To Celebrate the First Anniversary of The Beltway Perspective, a New Post Every Day Analyzing and Fact Checking my Favorite Pundit
Courtesy of Rob J. Brooks
Ready your confetti and streamers. We’re going to do this birthday right.
For the past few weeks, I’ve pondered ways to celebrate my 365th day as a blogger. I wanted a fresh idea; a way to really give back to the readers who’ve stuck with me for a year now. Then it hit me; the best gift I can give is content – lots and lots of content. That’s when I decided that I would post every day between September 27 and October 1.
But what to post about? Let’s be honest, I rarely come up with original content. I play the role of political analyst, weighing in on news that everyone else is already covering. This special week of non-stop posts calls for something more.
Why Just Cover the News? Let’s Help Make It!
Last week, I was inspired by Jon Stewart’s announcement that he plans to hold the “Rally to Restore Sanity” here in the District of Columbia on October 30. Stewart made the announcement just weeks after the decidedly insane Glenn Beck held his “Restoring Honor” rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Was Beck’s rally insane? No. But he is.
There could be no better way to respond to Stewart’s plea for sensibility than to help him pave the way for sanity here in the nation’s capital. That’s why, starting Monday, I will watch Glenn Beck so that you don’t have to. I will analyze every word of every show, fact checking and poking fun along the way. Oh, we’ll have some laughs, we’ll have some cries (knowing Beck, there might be a lot of crying), and we’ll even have a daily scorecard tracking the total number of times Beck mentions socialism, communism, progressivism and Marxism.
(**Please note: If you plan on playing the Glenn Beck drinking game using the terms listed above, only drink when Beck uses one of the keywords within two words of President Obama’s name; i.e. “Obama’s socialist agenda” or “Obama’s Marxist cabinet.” Otherwise, you risk alcohol poisoning)
Since Tea Party Movement is already taken, we’ll call it the Birthday Party Movement
Let’s make this celebration worthwhile. Tell your friends, family, former teachers, religious leaders, and the man standing next to you in line at Burger King that it’s time to restore sanity and in order to do that, we need to make sure everyone knows that Glenn Beck is insane.
Let’s become the news story.
***Message to Steven Colbert: It was only after thoughtful consideration that I opted to join Jon Stewart’s campaign to restore sanity. While I respect your patriotism and service to this country, Stewart’s vision for America better resonates with my own. I’m sorry that I will be working counter to your effort to keep fear alive.
Haha. Awesome, this will be interesting.
I’m guessing you do… But you do know that both Stewart and Colbert are political satirists and that’s what the rally will be as well.
Not saying that neither of them say anything that holds any weight or meaning…
But I feel that too many people take Stewart and Colbert seriously (when they both are obviously satirical have admitted and say that people should not take it as “reality”)
I’ll definitely be going to the rally though.. So see you there?
Hey David,
Thanks for commenting. Yes, I do know that they are satirists (Colbert a bit more so). It is funny that many do not understand that (including Bill O’Reilly – http://tinyurl.com/3xuclsw).
Satire aside, I do believe that there is an overarching point that Stewart is trying to make. If you watch the O’Reilly clip, he’s asked why he’s holding the rally. Stewart tells O’Reilly that the cooler heads in this country want to know that they’re not alone; to see that there is (to quote Nixon) a silent majority that still believes it’s ridiculous to compare Obama to Stalin.
I really, really hope to make it to the rally. Let me know if you go. I’d be happy to meet up.
You are a very interesting Bolger. I enjoyed you opinions. I think Glen Beck is horrible.
Thanks Zac. Be sure to check back in next week. Hopefully you’ll find it entertaining.
Hey, Aaron: Great looking blog, keep-up the good work. The left needs more gifted people like yourself.
Linda and I would like to attend the rally on 10/30/2010. Our daughter Jennifer started getting her news from the Daily Show starting in ’05.
Oh, I good idea for the left is to concentrate on health care and the positives.
DNC: Talking points
1. Pasted health care reform.
2. Pasted banking reform.
3. Next-up: Exhaust the BUSH tax-cuts for the super weathly.
OK! Sholom Ashman
Hi Darrell,
I tend to agree that those should be talking points for the Dems. And really, they already are. It’s just a matter of figuring out a way to communicate why they’re good ideas for America that the Democrats are having trouble doing. Their messaging is poor, their cohesion is even poorer and the end result will be losing the House majority this November and being unable to pass any kind of reform.
Thanks for the comment.