The Beck Factor
By: BillOReilly.com Staff Thursday, April 7, 2011
My pal Glenn Beck is leaving his program on the Fox News Channel later this year. This has caused great joy among some uber-liberals who object to free speech as well as to anything Beck. The Media Matters outfit took just seconds to misstate why Beck is changing venues, but what else is new? George Soros partially funds Media Matters, so why would the website ever say anything truthful when far left propaganda is so much easier to dish?

When you get past all the rubbish, Glenn Beck is really Norm, the guy on the sitcom "Cheers." He sits on a symbolic barstool and vents. He sees bad things happening to his country and objects. Because his rap is so interesting, millions of Americans want to hear it. So what on earth is wrong with that?

If you just got off the plane from Mongolia and dialed into the left-wing U.S. media, you might think Glenn Beck is the anti-Christ. The hue and cry about Beck is downright hysterical. Why do they care? Beck isn't an elected official; he's not even a journalist. He's just a guy with an opinion. So what's the beef?

Well, again, it goes to free speech. Many hardcore ideologues in both camps simply do not want to hear opinions other than their own. And if someone is successfully bloviating views that differ from their orthodoxy, they go ballistic. And Glenn Beck is certainly successful.

Remember, he's the guy who exposed Obama's "green jobs czar," Van Jones, as a communist sympathizer and 9/11 truther. Jones said a quick goodbye before the White House door hit him in the butt. Beck also drove a campaign against the ACORN group that was taking taxpayer dollars and using them to commit voter fraud in some places. Subsequently, Congress defunded ACORN.

These are big accomplishments, the kinds of things that can get powerful people upset. Thus, Beck became a target, an object of derision and hatred for some in the media.

But it is Glenn Beck who will have the last laugh. His media empire is now so expansive, he doesn't need the daily grind of TV news analysis. The guy has a hot website, The Blaze, has a syndicated radio program, even has an imprint at a prestigious publishing house. Plus, his speaking fees could considerably reduce the national debt.

So three cheers for Glenn Beck, aka Norm-a regular American who loves his country and is willing to suffer the slings and arrows to make his voice heard. We'll miss seeing him as much on Fox News, but his voice will still resonate throughout the media. And, to those who respect Glenn Beck, that's all that really matters.