over the weekend joe klein wrote:
there are disadvantages to building your coalition on the shoulders of people who actively promote ignorance and stupidity.
I've heard, from more than a couple of conservative sources, that prominent Republicans have approached Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes about the potential embarrassment that the paranoid-messianic rodeo clown may bring upon their brand. The speculation is that Beck is on thin ice. His ratings are dropping, too--which, in the end, is a good part of what this is all about. But I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a mirror-Olbermann situation soon.the problem is that there's no reason to believe that glenn beck wouldn't kick and scream his entire way out the door. especially since the 2008 election, the conservative movement has been quite willing to push some of the most ridiculous ideas and paranoid conspiracies into mainstream discourse. beck seems to have found the limits of what key members of the movement are willing to tolerate. but after giving him such a big microphone, i don't know how they can contain him without having beck snipe back. beck, i imagine, probably has a bigger and broader audience than william kristol. billy's sparkling conservative pedigree notwithstanding, if forced to choose a lot of the teabaggers won't choose him over beck. i can only imagine the paranoid fueled shitstorm beck could trigger if they ever tried to take his microphone away.
there are disadvantages to building your coalition on the shoulders of people who actively promote ignorance and stupidity.
