Glenn beck at the safe

(photo: he almost cried)

We sat eating a soggy turkey sandwich and sweating like pigs at a table near home plate on Safeco Field waiting for Glenn Beck.

It took a while.

We were graciously invited to lunch at the Beck event by the famous former conservative blogger, Piper Scott, who's leveraged his bloggerdom into a paying job with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, the venerable right-wing cabal for whom the event was a fundraiser. (They invited Beck in February when his presence was expected to draw but 1800 souls. Beck's success in making himself the most controversial man in America, worked well for them, with over 7000 reportedly in attendence. "There is a God," Piper Scott told us with spiritual intensity).

Behind us in the stands were the hoi polloi, the t-shirted tea-baggers, the blue-jeaned conservative nihilists, the razor-cut kids, and the aged "I'd-rather be-pissed" boomers of the populist right to whom the needy, screedy homespun Glenn Beck is hope and change. They and they paid $25-35 each for the wearing silly shirts for for freedom. Dino Rossi was there.

(The Gadsden flag is the Stars & Stripes, "Right-wing Protesters' Model." Hawked at every conservative event these days, ($5) and featured on one of Beck's book covers, the yellow "Don't tread on me" flags with the rattlesnake are far more versatile for tea parties, town halls and demonstrations. One protester told us: "I can shove this flag up your liberal ass, whereas, I couldn't be that disrespectful with Old Glory."

After a some spirited "ask$,"by EFF suits; which included for boo inspiration. a clip of Governor Gregoire on the Jumbotron snarling like Margaret Hamilton. Also the inevitable, requisite, pro forma tributes to veterans and Dave Boze (KTTH m-f, 3-6p) in a white shirt and tie ingratiating himself to the elderly crowd with his respectful introduction, Beck finally bounded out. (Boze's shirt and tie choice has rightie-world buzzing that he, in deference to his Bonneville/LDS bosses, and admiration of Glenn Beck is converting to Mormonism. Stay tuned).

(Boze in his good boy shirt)

Beck came out in shirt sleeves, and delivered a Beckish speech full of platitudes and exhortations of patriotically correct do-gooding and glad-hands for everyone in sight. He got that catch in his voice a couple of times making us think he was going to cry, but he motored on, (see photo above) and we didn't get the pathetic sob we were all praying for.

He's an effective speaker, and knows his audience. Mysterious was his badmouthing of Theodore Roosevelt, a hero to most Republicans. Beck (and his political inspiration, the long dead Mormon crank, W. Cleon Skousen blame him for the income tax, and hold the national parks against him as a sort of socialist scheme. He was a scary "progressive," he said.

It didn't make much sense, but it didn't matter, the crowd cheered with the rise his voice, and the timing of his punch-lines.

We scooted out fast in order to scoot up the freeway to Mount Vernon where the protest action was heavy. 

Comments

[joanie]

So, what's the strategy to dump all those blue dogs who are really DINOs anyway? I blame clinton and the DNC for them. I'd fire Rahm if I had the power. I don't like Olympia Snow any more. Why don't they dump her, too?

Where have all the honest people gone?

[joanie]

We might get farther with reconciliation anyway. Right?

[joanie]

Sorry. A Randi caller just said about Acorn: "a crime wave without a crime."

I thought that was pretty good. I'm sure klueless and chucks are confused.

[Drew]

Randi Rhodes has a good topic going tonight, talking about the fear mongering of the right

[Coiler]

Peter B was filling in today for Thom and talked about the lack of progress in the public option. He also covered ACORN and how Van Jones was fed to the wolves.

[M.Steele]

There goes KS, like clockwork. Ranting about some irrational thought that popped into his mind. KS, did you know Surreal has a synonym. The synonym is “unreal”. If we were unconscious to the “real” why would we need to be awake for the unreal? This is no Jedi mind trick, just a flaw in your logic. Or an exposure of your word comprehension.

[joanie]

I've wondered why we don't hear Peter B. more often filling in. He's so good and he's a lot more like Hartmann and Rhodes and some of the fill-ins we get.

Wish I'd heard it.

[joanie]

make that "than" some of the fill-ins we get. Sorry

Now Randi is talking about Delay on Dancing with the Starts. Did anyone see that disaster? I was impressed with his knee work. I wonder if he's on his knees a lot?

[Coiler]

ha ha, no probably from nipping on all that Roundup while he was an exterminator.

[chucks]

Matter of fact, joanie, my bride got a promotion. Pretty cool, huh?
Pretty strange your concern about my wife's job. She works very hard to make sure that your pension is properly funded. She caught a mistake done by the pension board that could have cost you and every body else in your fund about $20.00 per month. That is $6000.00 to your sorry ass, if you live 25 years after retirement. Same for the lovely Ms Sparky.
So, be nice to my wife. She actually cares enough to make sure you get paid what you earned?
Be happy that I am still unemployed. That should be satisfaction enough for you and bring joy to your bitter old heart.
Now, on a more positive note, I see that Fox News is up 12% this past quarter. The big improvement is because the independents have figured out what a mistake the elections were and are seeking the truth from a reliable source. Mean while CNN is down 27% and MSNBC is off 25%, as is appropriate.
Last month, the top 13 programs on cable news are Fox News programs with Larry King at #14.
Although all of the FOX programs are up, Glenn Beck is up 136% in his time slot.
People are seeking the truth and they want balance. FOX is the only place to get both sides. Of all of those hundreds of cable and sat system channels on your TeeVee, the only two ahead of FNC are ESPN and USA.
You guys are going to lose it all because of Pelosi, Obama and Reid because they believe that you way out far lefty's want what America wants. Not the case.

[M.Steele]

Joanie; I think you are correct. Reconciliation maybe the approach Obama will use. It would be interesting to see if Obama will raise funds for some of these Blue dogs.

[Grand Oligarh]

Chuck E Cheese
Faux is often compared with news sources and wins hands down. It’s a false comparison. It is a entertainment show. It’s a mean, dry and witless entertainment but it’s the type people like you like. I would like to see it compared to the “Daily Show” or the cartoon network. Now that would be fair.

[Drew]

"Fox is the only place to get both sides"...both side of what? The far right, and the extreme far right? It's like bar owner in the Blues Brothers,

"Oh, we have both kinds of music here: Country AND Western."

[joanie]

Matter of fact, joanie, my bride got a promotion. Pretty cool, huh?

As a tax payor who hates gumment and taxes, why does that make you happy? Do you know what you think? Or are you just confused all the time?

[joanie]

chucks thinks he's the magic mathematician. He must be taking lessons from his wife. Or maybe he needs to take lessons from his wife. He thinks 5 million out of 300 million is a big number.

I keep sayin' we should be outsourcing those actuaries to China. I'm tired of my taxes paying for a lazy unemployed spouse' healthcare.

[M.Steele]

Watching “Real Time” now. I do not subscribe to the extended cable either. I grab it off the ether. The Michael Moore spot was great. It reminds me of this story from the front page of the Seattle Times Monday. She is my neighbor. Her grand child has attended school with my daughter since the seventh grade.

[joanie]

And Sparky wonders why I loathe people like chucks.

[Drew]

So Steele, when I see stories like the one you've posted here, I have to ask, if that were a member of the House or Senate, how would that story be different? Nobody seems willing to ask them about the details of their plans. No one is demanding to know how it's funded, or what the co-pays and deductibles are.

[M.Steele]

Well I know how it would be different. Just look at the Kennedy story. But your question about why they are talking about this topic using talking points, it works. When we send out our e-mails to our group lists advocating action and follow up with stories like this, that is when the worm turns. When the pressure is on, they will have to respond to your questions. If you want, send the link of my neighbor to your friends and pols. Let us see what happens.

[joanie]

Sorry, Sparky. I was kind of rash there. But when I read a story such as that, I have even less respect for selfish and ignorant sycophants like chucks.

This in a reply to the article linked by Steele:

September 28, 2009 at 1:59 AMRating: (51) (10) Log in to
report abuse
I pay less than $50 a month for health insurance and make over $40,000 per year. I can go to any doctor and any hospital in the country I choose, and the doctor and I choose what care I receive, not the insurance company (that means I am never denied coverage for any treatment). Since I am still young, I pay for 30% of my health care costs, up to about $700. After that, my insurance pays for everything. As I get older, the percentage I pay will continue to decrease.

Sound too good to be true? That's because I live in Japan. You know, the country with one of the longest longevities for men and women in the world.

How is this possible? Because everyone who works pays into the system (employees and employers split the costs). Everyone who doesn't work can get health insurance by paying for the full cost. No one is ever denied for "pre-existing conditions."

While I doubt this will ever work in the USA which apparently believes private enterprise is the answer to everything (except perhaps banking), I will never envy the sad excuse for health care that Americans put up with. It is even looking like all the fear-mongering led by Republicans is going to defeat the OPTION for a public plan which would offer a lower-cost (non-profit), pre-existing-condition-free health care plan.

I wish you all the best of luck.

Japan. A country risen from the ashes. We should be ashamed.

[joanie]

Watching CSpan and Schumer giving a nice presentation of his plan and plea for the public option. Ensign just put it in a "conservative" nutshell: ...people who are REALLY AFRAID of the public option...

Had to post that. What America has come to: people who are afraid . . .

[Drew]

Well, that's the type of story you'll never see on Fux News...because it's the truth.

[M.Steele]

I am glad some of you acknowledge reading the article, but where are the righties?

[chucks]

Joanie, you little old sweetie you. Why do you confuse 5 million households with 5 million people. They are not the same.
As well, there are not 300 million households in the US, there are estimated 300 million people.
But I have never ever suggested that math is at all my "thing".
I am nearly as bad at math as you are at civility. Well, that is an exaggeration. I can do many math problems, just not those three hundred and four hundred level classes. Those, I just don't understand.

[Drew]

Some can't read (damned charter schools), but others won't...

Look, the cons know things are better in every other industrialized country. They know that the propaganda being spread about reform on Fox is a total lie. But Fox is funded by the same lobby that is funding Baucus and Grassley. The GOP message is "Don't change this profits-over-people way of doing things", and devoted Fox followers will do whatever their network tells them to.

Some of us know the truth because we've lived it, and it's the exact opposite of what Fox broadcasts.

[M.Steele]

Chucks; you say Faux is up 12%, what is the raw number?

[M.Steele]

Chucks; where do you get those numbers from?

[AuthenticAndrew]

I switched to Fox for a moment, and they're STILL TALKING ABOUT ACORN! There's absolutely no mechanism to stop news diverging further in either direction. It's going to get to the point where liberals live in one complete self-contained reality and conservatives live in another.

Some conservative blog-reader listed like 100 reasons to hate Obama and I'd never heard of any of them, and upon closer inspection it was mostly mole hills magnified into mountains. They don't exist in the MSM but in the conservative blog realm Obama hatred is front page news every day. I don't see resolution. I propose that the union divide along religious lines. We keep the culture. You can have Nashville, it's all yours.

[M.Steele]

I guess these self satisfying dork squeezers cannot concentrate their thoughts outside out arms length.

[Drew]

Wait a minute, Andrew. I know you mean well, but be logical- Let them have Texas too. Except for Austin, which is cool. We'll evacuate Austin first, then let that state go to hell.

[joanie]

You're asking chux for raw numbers? If his post can be believe (haha), he''ll have to check with his wife first.

Outsource actuaries and lower my taxes!

[joanie]

Raw numbers? Chux will have to ask his wife about that. Don't think we'll hear back though.

BTW, chucko, is that households or tv sets? Who's watching? How many tv sets in the household not tuned in to Fox?

What do you know really?

How many tv sets in the US?

Why do I ask an idiot who never answers a reasonable question a reasonable question?

[chucks]

M.Steele
I get the numbers from TVbythenumbers.com and mediaite.com

"I'm a real Steele but I never get caught red handed"