Do people really take this guy seriously?

Ugh... I guess it takes a Planet Fitness viewing of the Glen Beck show to bring me back from a week long blog hiatus. Because the TV receiver at the machine I was using produced a horrible squeal while I was trying to listen to ESPN, I was forced to look for alternative entertainment. Against my better judgment, I decided to tune in to my good pal Beck and see what was grinding his gears today.

I've noticed that Beck has a tendency to take two unrelated topics, force them to sound like they are similar, and move on as if this is the truth. He basically centers each episode on false assumptions. When he was in the middle of the ACORN diatribe, after he reached the conclusion of the whole pimp & prostitute scandal, he went on to say how these employees were "community organizers". He then jumped from that to how we didn't know what community organizers really do, but now we do. So, luckily for us, Beck assisted us in determining that Obama's time as a community planner involved cheating taxes, prostitution, smuggling foreign under-age girls for said prostitution, drugs, and murder. He does this without missing a beat.

Yesterday he was focused on everyone's favorite current events topic: health care. He brought on... some guy. He might have been a CIA dude or not, I can't recall. His area of "expertise" was hostage situations. Beck had him explain the traits of a hostage takeover. Dude gleefully described situations as quick and violent. Beck then went on for the entire segment to associate the health care reform efforts to a terrorist hostage situation. I couldn't believe it.

Actually, let me correct myself. Beck initially said that he didn't want to jump to any conclusions and compare the two. Having made that disclaimer, he then went on to jump to conclusions and compared the two.

First, how long has health care reform been a goal of the Democratic Party??? 20... 40... 50 years? This is not a surprise!!! This is not a sneak rushed attack against the American people!!! Everyone knew this was coming. Show me a piece of legislation that either party has not said needed to be "signed quickly". You know why both parties do this? Because as sure as shit the other party is going to do it's best to slow down the process in hopes that it stalls forever.

The Republicans keep saying publicly that they want to slow down the workings on this reform. I would have a much easier time of believing that if it weren't for the fact that in multiple instances word has leaked out that they want it to go so slow that it ultimately dies. At least be honest enough and say, "we have no intention of passing any sort of health reform. You might as well forget about even working with us." That, I would respect. Each side has it's own agenda. If the Republicans had any intention of doing something like this they would have addressed it during their 6 years of dominance.

Second, Beck seemingly tentatively asks his "expert" if violence could be interpreted as vocal violence rather than physical. When dude, again gleefully, says "yes", Beck begins to build the case that the poor teabaggers are being treated oh so harshly by their critics. The poor teabaggers and townhall disruptors are being "shouted down". I almost laughed myself off the stairmaster at that point. This Beck guy, he's serious, right? Is he a satire like Stephen Colbert? The fact that he is applying the label of "terrorist" to people shouting down a group of people who are themselves shouting down and slowing down the democratic process... I don't even know how to handle that.

He piles it even thicker by saying that he and his ilk are not encouraging violent behavior. All he is doing is allowing these poor people to "blow off some steam". So, the conclusion is that when Beck and his people are doing their thing, it's therapeutic. When others do, they're terrorists.

Again, who the fuck is the guy and why the fuck do people think he's relevant?

At that point, I had had enough and powered up the Ipod to let Mike Mcready do his thang, as only he can...