Media

Beck Nominated for Time’s Person of the Year

Glenn Beck has been nominated for Time’s “Person of the Year,” a title given annually to the year’s most influential person. The list of 25 also includes Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, Steve Jobs, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, and even Chinese communist leader Hu Jintao. But while the list is thorough the descriptions are not.

This year, readers can view the full list and rate the candidates. Reader ratings, however, do not determine the final outcome. “TIME’s editors, who choose the actual Person of the Year, reserve the right to disagree,” the magazine says.

Past winners included George W. Bush, Pope John Paul II, Bill Clinton, and the American soldier. So one might expect that the magazine’s description of each candidate is a balanced, or at least impartial, representation of the person’s accomplishments.

You may be expecting too much.

Let‘s compare Beck’s description with a few other on the list. First Beck’s:

Pundit, proselytizer and paranoid, Fox News Channel‘s Glenn Beck isn’t just the king of cable’s 5 p.m. hour anymore. The year 2010 saw Beck pen a politically tinged airport thriller, launch his own online university (featuring such courses as “Presidents You Should Hate”), draw tens of thousands of Tea Party faithful to D.C. for his “Rally to Restore Honor” and help motivate a devoted cadre of Obama haters to return control of the House to the Republicans. At a time when the political echo chamber is more cacophonous than ever, the weeping wild man is cutting through the din and amassing a media empire that takes in tens of millions of dollars each year.

“Proselytizer” and “paranoid”? Followers described as “Obama haters”? Describing a non-political rally as a motivating factor for sending Republicans back to the House? “Weeping wild man”? In rhetoric and logic this is usually called “poisoning the well.”

But maybe Beck’s description is just a sample — surely Time gave the same treatment to others. Lets look at fellow rally-holders Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart:

Glenn Beck may have the Tea Party, but Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have, well, the non–Tea Partyers. After a midterm-election campaign filled with high-pitched partisan rhetoric and unyielding positions, Stewart and Colbert on Halloween weekend took their Comedy Central fake-news shows to the National Mall to hold what they called the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. The two comedians — Stewart, who makes his living as a satirist on The Daily Show skewering politicos and the media, and Colbert, who poses as an ultraconservative on his show The Colbert Report — gathered a crowd of some 200,000 of their fans, or rather, those people who felt drowned out amid the constant shouting between right and left. It was a rally that mocked rallies — many attendees carried protest signs that mocked protest signs — and in the process cemented Stewart and Colbert as two of the most influential entertainers today (and whose late-night ratings among younger viewers are starting to outpace those of Letterman and Leno). In fact, whether they like it or not, they are arguably the leaders of a distinct group of informed but not inflamed Americans, those who can really identify with Stewart when he sums up the rally’s guiding philosophy as, “I disagree with you, but I‘m pretty sure you’re not Hitler.”

“The most influential entertainers today”? An audience described as “informed but not inflamed Americans”? If the cover is a popularity contest, the Comedy Central duo might have just won.

Okay, Okay. Stewart and Colbert aren’t serious, so maybe we’re not supposed to take their description seriously. But surely the description of someone such as Nancy Pelosi will be a little more balanced — heck, even Democrats ran on a platform against her and are now asking her to step aside. Don’t hold your breath:

In what turned out to be her last year as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi led the 111th Congress through one of its most prolific and productive sessions in the past 50 years. Along with her colleague Harry Reid in the Senate, Pelosi overcame numerous procedural hurdles to pass President Obama’s historic health care reform law by a painfully narrow margin, and in June, the House passed the final version of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. But any sense of triumph for Pelosi was short-lived, as she and the Democrats proved utterly incapable of selling those achievements to voters more concerned with unemployment and a floundering economy. That disconnect, and the fact that Pelosi herself was a potent rallying cry for Republican and Tea Party voters angry about an overreaching Congress, cost the party more than 60 House seats in this year’s midterm elections — and Pelosi her leadership post. In the wake of the humbling defeat, most observers assumed Pelosi would give up Washington for good. Yet three days after the election, the unmatched Democratic fundraiser and savvy strategist once again confounded the pundits by announcing she wasn’t going anywhere and would in fact run to take over as minority leader.

One of the House’s “most prolific and productive sessions”? Legislation-passing seen as a “triumph” after Americans just voted out so many who passed that legislation? A politician described as an “unmatched Democratic fundraiser and savvy strategist”?

The cover may have been decided before it was ever printed. An honor, yes. But it could be fast turning into a joke.

Comments (228)

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  • LittleLordFauntleroy
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:48am

    Yeah is should be criminal of the year Julian Assange. Last year Bene Bernanke and before him Barack Oblamer.

    Report Post » LittleLordFauntleroy  
  • sissykatz
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:47am

    I went to the link and voted for Glenn he is in forth place according to their polls, I know no matter how many votes he gets it has already been decided, but lets vote for him anyway. We know what he stands for and what an influence he has been. Thanks Glenn.

    Report Post »  
  • Workforit
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:47am

    I could care less about Time magazine. Glenn Beck has taught me more about what America was, is, can and should be than any teacher I ever had. In all fairness to the good teachers I had… NOW I’m paying attention. I’m thankful for all the free publicity this will give Glenn… Keep on talking Lefty’s… I know for a fact most of you aren’t brain dead, even though it might appear that way. One day many of you will try to better yourselves under your own power and when you fail because some lefty idiot in government passed an insane law that prevents you from taking care of your own…

    You will gladly listen to Glenn Beck…every day.

    Report Post »  
  • EP46
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:46am

    Boycott TIMES. They are trying to make money off Glenn by making fun of him…and us. They need readers and $$$$ badly. Tell everyone, do not buy TIMES and if you work in an office that subscribes send in a cancellation notice.

    Report Post »  
  • westy98530
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:46am

    The right thing for him to do wold be to tell Time Magazine where they can stick that nomination. It makes no sense to believe on the one hand that Time is a corrupt and biased rag, but on the other hand believe that their recognition means something. Time Magazine either has honor, or it doesn’t. Can’t have it both ways.

    Report Post »  
    • BoilitDown
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 11:59pm

      westy98530:
      You’re right, and besides, Time will somehow use this as an attack on Beck and conservatism. They’ll say Hitler was man of the year at one time too. Too many nasty people have been on their cover.
      Glenn would better be honored in a magazine of much higher standing and credibility.

      Report Post »  
  • EqualJustice
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:45am

    Congats Glenn!! NOW PAY ATTENTION READERS!!! Trying to spread the word that QUEEN NANCY is up to her old tricks, Lame Duck vote as early as NEXT WEEK on the DREAM ACT!! CALL OR WRITE you reps.- http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44959.html

    Report Post » EqualJustice  
  • SND97
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:45am

    If Comcast doesn’t do something with all those loons at MSNBC when they do get control, they will deserve losing their shareholders.

    Report Post »  
  • Conserving Ink
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:44am

    This is kind of like having Jeffery Dahmer tell you that he thinks you have great taste. One is never really sure how to take it.

    http://conserving-ink.blogspot.com/

    Report Post » Conserving Ink  
  • Diamondback
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:44am

    “tens of thousands to D.C.” for the the Restoring Honor Rally.

    I was there and there were certainly “tens of thousands”. I’d say about 50 to 60 “tens of thousands” at least.

    I‘d never seen so many people in one place in my entire life and I’ve gotten around if I have to say so myself!

    Report Post »  
  • NHABE64
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:42am

    Glen Beck is someone who has been working tirelessly to help save our nation from destruction. He exposes the truth about the George Soros empire and Barack Obama’s pursuit of the destruction of our American way of life. He risks his own life daily to bring to public light the bad guys and we owe him a great debt of gratitude. He is a fine decent Christian man who loves his country and is truly a Patriot. I hope he nevers abandons us or tires of us. God bless Glen Beck and his family!

    Report Post »  
  • judy4religiousfreedom
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:41am

    Glenn, you are the man of the year. You are the voice crying in the desert. No matter what the liberal media says or does your integrity shines through. For millions, you are earnestly the man of the year and a man of our prayers.

    Report Post » judy4religiousfreedom  
    • JD Carp
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 12:12pm

      Glenn is the bomb! The man shining the light in the darkness. More proof the truth scares the heck out of them and the truthful man must be discredited! Keep ‘em runnin’ Glenn.

      Report Post » JD Carp  
  • BigDog2372
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:41am

    There’s about a 0% chance that Glenn will win this. They only pick people who have committed genocide.

    Report Post »  
  • Leigh
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:39am

    I stopped my subscription to Time magazine years ago. They are still sending “we want you back” correspondence. Not a legitimate news source, but at least they are trying to capture more readers to save their publication. Too bad they also do not “get it”. According the them, Beck’s rally only drew “tens of thousands” while Colbert and Stewart drew “200,000″. They are in denial like all the other liberals. Pretending we don‘t exist doesn’t make us disappear, and it won’t make us buy their magazine or vote for their favorite candidates. I haven’t varified it, but it is my understanding that Time’s Year in Review did not show any pictures of the invisible Tea Party movement. Their loss. I won’t miss them when they are gone and literally invisible.

    Report Post »  
  • SHOESHINEBOY
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:39am

    he has my vote

    Report Post »  
  • Star Spangled
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:38am

    Who cares what Time says ? Do they have any credibility left ?
    Doesn‘t Time warner own Time and doesn’t Soros own or “contribute ”to Time Warner ?

    Report Post » Star Spangled  
  • Fellowservant
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:38am

    I think if I were Glenn, I would request my name be removed from that list.

    Report Post » Fellowservant  
  • juliaflyte
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:32am

    He’s a winner in my book. Love you, Glenn!!!!!!

    Report Post » juliaflyte  
  • starman70
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:31am

    Time Mag? Their sales must be so low that they will use this forum to belittle the most truthful person anywhere in the media.

    How much of this rag does George Soros own!

    Report Post »  
    • jbhansen
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:45am

      Soros – exactly! That was exactly my thought too.

      Report Post »  
  • BurntHills
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:31am

    let’s send a loud-and-clear message to TIME.. they are soros-puppets irrelevant and WE are not going to buy their rag. and their advertisers in their mag are going to see a HUGE drop in their sales TOO.

    Report Post » BurntHills  
  • DimmuBorgir
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:29am

    gotta love how they are reporting that the restoring honor rallly only had “tens of thousands” while the restoring sanity drew “200,000″ people

    but who cares about facts anyway?

    Report Post » DimmuBorgir  
    • Crowley
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 12:26pm

      I’m so sick of their shameless lies.

      Report Post » Crowley  
    • godlovinmom
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 3:42pm

      apparently time magazine doesn’t care about the facts…talk about biased stories….my husband and I walking through the store the other night…and I found myself saying to my husband, well, Glen says groceries are gonna go up…and it’s starting to happen..ie…coffee…so influencial person?..YES GLEN IS….God Bless you Mr. Beck….keep questioning with boldness!!!!!

      Report Post » godlovinmom  
    • drbage
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 4:57pm

      This from the same magazine that in its year in photos issue did not include one picture of reference to the Tea Party.

      Report Post »  
  • SND97
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:27am

    They are setting you up Glenn, and you’re smart enough to know this (((GB)))

    Report Post »  
  • geminisailor
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:24am

    My money’s on Hu Jintao….(remember, we’re talking about Time magazine here…)

    Report Post »  
  • snowleopard3200 {mix art}
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:23am

    Time magazine please just close down and go away. If they wind up putting Pelosi on the cover in anything less than a jailsuit and jail cell foreground, they have gone the way of the dinosaurs and the dodo bird. Between Beck and Pelosi, I can already figure the choice they have decided upon, need to guess?

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • NickDeringer
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:23am

    Person of the Year = Worst Person in the World = Nobel Peace Prize

    Is there really a difference anymore?

    Report Post » NickDeringer  
  • halfbrain
    Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:22am

    congrats Glenn, i think…

    Report Post »  
    • snowleopard3200 {mix art}
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:31am

      To me, Glenn is beyond the man of the year, he ranks as a hero of the nation, and a man of the century. He is one who will be recorded in history as the man who either helped to awaken the nation, or the watchman who made the final call to alert us before the storm hit home.

      http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm

      Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • IntheKnowOG
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:33am

      Can the Libs appear anymore desperate. I guess they realized almost everyone knows they are no longer an impartial media. Their actions only confirm Beck’s assertion that Soros owns them (the media). Remember folks, he told you how they would act before they acted. His research is accurate.

      IntheKnowOG  
    • BurntHills
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:33am

      yes, 8.28 had “tens of thousands” = 600,000+. but the tv democrats had 200,00″. what a joke.

      send a message to TIME and their advertisers, they are finished selling their obama propaganda rag to US. and WE are the MAJORITY in America.

      BurntHills  
    • firstHat
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:40am

      As I recall they’ve had evil men as their men of the year in the past. I think maybe even Hitler. No, they are setting Glenn up. Bunch of ….

      Oh how I so dislike our media!

      Report Post »  
    • Polwatcher
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:42am

      Congrats to Glenn!!!???

      Report Post »  
    • Muslim in Chief
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:43am

      Oh this is going to so stick in the Craw of PMSNBC and Ohblahblahberman and the other mutants that reside there….

      BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA, first he was suspended and now this.

      Obama Bin Lying  
    • jbhansen
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:43am

      I’m with you. Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, etc — they’re all the same. Elitist clubs masquerading as organizations representing all mankind. It’s all Boloney.

      Or is it Bologna?

      Report Post »  
    • IntheKnowOG
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:44am

      “draw tens of thousands of Tea Party”….LOL…right………. As one of the lunatic fringe that was at that event, I can say that is a bald faced lie. What do you expect from a group that sympathizes with the liar in chief. Birds of a feather I guess….

      IntheKnowOG  
    • mimitweetin
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:52am

      Amen Snow, Glenn does not need Time to give him any stupid magazine cover.

      Report Post »  
    • BocaBaby
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 11:13am

      Glenn, we love you. So honored that you are paying and praying the price to serve this nation. Also so glad you are a friend of David Barton (and hopefully his good friend KC).

      You are a voice crying in the wilderness. You were born for this destiny-just like Esther you were born “for such a time as this”

      May your sphere of influence and your voice become stronger.

      Thank you-our family loves you, oh and btw on a lighter note, your book “The Christmas Sweater” is wonderful……anyone who hasn’t read it, buy one for yourself and many others for a great gift this Christmas season. It was VERY good.

      Report Post » BocaBaby  
    • Dstarr55
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 11:21am

      I agree with a tepid congratulations. Time magazine has lost much of its credibility and even if he wins I would not buy the magazine. I still remember how they treated Newt Gingrich when he was man of the year. The psycho cover made him look like a mad man – I’m sure if Beck wins he will be treated with as much disdain.

      Report Post »  
    • lketchum
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 12:35pm

      I agree. Glenn Beck will in history, be seen as “the” one man who changed a nation and reintroduced its people to their rightful place as citizens of a Republic founded to guarantee their rights and responsibilities as individuals. Mr. Beck, and I say that most respectfully, is the one man that like Washington once did, made it perfectly alright to “believe.”

      Regardless of what happens next, or ever, personally, I’ll never be able to thank Glenn Beck enough for restoring so much that was lost – by his simple acts of sharing what he himself is so humbly learning – that our nation, under God, surely had to have been divinely inspired, because no man, not even a Washington, or a Beck could have done it. In this pretty simple realization is the essence behind the truth that is now again clear, that no man, or group of men, may provide rights to another – only God can do that and it is the job of government and its people to protect them.

      Report Post » lketchum  
    • Rogue
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 1:16pm

      The second half of 2009, Time Magazine saw a 34.9% decrease in news stand sales. During the first half of 2010 there was another decline of at least one third in Time Magazine sales. Lack of credibility is catching up with them quickly.

      Report Post » Rogue  
    • A1955Rosie
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 1:52pm

      No disrespect Glenn but I’m not sure I would want to be in that company of names. It’s really a 50/50 mix. In any event Glenn Beck…YOU ARE BY FAR THE MAN OF THE YEAR, I BELIEVE YOU COULD BE THE MAN OF THE DECADE. God bless you and yours.

      Report Post » A1955Rosie  
    • rebel
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 3:46pm

      It doesn’t matter to me the least bit who they decide is the person of the year. I only pick up that rag in doctor’s office so i can chuckle before getting bad news

      Report Post » quiet little lamb  
    • southsik
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 4:05pm

      Its a Glorious day indeed. Glenn Beck I am sure is quite happy about this. The irony of the hate president thing is. So if I HATE Obama that‘s bad but if I HATE Bush that’s OK. Tell me the logic.

      Report Post » southsik  
    • drbage
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 4:44pm

      No, Virginia, there is NO bias at TIME!

      Report Post »  
    • grandmaof5
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 5:38pm

      I read that and then I considered the source – sorry Glenn, if you were proved correct in your predictions I would applaud and give them the one finger salute, but then I don’t want you to be proven correct for obvious reasons. You are our “Man of the Decade” and that tops Time’s “Man of the Year”!!!

      Report Post »  
    • H2OBoardem
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 9:01pm

      Tens of Thousands vs 200,000. Wow! I was there – Beck’s crowd dwarfed that of the dumbdown duo. From the sound of it, Hugo Chavez would get a much better rating than Glenn. Anyway, since when has Time had anything to say that anyone with more than two functioning brain cells would care to read much less take seriously?

      Report Post » H2OBoardem  
    • CatB
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 9:53pm

      I really don’t care what Time decides … GLENN IS MAN OF THE YEAR! and PERSON of the YEAR!

      Report Post »  
    • Blazergirl
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:26pm

      Who even reads Time magazine anymore. I think they are trying to ride Glenn Beck’s coat tails. They’re trying to get the people who dislike him to buy their magazine and they are trying to get the people who admire him to buy it,possibly to get a reaction out of us. As far as I’m concerned, Glenn Beck IS MAN OF THE CENTURY. He is one of the most influential hero’s of our generation. He has opened my eyes so that I could educate myself. I’m no longer walking around like a zombie. I no longer feel alone in all this craziness. Glenn Beck has the COURAGE, the TRUTH and millions of US behind him! Thank You Glenn. You make me proud to be an American. I think it’s just a matter of time before time runs out for Time Magazine. I know I won’t be wasting my money.

      Report Post »  
    • Beckofile
      Posted on November 11, 2010 at 10:36pm

      How can they put Beck on the dunce list with Gaga and Obama. It must be as valued as a nobel peace prize.

      Report Post » Beckofile  
    • kryptonite
      Posted on November 12, 2010 at 12:58am

      I would worry if the far left ever praised Glenn. Methinks Pelosi will be getting a consolation prize soon.

      Report Post »  
    • paleoconservatarian
      Posted on November 13, 2010 at 12:05am

      Yes. Congratulations.

      Every chance at mischaracterization was taken, every credit made into a disingenuous swipe, every accomplishment maligned, mitigated or devalued. Each word drips the seething resentment the writer must have felt for having been assigned the task of summarizing the relevancy of a man he so obviously despises, with the possible exception of one of the ‘thes.’

      The crowd count slight, of course, especially in contrast to that of Stewart’s, is as close to an out right lie as one can put in print and still be able to keep one’s job, and that only because the editor would have you believe the untruth as well. He might as well have said “dozens” and still been ‘accurate’ despite the fact that 8/28 nearly doubled the attendance of 10/30.

      It’s not a hit piece – it’s a hate piece.

      Report Post » paleoconservatarian  
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