Maybe more like Hannity? Olbermann tries to position his show similar to O'Reilly's, but as a personality he's more like Hannity.
O’Reilly is about O’Reilly and about how O’Reilly was right about whatever it was before it even existed. If the winds swung too hard against O’Reilly, O’Reilly would just change position so that O’Reilly could continue to be right about the things O’Reilly has always been right about, which O’Reilly told you would happen anyway, so there.
Hannity is about unfocused “Can you believe this? Everything is fucked up!” outrage, where absolutely everything is forced into a left/right position, then yelled at or about. Which from what I can gather, is essentially what Olbermann does. No intelligence or nuance, just eternal outrage from a stupid position on a fixed side that may or may not even be relevant to the topic at hand, fused with an eternal mocking of any and all opinions and positions from the other side, regardless of merit or worthiness of inclusion. Both are rigid, angry, dumb and condescending - both to the opposition and their own audience.
There is no equivalent to Beck, not in mainstream media anyway. I’m sure there are plenty of batshit crazy conspiracy loaded ignoramuses out there from the left who are posting largely ignored nonsensical, irrational fear and hate fuelled rants to a blog or youtube account or whatever, but as yet none have been given a national/international television or radio slot.
Beck is the trump card. I can understand someone of lesser intelligence buying into O'Reilly as some kind of voice of reason. I can understand people enjoying moments of Hannity/Olbermann outrage as dumbed down cheerleading for their own feelings or beliefs - even if they are smarter than that. We all know stupidity and entertainment, unfortunately, generally rule. But the rise of and faith in Glenn Beck as some kind of serious voice for anything, especially what is a very large movement that really does want to be taken seriously, is something else entirely. When coupled with Sarah Palin as serious Presidential candidate, that really says something. And I'm not sure why it's supposed to be respected in any way.
O'Reilly I like. He has calmed down a lot, and usually gives whoever a fair shot.Obama people will go on his show, and he gives them a fair shot. That's why they keep appearing. If he thinks it is BS he will say so . If someone says something like " Obama isn't doing anything to stop the oil spill" for instance, he will be the first to say " what do you want him to do? Go down there with a scuba tank? " Nothing wrong with calling them out either . They all do that.
Hannity, I don't like. Same theme over and over.
Beck. I do like . He could care less about party, he thinks they (Politicians) are corrupt. All of them with the exception of a couple, and even then, he feels if they stay long enough, they will be corrupt. He despises the coruption and says so. Nothing wrong with that.
personally, he has overcome a very serious, long life of Alcohol , and through that, has had a lot of personal growth . He is not such a big fan of the tea Party as many think, it is more about people becoming engaged in the process.
He believes in the spirit of America. Nothing wrong with that . he has spent a lot of time learning about the history , from all sides. That's a good thing .
One thing though. He has a sharpe team working for him. When he puts things together, they know what they are talking about. He does it with their own words, on film. Hard to dispute someone on film saying something, then claiming they didn't. I can't think of anybody who does that any more.
He has the whole story, but if you notice, he stopped and switched to restoration . he could blow this out of the water at any point, but doesn't see that as a solution .... yet.
What he is doing in Washington on 8/28 will have millions of people ( CNN will say 3 people) and it is all for the wounded warriors project.
I was kind of surprised that Ellen Degeneres donated VIP tickets to her show and a personal meet and great with her to the 8/28 rally. , but good for her !
I saw Glenn and Bill on the "bold fresh tour" and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen . Right up there with George Carlin.
Both of them donate money to many many charities. Bill gives every dime from things he sells on his website, including his book . 100 %
Beck though, scares the heck out of the Politicians . He kNOWS where this is going. They watch his show like hawks, but use the Huffington post to attack him. I have said this before, if he is wrong, why don't they call him? They can at any point.
Van Jones, was gone from the WH in 4 weeks, all because of tapes of his speaches that he made. A convicted felon can't even to to the WH tour let alone, work there.
He has the whole story, on film, documents etc . maybe he will use it, but he would rather see the people engaged ,as that is his answer to stop the madness.
I cannot fathom why they are so frightened of him, except they know he knows.
Regardless, these people are just people on TV and radio. nothing more, nothing less. They just have a lot of viewers and listeners. He is not a big fan of Rush either, but respects him for his longevity and rather large audience. It is TV and radio, which is about ratings. That doesn't make him wrong though. To his credit, whever he has been wrong, he immediately says so. that is refreshing .
Anyone that has his ratings at 5:00 pm EST ( 2:00 pM on west coast) he is talking about things they want to know about.
Take ACORN for example. were they really trying to help peple or were they using them? If they were using them, then it was a good thing he did, to expose them.
God forbide someone has their own thoughts . Thats Un- American right?