program The O'Reilly Factor titled "At Your Beck and Call." As of September 2009 Beck's program drew more viewers than all three of the competing time-slot shows on CNN, MSNBC and HLN combined.

However, his show's high ratings have not come without controversy from both outside and inside Fox News. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reported that Beck's use of "distorted or inflammatory rhetoric" has given him a "lightning-rod status", that in turn, has complicated the channel's and their journalist's efforts to neutralize White House criticism that Fox is not really a news organization. Television analyst Andrew Tyndall echoed these sentiments, calling Beck an "activist" and "comedian" whose incendiary style has created "a real crossroads for Fox News", stating "they're right on the cusp of losing their image as a news organization."

Authorship and publishing

Arguing with Idiots was published by Simon and Shuster in 2009.

Glenn Beck has become a popular and best-selling author, releasing ten books in various formats since 2003. He has hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List in four separate categories: Hardcover Non-Fiction (Arguing with Idiots and An Inconvenient Book), Paperback Non-Fiction (Common Sense), Hardcover Fiction (The Christmas Sweater), and Children's Picture Books (The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book).

The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland was published by Pocket Books in 2003. The idea for the book came to him on a bus between rallies he staged to show solidarity with the U.S. military on the eve of the Iraq invasion. An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems was published by Simon and Shuster in 2007. This book was #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List for the week of December 9, 2007, and remained on the list for 17 weeks. The Christmas Sweater was published by Simon and Shuster in 2008. It was a quasi-autobiographical account of Beck's troubled childhood told through a fictional 12 year old boy. This book was #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List for the weeks of November 30, 2008, and December 25, 2008.

"You cannot take away freedom to protect it, you cannot destroy the free market to save it, and you cannot uphold freedom of speech by silencing those with whom you disagree. To take rights away to defend them or to spend your way out of debt defies common sense."

-Glenn Beck's Common Sense, 2009

Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-Of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine was published by Simon and Shuster in 2009. Beck did not expect it to be a commercial possibility and originally planned to release it anonymously on the Internet. This book rose to #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, for the weeks of June 26, 2009, through October 18, 2009.

In 2009, Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government was published by Simon and Shuster. The book has been described by Lacey Rose in Forbes magazine as "a diatribe against unions, health care, progressivism and so on". This book debuted #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List for the week of September 30, 2009, and retained the #1 spot for three weeks. The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book was published by Threshold Editions in 2008. This book debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, for the week of November 15, 2009. On June 15, 2010, Beck's novel The Overton Window was released by Threshold Editions. The Overton Window is a political thriller that is largely inspired by the political theory of the same name and Beck's views regarding the current political climate inside the U.S. federal government . In addition, Beck is currently developing another book titled The Plan, which will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps for "refounding" the country to be "unveiled" August 28th at the feet of the Lincoln Memorial.

Beck has also released three books only in audio format. America's March to Socialism: Why We're One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades is an audiobook that was published by Simon and Shuster in 2008. An Unlikely Mormon, The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck was published by Deseret Book in 2008 (DVD). Idiots Unplugged is an audiobook that was published by Simon and Shuster in 2010.

Beck is also the publisher of Fusion Magazine, which is a play on the slogan of The Glenn Beck Program, "The Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment."

Live events

Since 2005, Beck has toured American cities twice a year, presenting a one-man stage show. His stage productions are a mix of stand-up comedy and inspirational speaking. In a critique of his live act, Salon Magazine's Steve Almond describes Beck as a "wildly imaginative performer, a man who weds the operatic impulses of the demagogue to the grim mutterings of the conspiracy theorist."

In Beck's hometown of Mt. Vernon, Washington, supporters and detractors hold handmade signs on the day Beck was honored by the mayor.

In 2005, the summer show Glenn Beck: On Ice advocated diminishing the role of politics in daily life. The 2006 summer show The Mid-Life Crisis Tour featured life's lessons from the perspective of a middle-aged man. In June 2007, Beck completed his tour called An Inconvenient Tour. It focused on the inconvenient aspects of everyday life, and was a parody of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. A show from the Beck `08 Unelectable Tour was shown in around 350 movie theaters around the country. The finale of 2009's Common Sense Comedy Tour was simulcast in over 440 theaters. The events have drawn 200,000 fans in recent years.

Beck has done numerous other live events. In March 2003, Beck ran a series of rallies called Glenn Beck's Rally for America in support of troops deployed for the upcoming Iraq War. On July 4, 2007, Beck served as host of the 2007 Toyota Tundra "Stadium of Fire" in Template:City. The annual event at LaVell Edwards Stadium on the Brigham Young University campus is presented by America's Freedom Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is "to provide deeply felt emotional experiences that celebrate and promote the traditional American values of family, freedom, God and country." On May 17, 2008, Beck gave the keynote speech at the NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

In late August 2009, the mayor of Mount Vernon, Washington, Beck's hometown, announced that he would award Beck the Key to the City, designating September 26, 2009 as "Glenn Beck Day". Due to some local opposition, the city council voted unanimously to disassociate itself from the award. The key presentation ceremony sold-out the 850-seat McIntyre Hall and an estimated 800 people, both supporting and opposing the event, demonstrated outside the building. Earlier that day, approximately 7,000 people attended the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's "Take the Field with Glenn Beck" at Seattle's Safeco Field.

In December, 2009, Beck produced a one-night special film version of his book "The Christmas Sweater" entitled "The Christmas Sweater: A Return to Redemption." In the film, Beck plays multiple roles and shares his "most profound childhood memories, along with his philosophies on life, love and happiness."

In January and February 2010, Beck teamed with fellow Fox News host Bill O'Reilly to tour several cities in a live stage show called "The Bold and Fresh Tour 2010." During each event, Beck and O'Reilly would each take the stage for 30–40 minutes individually and offer their perspective and commentary on a variety of issues. Then, following a 20 minute intermission, the two appeared on stage together for approximately 30 minutes, trading questions and discussing their differing viewpoints on several matters. The January 29th show was also recorded and broadcast to movie theaters throughout the country.

In 2010, he was the commencement speaker for Liberty University, where he was conferred an honorary doctorate degree.

Public reception

"The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called the paranoid style – the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country – is aflame again, fanned from both right and left. [...] No one has a better feeling for this mood, and no one exploits it as well, as Beck. He is the hottest thing in the political-rant racket, left or right."

 David Von Drehle, Time Magazine

In 2009, the Glenn Beck show was one of the highest rated news commentary programs on cable TV. For a Barbara Walters ABC special, Beck was selected as one of America’s "Top 10 Most Fascinating People" of 2009. In 2010, Beck was selected for the Times top 100 most influential people under the "Leaders" category.

Beck has referred to himself as an entertainer, a commentator rather than a reporter, a rodeo clown, and identified with Howard Beale "When he came out of the rain and he was like, none of this makes any sense. I am that guy."

Time Magazine described Beck as "[t]he new populist superstar of Fox News" saying it is easier to see a set of attitudes rather than a specific ideology, noting his criticism of Wall Street, yet defending bonuses to AIG, as well as denouncing conspiracy theorizing about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) but warning against indoctrination of children by the AmeriCorps program. (Paul Krugman and Mark Potok, on the other hand, have been among those asserting that Beck helps spread "hate" by covering issues that stir up extremists.) What seems to unite Beck's disparate themes, Time argued, is a sense of siege. An earlier cover story in Time described Beck as "a gifted storyteller with a knack for stitching seemingly unrelated data points into possible conspiracies", proclaiming that he has "emerged as a virtuoso on the strings" of Conservative's discontent by mining "the timeless theme of the corrupt Them thwarting a virtuous Us."

Beck's shows have been described as a "mix of moral lessons, outrage and an apocalyptic view of the future ... capturing the feelings of an alienated class of Americans." One of Beck's Fox News Channel colleagues Shepard Smith, has jokingly called Beck's studio the "fear chamber", with Beck countering that he preferred the term "doom room."

The progressive watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's (FAIR) Activism Director Peter Hart argues that Beck red-baits political adversaries as well as promotes a paranoid view of progressive politics. Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post has remarked that "Love him or hate him, Beck is a talented, often funny broadcaster, a recovering alcoholic with an unabashedly emotional style." In June of 2010, investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik released a critical biography entitled Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance, with a title echoing Beck's work, Common Sense.

Satire, spoof and parody

Beck has been the subject of mockery and ridicule by a number of humorists. In response to Beck's animated delivery and views, he was parodied in an impersonation by Jason Sudeikis on Saturday Night Live. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart has spoofed Beck's 9-12 project with his own 11-3 project, impersonated Beck's chalk board-related presentation style for an entire show, and quipped about Beck "finally, a guy who says what people who aren't thinking are thinking." Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report satirized Beck's "war room" by tongue-in-cheekily creating his own "doom bunker." Through the character Cartman, South Park parodied Beck's television program and his commentary style in the episode "Dances with Smurfs". The Onion, a satirical periodical and faux news site, ran an Onion News Network video "special report" where they lamented that the "victim in a fatal car accident was tragically not Glenn Beck." Meanwhile, the Current TV cartoon SuperNews! ran an animated cartoon feature entitled "The Glenn Beck Apocalypse", where Beck is confronted by Jesus Christ who rebukes him as the equivalent of "Sarah Palin farting into a balloon."

Notable public disputes

The Anti-Defamation League special report referred to Beck as America's "fearmonger-in-chief" and said "Beck and his guests have made a habit of demonizing President Obama and promoting conspiracy theories about his administration." Beck responded by claiming that the ADL was, "as responsible for the plight of Jewish people as the National Organization for Women is for the plight of women. It is nothing, I believe, nothing but a political organization at this point." Beck has continued to deny being a conspiracy theorist in response to allegations from politically left bloggers.

Keith Ellison

In 2006, Beck remarked to Muslim congressman-elect Keith Ellison, a guest on his show, "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel." Ellison replied that his constituents, "know that I have a deep love and affection for my country. There's no one who's more patriotic than I am, and so you know, I don't need to — need to prove my patriotic stripes." Beck's question, which he himself suggested was "quite possibly the poorest-worded question of all time," resulted in protests from several Arab-American organizations.

Barack Obama

In response to the president's remarks on the Henry Louis Gates controversy, Beck argued that President Barack Obama has repeatedly shown "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture," saying "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist." These remarks drew criticism, and resulted in a boycott promulgated by Color of Change. In 2009, the boycott resulted in at least 57 advertisers requesting their ads be removed from his programming, to avoid associating their brands with content that could be considered offensive by potential customers. Color of Change and other groups encouraging a boycott have claimed that more than 100 companies stopped advertising on Beck's show or stipulated that their advertising not be aired there. Due to the show's high ratings, broadcast industry observers believe Beck's potential earnings remain unharmed.

Beck was criticized for mocking 11 year old Malia Obama during a discussion of the President Obama's response to the BP Gulf oil spill. He questioned her level of education and imitated her voice asking her father why he hated black people. Beck posted an apology online, stating that he broke his own rule to keep the family members of political figures out of the discussion.

Van Jones

In July 2009, Glenn Beck began to focus what would become many episodes on his TV and radio shows on Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs at President Barack Obama's White House Council on Environmental Quality. Beck was critical of Jones' involvement in STORM, a communist non-governmental group, and his support for hotly debated death row inmate, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who had been convicted of killing a police officer. Beck spotlighted video of Jones referring to Republicans as "assholes", and a petition Jones signed suggesting that Bush knowingly let the 9/11 attacks happen. Among other things, Beck referred to Jones as a "communist-anarchist radical". Supporters of Jones have speculated that Beck's criticisms may have been motivated in part by Jones' involvement in Color of Change, an organization that convinced some advertisers to pull their support from Beck's TV show. However, Beck criticized Jones before the advertising boycott campaign began. In September 2009, Jones resigned his position in the Obama administration, after a number of his past statements became fodder for conservative critics and Republican officials. Time magazine credited Beck with leading conservatives' attack on Jones while a writer for New York's Daily News called it Beck's "first knockout punch". Jones would characterize the attacks from his opponents as a "vicious smear campaign" and an effort to use "lies and distortions to distract and divide".

ACORN

In 2009, Beck and other conservative commentators were critical of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) for various reasons including claims of voter registration fraud in the 2008 presidential election. In September 2009, he broadcast a series of undercover videos by independent journalists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, which allegedly portrayed ACORN community organizers offering inappropriate advice. Following the videos' release, the U.S. Census Bureau severed ties with the group while the U.S. House and Senate voted to cut all of its federal funding.

Eiland-Hall

In 2009, lawyers for Beck brought a case (Beck v. Eiland-Hall) against the owner of a satirical website named GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The claim that the domain name of the website is itself defamatory was described as a first in cyberlaw. Beck's lawyers argued that the site infringed on his trademarked name and that the domain should be turned over to Beck. The WIPO ruled against Beck, but Eiland-Hall voluntarily transferred the domain to Beck anyway, saying that the First Amendment had been upheld and that he no longer had a use for the domain name.

Social justice

On March 11, 2010, Glenn Beck noted on his TV show that social justice had been a theme of the controversial Father Charles Coughlin, as well as of American Nazi sympathizer Fritz Julius Kuhn, who in 1939 called for a "socially just white gentile ruled United States". The media reported Beck was asking Christians to leave their churches if they hear preaching about social justice because they were code words for Communism and Nazism. This prompted outrage from some Christian bloggers such as the Rev. Jim Wallis, an Obama administration advisor and leader of Sojourners Community, a Christian social justice organization, who blogged "What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show.” Beck later said he meant that if confronted with a Black liberation theology church, such as that of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, one should find another parish, and stated that Wallis had served as a spiritual adviser to President Obama. Wallis described this as a mischaracterization. He also quoted Beck as threatening him with the words,

So Jim, I just wanted to pass this on to you. In my time I will respond—my time, well, kind of like God's time, might be a day, might be a week to you, I'm not sure. But I'm going to get to it in my time, not your time. So you go ahead and you continue to do your protest thing, and that's great. I love it. But just know—the hammer is coming, because little do you know, for eight weeks, we've been compiling information on you, your cute little organization, and all the other cute little people that are with you. And when the hammer comes, it's going to be hammering hard and all through the night, over and over.

Beck explained his position in regard to his interpretation of charity as recorded in the Bible in a March 18 interview on the O'Reilly Factor, stating:

But listen, here, if your pastor is telling you or your priest is telling you that Jesus commands you to be charitable, he's absolutely right, and you [should] stand firmly by his side. But if he's saying Jesus said, if a man asks you for your shirt, give the coat that you're wearing to the government and have them give the man pants. ... Where they are preaching—I can't believe that I have liberals coming after—progressives coming after me for saying separation of church and state. If your church is saying that you need to—that God is telling you that a big giant government controlling all of these things is charity, huh-uh.

Beck also explained his "leaving church" remark in the interview with O'Reilly, himself a Roman Catholic who agrees with some aspects of Liberation theology, saying whether one should go to another church, "that's up to you as an individual".

Works

• The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland, Simon & Schuster 2005. ISBN 978-0-74-349696-4
• An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems, Simon & Schuster 2007. ISBN 978-1-43-916857-8
• The Christmas Sweater, Simon & Schuster 2008. ISBN 978-1-41-659485-7
• An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck, Deseret Book 2008 (Audio CD). ISBN 9781590389447
• The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 2009. ISBN 978-1-41-699543-2
• America's March to Socialism: Why we're one step closer to giant missile parades Simon & Schuster Audio 2009 (Audio CD). ISBN 978-0-74-359854-5
• Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Simon & Schuster 2009. ISBN 978-1-43-916857-8
• Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government, Simon & Schuster 2009. ISBN 978-1-41-659501-4
• Idiots Unplugged, Simon & Schuster 2010 (Audio CD). ISBN 1442333960
• The Overton Window, Threshold Editions 2010. ISBN 1439184305

External links

• Glenn Beck's Official Website
• Glenn Beck's Radio Program
• Glenn Beck – The 912 Project
• Glenn Beck's Common Sense Tour
• Official Site at Fox News

Multimedia

• A Day in the Life of Glenn Beck - photo slideshow by Time magazine
• Katie Couric Interview of Glenn Beck - video by CBS News
• "Brand it like Beck" - video interview by Forbes magazine
• John Stossel: "Glenn Beck, Conservative Narcissist?" - video by ABC News