About Glenn Beck…

About Glenn Beck…

Dave Perkins (my friend and Better Angel on my Shoulder) encouraged me to listen to Glenn Beck explain why the Daily Caller article I posted on my Facebook page is not accurate.

So I listened to Glenn’s segment in which he tells what the real story is. And he is heartfelt. And it reminded me again of why I have been so devoted to Glenn Beck in the past. I have a long history with him, beginning with my post 9/11 days as a talk radio host at WMMB-AM, in Melbourne, Fl.

The Program Director approached me one day and asked me to listen to a demo tape of some guy named “Glenn Beck” who he was considering adding to our programming line-up. He wanted my opinion of Beck and his show.

I listened. And I loved it. The PD also liked Beck and was willing to take a chance on him. So a couple of weeks later, Beck’s daily morning show became the lead-in to my radio program (not bad, huh?)

As time went on, Beck did a 2003 tour of his radio affiliates with a “Rally for the Troops”. We promoted it to our listeners, filled two buses, and drove to the Gulf side of Florida to Coachman Park in Clearwater to meet Glenn in person, and rally with him and several hundred other Florida radio show listeners.

Glenn was warm, personable, humble, and immediately likable. His love for our military was abundantly evident, and my regard for him grew exponentially that day.

“Rally for the Troops” eventually morphed into the 9-12 Project as the Tea Party movement began. Glenn Beck played a huge role in helping the grassroots organize themselves into a coherent mission. When he kicked off the 9-12 Project with a televised show, we (WMMB) and our listeners here on Florida’s Space Coast, gathered by the hundreds in Melbourne, and were featured in one of the remote spots that was featured during the program.

My esteem for Glenn Beck grew even more.

Years later, I traveled 24 hours by car with friends from Florida to Washington DC to participate on a miserably hot, humid August day at the Lincoln Memorial with Glenn Beck and hundreds of thousands others for Glenn’s RESTORING HONOR.

It was truly a remarkable experience, one I will always remember, especially the flock of birds that flew over the Reflecting Pool at the beginning of the event. “God’s fly-by”. And for those of you who were there, you know what I’m talking about.

When Glenn hosted a three-day volunteer RESTORING LOVE event in 2012 in Dallas, I was there. Again, it was and always will be a highlight in my life. What a high!

When he went to Israel, I watched online as his RESTORING COURAGE event was streamed live from the Holy Land. (Dave Perkins was there in person, lucky guy!)

I wanted to be part of that too, and I was grateful that Glenn arranged to make it available to any and all through the wonders of online technology.

When Glenn was on CNN and later on Fox with his chalkboards, I arranged my days so that I could be part of the new and controversial ground he was covering, learning things about America, our Constitution, our history and that of totalitarian governments, and much more. I savored every moment, and more so when he brought on David Barton, who I could listen to for hours. Glenn was the bravest broadcaster on the air, flying right into the headwinds of political correctness and Roger Ailes’ pink slip.

When Glenn left and began his new venture, then called GBTV, I was there, credit card in hand, signing up as one of his early subscribers. Again, I planned my day around his programming, and if I missed it live, I watched it later. It was “Appointment TV.”

I was among Glenn Beck’s fiercest defenders when friends and acquaintances would denigrate him. I was, in a word, a LOYALIST for Glenn Beck.

Fast forward to the present.

During this election cycle, Glenn became so enamored of Ted Cruz, I couldn’t reconcile myself to Glenn’s way of thinking for two reasons that were/are very important to me.

1. From his earliest days in the Senate, I began hearing stories from Capitol Hill insiders that Ted Cruz was untrustworthy, back stabbing, opportunistic, without conscience, deceptive, and dishonest. I was hearing from those whose judgment I trust and value that Ted Cruz was not how he presented himself to the Tea Party.

I sat in the front row at a keynote speech he gave at the 2013 Americans for Prosperity conference in Orlando, and I was struck by his pandering, stunned at the “red meat” he was throwing out to the audience (and their eager acceptance of it), which I knew to be inaccurate. He was a great orator, of that there was no doubt. But my spidey-sense was telling me something as he used this crowd to build a data base of names when he asked the audience to “sign his petition” to end the IRS. Was he running for president? I wondered.

He was using the Tea Party movement to accelerate his climb up the political ladder, and those in the Senate recognized it early on, watching him go on camera to pervert the truth of what was really happening with bills and legislation, and using his own tricks to make himself look good — many times at their expense. Senators and staffers alike who knew the truth resented his hypocrisy and methodology. He has few friends among his peers for good reason, and as part of his plan to be perceived as an “outsider” of the “Washington cartel”, deliberately cultivates that fact as a badge of honor to “prove” to his tea party supporters that he’s on their side. His voting record shows otherwise. But I’ll get to that in a minute…

As one of the earliest tea partiers myself, and having toured the country several times with the Tea Party Express and political action committees (Defeat Obama and Romney /Ryan 2012) as a speaker, blogger, and radio host, I AM part of the movement, and I resent that Ted Cruz has used me/it/us to his own gain.

2. Ted Cruz presents himself as a Christian Conservative who loves the Constitution and talks about its principles non-stop. Yet he is violating the very sanctity of one of its key principles – one the founders thought to be vitally important, so much so that they included it in one of the first two Articles of our founding document: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President…”

I know what this means. Having been part of the “birther” movement when Obama was elected, I’ve studied the issue and interviewed some of the most knowledgeable legal experts on the matter. Regardless of what the Leftist Obama-owned courts say, the Constitution is the final arbiter.

Ted Cruz has knowingly violated this. We know he was a Canadian citizen. We know he renounced that citizenship only two years ago when he realized that to run for president he’d need to undo that “minor” detail of his life history. We know that he has sealed his citizenship records, or at least we’re told he has by citizens who have attempted to acquire them. What we DON’T know is if Ted Cruz is even a US Citizen. We DON’T know if he’s a NATURALIZED citizen. We don’t even know for sure if his mother renounced her US citizenship when she lived in London and later in Canada, thus conferring – or not – her citizenship on him. The records are sealed.

TrusTED won’t tell us. Even his “running mate” Carly Fiorina questioned it last January when she said on a Greta Van Susteren program, “Well, I don’t know all the particulars, but I would say this, I find it odd that Senator Ted Cruz did not renounce his dual Canadian citizenship until 2014, when it became clear he was running for president.”

Isn’t it amazing how easily the politician Fiorina ignores that little Constitutional fact now? Isn’t it amazing how easily Ted Cruz has papered it over as though it doesn’t exist, much less matter?

This, from the man who holds Constitutional principle as dearly as he holds the Christian tenet of truthfulness?

As a result, I cannot agree with or honor Glenn Beck’s almost cultish devotion to such a man as Ted Cruz. I “get” that Glenn is motivated by what he believes to be his principles. I get that so many other conservatives are willing to overlook or nurture a blind spot to Ted Cruz’ shortcomings. Their contempt for someone as brash and “unconservative” as Donald Trump as the alternative is more than they can stomach. (Interesting though, isn’t it, that Trump — not Cruz —  won the conservative Evangelical voters in the south?)

I believe Glenn has been blinded, and for whatever the reason I’ll leave that for others to figure out.

Over the last several months, when I tuned into Glenn’s show, I would find myself becoming exasperated with what seemed to be his Constitutional contradictions. It’s then that I began to realize that of ALL the controversial things Glenn has brought forward, Glenn has never really taken up the issue of Obama’s ineligibility. Why not? Isn’t that a key tenet of the Constitution? David Barton must surely have explained to Glenn why the founding authors included that phrase “Natural Born Citizen” in the Article’s first Section.

So that created some real cognitive dissonance for me. I just couldn’t seem to square it against Glenn’s (deliberate?) ignoring of what to me is an essential fact, and essential requirement written into our sacrosanct founding document.

After all, ignoring it gave us the foreigner Obama, who Beck reviles. So… what gives?

Finally, after weeks of listening to Glenn rhapsodize about Cruz, having him on his radio program with increasing frequency and yet never probing the fundamental question of eligibility, I just stopped listening.

And I stopped watching…

And after a few months of deliberation, I stopped the automatic credit card subscription deduction each month, and ended it with a letter to Glenn explaining why I could no longer support his mission.

Which brings me to this moment. The Daily Caller today published a piece about Glenn and how his media empire is crumbling, that he’s laid off another 40 people, and things are just generally falling to crap at The Blaze.

I posted it on my Facebook page, linking to the article.

Not long thereafter, my Shoulder Angel Dave Perkins wrote me a suggestion: “you’re citing daily caller, to “read more” about what Beck says and thinks? Why not just read/hear Beck? It’s available, heard it on Friday.”

So I took his advice and listened.

After I did, I replied to Dave, writing:

“OK, I’ve listened. And it is heartfelt. But I also read the comments left by others. And many of the sentiments expressed there exemplify my thoughts and feelings too. I also ended my subscription months ago for reasons outlined in “Cetera” and “Witnessone’s” comments. I stopped reading The Blaze even earlier than that. I have been disappointed in Glenn for the cultish devotion he has to Cruz, a man as you well know, that I find deceptive and dishonest, certainly not trustworthy.

“Commenter “Witnessone” expressed my views with clarity. So, OK, Glenn’s media business isn’t crumbling. He’s paid down most of his debt. And I truly loved him as a human being. I still do. But I’m not ready to “return to the fold” until he returns to being that guy I used to arrange my day around so I could listen to him on the radio, watch him on his show, and gladly pay the monthly subscription fee.”

“And furthermore, here’s what commenter “Cetera” wrote, which as I mentioned, expresses my views as well:

“I, too, trust people until they hurt me. I trusted Ted Cruz until he was in charge of the NRSC who attacked and torpedoed Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniels in Mississippi. But that could be a fluke.

I trusted Ted Cruz until he supported TPA, even though he then said he was lied to, and was mistaken. Hey, that can happen, right?

I trusted Ted Cruz until he stabbed Ben Carson in the back, lying to his supporters, and stealing his votes in Iowa. Well, misunderstandings to occur in time-sensitive situations.

I trusted Ted Cruz until all of the Bush campaign and finance guys joined his campaign. Even an outsider has to raise money, right? He only worked for the Bushes before, he’s really an outsider, right?

I trusted Ted Cruz until he lied about his campaign loans from Goldman Sachs. His wife works there. It probably looks worse than it is. It isn’t like they were involved in the housing market crash or any global corruption or too-big-to-fail bailouts…

I trusted Ted Cruz until he started making backroom deals with the corrupt RINOs to try to stay in the race. Those RINO guys really have always had our best interests at heart, and they love the Tea Party. They’ve only not passed a budget in violation of the Constitution since elected, and haven’t even attempted to mount a challenge against Obamacare, and gave Obama all he wanted and more with debt ceiling raises. They took way their own ability to stop Obama. Those guys are SMART! Cruz must really be playing them, right?

I trusted Cruz until he refused to release any of his records regarding his eligibility. I mean, he’s white, so he’s more American than Obama, who was actually born in the U.S., right? Well, he’s a white latino, and those guys never do anything wrong, right?

I trusted Cruz until it was apparent that there is a history as long as he’s been in public office of deception and malicious ties to those who hate those who believe like I do.

I trusted Glenn Beck, until he couldn’t see the truth about Ted Cruz, calling into question his credibility on almost every other matter.

I used to be a Glenn Beck subscriber. I’m proud to say, I’m doing better things with my money, and my principles, these days.”

And then I read this follow up reply by Witnessone, which again, captures my perspective on it.

“My family and I have been Long Time Fans of Glenn Beck. We have always admired Glenn for all the Good things he does…has done…..for many people.

In the beginning, his Program GBTV and The Blaze, was Brilliant! We loved learning about History and hearing the Stories behind the Stories. Glenn has or had, an Excellent Research Team at the time. Then, he would talk about all the Great things to come and give us Teasers. It made us want to watch every single night!

But, then, Glenn became ill…..we had no idea how he could do so much, all at once, with out getting sick. We worried about him! We knew things weren’t coming together for him on The Blaze because he would tell us one thing, and, then, it never happened (just as he explained.) We kept wondering what was going on and why The Blaze was in such “Disarray”….. people leaving….new people….new shows….shows cancelled, etc.

Yet, Glenn was really not honest with his Fans and Viewing Audience. I think most everyone was wondering if it was Glenn’s health, or, he had tried to grow too fast, and in too many different directions….all at once. It didn’t make any sense, until this last year. People aren’t stupid. I think most of us knew Glenn was in trouble. Yet, he still wasn’t honest with us. I guess you don’t want to tell your Viewers and Fans you’re in over your head, and, in trouble….for fear of losing them. We stuck by Glenn up until the last few months.

Glenn’s Biggest Mistake was when he endorsed Cruz. I mean, you just don’t do that when you have a Business! We really liked Cruz in the beginning. Glenn jumped in to his Campaign full force, and, then, became so hateful, nasty, and “Un-Christ-Like”….. mostly towards Trump. He did the very same thing to Mitt Romney when he ran. This really made us angry at the time because we have always supported Mitt. I wouldn’t give you 2 cents for Mitt Romney now! Ughhh! We still tried to stick with Glenn through it all.

However, as this Presidential Election Primary, has progressed, Glenn, Pat and Stu, have totally lost their perspective, and, their Focus has shifted “Wayyyy Off Course”! Their hatred, and, mocking Mr. Trump, and others, like they do, is disgusting and sickening! For months and months now Glenn’s programs, both Radio and TV, have become a 24/7 Trash Trump Fest/Cruz Campaign Ad! We would try to listen, but would end up turning the channel. I use to DVR his program so we could watch it every night. About 2 months ago I had to stop recording his program. We have basically stopped listening to his Radio Program as well. We still try to tune in with hopes he will get off Cruz and Trump, long enough to talk about something else. Ummmm….well, we usually can’t get past all the B.S. about the Campaigns. So, again, we turn the channel.

For some reason, Glenn can’t put 2 + 2 together. He still won’t admit he is losing his Company due to him spending so much time on Cruz and Trump! In his Heartfelt explanation, he never brings up his endorsement of Cruz, or that it was a mistake. This is why Rush never endorses anyone during the Primary. I mean, we know who he is supporting by the way he talks, but, he tries to talk about most Republican Candidates as fair as he can. Hannity is even better at trying to be fair by giving all Candidates time on his programs.

Glenn should Never endorse anyone during the Primary. This has Alienated and Divided his Fans and has hurt him personally. His Business is a mess, and his health really can’t be all that great. I don’t know how he has made it this far without being put in the hospital for his health problems due to all the stress he is under.

In our family, some of us support Trump, some of us support Cruz. Our Cruz supporters can’t even stand to listen or watch Glenn anymore. He has gone wayyyy over the Top by his relentless rantings, and Trump bashing. Maybe some like listening to this sort of thing, but, our family certainly doesn’t, as I am sure Millions feel the same way.

Glenn use to be the Best at bringing people together. You know….Love….Hope….Charity, etc. He has totally changed since he got involved with the Cruz Campaign. He has lost his focus on his Fans and Supporters…..he has lost his focus on his Company, and his Vision. I agree with him on what he had to say about The RNC and how they betrayed us. That is Totally the case! And, that the Tea Party Movement was instrumental in Electing Conservatives….So We Thought! The problem is, most of those joined the ranks of the “Good Old Boys” and they didn’t do what they promised they would do.

As for Cruz…..I am not a Cruz supporter. I feel just like you do about him. There are so many questions about his past. Trump has his own skeleton’s, however, we already new about them, and he has been pretty open and honest about his past. I now feel I can Trust Mr. Trump to do what he says he will do. At least I feel he will do his very best. He isn’t who I wanted for President, and, he isn’t perfect either; however, I now fully support Mr.Trump.

Glenn doesn’t see it like we do.

Now, Cruz brings in Carly….his SuperPac or Cruz Campaign pays her $500,000! This raises all kinds of Red Flags for many people. Why, and, for What….did he pay her all that money for?

We knew when she joined his Campaign he would pick her for VP. I think most everyone expected this to happen. So, it was no surprise, and I don’t see it will help him. She was already Baked Into The Cake (so to speak.)

I used to support both Ben and Carly. In the beginning, I thought she was Brilliant. Ummm….Not now. I have read too many things about her. People really don’t care for her too much either or she wouldn’t have dropped-out. She couldn’t get the support.
The Cruz/Kasich “Collusion Plan” was what finally did it for me. SNEAKY DEALS! It certainly didn’t work, and they soon found out they have been rejected by Millions of Voters due to their “Back Room Deals”!

I can’t TrustTed or Carly. I don’t know how Glenn can’t see this???

I guess we shall see how this all turns out after Indiana, Oregon, Washington, California, and the States in between.

America is in such a mess! We MUST Win this Election or America is done! I hope Glenn and Mark Levin (although, Mark’s stepson works for Cruz) will both start to soften, and turn people around…the ones they both turned against Voting for Trump.
If we don’t Unite behind Trump we will All get what the heck we deserve…..Hillary! Obama put America In The Toilet and Hillary WILL Flush IT!

We really do Hope and Pray Glenn will get turned around and get back to what he does Best. We truly miss the Old Glenn Beck. God Bless You, Glenn and Family. God Bless America!”

I truly miss the old Glenn Beck too. I feel like I’ve lost a dear friend. Hurry back, Glenn.