Glen Beck's 'Restoring Courage' rally in Jerusalem ends in a whimper.

August 26, 2011 5:05 AM

Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Courage' rally in Jerusalem (24.8) only brought together a few hundred supporters, according to +972 Magazine, an independent web zine from Israel. The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck.
posted by alona (76 comments total)

The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck.

You make it sounds like Beck is being hunted by Jigsaw.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:06 AM on August 26, 2011 [7 favorites]

You make it sounds like Beck is being hunted by Jigsaw.

"Somewhere inside this razor stuffed straw man is the key you need to free yourself."
posted by JaredSeth at 5:13 AM on August 26, 2011 [55 favorites]

The Pecking Jackdaw Tour: Temeritynator goes to Jersusalem-"Restoring Courage"
posted by clavdivs at 5:14 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck

Is this how Republicans talk dirty?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:18 AM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

No it isn't going to matter at all. His radio audience won't give a crap.
posted by humanfont at 5:24 AM on August 26, 2011 [4 favorites]

Hadn't heard of any of this before this post. That video is really disgusting. So glad that clown had such a small turnout for his little party.

I see Jon Voight was there. Man, what a disappointment that guy became! He was so good in Midnight Cowboy and Deliverance.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:25 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck.

Though, probably not. Events like this are, first and foremost, media events. The live audience is really incidental and merely a backdrop, the impact of which can be manipulated via camera angles and framing to imply a huge crowd.(see also: Beck's rally in DC, and the toppling Saddam's statue). Ample micing of the audience can boost their audio presence.

Beck, whatver you think of his particular pathology, is no idiot when it comes to manipulating his media presence and use of props. Right down to those "scholarly"-looking eyeglasses he uses, and his eternal grin.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 AM on August 26, 2011

Reminds me of this: http://youtu.be/OMTPQVOWCiU
posted by michaelh at 5:30 AM on August 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

Though it's correct in the post, the title 'Glen' has one 'n'. Like "Dr." and Michele Bachmann's family, it is spelled with two n's. It's easier to remember once you realize that the extra 'n' is for extra nuts.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:35 AM on August 26, 2011 [10 favorites]

It's easier to remember once you realize that the extra 'n' is for extra nuts

Then it's Michele Bachmannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn?
posted by sexymofo at 5:39 AM on August 26, 2011 [46 favorites]

From the second link:
In fact, now that Beck has found his Honor and his Courage, I’m hoping he’ll follow the yellow brick road out of Israel and try to find some Brains elsewhere.

Nice burn.
posted by NoMich at 5:42 AM on August 26, 2011 [9 favorites]

Yeah, 'cuz the Israelis really needed a hero like Glenn Beck to help them "restore courage."
posted by monospace at 5:46 AM on August 26, 2011 [7 favorites]

In America, free bus rides + pudding cups = rally success. It's a hard formula to duplicate abroad.
posted by Brian B. at 5:47 AM on August 26, 2011 [11 favorites]

I get that American Evangelicals have a hard-on for Israel, but what's the Mormon angle? (Beck is Mormon.) Is it the same trope about all the Jews having to return to Israel before Jesus 2.0 comes?
posted by three blind mice at 5:51 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, who cares.
posted by Deathalicious at 6:03 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Look... Jesus 2.0 was rolled out three days after the initial app crashed but then was recalled. The patch release, if the marketing people are smart, will be 3.0
posted by spicynuts at 6:13 AM on August 26, 2011 [15 favorites]

You make it sounds like Beck is being hunted by Jigsaw.

You know, that jigsaw puppet thing would make an excellent talking head on FOX News.

"So now we turn to Jigsaw, our expert sociopath. Mr Jigsaw, want do you think the government should do to resolve the rising debt crisis?"

"FILL CONGRESS WITH SAND AND ONLY THOSE WHO SURVIVE SHOULD PUT BEETLES IN THE PRESIDENT'S EYES"

"Thank you Mr Jisgsaw for that insight."
posted by litleozy at 6:14 AM on August 26, 2011 [52 favorites]

Thinking out loud...

In the comments on +972, the author and a commenter or two get in a squabble over the number of attendees. The two arguments from the dissenters are that A. the photo was taken before the chairs in the back were taken (seems odd considering that Glenn Beck appears to be on stage in Ami's photo) and B. the Safra Square location was packed.

Here's a photo that I'm presuming is from that second location. Judging from that shot, it looks like a mostly walk-up crowd (or ride-up in the case of one kid) attracted by the shade, seats and giant TV screen. So I'm not sure they can be called supporters.

Even by Ami Kaufman's account, you're probably only talking about a few hundred empty chairs at the main venue, against a thousand or so filled. And I'd wonder why there were so many extra chairs in place, given that the organizers knew their official reserved count ahead of time. Maybe they thought the event wouldn't draw a casual walk-up crowd like Safra Square did? Maybe someone realized the main event wasn't in a location that would draw extras and got the Safra Square venue organized in order to boost the attendance numbers?

Since you can always give the appearance of more or less attendees, the issue isn't so much how many people saw it or didn't see it, it's how many people responded to Beck's call to vacation in Israel and watch the event. That's the gauge of the American media pundit's draw... And it seems a pretty silly gamble for Beck. Although, I suppose this really doesn't tell us anything we didn't know already, and if he did draw thousands, we'd know he was relevant (to more people than we'd expect, at least).

Also, who cares.
posted by pokermonk at 6:14 AM on August 26, 2011

This is what happens when you criticise Americans for not having passports.
posted by biffa at 6:17 AM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

Yeah, 'cuz the Israelis really needed a hero like Glenn Beck to help them "restore courage."

He's really unbelievable.
posted by odinsdream at 6:18 AM on August 26, 2011

We're still waiting for Messiah 1.0
posted by mikelieman at 6:23 AM on August 26, 2011 [10 favorites]

Crazy just doesn't export as well as it used to. Must be NAFTA, or something.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:31 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Turns out that a media figure who has little media presence outside the US holding a rally outside the US doesn't draw much of an audience from the locals.

It also turns out that holding an event on a different continent from most of your fan base prevents a lot of your fan base from attending.

I'm sort of wondering whose silly idea this was, anyway. Pop culture icons rarely translate across national borders, and Beck ain't exactly U2.
posted by valkyryn at 6:33 AM on August 26, 2011 [4 favorites]

I'm sort of wondering whose silly idea this was, anyway. Pop culture icons rarely translate across national borders, and Beck ain't exactly U2.

I seriously doubt the idea was meant to target anyone in Israel. Rather, the idea was to use Israel as a backdrop. Actually being in the Holy Land™ has serious cred with US evangelicals and conservatives.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:41 AM on August 26, 2011 [5 favorites]

Beck ain't exactly U2.

Hell, he ain't even Beck.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:41 AM on August 26, 2011 [4 favorites]

Most of my friends from Australia, New Zealand and the UK never heard of this shmuck.
posted by dbiedny at 6:42 AM on August 26, 2011

"Somewhere inside this razor stuffed straw man is the key you need to free yourself."

To paraphrase Cyril Connolly, inside every ignorant, cynical man is an even more ignorant and cynical man crying to get out.

There were actually maybe a hundred people, tops, at a co-rally in front of the South Carolina State House on Wednesday morning. A stadium-sized screen broadcast from the event while Gadsen-flag'd-t-shirt-wearing Birchers stood beneath their signs listening to the Israeli national anthem and hawking Glenn Beck and 9-11 Truther memorabilia at their merchandise tables. I asked one of them if he liked a candidate for '12. "Perry or Bachmann," he said. "All the rest are liberals and communists."
posted by octobersurprise at 6:44 AM on August 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

If the death of Limbaugh's TV show wasn't a lethal blow for his soap-boxing then this won't mean anything for Beck.

It's like Palin, can we just give him a bunch of money to shut up and not talk anymore?
posted by zombieApoc at 6:45 AM on August 26, 2011

What would it matter if Glenn Beck were to be found obsolete? His brand of wingnut politics has gone so far into the Republican mainstream that soon, he'll be in danger of being purged as a lefty.
posted by Saydur at 6:51 AM on August 26, 2011 [4 favorites]

a lethal blow
cockroaches don't die.
posted by krautland at 6:54 AM on August 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

His brand of wingnut politics...

I'd just like to say that, as a drummer who has screwed wingnuts on and off of cymbal stands thousands and thousands of times over the past three and a half decades, it is a profound dishonor to the humble, noble and very, very useful wingnut to have its name associated with the likes of Glenn Beck.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:56 AM on August 26, 2011 [39 favorites]

I'm sorry ,but can someone explain to me why Glen Beck is in Israel in the first place?
posted by Old'n'Busted at 7:00 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think Thorzdad pretty much nailed it upthread.
posted by NoMich at 7:02 AM on August 26, 2011

I'm sorry ,but can someone explain to me why Glen Beck is in Israel in the first place?

Yup, Thorzdad's got the answer to that one. It's a resonant backdrop for him, what with all the loony-bin evangelicals and right-wingers and Muslim-haters that he and his like count among their most loyal supporters.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:04 AM on August 26, 2011

The extra n is for BYOBB.
posted by Saxon Kane at 7:06 AM on August 26, 2011

cockroaches don't die.

they do if you smash them with your shoe.
posted by elizardbits at 7:07 AM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

Other things that might command devotion from evangelical Christians: NOT BEING A MORMON
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:18 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

> The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck.

Now I'm picturing some sort of Mortal Kombat-style video game; Beck slowly trudges offscreen while Keith Olbermann triumphantly tosses a copy of Beck's book into a trash can. "IRRELEVANCE!!!"
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:28 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

There were actually maybe a hundred people, tops, at a co-rally in front of the South Carolina State House on Wednesday morning...I asked one of them if he liked a candidate for '12. "Perry or Bachmann," he said. "All the rest are liberals and communists."

I occasionally miss my morning commutes past the SC State House. The jarring reality shifts were better than a double espresso IV drip on some mornings.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:30 AM on August 26, 2011

So hang on... Beck's rally was called 'Restoring Courage'? Really? The sobbing coward who used to be on Fox news, who is constantly telling us about all the things we need to be afraid of, is now trying to be the standard bearer for Courage?

Seriously?!

Fuck this guy.
posted by quin at 7:46 AM on August 26, 2011 [18 favorites]

alona: "The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck."

Don't get our hopes up like that, man
posted by caution live frogs at 7:48 AM on August 26, 2011

We're still waiting for Messiah 1.0

We were blessed 11 years ago, brother. Lo and behold.
posted by ersatz at 7:56 AM on August 26, 2011

The sooner the asshat known as Beck becomes irrelevant the better.

Fuck him and his hate.
posted by handbanana at 8:05 AM on August 26, 2011

Look... Jesus 2.0 was rolled out three days after the initial app crashed but then was recalled. The patch release, if the marketing people are smart, will be 3.0

The AOL strategy, huh? Next I'm going to receive 250 Jesus 4.0 CDs and floppy disks that are all outdated the moment I receive them.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 8:22 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hmmm...did Beck pay for this or was it on the attendee's dime? Because if the latter....I'd say getting about 1,000 people to fly across the globe just to attend a rally is really good, actually. There are a lot of power laws in political discourse --- 90 lurkers for every ten commentors, 100 constituents for every letter to a rep or a senator....it seems likely to me that if you can get 1,000 people to drop $1500 to go to Israel you could probably get 100x that to drop $150 to attend a rally in their home
state, and for each of those ten more who agree entirely with the viewpoint but stayed home....
posted by Diablevert at 8:28 AM on August 26, 2011

No, no, no, what should have been Jesus 4.0 was marketed as Jesus 95 and the stable patch was Jesus 98. Beck is pushing Jesus Vista but most people still prefer Jesus XP.
posted by localroger at 8:29 AM on August 26, 2011

Then there's this charming bit he had to say on his show after the event - Jews! They drive me out of my mind with their constant talking!

"I love the Israelis," he said. "I love the Jewish people. But they drive me out of my mind when they talk over each other. They're constantly talking! I don't know how that society even functions."

Beck went on to equate being around Jews in Israel to being with a family that had eight children.

"Eating dinner at their house was like having dinner in Israel," he said. "Everybody is just talking at the same time, you can't even think!"

Beck, who made the remarks on his radio show Thursday from South Africa, has said that "there is no one more pro-Israel or more pro-Jew than I am."

But he has angered Jewish groups before by using Nazi language and imagery, attacking Holocaust survivor George Soros and comparing Reform rabbis to radical Muslims.
posted by naju at 8:36 AM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

Personally, I like Buddha 10.7 Lion.
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:43 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Everybody is just talking at the same time, you can't even think!"

I don't believe the latter has anything to do with the former.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:46 AM on August 26, 2011

Beck is so laughably clueless he doesn't realise how funny it is to have a noted public crybaby telling us how to restore courage.

Wanker.
posted by Decani at 9:05 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I get that American Evangelicals have a hard-on for Israel, but what's the Mormon angle?

the mormons really love the jews. like, fetishly love them. like, they think they're part of the house of israel. the evangelicals have nothing on the mormons when it comes to appropriating jewish history.
posted by nadawi at 9:24 AM on August 26, 2011

The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck.

Not sure why anyone thinks counting the number people who could afford to take a trip to Jerusalem is a good measure of how many followers Glen Beck has.

In America, you don't have to have enough cash to vacation on the other side of the world in order to vote.
posted by straight at 9:42 AM on August 26, 2011

As a secular Jew, I'm not sure who I'm more squicked out by, the old-school antisemitic Pat Buchannan types or the new-school creepilyphilosemitic Beck types.
posted by callmejay at 9:42 AM on August 26, 2011 [4 favorites]

The evangelicals have nothing on the mormons when it comes to appropriating jewish history.

Or, just outright appropriating them.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:43 AM on August 26, 2011

Beck, who made the remarks on his radio show Thursday from South Africa, has said that "there is no one more pro-Israel or more pro-Jew than I am."

I nominate Glenn Beck for immediate enlistment in the IDF.
posted by griphus at 9:52 AM on August 26, 2011 [7 favorites]

yeah, the baptism for the dead thing is the big one - but the mormons fascination with the jewish people and history runs so much deeper than that. there's a lot of perverted jewish mysticism mingled in the mormon doctrine.
posted by nadawi at 9:53 AM on August 26, 2011

The low numbers could mean a lethal blow for Beck.

Why would anyone think that, when they'll probably just lie about the numbers the way they did with the Tea Party rallies.
Like this:

Today in the Davidson Center in Jerusalem, Glenn Beck spoke to a sold out crowd of 1,700 (as well as 3,000 watching at a viewing station nearby)...

posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:34 AM on August 26, 2011

Descendants of Israelites who can verify a claim to that descent (genetically or religiously, including in some cases relatives of Jews who are not themselves Jewish) are allowed by the Israeli government to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. Mormon theological claims of descent are not considered a sufficient basis for immigration under the Law of Return.

Law of Return as opposed to a Right of Return. Hey Mormons. In Israel it seems you are no better off than Palestinians - and just as unwelcome.
posted by three blind mice at 10:46 AM on August 26, 2011

I think when you have an event like this, you want one of two things: enough people so that nobody goes off and talks about there not being enough people, or no people -- literally, none -- so that you can claim you had thousands without any witnesses to contradict you.
posted by davejay at 11:59 AM on August 26, 2011

What’s Beck Doing in Israel? At the first of three rallies he is holding in Israel, Glenn Beck preached to his followers like a pastor. Michelle Goldberg reports on Beck’s ridiculous attempt to become a religious leader.
posted by homunculus at 12:55 PM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Beck ... has said that "there is no one more pro-Israel or more pro-Jew than I am."

Next thing you know he'll be eating Chinese on Christmas. No, he's Glenn Beck; he might actually be eating Chinese people.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:32 PM on August 26, 2011

> Next thing you know he'll be eating Chinese on Christmas.
Fa-ra-ra-ra-rah, ra-ra-ra-rah! Sorry.
posted by ostranenie at 1:39 PM on August 26, 2011

flapjax at midnite: "as a drummer who has screwed wingnuts on and off of cymbal stands thousands and thousands of times over the past three and a half decades"

I read that very, very differently at first glance.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:23 PM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

"I love the Israelis," he said. "I love the Jewish people. But they drive me out of my mind when they talk over each other. They're constantly talking! I don't know how that society even functions."

Just when I thought it was impossible to be more disgusted with Glenn Beck.
posted by JHarris at 2:24 PM on August 26, 2011

Just when I thought it was impossible to be more disgusted with Glenn Beck.

When you think that you've lost everything,
You find out you can always lose a little more

-Bob Dylan
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:05 PM on August 26, 2011

cockroaches don't die.

they do if you smash them with your shoe.
posted by elizardbits

Didn't seem to slow W down.
posted by carping demon at 4:51 PM on August 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

"Cyril Connolly"?
No, semi-carnally.
Oh...
 
posted by Herodios at 5:04 PM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

as a drummer who has screwed wingnuts on and off

As a guitarist, no one I have screwed on and off have been wingnuts.
 
posted by Herodios at 5:09 PM on August 26, 2011

As a guitarist, no one I have screwed on and off have been wingnuts.

See, that's your problem. You want your partners to be a little crazy.

Wild thing, you make my heart sing.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:40 PM on August 26, 2011

If he has the technical chops to pull it off beyond the roll-out period, Beck's transition from political cheerleader to preacher is a smart one.

A successful evangelist can create a closed circle, one fairly impregnable to the vicissitudes of real-world events and the doings of external actors.

He's trading a mass audience for a smaller, even more devoted following.
posted by darth_tedious at 6:57 PM on August 26, 2011

Most of my friends from Australia, New Zealand and the UK never heard of this shmuck.

Damn, how we envy them.
posted by hal_c_on at 10:06 PM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

"I'd just like to say that, as a drummer...."
posted by flapjax at midnite

Your a drummer? hahahaha

/bass player
posted by marienbad at 2:04 AM on August 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Meh, Michael Moore tried it first from a different angle
posted by AndrewKemendo at 2:39 AM on August 27, 2011

or no people -- literally, none -- so that you can claim you had thousands without any witnesses to contradict you.

A local band I know once only had a handful of people at a show (I was one of them). They ended up claiming that they burned the club down by accident, which lead to a crazy number of posts on local music message boards.
posted by drezdn at 11:00 AM on August 27, 2011

To bring it back to Beck. He claims someone said his rally fulfilled a biblical prophecy. I'm not sure which one, but you'd think the evangelicals would be more wary of false prophets.
posted by drezdn at 11:01 AM on August 27, 2011

"Look... Jesus 2.0 was rolled out three days after the initial app crashed but then was recalled. The patch release, if the marketing people are smart, will be 3.0"

No, no, no! Jesus 1.1 was rolled out after three days. Jesus 2.0, AKA "Omega" will be pushed as an OTA update for those with the Eternal Salvation Unlimited Love Plan™ when the time is right and not a moment sooner. Sure there were rumors that 2.0 was coming out this year but alas he's still vaporware. Jesus: The Duke Nukem Forever of Messiahs. If there were a Hell I'd probably be going there.
posted by MikeMc at 7:21 PM on August 27, 2011