This has got to hurt.
The New York Times published a profile of Jon Huntsman, Sr. this weekend. Huntsman is the billionaire chemical magnate best known for manufacturing fast-food containers. He is also the father of GOP presidential hopeful, Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Glenn Beck featured Huntsman on his Fox News program several times and awarded him the Badge of Merit for charity at the “Restoring Honor” rally. Beck spoke effusively of his admiration for Huntsman.
“He is the only man I have ever met that I believe has the character of George Washington. Jon Huntsman, Sr. is a good friend and mentor of mine.”
[And…]
“…a man I look up to and try to model myself after.”
I have to wonder how Beck is going to take it when someone reads him the Times’ profile and Beck learns this about his mentor:
“He sympathizes with the Wall Street protesters. The political system, he agreed, is broken. Ethics have foundered.”
[And…]
“Mr. Huntsman said his charitable work, and perhaps the influence of his son — regarded as a moderate in Utah in advocating civil unions for gays and reform of the state’s strict liquor laws as governor — had shifted his own conservative views toward the center over the years. Among his best friends, he said, are Glenn Beck, the conservative commentator, and Michael Moore, the left-wing polemicist filmmaker.”
[Note that the author of the article for the Times, a bastion of the so-called “liberal” media, found it necessary to describe Michael Moore as a “left-wing polemicist” while declining to characterize Beck as anything other than conservative, despite Beck’s far more persistent and hostile display of polemics.]
But the kicker is this quote exposing Huntsman to be an advocate of economic and social justice for those less fortunate than himself:
“All men and women need a roof over their heads, and need to be fed and have proper health care. I don’t know that I believed that, or even understood that, in the early days.”
That’s about as succinct and eloquent a personal statement of compassion as any heard at Zucotti Park by the protesters occupying Wall Street.
So presumably Beck will shortly denounce his mentor as a progressive, socialist, Marxist, bent on destroying America, murdering millions, and plunging the world into tyranny and darkness. Then he will be free to find a new mentor who hopefully won’t betray him by evolving into a caring human being.
I’m not trying to distract, I’m just pointing out something I thought was interesting. “Polemics” is an legitimate form of logical argument. How effective it is largely depends on the user. Maybe the reason that the New York Times called Moore a “polemicist” is because he makes actual logical arguments, as opposed to Beck who just rants about his delusions and spreads hate and group psychosis. There is no real word for what Beck is, because he conjures up such vomit-inducing thoughts that defy conventional adjectives.
My understanding of “polemics” is that it implies controversy and argumentativeness, so its use seemed a bit derisive to me. But I’m not a linguist.
However, I whole-heartedly agree with your description of Beck.
You are right about polemics; I overlooked the “controversy” and “argumentativeness” parts. However, the fact that they still sent a slight jibe at Moore shows how “liberal” media outlets approach unicorns and leprachauns on the Reality-O-Meter. Most “liberal” media outlets actually are more center-right than most people realize. I found an interesting book called “What Liberal Media?” by Eric Alterman, where he examines the spectre of “liberal” media, and how it is mostly a mechanically-repeated lie created by conservatives. It’s pre-Beck, but he has some interesting bits about O’Reilly, Ingraham, and Hannity.
I know this is slightly off topic, but I just felt like sharing this since this is a site devoted to exposing conservative bias in media. That being said, I hope Beck is finding the need to purchase some cream for his “emerods.” I haven’t listened to the conservative station in my area for several months.