Soundbite: The Problem With Glenn Beck Is That America Is Stupid

“The problem with Beck, then, is not his narrative, which is entertainingly foolish to anyone who actually knows anything about anything. The problem is the size of the audience in the United States that actually knows nothing about nothing. This mass (my guess, about 12 percent of the electorate) is easily moved, the past summer and its continuing silly rhetoric on all kinds of issues indicate. They wear know-nothingness like a badge.”

— Charles M. Madigan, presidential writer in residence at Roosevelt University, opining on the real reason behind Glenn Beck’s surging popularity.

Also included is a rather disgusting description of what one might actually learn from a dog if one were to take Beck’s advice that “we should learn a lesson from dogs, then. Listen to your fear!” Madigan’s column was apparently inspired by Tom Friedman’s recent piece, which worried that the atmosphere in the States right now resembled that in Israel right before Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.

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