Thanks for the shout-out, Keith!
So today I got an email whose subject line I just found amusing: Glenn Beck raises fears! it said.
It was to promote his "special broadcast" tonight about the swine flu vaccine. Apparently he has some misgivings, which is fine I guess, except that had the timing been a little different there wouldn't be a swine flu vaccine, because it would just have been incorporated into the existing flu shot, though I suppose Glenn could then simply transfer his viewers' fears to general paranoia about vaccinations.
Anyway, I just thought it was funny that the notion of Glenn Beck "raising fears" was noteworthy or even vaguely promotable. It's like, what the hell else do you tune in to his show for? Besides video for your evening comedy show ...
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c |
| Moment of Zen - Glenn Beck Cries | |
I love Shep.
Anyway, I tweeted a smartass comment about the email I'd received and then went back to whatever I was doing. But someone handed it on to KO:
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By the way, did you know that according to my friends in research, 94 percent of Beck's audience is white, biggest percentage of any cable news show? Also, did you know a third of his viewers come from the South, also tops among any cable news show? They are twice as likely to be educated (37 percent have 4-year degrees) as HLN viewers (18 percent), though I'm not sure that's saying much.
The point is, it's an unusually white and Southern audience of average education, and if you recall "A Face in the Crowd," so was Lonesome Rhodes's audience, which makes KO's equation of Beck and Lonesome pretty sharp. That said, I detect a bit of Jack Paar in Glenn as well — he's well-read, he likes to tell funny stories on himself (when he's not weeping) and, as a critic once observed about Paar, "he might explode one day ... and you might see a nervous breakdown viewed from the comfort of your own bedroom."
If there's a special broadcast you should watch, it's Keith's Wednesday night hourlong "Special Comment" on health care reform. If you don't have a full hour, at least watch this segment:
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