Will Glenn Beck’s Common Nonsense Change Our Nation?: An Interview With Alex Zaitchik

Monday 24 May 2010

by: Sara Robinson | The Campaign for America's Future

SR: Beck has set himself up as this sort of revisionist history and civics teacher. What do you think it means for the country that we've got two million people watching his fractured-fairy-tale versions of history every day?

AZ: It doesn't speak very well for the state of conservatism, that's for sure. It wasn't all that long ago that the most high-profile representatives of conservatism were people like Bill Buckley, who—disagree with him as you might have on the issues—was very educated, and didn't routinely make wildly idiotic statements. Here's another difference: Instead of smearing those with whom he disagreed, as Beck did with Van Jones, Buckley invited Huey Newton, who really was a black-power revolutionary, onto Firing Line and actually talked to him, not about him, for an hour, like an adult. So I think first and foremost, Beck's stature and influence is a statement on conservatism more than it's a statement on the country. It's important to keep in mind that it's only a very small percentage of the country at large that's watching this guy, and those people tend to be the more hardcore, less-educated conservatives.