I have seen the light....Glen Beck is a genius. Really.

[Armstead]

I have said some critical things about Glen Beck in the past.

Now, I take them back.

Glen Beck is, without a doubt, a genius who is not appreciated.

You think he is some irrational right-wing ranter. No you are wrong. You just don't get it.

He is actually a creative genius. A master of performance art.

Remember Andy Kaufman? He was the comedian who adopted very weird personas, and never got out of character. His alter egos would do strange and obnoxious things. When he took on an identity, he was dead serious about it and never let on what he was doing. At first the audience would laugh, but then they'd wonder. "He must be kidding. Or is he?" Is it Andy, or the obnoxious crooner Tony Clifton they were seeing? Was Andy really being a sexist lug when he was challenging women to wrestle with him or just making fun of sexist thugs?

Was he kidding or not? the ambiguity ultimately took comedy and performance into another realm.

Glen Beck's true Kaufmanesque genius struck me the other day after seeing him characterize the ideological divide as a struggle between those wholesome Tea Party Moms against Leftist, Communistic Violent Thugs. Yes, if you oppose the Tea Party movement,you are against Motherhood. If you support progressive causes you are supporting violent Black-Hooded Rioters.

Glen Beck must be the new Andy Kaufman. He's putting us all on, just as Kaufman used to.

Or is he?

I'm kidding, right? Or am I?

[YOY]

1. If it is he is a true genious.

But I am not too sure if Andy would quit drinking and join the Mormons just to complete the act.

[iceman66]

2. He is certainly a talented entertainer.

He admitted as much a little while back - described himself as a clown just trying to make a buck!

Whether he believes his own bullshit is another matter. I suspect he probably doesn't but who really knows for sure?

[Enrique]

3. those guys are all successful con-men

Coulter, Savage, Limbaugh, etc., they don't really mean all that stuff. I wouldn't call them geniuses.

[Armstead]

4. Hopefully you may have detected a bot of sarcasm in my use of that that word

[Bucky]

5. (side note to knucklehead who unrecc'd this: "Get a clue!") Beck's funniest bit...

Beck's at his best when he hawks buy gold, buy gold, buy gold now! Then it turns out one of his remaining show sponsors is firm that's selling gold investment strategies! In real life, could a news network ever really be so transparently craven?

[Orsino]

6. It's an act, all right, but it requires no genius...

...to aim consistently for the lowest common denominator. Beck is merely unscrupulous, and his followers are patsies.