Yes, He Did: Pt. III - It's All A Conspiracy!!!!!

A saying that most people in America know and often repeat is that there are only two things guaranteed in this world - death and taxes. However, the Modern American Right has added another item that is also guaranteed - anytime the Obama administration does anything, there's going to be a multitude of conspiracy theories formulated.

But not all of these are as crazy and full of comedic value as others.

For instance, the newest meme is that the still photos of Obama's speech Saturday night were "staged", thereby questioning the legitimacy of the message itself. The only problem is that this has been standard procedure since - gasp - the Reagan Era.

John Harrington, president of the White House News Photographers Association, tells me that the Obama Administration has used this technique before and they are not the first.

“I am aware of it happening in previous administrations. I believe Bush 41 [George H.W. Bush] did it too,” Harrington says. “The times where I have known of it happening before is when the president is in the Oval Office and you are working in a very tight space.”

Other photographers who work at the White House told Poynter.org that since the Reagan era (and possibly before) it has been the standard operating procedure that during a live presidential address, still cameras are not allowed to photograph the actual event.

Questioning the actions of the President or his administration officials is completely rational and understandable - that is, until your questions and accusations fail to be rational or understandable.

The morning following the announcement, members of the Modern American Right even went so far as to decry the celebrations in front of the White House as nothing more than a "staged" incident.

Right Wing Socio-Political Agnosticism is quite an intriguing thing to analyze, as they are want to de-emphasize that which can clearly be seen, yet are more than eager to believe that which simply isn't there.

Seeing as how Obama provided the evidence that should silence the "Birthers" once and for all - but you know they'll keep going - the next (il)logical step for the Modern American Right to take is to use the same template in regards to the verified killing of Bin Laden:

The free world, particularly the United States, has a right to make sure Osama bin Laden is really dead. Every American has a right to walk right up to bin Laden’s corpse and view it. We are entitled to know for a fact that the witch is dead. No shroud for dignity’s sake, please – bin Laden’s naked, bullet-riddled corpse should be put on display in lower Manhattan for all the world to see. The entire body should be digitally scanned, inside and out – and made available for everyone to take his or her own picture.

The snuff fetishism of the Right is likely to be the hot issue on the 2012 campaign trail, and that could likely start tonight, as Ron Paul and Herman Cain will be taking the stage for Fox"News".

Truth-be-told, I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, provided it makes me do the research to either verify or debunk it. But the rapid-fire way in which the Modern American Right display their conspiratorial nature tends to make one realize that these are nothing more than excuses for their own ideological ignorance.

Foxes Targeting The Captain, Again

I can recall hearing stories about Fredric Wertham ( PhD? ) and his book called Seduction of the Innocent which was published in the early 50s and highlighted what he perceived to be anti-American/anti-family/anti-values messages in comics.

The modern American Right has kept up Wetham's traditions and helped to burnish his legacy in recent years by claiming that Hollywood - the ever present "boogyman" for all the reactionary lot who look to place blame on other people rather than examining the environment they live in - and the larger comic producers in America are, in essence, pushing anti-American propaganda on our children.

We've seen this in conjunction with the last Superman film and with an issue of Captain America where he and The Falcon witness an "anti-tax" ( Tea Party ) rally.
And now that the later is slated for a world-wide feature film release in the near future, the modern American Right are concocting the latest "controversy" because of how the film will be marketed outside the US.

How do you sell a movie called "Captain America" to an overseas market? In South Korea, Russia and the Ukraine, apparently, the answer is you don't even try.

The film "Captain America: The First Avenger" will have its title truncated to, simply, "The First Avenger" in those three overseas markets, according to Marvel Studios insiders. The choice was made by Marvel, Paramount Pictures' international team and distributors in those three countries based on market research results. Those involved in the decision are being careful to frame the move as a matter of brand management and consumer awareness and not as a decision tilted by cultural or political winds.

Seems that "capitalism" and a successful business model take a back seat when the word "America" is involved. Nevermind the fact that the comics have referenced Steve Rogers as "Cap" - leaving off the "America" last name - for longer than I and many of the comics new found Right Wing detractors have been alive, but the very message behind the Captain America film and what he was created to stand for will likely mesh quite well with the comics, as did the Superman films - even the last one. And while that a message was one of hope, equality, justice, and truth, it all takes a back seat in favor of pushing a failed ideology.

For anyone that has read either of the above mentioned series or seen any of the Superman films, the heroes in question don't aid and comfort American exclusively. Superman has saved many many foreigners and I can recall Captain America being part of a crew of superheroes that were quite responsible for helping save the entire universe during the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. And for any twitchy wingnuts reading this, that included people of ALL socio-political ideologies.

For the modern American Right, in order for any character in any story ( regardless of medium ) to be of any intrinsic value, it must be painted in Red, White, and Blue, sing the National Anthem - complete with hidden verse - read the Bible, attended only a "Christian" church service, vote Republican, and carry around a picture of Sarah Palin in their back pocket which they will ultimately look upon and ask for guidance in a time of distress.

I'm looking forward to the film, but also know that the producers and on-air personalities at Fox"News" are waiting with baited breath for their time to offer "thoughtful commentary" on the Captain American feature once it makes it's debut.

It's pretty much a given that Glenn Beck will have a nice "chalkboard session" on how Fredrick Wertham predicted the "evils" of to Stan Lee, director Joe Johnston and will somehow tie this all back to Frances Fox Piven.

A New Form Of "Truther" Is Born

Just when I thought Jim Hoft couldn't be even more preposterous and mind-numbingly stupid, there's this:

We already knew that with this administration everything is staged…
…But, someone please tell me the Obama regime is not this manipulative:

Barack Obama’s mood hair in pictures.

....Reader Dennis O. noticed that Obama was obviously more youthful looking in his Saturday Weekly Address before the Tucson pep rally.

Surely there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this?… Surely there is.

Not only does Hoft not understand how Closed Captioning works, but he doesn't seem to understand that people look different under varying styles of lighting. But hey, that's surely going to be the excuse given, that the "lighting Czar" is there to make Obama look older or younger based on the situation.

The Company He Keeps

Here's a segment from conspiracy theorist Alex Jone's program "Thought Crime USA" where Rand Paul postulates, pontificates, and generally uses seriously hyperbolic rhetoric to talk about everything from healthcare reform, the swine flu vaccine, to questioning politicians - a stance he later reverses in rather dramatic fashion while on the campaign trail - to even comparing Obama to Hitler.



There's a lot of ground that Paul attempts to cover with as little substance as possible, but I think it's important to point out the fact that Rand Paul is completely comfortable with aligning himself with a man like Alex Jones, a man that has never been a friend of the Right.

Will the modern conservative movement ignore the fact that Rand Paul associates with Jones My guess is yes, considering they just elected the man to represent Kentucky in the Senate, that he is given an open and unchallenged platform on Fox"News", and is staunchly defended at every turn by the same people who have continually and vigorously decried Alex Jones as nothing more than a nutjob.

Predictable.

The Wrench In The Works

While the modern conservative movement is more than happy to indulge in conspiracy theories regarding Obama's birth, his upbringing, his religion, his family, where and what he studied in school, as well as his behavior as president, it appears that conservatives are more than willing to mock a theory that is more grounded in reality than they might be willing to accept.

the paranoia meter swung fully into the red when Steve Benen teamed up with Matt Yglesias to explain one current phenomenon to a public thirsty for answers. You see, Republicans are currently working on further trashing the United States economy and driving us into a depression so that Barack Obama won’t win reelection in 2012.

And even though I can almost come to somewhat of a moderate understanding with the skepticism from the modern conservative movement in regards to this theorem, one has to but look at the economic realities in our country, coupled with how the "anti-business" rhetoric from the Right doesn't quite mesh with the numbers conservatives claim to hold dear.

- Corporate profits increase in 2010

- The Dow surges upward in 2010

- Despite conservative claims, the Economic Stimulus was a success according to the CBO.

Those three things alone - for me at least - show that the conservative narrative and the reality of our current economic realm simply do not mesh.

The Tower Of Babbling

Yeah, Beck is totally off the rails now.



Let's take stock -

-- Encouraging those that likely can't afford to buy that house - despite the fact that the modern conservative movement blamed that exact thing on the financial crisis in America.

-- Telling people to buy cars so they would have to spend all that money on expensive gasoline that is driven up by those evil empires who control all the oil

Wait, didn't Beck just tell us to sell off all the "stuff" we don't need, to become as "minimalist" as we could to benefit ourselves or something? Oh well, another day, another conspiracy.

Also, look into Rabbi Lapin's history and you'll find some interesting tid-bits that Beck won't tell you about.

Letting It Happen

Because accountability is really a one-way street when it comes to conservatives



Fox"News" and all those in their employ can't seem to wrap their tiny little minds around the fact that this is not an easy fix, it's not the type of environment conducive of 100% accuracy from the start. We are dealing with a company that is in the business of protecting their own asses in favor of revealing exactly how dangerous this sort of operation is.

Bolling is a champion of the oil industry from the jump, no question about it, so his questioning of the Obama administration's motives surrounding the Gulf oil leak is to be expected. It's a lot like saying that Bush let the attacks on Sept. 11th 2001 happen just so he could advance his agenda. And that's the harsh truth that conservatives are going to have to face - that they've become what they claim to despise.

Spilling Over With Conspiracy

It's not just Rush that's in on this ridiculous idea.



Yeah, Dana. You're not trying to introduce anything, just push a conservative meme that isn't very thought out.

And take a look at how quickly Kilmeade leaps to BP's defense by stating that "they just lease the rig". Considering that BP likely has profits in mind over worker/environmental safety, one would think that they would be pushing this theory more. The opposite is true, as BP execs are taking full responsibility for this.

But back to this notion that some environmental group sabotaged the rig. Not only would that be extremely difficult to do, but the very notion that a group who's sole purpose is to protect the environment would cause one of the worst ecological disasters in recent history really points out that conservatives have a serious cognitive dissonance problem they need to deal with.

Bound To Happen

I was actually expecting Beck to be the first one to dive headlong into the shallow end of the pool.



I mentioned this to Laffy from the Political Carnival earlier, and I was actually half-joking. These clown get more predictable every day.

Shifting Accountability

This spin is so preposterous it almost borders on clinical psychosis.



So it's not the Tea Baggers fault that there is racism, vandalism, death threats, and homophobia - it's the Obama administration?

Let me see if I can follow Beck's "logic".

Once again using the tried and true conservative tactic of "these people are RADICALS" and the widely discredited "Obama and Ayers were the best of friends" - coupled with a healthy dose of Beck's newfound love for Jesus and Biblical scripture - we are literally seeing accountability removed from the Tea Bagger realm. Following Beck's thesis to it's end, if there is an act of violence perpetrated by anyone on the Right, they aren't the ones to blame, it's the Democrats.

It's all an elaborate plot, you see. It's what "they" - The Man - want the Tea Baggers to do. It's all so clear now. Please.

This may be a bit far reaching, but I'm getting the sense that Beck is realizing that his inflammatory rhetoric and fear mongering are catching up to him. The only problem is that he's got a show on a network that demands ratings success over fact-based analysis. It's like when a person lies. Most times they will create a bigger lie to cover up for all the little lies they told. This keeps spiralling outward until the lies are so big and preposterous that it all eventually comes crashing down on the person. Beck is dangerously close to that end. The unfortunate part is that he's not going to be the only person damanged from his lies and distortions. Someone is going to get hurt. And I can guarantee it won't be the Obama administration holding the weapon.

Why, Indeed

More Beckerwocky about how we have all been deceived by our teachers.



I would have to say the same reason we weren't taught that Santa and Baby Jesus built a giant tower of cheese on the moon in 1967, and it was actually Australia that attacked us on Sept. 11th 2001 with cargo planes full of Fosters.

Planting The Seeds Of Misinformation

It's a great tactic used by conservatives and their media masters at Fox"News". All you have to do is hint that there "might" be suspicious activity going on within the Obama administration but then offer just enough wiggle room to be able to defend yourself should the time come.

The newest allegation from the drooling, prattle-boxes on the Right is that Barack Obama "bought" Congressman Jim Matheson's vote by offering his brother a judicial seat. Even thogh there is no substantial evidence to back up this claim, it's already being spread by some of the loudest voice within the conservative movement.

From Glenn Beck...



...to Michelle Malkin...

There are no coincidences in Obama world, I’ve joked many times on this blog.

This one looks like a quid pro quo, smells like a quid pro quo, and quacks like a quid pro quo....

But then she also starts to side-step the claim and try and make Obama look stupid - a favored meme of conservatives.

Let us consider the possibility, for a brief moment, that it is merely coincidence.

Is the White House so fantastically blind and tone-deaf that it failed to detect the blood-red flags and blaring alarm bells that Scott Matheson’s judicial nomination would raise coming on the very day President Obama is wooing his brother, Jim?

Incorrigibly corrupt or incorrigibly stupid. Take your pick.

.....and Neil Cavuto and Michelle Bachman....



But as Think Progress has noted, the Weekly Standard writer, John McCormack, that started this new narrative literally backed out of his thesis as soon as he stated it:

Was there an explicit quid pro quo? Probably not...

And that's all the "seed" that is needed. Just give people a taste of what may or may not be and they will run with it like it is canonized Gospel.

From Their Cold, Dead, Hands

This was to be expected.

In Virginia, the General Assembly approved a bill last week that allows people to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and the House of Delegates voted to repeal a 17-year-old ban on buying more than one handgun a month. The actions came less than three years after the shootings at Virginia Tech that claimed 33 lives and prompted a major national push for increased gun control.

Arizona and Wyoming lawmakers are considering nearly a half dozen pro-gun measures, including one that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. And lawmakers in Montana and Tennessee passed measures last year — the first of their kind — to exempt their states from federal regulation of firearms and ammunition that are made, sold and used in state. Similar bills have been proposed in at least three other states.

Living and working in one of most red states in the nation, I can attest that this ill-informed insanity surrounding guns and Obama is real.

From the conspiracy theory that Obama is going to tax firearms to fears that all weapons will be rounded up, the reactionary gun-owner in America is coming apart at the seams.

Nevermind the fact that these people are operating under assumptions that were debunked back when Clinton was in office, the spectre of an "angry black man" coming for your guns and your freedom is what motives these people.

One can but wonder how long it's going to be until someone in this gaggle of blathering prattle-heads takes their concealed weapon into a bar, or store, or to a townhall meeting and shoots someone in retaliation for something they think Obama is going to do.

GOP "Truth"

I'm beginning to wonder exactly how many Republicans are "Truthers".



Think Progress has some more on this, as well as relevant context that includes Beck "outing" a Tea Bagger "Triuther" Debra Medina.

If there's one thing that conservatives are known for, it's the ability to stay on message when you know that millions of people are watching, even when it means you're dribbling lies onto your Brooks Brothers suit. But they haven't been able to figure out that citizen journalism ( and no, I'm not talking about the Breitbart kind where you're breaking the law ) has been doing more to shine a light on conservative hypocrisy than most mainstream outlets.

Has the Tea Bagger narrative, that conspiratorial twitch, began to slither into the minds of sitting Republican Congressional members? Of course it has. It's been there since Jan. 20th of last year. All one has to do is look at people like Jim DeMint and Michelle Bachman for perfect examples. These people are so anti-government that storylines like Sept. 11th was a "false flag" operation begin to makes sense to them. Not because they are anti-Bush, but because they have erased from their memories that Bush was ever in office. That is, until someone calls him out for the complete disaster his presidency was, then they are on the defence.

The point is that these people are so disconnected from reality that they will say anything if their handlers aren't around to keep them in line.

Tea Baggers Preparing For War?

The more examples we see like this, the more you start to realize that conservative "values" are nothing more than a pollutant and a danger in our current socio-political climate.

The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent "Armageddon" appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a "righteous 'Mission from God,'" as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society.

...Gregory Girard, a Manchester technology consultant, was found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police. They believe Girard, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, was "preparing for domestic and political turmoil," and feared martial law would soon be imposed.

Girard's personal Tea Bagger webpage contains the all too familiar ramblings of a person so diluted with misinformation and abject rage against some shadowy oppressor that the pieces begin to fit together nicely, though you wouldn't be able to tell it just from the seemingly "ordinary" looking guy from the photo above.

And if you're thinking that this sort of reaction from a Tea Bagger is familiar, you're right.

GottaLaff over at the Political Carnival has the photo of the weapons seized.

And don't expect this story to be covered by the bulk of the media, most certainly Fox"News". Although, I am expecting someone like Breitbart to claim that this man's 2nd Amendment Rights were taken away.

Tea Bagging Truthers

This is interesting news - Glenn Beck may have just destroyed a Tea Bagger's chance at winning public office.

TV and radio commentator Glenn Beck dismissed the candidacy of Debra Medina when she left open the door to a conspiracy fringe group that believes the U.S. government might have been behind the 9-11 destruction of the World Trade Center.

Beck, a leading personality for conservatives, asked her point blank if she believed such a theory.

"I don't have all the evidence there, Glenn," Medina replied. "So I'm not in a place - I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There's some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there so I've not taken a position there."

Here's the audio.



To me, at least, this makes a great deal of sense - that a "Truther" would align themselves with the Tea Baggers. After all, this is the movement that thinks Obama was born in Kenya, claims the 2010 Census will be used to round up people into concentration camps, believes ACORN stole the election, and holds up Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck as a religious trinity. It all fits.

Truth-be-told, in the right circumstances, Beck would be a "Truther" himself. He is, after all, the man who has spun countless conspiratorial nonsense on Fox"News" for over a year. He's just not paid to be one - yet.

Some in the conservative movement are calling this "heartbreaking" news. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Exit question - is Beck going to be thrown under the metaphorical bus by the Tea Baggers this year? By that, I mean will his own brand of paranoid delusions ultimately be his downfall?

Does He Think He's Making A Movie

It's fair to say that Chuck Norris has taken too many kicks to the head.

Over the past two years, Norris has transformed himself from American action hero to American activist hack. Having run the gamut from using her limited celebrity credibility to endorse Mike Huckabee to being a guest speaker at various conservative conferences, Norris now fancies himself more knowledgeable on diplomatic policy because Glenn Beck said something that sounded cool.

Invoking no less an authority than Glenn Beck, movie tough guy (and political activist) Chuck Norris has taken aim at Obama's Dec. 17 executive order extending certain "privileges, exemptions, and immunities" to Interpol, otherwise known as the International Police Organization, based in Lyon, France.

As we reported last weekend, thanks in part to the comments of Beck and Newt Gingrich (as well as the National Review's Andrew McCarthy) the order has spawned a rash of conspiracy theories in the conservative blogosphere claiming that Obama has given Interpol (or "the global police force," as the critics like to call it) new powers to investigate and even lock up U.S. citizens.

As I have previously pointed out, a former member of the Interpol agency in Lyon, France proves that every conservative commenter that has taken up this issue has no clue what they are talking about.

Interpol, no matter what the star of such films as Invasion USA and Missing In Action, does not have it's own police force that can arrest people in the US. They simply do not exist.

But this is the man that also believes Obama was born in Africa and sells exercise machines to hopeless saps at 430 in the morning. It's clear that the most visible voices within the conservative movement make Alex Jones look like a member of Mensa.

Shorter Jed Schlackman

Conspiracy Theory Of The Year

Secret government agents are out to kill Beck, Dobbs, and Limbaugh with uber-special lazer rays that no one can detect! It's probably some space alien or some kind of genetically engineered creature that is controlled by ACORN.

Year Of The Conspiracy Theorist

In Part IV of my "best of the year/decade" series, we take a look at how the conservative movement embraced conspiracy theory as fact and made not only a laughing-stock of themselves, but somehow managed to take away the mantle of "lunatic-fringe" from the likes of Alex Jones.

1 - Orly Taitz


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Since she burst onto the scene, I've often asked myself how someone so completely unglued from the fabric of reality is not only allowed to practice law but has the mental capacity to do so. It is, for that same reason, the many of the members of the tea-bagger movement are seen as just as crazy and ill-informed as she is, considering they cite her claims as fact.

But it isn't just Taitz or the tea-baggers that continually espouse this assertion that Obama was not born in the US. Rush Limbaugh, one of the leaders of the conservative movement, gives voice to this inane prattling:

2 - Obama is the Anti-Christ



Conspiracy theories that involve the Bible and politicians are not new in the least. I can still remember people insisting that Reagan was the Anti-Christ because of the numerical value of his name.

Many cite the fact that this has some relative truth to it simply because it comes from the Bible. However, there are many passages within the Bible that are so vague, so lacking in context, that they could mean anything. After all, the entire book of Revelations was allegedly written by a man marooned on an island and was hallucinating.

3 - Obama is a Muslim



This has got to be one of the most crystal-clear examples of how racism and xenophobia were part of the campaign against Barack Obama and not just used as conspiracy theory. Also, it is the video above - actually the 13 second sarcastic response to the allegation - that birthers and religious paranoid delusional reference as a "confession" that Obama is in fact a Muslim.

4 - Beck's Communist Art Project



Of all the conspiracy theories that Beck puts forward on literally a nightly basis, this one has got to be one that has got to be one of his best. And by that, I mean his craziest. Well, the FEMA concentration camps were a good one, but he back-peddled on that one while he was trying to pass it off as fact - he just didn't have the courage at the time to listen to the voices in his head like with the art one.

Keith Olbermann had a nice response to this, I thought:



5 - Census workers are coming for you



This bit of conservative paranoia was brought to us from someone whom is almost as crazy as Orly Taitz and somehow managed to get elected to Congress.

In this one, we get a two-fer. Beck and Bachmann, in the initial throws of the "warn on ACORN", claim that they have control over the 2010 Census and that within the form there is information that will be used against you - perhaps placing you into one of Beck's FEMA camps.

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Conspiracy theory within the Republican party and it's voters has become the new fact, just as the fringe-conservative has become the traditional conservative. Not in my lifetime has a group of people been so willing to insist that their very freedoms, their liberties, and life own lives are in danger. And while some will cite the theories behind Sept. 11th and many actions that George W. Bush took during his two terms as President, those were never embraced as fact the way that conservatives are reacting now to Barack Obama.

Yes, the "Truther" movement was most certainly anti-Bush, it was - and continues to be - roundly rejected by liberals/progressives within the Democratic party. Aside from that, there were really no conspiratorial movements on the Democratic side, or at least none that were given such a monumental platform as those espoused by the modern conservative movement.

Not As Smart As A Cartoon Character

It was recently documented that Glenn Beck's roots of paranoia and reporting go back to a man called W. Cleon Skousen who thought everyone in Eisenhower's administration was a communist. In that regard, Beck and he are kindred spirits. But there is someone else that Beck seems to have modeled himself after - Dale Gribble from King Of The Hill.

First, let's take a look at Beck in his newly bestowed honor as Media Matters misinformer of the year. I would have voted him as misinformer of the decade.



So how do Beck and Gribble compare?

Gribble's political views are described as such:

Dale is highly suspicious of all levels of government and ardently defends his Second Amendment rights, once remarking, "Guns don't kill people; the government does." Dale also refuses to pay taxes, does not vote ("The Perils of Polling"), and occasionally prints his own currency (Hank Hill typically appearing on the "Hundred-Gribble bill"). He runs away and sweats a lot when the IRS comes knocking on his door. In the episode "Movin' On Up", he refused to give Hank his social security number so the quartet of friends could rent a house on the block to use as a clubhouse. In another episode, he believed the government had tested "deadly placebo drugs" on Bill, supposedly made by "Puh-fizer"

Let's take stock here.

- Suspicious of all gov't - check

- Second Amendment defender - check
- Refuses of pay taxes - Glenn is very anti-tax but hasn't yet said if he pays or not

- Does not vote - Beck hasn't ever stated whether he voted last November or not

- Prints his own currency - Beck loves gold above the dollar, so to that end he seems very anti-currency

- Runs away from the IRS - considering Beck's stance on taxation, it's a fair assumption he wouldn't want to have dinner with them

- Protective of personal information - check

- Gov't tests drugs on people - Beck's been quoted as being very anti-H1N1 vaccine, so that's an affirmative to that one.

Considering the vagueness of a few of these, I'd say that Beck and Gribble are a pretty good political match.

From completely misunderstanding things like internet, medicine, as well as both being purveyors of wild conspiracy theories, and talk-radio hosts ( thought Gribbles fizzled out after some time ) it's almost like these men are brothers of a sort. Also, the two like to draw American flags and are obnoxiously patriotic.

But the part where the two deviate is key to the reason that Dale Gribble - a cartoon character - is actually smarter than Glenn Beck - allegedly a real person. Dale usually doesn't let his hubris get the best of him. Many times, after realizing the full impact of what he is doing, he can quite honest and forthcoming - often trusting his friends more than his own judgement. Beck isn't like that at all.

There is, however, a sense that Glenn Beck knows what he's doing, that it's all just an act. It's been alleged that Sean Hannity is this same way. Keith Olbermann even stated on his program that Hannity once approached him laughing and stated "people actually think we hate each other". Is Beck this same way - is it all just smoke and mirrors? If it is, then millions of people have been duped. If it's not, then Beck will go down in history as the Right's version of Alex Jones.

As an after-thought, wouldn't it be great to see an episode of King of the Hill where Gribble watches Beck's Fox program and listens to his radio show and has some life changing experience where he suddenly sees he's not a crazy as people think he is - that Beck is the mecca of insanity.