Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance

291 Pages·2010·1.48 MB·English

by  Alexander Zaitchik

C O M M O N
(CONTINUED FROM FRONT FLAP) PRAISE FOR C $25.95 USA / $30.95 CAN
czars, and socialists are carefully honed to intensify O
ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK’S REPORTING
C O M M O N
his listeners’ fears and spur them to action at a
M
time and place of his choosing. ON THE GLENN BECK PHENOMENON
Beck’s manipulations are not aimed exclusively at M
conservative Tea Party activists. One of his favorite “Alexander Zaitchik has been doing yeoman’s work of late,
O NONSENSE
gambits, Zaitchik reveals, is to make outrageous digging deep into the oftentimes disturbing past of the new face and voice
statements—such as calling President Obama a of the angry right, Fox News’s Glenn Beck.” N N O N S E N S E
racist—to provoke angry and overwrought reac-
—SIMON MALOY, Media Matters for America
tions from the Left. He knows that nothing bur- N
What kind of disc jockey would telephone the wife
nishes his reputation as a right-wing hero victim-
“A must-read. . . . Heaven help us all.” —MICHAEL TOMASKY, The Guardian O of a competitor and, over live radio, belittle her
ized by political correctness more effectively than a
and her husband about her recent miscarriage?
N
barrage of scoldings from the “liberal elite.”
“Superb.” —GLENN GREENWALD, Salon What kind of patriot would con his listeners into
S
You can laugh at his crocodile tears, shake your donating $450,000 to fi nance a series of Rally for
head at the “facts” out of which he spins his wild “I highly recommend Alexander Zaitchik’s feature [on Beck.] In it, E America events that turned out to be nothing but
theories, gape in wonder at his abrupt transitions N a personal promotional tour? What kind of talk-
he profi les not just Beck and his band of aggrieved, paranoid disciples, but
from cheap sentiment to vicious attack and back radio host would falsely describe the president of the
the man who inspired him, W. Cleon Skousen.” S
again—but do not underestimate Glenn Beck. United States as a communist and black nationalist
—SARAH POSNER, The American Prospect E
Read Common Nonsense and discover how this out to enslave Americans? The purveyor of such
smart, ambitious self-promoter and his devoted tactics—and worse—can only be America’s newest
“Fascinating.” —ANDREW SULLIVAN, The Atlantic
fl ock poison our political discourse and weaken household conservative name: Glenn Beck.
our democracy.
In Common Nonsense, investigative reporter
“Probably the most comprehensive take in terms of backstory
Alexander Zaitchik traces Beck’s personal history,
that I’ve seen on the conservative talk star.”
from his troubled childhood through his years as
—MICHAEL CALDERONE, Politico a “morning zoo” DJ to his sudden and meteoric
TG rise to the top of the conservative media heap. He
“Horrifying. . . . Chillingly informative.” RL pays special attention to Beck’s transformation
IE
U
—CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT, Los Angeles Times N from alcoholic, cocaine-snorting, failed disc
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PHOTO: JOSEPH “Fascinating.” —JOE CONASON, The New York Observer PH ON BEC jwwoheckaoelsteyh rywa,di tibhoio lauent-d sap t eepwloelivintisgici,oa nlr i tsghhhootuw-gwsh iftno igrnm d hteihmse h acgeoaordge utooef
GAMBLE “Edifying.” —TODD GITLIN, Talking Points Memo F IGK A a multimillion-dollar media empire.
ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK N Drawing on interviews with Beck’s childhood
is a freelance journalist N
“Terrifi c. . . . If you’re looking for an antidote to the Beck dreck that D
O friends, radio coworkers, and TV colleagues as well
and contributing writer at AlterNet.org. His writing
Time magazine recently passed off as journalism, this is it.” RT as Beck’s own published accounts of his life, Zaitchik
has appeared in the New Republic, the Nation, Salon, AH
Wired, Reason, and the Believer. He lives in Brooklyn. —KEVIN DRUM, Mother Jones NE reveals the cracks in Beck’s personal creation myth.
C
He pinpoints the moment when Beck, then work-
E
“Despicable, yellow journalism.” —GLENN BECK, Fox News Channel ing in Tampa and about to be fi red from his fi rst-
ever talk-radio job, discovered right-wing rabble-
ZAITCHIK
JACKET DESIGN: HOWARD GROSSMAN
rousing as his route to long-sought fame and fortune.
JACKET PHOTOGRAPH: M. CAULFIELD/WIRE IMAGE/GETTY IMAGES
He shows how Beck adapted the timeworn gags
and manipulations of radio hucksterism—including
Alexander Zaitchik the audience donation drive—into powerful tools
for propaganda and personal enrichment. He also
demonstrates how Beck’s screeds about ACORN,
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C O M M O N
N O N S E N S E
Glenn Beck and the Triumph
of Ignorance
Alexander Zaitchik
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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For Mom and Pops
Copyright © 2010 by Alexander Zaitchik. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Zaitchik, Alexander, date.
Common nonsense: Glenn Beck and the triumph of ignorance / Alexander Zaitchik.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-55739-6 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-470-63040-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-63064-8 (ebk);
ISBN 978-0-470-63065-5 (ebk)
1. Beck, Glenn—Infl uence. 2. Beck, Glenn—Political and social views.
3. Conservatism—United States. 4. Ignorance (Theory of knowledge)—Political
aspects—United States. 5. Political culture—United States. 6. Popular culture—United
States. 7. Radio personalities—United States—Biography. 8. Television personalities—
United States—Biography. 9. Authors, American—Biography. 10. Mormons—United
States—Biography. I. Title.
CT275.B5463Z35 2010
320.52092—dc22
[B]
2010003425
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and
spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to
feel; the wet eyes of the sentimentalist betray his aversion
to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always,
therefore, the signal of secret and violent inhumanity, the
mask of cruelty.
—James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
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CONTENTS
Introduction: The Man with the Plan 1
1 Portrait of a Young Deejay 18
2 Last Stop on the Top 40 Train 46
3 The Luckiest Loudmouth in Tampa 58
4 It’s Always about Glenn 79
5 This Is CNN? 102
6 A Rodeo Clown Goes Large 115
7 Beck Unbound 128
8 False Victory 149
9 “A Deep-Seated Hatred for . . . the White Culture” 160
10 ACORN 179
11 Brother Beck Presents: Mormon
Masterpiece Theater 199
12 The Ghost of Cleon Skousen 210
13 The 9.12 Project 235
Epilogue: The Bullet Train and the Rocking Chair 252
Acknowledgments 259
Notes 261
Index 275
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Introduction
The Man with the Plan

H
istory will record that on the third Saturday of November 2009,
Glenn Beck unveiled his hundred- y ear plan to save the republic at
a golf - cart retirement community just north of Orlando.
T he day began at a highwayside Borders Bookstore in Tampa, a
short drive up the road from the Clear Channel studio complex that
incuba ted Beck ’ s talk - radio career in the fi nal year of the Clinton
administration. A shorter drive in the opposite direction blinked the
purple neon lights of the city’ s most famous strip club, Mons Venus,
against which Beck waged a culture war as a younger man.
Monuments to Beck ’ s past were everywhere in the sleepy midsized
Florida city, but the host ’ s schedule brooked no appointments with
nostalgia. The ground - rules fl yer handed out in the Border s park-
ing lot explained that Beck was too rushed even for chitchat with his
longest - listening fans. Another bullet point instructed the assembled
not to expect personalized autographs. Those in line would receive a
mere scrawl of their hero’ s initials. Photographs were allowed, but no
poses — and be quick about it.
Glenn Beck ’ s devotees understood. Although it was clear that not
everyone would reach the signing desk, a neat line of one thousand
snaked patiently through the massive lot and then onto the sidewalk
along the six lanes of Dale Mabry Boulevard, quiet with Saturday
morning traffi c. Armed with books, the waiting were happy just to be
1
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2 COMMON NONSENSE
there. Stretching out before and behind them was proof of something
that Beck had told them again and again: Y ou are not alone.
A fter two hours of signing books and issuing curt hellos, Beck boarded
his A rguing with Idiots tour bus — sporting a two- sided mural of the
author as Colonel Klink — and headed north to the day ’ s main event.
Throughout the hour long journey up I - 275, the bus passed colorful
caravans of cars and trucks owned by members of Beck’ s conservative
civic initiative, the 9.12 Project. The 9.12 vehicles were easy to identify:
U.S. fl ags fl apped in the wind, cardboard signs denounced socialism
from the backs of trunks, and messages announced in soap and shoe
welcome home glenn
polish, !
M ore than just a homecoming, Beck’ s Florida visit had been billed
as a personal culmination and a national turning point. At the sprawling
retirement community known as the Villages, Beck was scheduled to
unveil the future of Glenn Beck Nation. Beck had been m ethodically
teaspooning out the hype for weeks. His legions had been led to expect
something very big and possibly epic, a historic proclamation to redi-
rect the course of human events. It would have to be. Only something
approaching the level of the Rapture could have capped what had been
a breakout year for the forty - fi ve - year - old host.
S ince launching a revamped Glenn Beck on Fox News on the
eve of Barack Obama ’ s inauguration, Beck had become an unlikely
power b roker at the intersection of national media and politics.
For his bombast, biliousness, and brio, the former Top 40 radio
deejay was the talk of the nation, reviled or revered by millions of
Americans on each side of a yawning cultural chasm— the Glenn
Beck divide. It had been a remarkable journey, completed in just
ten months, from cable news curio in professional limbo to T ime
magazine cover subject and named p ublic enemy on W hitehouse.
gov. Among conservatives, the polls showed Beck’ s influence rank-
ing second only to that of Rush Limbaugh, whose mantle he now
stood poised to inherit.
B ut all this was just for starters. With his speech in the Villages,
the host promised to unveil the next stage in the evolution of Glenn
Beck: the media brand, the political movement, and the p sychosocial
demographic. To those willing to join him and make what he called
“ hard sacrifi ces,” Beck would offer a role in the crusade to rebuild, to
refound , the republic. In the language of dispossession that defi nes the
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