I think it’s fair to say that the promised miracles for Glenn Beck’s Right Power Rally failed to materialize. There were no sightings of the Virgin Mary in tea leaves and no healing of lepers. [FLASH: Beck announced a “miracle” that occurred at the rally. Some birds flew overhead. Yep, that’s it. Sends chills down your spine, doesn’t it?] It was less a turning point for America than a veering off into ditch. But there were a couple of things that deserve notice:
First, Beck appeared on Fox News Sunday the day after his revival meeting and walked back his famous assertion that President Obama is a racist, telling Chris Wallace that…
“You see, it’s all about victims and victimhood; oppressors and the oppressed; reparations, not repentance; collectivism, not individual salvation. I don’t know what that is, other than it’s not Muslim, it’s not Christian. It’s a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it.”
Well, that clears that up. Obama isn’t really a racist, he just believes in oppression and is perverting the gospel. That’s much better. Thanks for the clarification.
Secondly, prior to Beckapalooza, he appeared with Bill O’Reilly to hype the event. In the course of their discussion O’Reilly bet Beck that there would not be more than 100,000 people at the rally. If there were, O’Reilly promised to give Beck his primetime spot on the Fox News schedule. Crowd estimates have varied widely from an expert’s analysis at CBS of 87,000, to Beck’s own guess of between 300,000 and 600,000. Since O’Reilly would never concede that CBS would get anything right, it leaves us with a figure that was certainly in excess of 100,000. So I’m wondering when O’Reilly will step down and let Beck move into his studio.
Finally, it should be noted that Beck’s sermon about how it is now time to “concentrate on the good” didn’t last even 24 hours. He was already bashing the President the next day on Fox News Sunday. So I wouldn’t get too excited about a new, positive Beck. In fact, I would expect his petulant tirades to continue into the foreseeable future
Hi Mark,
The Rally was AWESOME and I go to Glenn Beck University and I have lerned a lott!
I made a commershal for GBU.
You might like it.
Damn. After waching that I think I may have to enrole. 😉
“…and Glenn Beck’s own guess of between 300,000 and 600,000…”
NBC’s estimate was 300,000.
The whole premise of GB standing up there preaching like a 19th century revivalist shows how truly stupid he and his followers are..true blue evangelical christian fundamentalists view mormons as nothing but twisted cultists..his act probably gave fake christians like GW Bush a rise, but as far as bible belt types not a friggin chance…
How ironic for Beck to criticize Obama’s religion as a form of Christianity that “most Christians won’t recognize” when Beck practices a form of “Christianity” that most Christians DON’T recognize.
Brillian!
What, no fishes and loaves? Come on. at least fly through the air like Simon Magus did in the Gospel of Paul.
“I think it’s fair to say that the promised miracles for Glenn Beck’s Right Power Rally failed to materialize.”
So what? All of Glenn’s marketing hype about the next George Washington being inspired by his rally, blah, blah, blah was the classic carnival barker shouting outrageous crap to get folks into the tent. Everyone knew it’d be pretty much the same sermon.
The point of Beck’s rally was a publicity stunt. Like speeding in a Delorean with the gull wing doors up or stuffing a gerbil into a drive-up teller’s tube. He just wants to drive more traffic to his TV and radio shows. The backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of MLK is a lame attempt at masking his intent.
A week after the event nobody will remember the message. They will, however, remember Beck did something big. People who know nothing of the crackpot have heard of him now thanks to the ‘liberal mainstream media’ that promoted the event for free to an audience Beck can’t normally reach outside of right-wing talk radio and Fox News.