The White House Should Listen To Glenn Beck’s Smart Advice

White House communications director Anita Dunn may not be calling Glenn Beck’s red ‘Mao Hotline‘ anytime soon, but if Dunn is the person in the White House reportedly charged with the responsibility of keeping an eye on Fox News perhaps she’ll consider taking some of the smart advice Beck offered during his show last night: Don’t pick a fight with the news business. Between the magic coin tricks and the carrier pigeon impressions Beck produced this little nugget of wisdom (video below):

The administration seemingly is wasting a lot of time, and energy, attacking Fox News…Why would they do that? It doesn’t make any sense. I mean if you think of it strategically, you don’t pick a fight with Fox News, you don’t pick a fight with anybody in the news business! That’s a losing battle every single time. There’s an old saying, ‘you don’t get into a war with people who buy ink by the barrel’….Fox doesn’t even buy ink! It’s unlimited air time. Why would you do that?

Good question! One that apparently has people (including us) on both sides of the aisle scratching their heads. (Beck’s answer, by the way, is that Obama is trying to distract the public from health care.) But the point is well taken: Who at the White House actually thought this was a good idea? And how long until it really backfires?

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is apparently the only group with the nerve to take Beck and his counterparts. From today’s Politico:

But the reality of the GOP during the Obama presidency is that the party’s image and priorities are in many ways being imposed on Washington — driven by grass-roots energies that lawmakers and strategists can scarcely control. At the same time, there are powerful incentives for Washington politicians to play to the crowd and bow to the influence of commentators like Beck, who at the moment is far more famous than any of the GOP’s congressional leaders. When Republicans such as Rep. Phil Gingrey have complained about these figures in public, most have quickly apologized in the face of outraged phone calls and e-mails from conservative activists.

Is Glenn Beck the GOP’s 2010 Frankenstein or savior? We shall see. Video of Beck’s advice to the White House (and his carrier pigeon impression) below: