The Great Glenn Beck-a-Palooza

By Alan Caruba

Not only did a lot of people show up at the Lincoln Memorial and around the reflecting pool on Saturday, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s famed “I have a dream speech”, but the mainstream media drew criticism for reporting the obvious. They were mostly white.

Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention in the weeks leading up to the event, but I assumed Glenn Beck was going to use the platform to call attention to the key issues with which the nation is struggling and which will influence the outcome of the forthcoming November midterm elections. Obviously I was wrong.

I have been to an evangelical tent meeting. I actually met the late Oral Roberts long ago in Columbus, Georgia where he invited me to attend. I can still recall the fervor of that evening and I was reminded of it while watching Beck.

There was a lot of talk of God, but I don’t recall that Dr. King, a preacher of astonishing power, was preaching Christ Jesus that day forty-seven years ago. King focused on the problem that had been troubling the soul of America since the days of the Revolution, the days of the Civil War, the Reconstruction, and the hundred years that had passed since then.

I knew what Dr. King was talking about. I had spent enough years in the South to know what it was like to see Whites Only drinking fountains, a separate room at the bus station where blacks had to wait, and all the other wretched reminders of Jim Crow. In time I even met Dr. King after he gave a speech at Drew University in New Jersey.

I was covering the event as a freelance journalist for a black newspaper and Dr. King was greatly amused that the newspaper didn’t mind a bit that a white reporter would write the story. Being cheeky, I told him that greenbacks can be spent by white and black alike. He laughed, we shook hands, and he moved into history.

I am sure that Glenn Beck is sincere about his faith, but I can understand why even a charlatan like Rev. Al Sharpton was unhappy that the day and the place had been usurped by a wannabe preacher who was a television personality.

To be candid, I have a real problem when I occasionally and briefly watch Glenn Beck when he does his show each evening on Fox News. I know he has a huge following and I know he has exposed a lot of bad people in high office, but I cannot muster the same confidence I do when others address the same topics. Veering back and forth between outrage and tears, I find him creepy.

I think the Beck-a-Palooza that took place on Saturday will fade quickly from public memory and I think it should. Despite the call to “restore honor” and even despite the call to remember the sacrifices of “the greatest generation” and all who followed the nation’s flag in Korea, in Vietnam, in Iraq and in Afghanistan, I don’t really think it was about them at all.

I think it was about Glenn Beck. And that’s a shame.

© Alan Caruba, 2010

SOURCE: The Great Glenn Beck-a-Palooza

And all this time I thought it was just me.

The mystique of Glenn Beck, and well as that of Sarah Palin, has always escaped me entirely, I too find Beck a bit creepy!

Personally, I believe that Glenn Beck is nothing more than a somewhat talented shill, a puppet dancing on a string. One pulled by powers a lot higher than himself.

I don’t believe Glenn Beck is that smart.

I think he has a good delivery but I believe he has a ton of people doing the work while he does the *talking head* routine.

I too have been exposed to far too many Evangelical preachers, holy rollers if you will, and THAT is the feeling I get when I see Glenn Beck in his fits of anger, goofiness and tears.

What I saw here was a *Come to Jesus* meeting. That’s just MY opinion.

This was, again, in MY opinion, just an updated version of the great Neil Diamond singing his song about Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.

Maybe it is sincere, maybe it’s not. Maybe he should get an Emmy, best supporting actor in a News format or comedy/drama!

Who am I to judge?