Elmer Gantry, courtesy of Sinclair Lewis:
“Let me count this day, Lord, as the beginning of a new and more vigorous life, as the beginning of a crusade for complete morality and the domination of the Christian church throughout the land. Dear Lord, thy work is but begun! We shall yet make these United States a moral nation!”
And Glenn Beck, courtesy of (who else?) Glenn Beck:
“We are 12 hours away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America. And it has nothing to do with this city or politics. It has everything to do with God Almighty.”
The Gantry soliloquy comes at the end of the book. Let’s hope Beck’s tale is likewise coming to a close.
Mad Blog Media 
O’G, have you given any thought to writing for one of the literary or political mags?
Hey, K … aw, those folks have plenty of their own loudmouth slackers hanging around the office, complaining about the coffee and surreptitiously working on bad novels when they should be cranking out word count for The Man. They need me like Bubba needed Monica. Sure, it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but. …
What I need is an outfit that specializes in bikes, beer, wine, food, matters literary, political and comical — shit, I already have one, and it’s right here.
“…bikes, beer, wine, food, matters literary, political and comical…”
Sounds to me like an excellent combination for a nightclub or other drinking establishment.
As for Glenn Beck, he is obviously among the followers of the false prophet Elohssa who we have all been warned against.
Ah, yes, Elohssa, which I believe is Aramaic for “He Who Farts Words.”
The really dumb thing is that I thought of that name this morning as we were hiking up in the Jemez with our neighbor the school nurse. She said that the youngsters having kids these days are trying to think of weird and original names for their brats. I suggested Elohssa, not having checked that its a standard issue derogatory in the Urban Dictionary. Duh…all sick minds think alike, I guess.
Glenn Beck….any relation to Beck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFi8toT60Js
Sorta sounds like it.
The Elmer Gantry comparison is so apt. Although Beck is sorely lacking a scintilla of the charisma and oily charm of the Gantry of the novel and the film.
I wonder if Beck does all his own stunts as Lancaster did. (Burt had a circus backround and military service, too…..). Love the Burt/Shirley sidebar – hilarious!
Roughly 90,000 people came out to see Glenn Beck. Ok.
Howard Stern could spend as much time and effort promoting a gathering of his listeners and probably pull in three times as many people. Oprah could do the same and bring in a million.
I’m not too worried that Mr. Beck has rekindled the Moral Majority. I do think he’s managed to catch their attention for book sales and viewership. America buys stupid by the gross. This was nothing more than a cable TV special with related memorabilia.
I was more concerned when loonies showed up at smaller Tea Party rallies sporting some serious weapons. But they’ve since crept back to their bunkers to wait for the rapture or whatever they think comes next.
Since America seems comfortable with soundbyte and bumper sticker philosophy, I’d like to share a few of my own: Turn off your TV; Turn off your radio; Balance your checkbook; Walk more; Ride your bike this week; Read a book without pictures; Listen to music without words; Subject-verb-object, please; Please don’t call in to radio shows. You’ll only encourage them.
Off topic.
Big Tex was in Madison WI yesterday to help Trek promote the 2nd Ride the Drive. It was in the 90’s but breezy, so it was still fun. Thought I’d share some pictures with you guys.
http://www.sixfootsally.com/RTD.htm
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Beck’s crowd – predominantly white, Al Sharpton’s gathering – mostly black. Any substance to any of the grand standing? Zero on both sides.
This oh-so-not-political rally was billed as returning to HONOR. Led by a TV talking head who called the president a racist and a woman who resigned as Alaska’s governor before ethical questions caught up with her. And almost 100,000 lunkheads showed up to cheer them? The sane people better turn out in droves in November to vote, lest these kooks have an effect on the elections.
Dang swell…it’s been 18 years since I was in Madison in August; and I’d almost forgotten how beautiful is is.
I don’t think I’d want to see it in January though.
As for Beckula, I just heard Howard Stern refer to him this morning as “a drunken ex-Zookeper” or something like that- referring to Beck’s previous radio career.
Check out this link. Very humorous writing from someone who was at the Back Rally! Good Stuff (And pictures too for those who like the visual stimulation)!
And now for the link!!! http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/8/28/897086/-What-Happens-When-A-Liberal-Black-Man-Goes-To-Glenn-Becks-I-Have-A-Dream,-Too-Speech!
Drunken ex-zookeeper or not, I’d not take the next few elections lightly as long as the U.S. is staggering from recession to recession, stuck in a couple failed wars, and increasingly looking for scapegoats to blame for the economic and strategic mess we are in.
In 1933, the German Weimar Republic, stuck in a deep depression and bearing grudges for a lost war, was taken over by a failed painter who spent several years in jail for starting a failed putsch.
Only about a third of the German vote went to the NSDAP (that is, until Schickelgruber banned the Communists). The rest of the vote was fragmented between Commies,Social Democrats, and other fringe groups.
Weirder shit can happen when people turn off their brains and expect to be saved from their own stupidity. What worries me is if one of these brain trusts is ever elected, one of them will have their finger on the button of the biggest nuclear arsenal on earth. I’m not one of those people who think it could never happen here.
Have a nice day.
My question to the right-wing screwballs around here who complain and blame all the current woes on Barack “Hussein” Obama, as they like to call him, is “what do you think “Nutty Uncle John” McCain and “Caribou Barbie” Palin would be doing now to fix things?” Most of the time I get that “deer-in-the-headlights” stare in response. I next ask them “who was the president who started the two unfunded wars while lowering taxes (on mostly rich guys) and watched the financial world melt down? To them all of our current mess is blamed on a) Obama or b) Clinton, NONE of it can be blamed on Dubya using their whacky logic. As I wrote earlier, the sane folks better get to the polls in November or what Khal wrote about above could happen here.
Ah… “We are 12 hours away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America. And it has nothing to do with this city or politics. It has everything to do with God Almighty.”
Hmmmm… It’s now 1715 CDT, don’t see much of a transformation yet.
I think Frank Zappa had a little say about this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGZ5isu23ow
Best description I have read about the Tea Party and probably ol’ Beckers is from a Playboy interview with Cornel West: “Tea Party folk are not crazy people. They’re just misguided. The Tea Party might look a mile wide on Fox News, but it’s only a few inches deep.” Granted it is an old one and a good one, but it sums up the entire plethora of Tea Baggers/Partiers. Not a lot of substance within the words that they speak, but there is a lot of sound coming from their collective pie-holes.
James, re: an inch deep
All of Palin’s efforts to help Joe Miller resulted in a 28% turn-out rate. But then again, Fox News is beat out every night by iCarly, so we’re talking about an uber-minority encouraging a micro-faction.