Hitchens on Beck

From Slate:

At the last “Tea Party” rally I attended, earlier this year at the Washington Monument, some in the crowd made at least an attempt to look fierce and minatory. I stood behind signs that read: “We left our guns at home—this time” and “We invoke the First Amendment today—the Second Amendment tomorrow.” But Beck’s event was tepid by comparison: a call to sink to the knees rather than rise from them. It was clever of him not to overbill it as a “Million”-type march (though Rep. Michele Bachmann was tempted to claim that magic figure). The numbers were impressive enough on their own, but the overall effect was large, vague, moist, and undirected: the Waterworld of white self-pity.

Classic

Glenn Beck is Bat Shit Crazy

In case you didn’t know, Glenn Beck is holding some sort of rally this Saturday, August 28 in order to “take the country back.”  Take the country back?  From whom?  I can only assume that he means he wants to take the country away from the democratically elected Obama Administration and return it to it’s rightful owners, at least in his mind,  the Republicans.  (I know Glenn Beck is officially registered to vote as an Independent, but if you believe for a second that he doesn’t just vote a straight Republican ticket you’re an idiot.)  Now, although I despise almost every conceivable facet of Glenn Beck, he does have the right to hold a rally and to speak his mind.  Glenn Beck is  a jackass, and jackasses tend to congregate just like other groups of folk.  I don’t really have a problem with this stupid publicity stunt, except for the fact that it will take place on August 28 in front of the  Lincoln Memorial.