Phil Donahue: “If We Didn’t Have Glenn Beck, We’d Have To Invent Him”

Former talk show host (and MSNBC host) Phil Donahue was a guest on Joy Behar’s HLN show last night tonight, and the subject of former HLNer Glenn Beck came up.

Donahue says he’s a viewer of the Fox News host, but also pointed to a Daily Kos video as a must-watch Beck crash course.
“What do you think of this upsurge of the Becks and the Limbaughs and Fox News and how powerful it is in the country right now?” asked Behar.

Donahue said it’s important to question the “kind of influence” they have, and called Beck and Rush Limbaugh “very, very interesting.” But then he suggested some specific viewing material – “Full Mental Beck.” This Daily Kos video from last August is described by Donahue as “seven minutes of a montage of Beck, with the blackboard.” But you can imagine, since it comes from Daily Kos, the overall tone. But also – last August? There’s months of material Donahue is avoiding!

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Although he remains a viewer, he’s also skeptical, questioning the motives of the tea partiers. He pointed to someone like Glenn Beck as a leader that’s made for this specific time. “If we didn’t have Glenn Beck, we’d have to invent him,” said Donahue.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/phil-donahue-if-we-didnt-have-glenn-beck-wed-have-to-invent-him/

I listened to Beck on the radio loooooonnnng before he became a fox creation. In the absense of good liberal talk radio here in the DFW area, I tolerated Mark Davis and Glenn Beck (limpballs was on another station opposite of Beck and I've always despised that asshole) mainly as a way to keep tabs on what the other side was thinking. Beck wasn't the maniac then that he is now and was often likely to take the leftist view. It was first his wider syndication in radio (he got the big head) and his subsequent indoctrination at fox that made him what his is today.