Daily Loaf

CL has published several pieces over the past couple of days on Glenn Beck’s appearance in Tampa.

Here’s another one, written by activist and former Tampa City Council candidate Kelly Benjamin.

My Saturday with Glenn Beck – by Kelly Benjamin

I knew attending an event that subjects one to being surrounded by hundreds of half-witted, hate-filled, raving lunatics would be an exercise in masochism. That’s why I mentally prepared myself for the abuse before leaving the house. And picking up the cream pie. Because, if I was going to smush a cream pie into the face of the leader of a batshit crazy angry mob in the middle of that batshit crazy angry mob, I needed to meditate. And put on padding. Especially when faced with the reality that whenever a rabid cult’s idiotic hero, their savior from such scourges as health care for the poor, mysterious “czars”, and intelligent dialogue gets a cream pie to the face, someone was most certainly going to get their ass kicked.

But it was worth it I kept telling myself. Because if there is any son of a bitch in this country that deserves to get a pie tossed in his ugly, racist, fear mongering, hate-spewing mug, it’s Glenn Beck. I was shocked no one had done it sooner. This is a guy whose made a career out of scaring the hell out of people, lying to them, and playing on their lowest emotions. A guy who feeds on the bigotry, ignorance, and xenophobia of poor American couch potatoes and whips it into a reactionary blood lust. A guy who occasionally has to remind his followers NOT to go out and kill people (just yet) out of misplaced rage. Why had no one pied this guy sooner?

And those were exactly the kind of people I found myself surrounded by as my wingwoman and I pulled into the Borders parking lot on Dale Mabry Highway where Glenn Beck was doing a book signing for his latest sniveling, pea-brained, bitchfest against the liberal conspiracy: “Arguing With Idiots.” Hundreds of angry white people, many dressed in some combination of red, white, and blue, stretched out onto the sidewalk of the six lane highway wrapping around the strip mall next door. Many were holding misspelled signs with crude phrases degrading Pelosi, Obama, Acorn, and anyone else they’ve been conditioned to hate: .

I navigated the mob scene carefully to keep my cream-topped weapon concealed from the throngs. Once inside with my pie, i wandered up to the press line and ran into Mitch Perry, former WMNF News anchor and current Creative Loafing something or other. I was obviously on edge from the the negative energy these Glenn Beck goons exuded and asked Mitch if he felt it too. “No, I come here all the time.” he said oddly. Before I had a chance to clarify, Mitch continued, “Gotta hand it to these conservatives, they’re getting more people out with their grassroots organizing than the liberals are.” I was confused. Mitch always seemed like a pretty grounded guy. Maybe he was being sarcastic or maybe by “grassroots” he meant funded by a national cable news network that spends millions manipulating dingbats with absurd fanatical propaganda repeated over and over until their brains turn to mush and beamed into millions of homes across America. Yes Mitch, delivery systems like Clear Channel and Fox News are real grassrootsy.

It was around this time that the giant Beck tour bus pulled up out front emblazoned with the  Beck as Soviet Officer photo (irony?)from the book cover. But as his flock of confused simpletons encircled his arriving tour bus out front, cameras flashing, the pied piper of the moron class made his stealth entrance through the back door. It was a telling maneuver that shed light on the whole Beck phenomenon: Dummies are easy to fool.

Glenn pulled out his bullhorn right away. He had an important announcement. Something was going to go down real soon. Something big that would help lead us towards the next great phase of America. Something that would shake things up and take our country back in the right direction. Something that would get these boneheads totally pumped up. “So make sure you tune in next week and I’ll tell you all about it!” The cattle line erupted into applause. Gotta hand it to the guy, he can talk some bullshit right up there with the best snake oil salesmen in history.

So there I was standing ten feet from one of the most disgusting men in America holding a plastic bag with a melting cream pie. I watched the true-believers wait patiently in line as Beck began signing books and shaking hands. His security crew herded the masses through the velvet ropes with machine like precision. Beck was in his element; the adoration of stupid people undoubtedly a life long dream. “Look, honey! I got my picture with him!” a beaming woman gushed to her husband.” I felt nauseous.

The time ticked by. I sized up the security. There was the requisite fat bald guy with sunglasses. A skinny guy with beady eyes who appeared to be on oxycontin. I knew I could get passed these two no problem. I envisioned a infuriated Glenn, face covered with pie cream. Crying. Only maybe this time it wasn’t a staged cry, it would be a real sob. Maybe I hurt the poor guy’s feelings. Maybe the cream burned his eyes.

I snapped out of it. The crowd was getting restless. A black man was in the corner yelling at Beck. He was holding up a copy of “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama. Some shoving ensued and the mob began chanting: “USA! USA! USA!” A police officer escorted the enraged man to safety amidst the shouts and slurs of the throng.

The pie felt heavy in my hand. I stared at Beck and watched his eyes dart from person to person. “You’re our hero!” someone shouted! “Thank You Glenn!” said someone else. I imagined myself being mauled by the angry crowd. Battered to a bloody pulp with copies of “Arguing with Idiots.” I looked down at my pie. It began to drip. I looked around to see if anyone noticed. A guy with a crew cut made eye contact with me. His face was stern. I looked away at my wingwoman and she was shaking her head. “These people will tear you apart” she whispered. “And they’ll take you to jail.” I looked back at crew cut. He was undoubtedly staring me down. But he was 20 feet away. No way he could stop me if I sprinted up to Beck to give him his dessert. “Do it now!” the little voice said in my head. And then I looked up. “That’s it folks” said one of Beck’s handlers. “See you next time!” And with a whirl of bodyguards, and a round of applause. Beck was gone. Out the back door. And I was alone with my pie. And it was dripping.

So, I did the only thing I could do. I went home and ate my pie.

Next time Glenn, Next time.

In the wake of radio and cable conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s announcement of a “100 year plan for America” comes another bloviator who is taking his ratings perhaps a bit too much for granted as a mandate.

Yesterday, former CNN personality Lou Dobbs, newly free after reportedly negotiating an $8 million settlement with the cable news network , told radio talk show host (and failed presidential aspirant) Fred Thompson that”Yes is the answer” to the question on whether or not he might run for the White House in 2012.

“I’m going to be talking some more with some folks who want me to listen in the next few weeks,” Dobbs told Thompson. “Right now I’m fortunate to have a number of wonderful options.”

The article in Politico is solidly reported, as it speaks to campaign officials who have worked with 3rd party candidates with some modicum of success (Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura).

The story quotes  Clay Mulford, who managed Ross Perot’s presidential campaign in 1992.

“There’s a populist streak in the voting public that spans both left and right, and so you’ve got the combination of this protectionist element and immigration on one hand, on the right. And on the left you’ve got this anti-bailout, Wall Street, focus-on-Main Street kind of sentiment,” Mulford said. “That streak in American politics is something that’s often ignored.”

That’s the same sweet spot that Glenn Beck is attempted to navigate as well.  Beck seems to want to emphasize Libertarians over Republicans, yet the problem with everything is those damn liberals.  That’s the impression I got  yesterday, when I watched the first time ever on his Fox 5 p.m. program (research for my story coming out next week).

Missed Beck’s “plan” that he announced over the weekend?  Here it is, from the great one’s mouth.

Beck's latest bestseller

There is no denying that Glenn Beck is a divisive figure. Conservatives love his personality and common sense approach to the issues. Liberals work themselves into a fury just thinking about him. With five national bestsellers in bookstores, one of the country’s most popular radio shows, and a hit television program on Fox News, Beck has apparently dropped his alcohol addiction and replaced it with a work addiction.

On Saturday, Beck held a book signing in Tampa for Arguing With Idiots, his latest bestseller, followed by a rally at The Villages, a retirement community near Ocala. As divisive as Beck may be on a national scale, it is evident by the thousands in attendance that he also can unite. The massive turnout was no accident, however; Beck has been hyping his appearance in Florida for weeks now on both his radio and cable show, emphasizing that he would be making a major announcement.

Is Beck announcing his candidacy for public office? Is he taking the Jim Jones route and establishing a conservative paradise in South America? Questions began to arise. Just what exactly did Glenn Beck have in store for his followers and the 9-12 Movement?

It was at The Villages that he plans were finally unveiled.

Read the rest of this entry »

As the battle for health care reform continues, discussions on where we are with the legislation after Saturday night’s vote to continue debate in the Senate was fodder on all of the talk shows yesterday.  On ABC, South Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz got into a dispute with Tennessee’s Marsha Blackwell on the politics of breast cancer;

With Florida and over two dozen other states reporting on Friday that unemployment continues to rise, the emphasis on the economy will only continue to increase.  Also, despite criticism about the stimulus package, independent economists say it’s saving the country;.

And if you didn’t hear, Glenn Beck was in Tampa on Saturday.  More on his visit at Borders here

Download the report here.

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We all know how bad the American economy continues to be.  Now new statistics from the Agriculture Department confirm that hunger is at a 14 year high;

Three Hillsborough County based state legislators spoke to the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee last night.  Find out what they had to say;

And Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck will be in Tampa in January.

Also, CL News contributor Kelly Cornelius gives her take on what went down yesterday as a Hillsborough County task force recommended the preservation of Cone Ranch, a hot topic for months in the County.

Download the report here.

Yesterday we put up a post informing you, the discriminating CL reader, that if you’ve got a couple of hours to spare this Saturday, you can check out talk show host/author/ Glenn Beck at Borders on South Dale Mabry near I-275 from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

However, you’re reading it here first: The self proclaimed “rodeo clown” will be back in his former stomping grounds early next year, and will be appearing with none other than Bill O’Reilly.

The Fox twins will be at the Sun Dome on the USF Tampa campus on Friday, January 29th.  It’s part of their Bold and Fresh 2010 Tour

As a regular viewer of at least the first portion of The Factor over the years,  CL has observed a noticeable calm in the demeanor of cable news’s current king (ratings wise I’m talking about).  O’Reilly admitted as much last night.

In discussing media sensation Sarah Palin and her new book with media critic Bernard Goldberg, Bill-O admitted that he no longer gets that enraged about critics taking him apart.  He said it’s something that he’s learned to control.  I think there’s something to that.  O’Reilly has always carried a tremendous chip on his shoulder, but he’s incredibly successful, and frankly, with Glenn Beck now  airing before him on Fox, and Sean Hannity following him, he’s become, well, a more moderate voice – maybe because it was simply too embarrassing  seeing him in action in filmmaker Robert Greenwald film “Outfoxed” (which memorably showed one sequence where Bill-O is yelling at guests to just “Shut up!”)

Or how could we forget O’Reilly getting into it on one his bugaboo’s:  Illegal immigration.

Here’s the Fox News host with correspondent Geraldo Rivera:

Glenn Beck is blowing up in 2009.  The former talk show host on Tampa Clear Channel station 970 WFLA was growing in popularity in recent years, but his television persona has blossomed after joining Fox News.  Get your tickets now!

Conservative radio and television talk show Glenn Beck is coming to Tampa this weekend.

According to the web site of Tampa 9-12 The former 970 WFLA talk show host, whose career has blown up in ‘09, will be appearing in Tampa this Saturday at Borders on South Dale Mabry Highway. Beck will be signing copies of his NY Times best-seller Arguing with Idiots.

Yesterday Beck’s  latest book, The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book, debuted at #1 on the Times children’s picture book bestseller list, prompting his publisher last week to declare that that gave Beck 5 consecutive #1 NYT bestsellers.

I’m not sure if that’s correct or not, but the man is selling loads of  books, and getting ratings on the radio, and on his Fox News show.

Beck has taken pride this in publicizing and mobilizing opposition to Van Jones, President Obama’s original green jobs czar who ended up resigning in early September after taking a pounding by the talk show host for his ‘radical’ past.

Today the Huffington Post is reporting that on Beck’s guest list of late have been “white supremacists and other extremists.”

Beck’s comment earlier that President Obama was racist led to over 30 advertisers leaving his Fox News program.  However, Fox didn’t lose any revenue as most of those companies ended up advertising on other Fox programs.

Dede Scozzafava officially suspended her campaign

Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava has officially dropped out of the race for New York’s 23rd Congressional district. Earlier this week, I reported that Conservative Party challenger Doug Hoffman was becoming increasingly popular due to his strong conservative values, especially against Scozzafava, whose record in the New York Assembly has been consistantly liberal.

Now, it appears as though the pressure put on by GOP figures such as Jim DeMint, Fred Thompson, and Sarah Palin, as well as media power plays like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, has forced her out of the race. This clears the way for Hoffman, who already was polling with nearly half of the district’s Republican support.

Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this week, the UK’s climate chief and leading authority on global warming, Lord Stern of Brentford, released a report on the raising of cattle and pigs, and how its production greatly affects greenhouse gases and climate change. Bentford said that, “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”

Stern reports that meat production at about 18 percent of global carbon emissions. He also hopes that “a successful deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases.”

This is proving to be yet another topic to send Glenn Beck on a tirade. Beck plays the meat-loving victim and asks, “Are we going to stand for that? Are we going to put up with this?” He also goes on to mock the Meatless Monday movement and makes it sound like more of a punishment for school children than something that would help teach them to make healthy food choices.

Video after the break:
Read the rest of this entry »

Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate for NY's 23rd Congressional District

As President Obama’s approval rating continues to slip, it is clear that he will face a much tougher race for re-election in 2012 than he ran last year. It’s like an overdue pregnancy; it’s been nine months, but he has yet to deliver. The markets are still fragile, and the dollar is going down while unemployment numbers are going up. Toss in our sky-rocketing debt and indecisive action in Afghanistan, and it starts to look like Obama isn’t the savior he was made out to be.

One can criticize the policies of Bush, but at least The Decider actually made decisions. Recent polls from a number of sources all show one undeniable trend  — the American people do not think we’re headed in the right direction.

Such a difficult time for Obama, and one might be under the impression that support for Republicans is on the rise. This isn’t exactly the case; CNN reported that approval for the GOP has hit 36%, down nearly 5% from the last poll taken in the summer, and almost at the same point it was in the last few months of Bush’s time in office.

Discontent with the major parties seems to be a growing phenomenon. Millions have attended “tea parties” all over the country, and the philosophy and wisdom of the Founding Fathers is a recurring theme in today’s political arena. Ordinary people are demanding that something be done; they demand accountability, fiscal responsibility and the protection of our most basic freedoms. Partisan bickering and the corruption that plagues Washington has made the American people feel alienated.

As a result, there has been a re-emergence of third candidates. Not long shots like Ralph Nader or Pat Buchanan, whose presidential runs seem futile, but viable and credible candidates with a fair share of support.

The press has taken notice. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is running for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, a seat up for grabs since Rep. John McHugh was appointed Secretary of the Army. Hoffman, a notable New York accountant, has shown favorable numbers in the polls at around 23%. This number is expected to grow as Hoffman continues to receive nationwide attention, thanks to interviews with Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.

His conservative principles have earned the endorsement of powerful Republican figures, including Fred Thompson and Sarah Palin, even against the GOP’s own candidate. Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava, a Republican with an endorsement from ACORN, has a liberal voting record and a platform that isn’t a far cry from the Democratic contender’s.

Hoffman isn’t the only third-party candidate to raise eyebrows; in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District, Modern Whig Party candidate Paul C. McKain has entered the arena in a bid for the seat occupied by Democrat Allen Boyd. McKain, a former firefighter and businessman, has gained a great deal of support among the Republican base as well as the conservative wing of the Democratic Party.

McKain promises to restore true citizen participation in government, pledging to act as a representative of the people, as intended by the Constitution, not as a mouthpiece for special interest groups. In a district where Democrats are a powerful majority, McKain fights an uphill battle, but it’s a battle that he believes he can win.

And with the growing discontent among American voters, it’s possible that he will.

Tom Bortnyk is a columnist for the political blog Informed Dissent.

A pro-healthcare reform rally on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. Photo by Doug Hickman.

Earlier this month — actually, September 12th (or “9-12” in Glenn Beck parlance) — conservative Tea Parties were again held across the country, essentially to bring like-minded folks together to decry excessive federal spending — at least when Barack Obama is doing it.
In Lakeland, a crowd estimated to be around 2,500 people showed up at Lake Mirror Ampitheatre despite a steady rain. (That’s what the Lakeland Ledger reported — though it looked to this observer to be maybe only half that that amount). It was at least the third major such event that I’ve attended in 2009, and was again a stark reminder that in opposition, conservatives have found their voice in a way that John McCain was unable to articulate for them in 2008.
Though it’s debatable how representative these protesters are in the body politic, it is undeniable that their protests — at least in the arena of health care reform — have had an impact. Because protests and street activism can make a difference. Liberals were united in the latter parts of this decade against George Bush and his egregious war in Iraq. Joined by disaffected independents, they came together in harmony last year, first battling each other (in their epic Democratic primary race), before coalescing behind the brilliant campaign of Barack Obama last fall.
That same energy wilted for much of the just concluded summer, but the Democrats seem finally to be getting it. Read the rest of this entry »

The White House has released a transcript of the controversial speech President Obama is slated to make Sept. 8 today at a high school in Virginia. To save the pundits the trouble of analyzing the text point by point, we’ve gone ahead and inserted some useful opposition talking points. (Read aloud with air of barely controlled panic and angry incredulity, à la Glenn Beck.)

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event
Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

…no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning…
He’s pretending this is a speech about helping kids stay in school, but HE’S ENCOURAGING THEM TO BE TRUANTS!

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia…
INDONESIA=Islam=secret Muslim anti-American agenda

…for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school.
His mother REFUSED to have him study with Americans Read the rest of this entry »

In April, Van Jones was recognized by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people on the planet for the work he did with Green for All and the U.S. government.

Sunday, in the midst of a quiet Labor Day weekend, Van Jones resigned as special advisor on green jobs for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Glenn Beck, Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly all promoted the idea that Jones was a threat to our national security. Once the now-infamous video surfaced showing what he said about Republicans last year during the campaign and long before he went to DC, Cenk Uygur on The Young Turks gave him two weeks, max. Turns out that prediction was optimistic.

So the Jones controversy became just another firestorm to stir up,  something to discredit the president with and distract from the most important conversation today – health care. But in case you’d never heard of Jones before all this brouhaha, here’s more: Read the rest of this entry »

It’d be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.

Flame-throwing and name-calling are all fine if they come from the right, but let a Democrat — or worse, a black Democrat — or still worse. a black Democrat with a green agenda working  in the Obama administration  — let that guy call Republicans names, and WHOA! He has got to be STOPPED.

And worse yet, let that black Democrat be the founder of  a group that led a succesful advertiser boycott against the crazy-like-a-Fox right-wing media opportunist Glenn Beck, a guy who gleefully throws around absurd accusations like calling Obama a racist — and well, that black Democrat not only has to be stopped, he has to be publicly tarred and feathered. Read the rest of this entry »

The Agreeable Husband is a journey into dating and marriage in the 1950s — and offers comedic insight on why future generations turned out the way they did. The show’s choreographer, Shana Perkins, provided the inspiration for this collaborative theatrical performance: It’s based on her mother’s book The Complete Book of Etiquette, a hand guide to proper manners (pronounced pro-pah mah-nahs).  The show features artistic endeavors including theater, dance, art, music, recorded video and a live jazz combo. This special performance is a fundraiser for All Out Repertory Company. Visit alloutrep.org for more info. 8 p.m. Thurs., June 11, The RITZ Ybor, 1503 E 7th Ave., Tampa, $20, $10 students at the door.

Sometimes I get to feeling sorry for myself — I don’t even have cable TV, after all — and then The Florida Holocaust Museum hosts Sophal Lang Stagg, a survivor of the Cambodian Genocide, and I feel like a twerp. Stagg shares her story of survival and the charity work she and her husband are currently doing in Cambodia. 7-8 p.m., Thu., June 11,  Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 Fifth St. S., St. Petersburg, $15 general; free to museum members, 727-820-0100, flholocaustmuseum.org.

More events after the break:  Read the rest of this entry »