Beck’s message was a consolidated 12-step program
Any cursory search of Beck quotes also reveals the language of the addict:
• “It is still morning in America. It just happens to be kind of a head-pounding, hung-over, vomiting-for-four-hours kind of morning in America.”
• “I have not heard people in the Republican Party yet admit that they have a problem.”
• “You know, we all have our inner demons. I, for one - I can’t speak for you, but I’m on the verge of moral collapse at any time. It can happen by the end of the show.”
Indeed. After the hangover comes admission of the addiction, followed by surrender to a higher power and acknowledgment that one is always fallen.
These may be random quotes, but they can’t be considered isolated or out of context. For Beck, addiction has been a defining part of his life, and recovery is a process inseparable from “The Glenn Beck Show.” His emotional, public breakdowns are replicated in AA meetings in towns and cities every day.
Beck, who vaulted from radio host to political televangelist, has now taken another step in his ascendancy - to national crusader for faith, hope and charity.
It’s an easy sell. Meanwhile, Beck has built a movement framed by two ideas that are unassailable: God and country. Throw in some Mom and apple pie, and you’ve got a picnic of patriotism and worship.
Wait, did somebody say … Mom?Sister Sarah, come on down!