Glenn Beck: Tea Party Pooper?

[marmar]

from MotherJones:




It's starting to look like a big tea party rally planned for the National Mall on Saturday—the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks—could be a major bust. If so, a surprising culprit may be to blame for the flop: Glenn Beck, who essentially launched a movement and then bailed on it when it really counted.

Since late last year, activists affiliated with Beck's 9.12 Project have been furiously promoting and fundraising for the event, dubbed the "March on DC." Organizers initially made it sound as though millions of activists were prepared to descend on the Mall in an outpouring of anti-government outrage. Now, though, it seems like the event could draw fewer than 2,000 people.

What's Beck's role in the potential bust? Here's the back story: In March 2009, the Fox News host called on his viewers to come together the way Americans did on September 12, the day after the planes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. He urged them to rally around his "nine principles and 12 values" (No. 2: "I believe in God and He is the center of my life") and to launch their own local organizations devoted to the cause. After he set up a website to facilitate the movement, the overwhelming response crashed it almost immediately. Soon, thousands of 9.12 groups sprang up across the country.

These groups formed something of a parallel wing to the tea party movement, and they are often conflated as the same thing. But they aren't. As one 9.12 activist once explained to me, while most 9.12ers are tea partiers, not all tea partiers are 9.12ers. The most significant differences between the two groups revolve around the role of religion and the focus on social issues (there are a lot of Mormons in the 9.12 ranks). Tea partiers tend to fall into a more libertarian camp, concerned with fiscal matters—lower taxes, smaller government—while the 9.12ers fret about the country's moral fiber and revere Beck. Christine Drawdy, a Florida 9.12 Project activist involved in organizing the "March on DC," explained to Politico in November that while Beck is "not the leader" of the 9.12 movement, "all he has to do is say something, and they'll jump." ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/march-dc-preview

[opihimoimoi]

1. Both parties follow simplistic modes to solutions....HEY BECK, ITS NOT A VILLAGE. ITS THE US GOV'T

BIF FUCKIN DIFF

ys can't run the Govt on simple....

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Oh, no, Glenn chooses to grace US with his presence today.

:puke: At least we have a bright sunny day for our demonstration.

[foxfeet]

3. Party pooper/shit chute, tomato/tomahto.

[gratuitous]

4. I've known several people like Glenn Beck

Certainly not with the platform that Beck enjoys, but the sort who fires off with grandiose plans, whips up a lot of enthusiasm, and then when the heavy lifting is needed, it's "Hey, where's the guy that had this great idea?" One other big difference is that the bag-holders I've known don't usually pocket a whole bunch of money when they skedaddle.