A follow-up on Glenn Beck.

Looks like the left’s strategy is producing some results – with Best Buy, CVS and Wal-Mart pulling advertising from Beck’s show. I haven’t come across any information that indicates whether these companies are pulling all advertising from Fox, or are instead following in the footsteps of others who continue to market to Fox’s audience, just not on Beck’s show.

Has Beck addressed this at all yet? I haven’t watched as regularly as usual since this began. I know Beck won’t be speaking at the 9/12 event in Washington, D.C. Despite the fact that he began the 9/12 project ‘for the people” as he put it, it seems uncharacteristic for him to decline to speak at the first large gathering of a project he pioneered.

Beck has become one of the most influential conservative voices this year – right up there with commentators like Rush Limbaugh. The campaign against him could hurt him, but it won’t succeed in getting him off the air – not radio or television. How displeased Fox is with the situation and how much of the decision not to appear at the 9/12 project had to do with demands made by Fox, is unclear.

Beck’s situation is another example of the left’s inability to take on rational dissent. When the Speaker of the House and House Majority Leader call opponents of their pet project un-American, this sets the tone for everyone else as to what is and is not acceptable. When regular Americans showing up to townhalls and engaging civically not only have their patriotism questioned, but are commonly called racists (by commentators and even academics, particularly on cable television), we become jaded at the left’s action when they choose a target to zero in on like Beck.

Unlike others who believe it really doesn’t make a difference whether they have an effect on Beck’s show, I fall into the camp that believes that it’s not only unfair but dangerous to allow the anti-Beck campaign to go unnoticed. If they’re targeting Beck, it’s not because he just spews worthless blabber on television. If that was the case, they’d mock and belittle him, but not engage in serious tactics to bring him down. Beck has struck a chord, by using both logic and humor to get his message across that this administration’s expansionist policies are leading us down a disastrous road. Like other conservatives the left loves to hate, he has a knack for simplifying complex issues and bringing game-changing facts to light. His ability to personalize issues, relate to people and yes, even get emotional, has brought him great success and allowed his voice to reach many people. Thanks in part to his show, books like The Five Thousand Year Leap have made their way to the top of the bestseller lists, and people are actually reading history and figuring out for themselves how the system constructed by our founders led to the greatest innovation and wealth the world has ever seen in one country.

Now, I don’t always agree with Beck completely, but I believe that he works hard to put forth strong arguments and that he does so with passion. And perhaps that is why they chose him specifically. Regardless of their inane reasoning, we should all stand up for Glenn Beck and make sure to continue to follow this story and spread the word. Beck is not an extreme commentator; he is not an offensive commentator. He is a thinker and an analyst who is rooted in the conservative tradition. And, he is an educator, a man who has a great respect for history and shares it with his audience. He has brought people of conservative values together and helped the conservative movement. And if we allow the left to take him down without a fight, who is next? And what does it say about freedom of speech in a country where thugs tied to the President (through one of the many czars no less) are able to shut down opposing voices like that?

When Jeremiah Wright engaged in an indisputably racist rant, conservatives were told that it was either irrelevant or racist to bring him up. I was even told by some here in Chicago that anything that he said should be excused because he has done a lot for the community of the south side of Chicago. Why is it that as a society, we give leftists a free pass? Is it because we’re afraid we’ll be labeled racists? This is the sentiment that Beck tapped into when he drew his own conclusions and wondered aloud on television if our President is indeed racist. No one blinked an eye when liberals painted President George W. Bush as a racist or when Janeane Garofalo accused tea partiers of being racists, but when a white, conservative commentator opines that the President might be racist, liberals begin planning his demise. The hypocrisy and unjustness is astonishing here. People should begin paying more attention to this situation and continue to stand up for Beck.

Update:
It looks like the media got it wrong. Ed Morrissey of Hot Air dug deeper and contacted the big three companies reported to have pulled advertising from Beck’s show. Best Buy said that they only advertise on Fox in the morning hours, never during Beck’s show or any of the other commentators’ shows. CVS did ask that their ads not be aired during Beck’s show but will continue to advertise on Fox during other time slots. Sounds like they have a grudge against Beck to me. Wal-Mart also conceded that they have asked for all ads to be pulled from the show. A reader forwarded an email he received from Wal-Mart to Morrissey, indicating that Wal-Mart has decided to pull their ads from all news shows that provide commentary. It’ll be interesting to see if they keep their word.

Thanks to Ed Morrissey for following up on this story.

Tags: boycott, Glenn Beck