OK, maybe my headline is a little unfair, or at least it would be unfair if applied to a regular person. But considering we’re talking about the highest profile guy on Fox News, I think the headline is fair and balanced enough.
Forbes.com has a piece on Glenn Beck in which they detail just how much money the fearmongering blowhard is worth. (h/t Arkansas Blog) For the most part, the article is fairly mundane. A quick re-hash of Beck’s backstory (mom died, he did drugs, worked as a DJ, hit rock bottom, found a niche playing to the lowest common denominator of Republican voters, profit), a rundown of how much each piece of the Glenn Beck empire is worth (a lot), and a bunch of pictures of him doing Beck-ish stuff (i.e. screaming hyperbole and lies).
However, there is one thing in the article that jumped out at me:
With a deadpan, Beck insists that he is not political: “I could give a flying crap about the political process.” Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. “We’re an entertainment company,” Beck says.
The article even gives some quaint examples of how Beck “entertains” his audience.
“This President, I think, has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture” (2009). “Al Gore’s not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization” (2007). “I’m thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I’m wondering if I could kill him myself or if I would need to hire somebody to do it” (2005).
Yep…there’s nothing more entertaining than calling the President a racist, likening the former Vice President to the Nazi’s extermination of the Jews, and wondering aloud about killing a film-maker. Man, does this guy know how to party or what?!