SUBSCRIBE NOW WELCOME BACK. Do you want to continue reading where you left off? New Republic subscribers can pick up where they left off no matter which device they were previously using. SUBSCRIBE NOW

Go Home Glenn Beck Is So 2009

JONATHAN CHAIT APRIL 8, 2011

Glenn Beck Is So 2009

BY JONATHAN CHAIT

There's something funny about the tone of Jennifer Rubin's blog item kicking Glenn Beck as he heads out the door:

Glenn Beck announced his departure from Fox News this week. It was no surprise. His ratings have been tanking, his shtick has gotten old and he has become a clownish figure, each “gag” more extreme than the last.

In short, Beck is out of fashion in a time of increasingly mature conservative leadership. Yes, there are entertaining talk show hosts who educate and encourage the conservative base (Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved and Bill Bennett come to mind). They make positive contributions to the conservative movement. Beck isn’t one of these. Now is not the time for rants and conspiracy theories.

The time for rants and conspiracy theories was 2009, apparently.

But that is what she's saying, right? Beck served a couple purposes: He got conservatives revved up about Obama and out on the streets to attend Tea Party rallies and town hall meetings. He established a new standard of right-wing craziness that so was crazy that some pretty nutty right-wingers wound up looking comparatively sane. But his nuttiness has simply grown so obvious that he's outlived his usefulness to the movement. He's now "out of fashion." But fashions can always come back into style.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Show all 7 comments

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

7 comments

Glenn Beck has outlived his usefulness. But he did yeoman service for the nutty right. There is no gratitude. J-Ru saw the opportunity for a cheap shot but she should have thanked Beck for stirring up the nutters.

- liberalref

April 8, 2011 at 1:52pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

When I read things like this, I sometimes wonder which is more offensive: the absolute madness of the right-wing base, or the cynical contempt shown for that base by conservative elites.

- npippenger@gmail.com-old

April 8, 2011 at 1:57pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Glenn Beck has served as the unofficial spokes person for the John Birch Society. His attack against Frances Fox Piven was utterly crazy and proved to be a dangerous incitement to violence. The business classes, in the UK and US, ultimately turned against Beck, after receiving their return on investment.

- LawrenceGulotta

April 8, 2011 at 2:02pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

She does have that "exacting eye on conservative policy-making and Republican campaigns, pundits and politicians". At least that's what Hiatt said when the WP hired Rubin last year to replace the apostate Wiegel. What is an exacting eye? Beck seems to have one.

- rayward

April 8, 2011 at 2:37pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

I'm sorry, Michael Medved and Bill Bennett as paragons of intellectual conservatism? Seriously? I guess they speak in complete sentences and aren't prone to breaking out in hysterics, but really, now...

- ramcat

April 8, 2011 at 3:05pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

I think he should get some kind of award for his puppet show, starring George Soros and other people of A Certain Persuasion. Have the elites no shame? Turning their backs on such a genius!

- Sophia

April 8, 2011 at 3:06pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

Surely, like Oprah followed Phil Donhue, someone will follow Glenn Beck.

- Nusholtz

April 8, 2011 at 3:34pm

You must be a subscriber to post comments. Subscribe today.

SHARE HIGHLIGHT

0 CHARACTERS SELECTED

TWEET THIS

POST TO TUMBLR

SHARE ON FACEBOOK

Close