Media Reacts to Beck's 'Being George Washington' Book Tour: Long Lines and Happy Fans

Glenn Beck's 11-city book tour for "Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man, as You've Never Seen Him" drew long lines of enthusiastic supporters during a three-day swing last week.

Despite some unruly incidents, local media coverage of the tour described large crowds eager to meet Beck and share a few moments with him.

Below, a wrap-up of some local media accounts of Beck's appearances:

Harrisburg, Penn. -- The Patriot-News:

Some 489 Glenn Beck fans waited in line at the Camp Hill Barnes & Noble bookstore up to nine hours Thursday to have the conservative firebrand sign $18.20 copies of his latest treatise, “Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man, As You’ve Never Seen Him.”

[...]

Mary Russek, 17, a senior at Harrisburg Academy next year, was still visibly moved moments after having her five books signed.

“I told Glenn that because of him I will make a difference,” Russek said with tears still welling up in her eyes. “He looked me in the eye, and I knew he believed me.”

Gisela McBride, an 85-year-old Carlisle resident who immigrated to the U.S. in 1957 after surviving Nazi Germany as a child, was eager to encourage Beck to continue pushing to save America.

“I’m very concerned about this country,” McBride said, a copy of her own book “Memoirs of a 1000-Year-Old Woman: Berlin 1925 to 1945” in tow. “No one listens to prophets, but they really have to if they want to save this country.”

York, Penn. -- York Dispatch:

Tommy Leana waited more than 10 hours to meet Glenn Beck, who came to Books-A-Million Thursday for a book-signing event.

Leana was the first person in line to have the conservative talk radio host sign "Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man, as You've Never Seen Him." The historical fiction book about America's first president and his war experiences is Beck's latest work.

"I'm tearing up a little bit," said Leana, 24, of Glen Rock. "I gave him a pack of Peanut M&Ms, his favorite candy. And I gave him a private letter."

After all those hours in line, Leana's book-signing moment with Beck lasted less than 30 seconds. Beck signed his book and shook Leana's hand.

"It was a short time, but so worth it," Leana said. "He said, 'God bless you. Thank you for coming.' He said he was sorry he was late."

Panama City, Fla. -- Panama City News Herald:

Kelly Ayers and Patrick Laflin were among the crowd of fans and said they came to see Beck because he was their hero. Ayers said he changed their lives.

“He informed us,” Ayers said. “Our generation is really concerned with politics and he changed that for us. It’s important to know and to take a stand.”

Chris Givens, Books-A-Million assistant general manager, said the book signing went well and by the time the signing was half over, more than 1,000 copies of Beck’s books had been sold.

“Everything has been really smooth and the people have been pretty cooperative. It looks like he has a good fan base here,” Givens said.

Tyler, Texas -- KYXT-TV:

Glenn Beck made a stop in Tyler Saturday. A large number of people waited in line to see the conservative talk show host.

Beck was at Hastings on Broadway signing copies of his new book "Being George Washington."

Beck fans said they didn't mind waiting for hours to get their books signed.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to shake my hero's hand and tell him thanks for what he's done for our country," said Landon Lough.

"It's a chance of a lifetime, I may never get this chance again. I live in Oklahoma and I don't think he's coming there anytime soon so I came today," said Esther Ross.

A few protesters showed up to the book signing prompting more police to show up. About 400 people attended the event.