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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Is Glenn Beck TV’s Obi Wan Kenobi?

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 18th, 2009 at 04:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

— Obi Wan Kenobi

It appears that the left’s urgent boycott of Glenn Beck’s advertisers in an effort to destroy Beck is like Darth Vader strking down Kenobi. It’s making Beck more powerful. He is Kenobi.

According to Media Bistro,

“The Glenn Beck Program”, which airs out of primetime at 5pmET, had its highest rated week ever among Households (1,907,000) and Total Viewers (2,409,000), and second best week in the A25-54 demo (682,000).

Beck was #2 in his time period in both Total Viewers and the demo in all of cable last week, behind NICK, and beating his cable news competition combined in Total Viewers and the demo.

That’s right. Beck was number 2 on all of cable television behind Nickelodeon.

Now, about those sponsors. I probably should not have used the word “sponsors.” They are advertisers. At Fox, they buy ads that are put into rotation during certain segments of the day. SC Johnson Wax, Progressive, GEICO, etc. have demanded they not have their ads run during Beck’s program.

They are cowards.

But the attention is helping Beck.

And you should call these advertisers and tell them they are ridiculous chickens who should be advertising on the number 2 most watched television program in all of cable television during the 5 to 6 p.m. ET slot.

SC Johnson:
Fisk Johnson Chairman & CEO
Phone: (262)260-2000

Petrell Ozbay
Senior Global Public Affairs Manager
Phone: (262) 260-2114

Progressive Insurance:
Glenn Renwick, President & CEO- (440)461-5000

Linda Harris, Advertising & Sponsorships
Linda_J._Harris@progressive.com

Geico:
Tony Nicely
Chairman, President & CEO, Insurance Operations
E-mail: tnicely@geico.com
(301) 986-2462

Chris Tasher, GEICO Media Relations
301-986-3271
ctasher@geico.com

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COMMENTS

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  • bk

    Peter Lewis is a hard-core leftist (except that he wants to make a lot of money selling insurance – capitalism is okay sometimes I guess) who has donated tens of millions to Soros groups over the past several years.

  • kerrhome

    I think BB is boycotting Glenn now. I called them today to ask them to stop their boycott and to support freedom of speech. I didn’t say I’d stop supporting them, but asked them to do the right thing.

  • Swamp_Yankee

  • colddeadhands

    I have a consumer product, but not a bunch of money to spend. I’d be happy to advertise on Beck if I can get a good price. I’ll even make a commercial with Battle Hymn of the Republic and make fun of all overzealous activists.

  • colddeadhands

    any suggestions on who to talk to about this?

  • Kate_Shanahan

    also joined the boycott. Guess who owns large positions in Wal-Mart and Best Buy—if you guessed Soros and Buffett, you win a public health care plan.

    I’ve called asking why the double-standard during the Bush years.

    Watch next month for Quantum Funds (Soros fund) quarterly report of positions held. Gives you an inkling of who gets strongarmed. Don’t kid yourself, they use their clout.

  • dwarfmama

    I couldn’t find confirmation of it when I looked last night, but they have a statement on their website that they support Health Care Reform, with partners SEIU and CAP. (I thought they were opposed to unions?)

    I’m not insured with GEICO or Progressive, use only a few products from SCJohnson, but WalMart and Sam’s get a lot of my business. It’s going to be a significant inconvenience to change my shopping habits, and I sent them an email saying so.

    There was a reply in my inbox this morning, as clueless as any message I’ve ever received. Besides addressing me as ‘Adam,’ they said they looked forward to serving me next time I do business with them. The comments with respect to Glenn Beck and Health Care Reform were just lame.

  • Kate_Shanahan

    http://www.examiner.com/x-722-Conservative-Politics-Examiner~y2009m8d18-Walmart-CVS-Best-Buy-join-Glenn-Beck-boycott

  • Kate_Shanahan

    I quit shopping there after I called on their corporate headquarters. Reminded me of 1984

  • RyanOHIO

    http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/14082009/323/brief-soros-fund-management-cuts-stake-retailers-takes-stake-bofa.html

    Maybe payback for Wal-Mart not getting behind the boycott sooner?

  • Kate_Shanahan

    Also, voting machines:-)

  • Old_Dominion

    I think it comes with the territory. Beck has decided to try to be an amalgam of Michele Bachmann, Michael Savage, and that “Leave Britney Alone” guy. It makes for compelling television, but hardly anyone I’ll lose sleep over, and I can’t get too outraged over advertisers preferring more vanilla programming to run spots on. On the day that we lost a far more thoughtful conservative like Robert Novak, Beck emotionalism stands in stark contrast to Novak’s Ben Stein-ian intellectualism. Take away Novak’s disappointing animus toward Israel, and you’ve got someone who deserved defending. I can’t put Beck in that same league.

  • muffin

    and I just saw a Progressive Insurance commercial. Did someone not get the memo?

  • briann

    Whole Foods!!1

    OK, I made that up. But if WalMart is gonna pull out of Glenn Beck, it’s only appropriate for Whole Foods to join up.

    -Bri

  • GaryL

    “Do not assume anything, Obi-Wan. Clear, your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind the plot.”

  • JadedByPolitics

    to speak! he does the job the “oldstream” media is supposed to do!

  • cosmicgnome

    Lawsuit. Shareholder lawsuit. Are these ads being pulled when the eyeballs are increasing, If there are no other factors it seems, and I am no lawyer, it seems that the whom, evers making the decision to stop ads are letting their political considerations over ride what is best for shareholders. Unless there is behind the scenes intimidation from the Stalinist in Washington. They control the banks. How many have to deal with a union or will have to in the near future, and let us not forget Acorn
    Perhaps a shareholder law suit is required to hold decision makers to account and determine exactly why they chose to pull the ads.

  • penguin2

    The results of their animosity toward Beck certainly didn’t get the results they intended. We still have to be vigilant and careful. These goons do not give up. While the advertising dollars are still circulating in the Fox Network, I hoping other advertisers will step up, in case there is a final impact on Fox.

    We need to stay strong about not using their products, like AARP members canceling subscriptions; then we can have a serious impact.

  • forrest

    is a comedian.
    He plays the part of jester very well.

  • Scope

    and he is not afraid to report all that is wrong with this administration. He is the only one uncovering facts that no one else is willing to do. He doesn’t just talk about or believe anything that anyone says as an opinion.

    My problem with Beck is his highly emotionalized broadcasts when he cries, begs, and pleads with Americans to listen to him. He would be alot more credible if he got rid of the emotions, and, just came out full charge ahead. A fighting voice will always win over, not crying to get your point accross. That turns many off including me. Some of his opening monologues are so melancholy and morose he dissuades many who are willing to get angry and fight the onslaught of Socialism. Strength would be better promoted, not with tears.

  • tfunk

    It’s not that these companies are taking their ads off of FOX, they just don’t want their advertising on the GB show.

    This whole thing seems, to me at least, like it was the decision of the companies themselves, and as a free-market guy, that doesn’t bother me.

    If eHarmony pulled all it’s ads off MSNBC, I wouldn’t care either.

  • http://brockwayfamily.spaces.live.com/ Erick Brockway

    On base doing a reserve thing last week and weekend, in the galley (mess hall) during the week the TV had CNN on constantly.
    The weekend though when the reservists were there, it was FNC.
    We were in there eating dinner before the drive home Sunday afternoon/early evening and Beck was on. The room fell silent, and half the people quit eating to watch.
    He’s being heard, and no doubt the target on his back will soon be as big as the one on Rush’s.
    Bigger maybe, the lefties are used to Rush, but Beck is an unknown quantity to them, scarier, no doubt.

  • tjexcite

    http://defendglenn.com/

  • RedBeard

    I’m usually not a huge fan of Beck, for the reasons Scope mentioned earlier. But now, with this full-bore leftist assault on Beck underway, I have decided to become a huge fan of his show. Apparently others are of a like mind, judging by his ratings.

    Congrats to the lefties for this latest wholesale PR blunder. Maybe the lefties could come over and boycott my business; I need the extra income that would generate.

  • http://charlemagne-the-hammer.blogspot.com/ DerKrieger

    Ever wonder why Walmart has been trying so hard to become the darling of the Left? Leslie Dach

    Leslie Dach is Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. He is responsible for reputation management, public affairs, corporate communications, the Wal-Mart Foundation, government relations, and sustainability.

    Before joining Wal-Mart, Leslie was Vice Chairman of Edelman, a major global communications firm, where he led the Washington D.C. office, the company?s research, advertising, and corporate social responsibility consulting divisions and its global public affairs, crisis, technology, and healthcare practices.

    Leslie has been active as a strategist in Democratic politics and worked in senior positions in a number of presidential campaigns, including as a senior advisor for communications for the Democratic National Committee in 2004 and managing the program at the 2000 Democratic Convention. Leslie was also a lobbyist for the National Audubon Society and Environmental Defense, and the special assistant to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.

    Leslie has a bachelor?s degree in biology from Yale University and a master?s in public administration from Harvard University. He serves on the board of directors of the World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org/)

    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/walmart_leslie_dach.php

    Leslie Dach, is a prominent Democrat who served as communications director for the Dukakis campaign. Dach was hired by Wal-Mart specifically to give the company cover with Democrats.

  • DavidS1787

    ConAgraFoods
    Stephanie Childs
    Director
    Corporate Communication
    (402) 595-6258

    ConAgraFoods

    Corporate Headquarters
    ConAgra Foods Inc.

    One ConAgra Drive

    Omaha, NE 68102-5001
    402-240-4000

    ConAgraFoods

    Men?s Wearhouse
    6380 Rogerdale Rd
    Houston, TX 77072
    1-800-851-6744
    Fax us at: 281-776-7038
    Matthew Stringer
    email: Matthew Stringer

    State Farm

    Jairon L. Wills

    Executive Customer Service Supervisor

    email: jairon.l.wills.b92k@statefarm.com

    Roche
    US Media Relations
    1- 650- 467- 6800
    Roche

    Procter & Gamble
    Procter & Gamble

    Write each of these Companies and tell them you will boycott their store untill and tell your friends and neighbors to do the same.

    Remind these companies who is really going to feel the pinch for boycotting the Beck Show!!!!!

  • usastandup

    and not air any commercials during GB time slot. However, FOX should adjust this group of advertisers rates to cover either a GB show without commercial interruption or use the additional funds to air Republican candidates that need face time. Take that and smoke it in your pipe George, et al.

  • 6eorge Jetson

    WalMart & the left. Does WalMart realize how hated they are on the left?

  • DavidS1787

    Broadview Security Corporate Headquarters
    8880 Esters Blvd
    Irving, TX 75063
    972-871-3500

    Wal-Mart
    Corporate Office
    Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
    702 SW 8th Street
    Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611
    479-273-4000

    Wal-Mart

    more to come later…

  • AceInTX

    I choked back a gut full of vomit to go to Huff Po and pull the list so I hope everyone appreciates the work…

    I added contacts for investor relations numbers for those of you who are shareholders where I could find them


    Walmart, CVS, Best Buy, GMAC Among 8 Major Companies To Pull Ads From Glenn Beck Show

    GMAC:
    1-313-656-6970 or 1-917-369-2364

    Walmart
    Media Relations 1-800-331-0085
    Investor relations Computershare, 1-800-438-6278

    CVS
    One CVS Drive
    Woonsocket, RI 02895
    Toll-free: (800) SHOP-CVS (746-7287)
    E-mail: storecomments@cvs.com
    Investor Relations Contacts Toll-free: (800) 201-0938
    E-mail: investorinfo@cvs.com

    Best Buy
    Best Buy Co., Inc.
    7601 Penn Avenue South
    Richfield, MN USA 55423-3645
    Public Relations Phone: 612-292-NEWS (6397)
    Public Relations E-mail: newscenter@bestbuy.com
    Public Relations After Hours Pager: 612-618-6703
    Investor Relations
    moneytalk@bestbuy.com
    Best Buy Corporate Office: (612) 291-1000
    Customer Care: (888) 237-8289
    Investor Questions: (612) 291-6147

    Travelocity
    Travelocity Public Relations:
    Vollmer Public Relations
    Amanda Borichevsky
    E-mail: amanda@vollmerpr.com
    Sabre Investor Relations or call 1-682-605-2342.

    Allergan
    Allergan, Inc
    P.O. Box 19534
    Irvine, CA 92623 USA
    Phone: (714) 246-4500
    Fax: (714) 246-4971
    Investor Relations
    Jim Hindman
    (714) 246-4636
    Joann Bradley
    (714) 246-4766
    Emil Schultz
    (714) 246-4474

    Broadview Security
    Broadview Security
    8880 Esters Blvd
    Irving, TX 75063

    Re-Bath
    Re-Bath, LLC
    421 W. Alameda Drive
    Tempe, AZ 85282
    Corporate Phone: 1.800.426.4573
    Corporate Fax: 480.833.7199

    ConAgra
    Stephanie Childs
    Director
    Corporate Communication
    (402) 595-6258

    Lawyers.com
    1-800-526-4902, ext. 2009

    Men’s Wearhouse
    Men’s Wearhouse
    Public Relations-Department P456
    6380 Rogerdale Rd
    Houston, TX 77072
    1-800-851-6744

    Procter & Gamble
    1-800-332-7787

    RadioShack
    Riverfront Campus World Headquarters
    300 RadioShack Circle
    Fort Worth, TX 76102-1964
    Phone: (817) 415-3700 (automated menu selection)
    Phone: (817) 415-3011 (corporate switchboard)
    For investors and shareholders
    Riverfront Campus
    Mail Stop #CF4-324
    300 RadioShack Circle
    Fort Worth, TX 76102-1964
    Phone: (817) 415-3021
    Fax: (817) 415-6808
    E-mail: investor.relations@RadioShack.com

    Roche
    Inquiries +41-61-688 1111
    Media Relations +41-61-688 8888.
    After Hours +41-61-688 1515.

    Sanofi-Aventis
    sanofi-aventis
    55 Corporate Drive
    Bridgewater, NJ 08807
    Tel:800-981-2491

    Sargento
    Consumer Affairs
    Sargento Foods Inc.
    One Persnickety Place
    Plymouth, WI 53073
    1-800-CHEESES

    State Farm Insurance
    State Farm Insurance
    One State Farm Plaza
    Bloomington, IL 61710

  • AceInTX

    It’s the recent tactic announced by the lefties to target advertisers of media personalities they don’t like that’s at issue here…I opposed it when Sharpton and Jackson went after Don Imus…I’m opposed to them doing it to Beck…and I’d oppose them doing it to Kieth Olberman!

  • AceInTX

    Besides…it shows he really believes and cares about what he’s saying

  • cclive

    Advertisers don’t have to continue paying for his soapbox though if they don’t feel its in their best interests. This doesn’t have any “chilling effect” on free speech.

  • AceInTX

    I’d care if eharmony pulled all it’s adds off MSNBC if it was because Ron Paul’s supporters got together with Donald Trump to organize and fund a right wing intimidation campaign to dry up funding for Keith Olberman and shut him up!…

    It’s a dangerous game they’re playing and it’s foolish to ignore it because next it could be Red State!

  • AceInTX

    We need to make them fear making us hate them!

  • DavidS1787

    Best Buy
    Corporate Office
    7601 Penn Ave. South
    Richfield, MN 55423-3645
    Phone: 612-291-1000
    Fax: 612-292-4001

    Customer Support Center – Headquarters
    CVS Caremark Corporation
    One CVS Drive
    Woonsocket, RI 02895
    (401) 765-1500

    Carolyn Castel
    VP, Corporate Communications
    Phone: 401-770-5717
    Email: Carolyn Castel

    Travelocity
    Travelocity headquarters:
    3150 Sabre Drive
    Southlake, TX 76092
    Phone:1-682-605 -1000

    Allergan (maker of Restasis)
    Corporate Headquarters
    Irvine, California

    Mailing Address
    P.O. Box 19534
    Irvine, CA 92623-9534

    Street Address
    2525 Dupont Drive
    Irvine, CA 92612

    Allergan Corporate ? Telephone
    Toll Free: (800) 347-4500 (U.S. Only)
    Telephone: (714) 246-4500
    Fax: (714) 246-6987

    Caroline Van Hove
    Global Corporate Communications
    (714) 246-5134
    Email: Caroline Van Hove

  • AceInTX

    I’d say you had a point if those companies decided on their own to stop advertising on his show…but that’s not what’s happening…they’re being intimidated by a bunch of leftist brown shirts into withdrawing their funding!

    It was wrong when Jackson and Sharpton did it to Don Imus…and it’s just as wrong now!

  • DavidS1787

    Men?s Wearhouse
    6380 Rogerdale Rd
    Houston, TX 77072
    1-800-851-6744
    Fax us at: 281-776-7038
    Matthew Stringer
    Matthew Stringer

  • DONTREADONME

    shakedown tactic. I agree with you here, the advertisers can choose where to adverstise and when. Of course, with the audience that Glenn Beck has I am sure there will be no shortage of advertisers. That is a rather large audience for that timeslot and not many adverstisers are going to pass that up. There may be a short term impact on the cost of the adverstising space (demand decrease price decrease) allowing other companies with a smaller adverstising budget to get their product out there. Of courese once the supply of time slots at the lower cost decreases that will inversely increase the price naturally. And Glenn Beck ad revenues will be back to normal if anything it will increase with the publicity garnered from the boycott.

    I agree, I do not think this has a “chilling effect” on free speech because I have chosen to cancel my Geico insurance policy and go with a competitor and at a lower cost (thanks Geico for boycotting, I got a better policy for less). Turnaround is fair game; however, I still am not a big fan of boycotting myself, but I felt a compensating force was necessary for the leftist group driving this.

  • aesthete

    Is that also wrong? I love ya Ace, but under the logic that you’ve established here, it would appear that that is the case. I, personally, see it as real democracy in action: Dems and the companies that they have in tow can do whatever they want with their money and their advertising, but consumers have the right to circumvent their collective wills by either a) watching Glenn Beck and increasing the revenues of companies that are currently advertising in his time slot, and/or b) pulling their support from companies that have pulled their advertising. There’s nothing wrong, counter-Democratic, or evil about that; as I said, both you and the advertisers are voting with their dollars and sacrificing their bottom line, respectively. (I will say that it was pretty stupid of them to pull advertising now, though, considering that Glenn’s show is on the uptick, and was on the uptick even before this latest controversy.) Take care :)

  • DavidS1787

    email.

    Men?s Wearhouse
    6380 Rogerdale Rd
    Houston, TX 77072
    1-800-851-6744
    Fax us at: 281-776-7038
    Matthew Stringer
    Email: MS38@tmw.com

  • izoneguy

    Most of these companies will go out of business once Obama & Soros are done.

    Getting in bed with a Marxist is not good for your health.

    Look at what Hugo has done to business in Venezelua.

  • DavidS1787

    CVS
    Carolyn Castel
    VP, Corporate Communications
    Phone: 401-770-5717
    Email: CCastel@cvs.com

    Allergan
    Caroline Van Hove
    Global Corporate Communications
    (714) 246-5134

    Email: VanHove_Caroline@Allergan

  • cclive

    Their exercising their rights to tell companies that they don’t approve of their business practices and will stop buying their products. The company then decides on its own if they want to continue and risk losing the consumer’s business. Don’t individuals have the right to tell a company they don’t like its business practices?

    And as I said before nothing is stopping Beck from saying what he wants, he just might have trouble finding other people to pay for his big soapbox. Freedom of speech is protected but your soapbox is up to the individual to provide.

  • AceInTX

    If I choose to join a boycott of a company of my own free will…how is that the same as threatening and intimidating advertisers to withdraw their adds and deny revenues to a popular media figure in an effort to shut them up and silence his voice?

    I don’t get your logic here because the one has nothing to do with the other!

    I do like your solution however :

    consumers have the right to circumvent their collective wills by either a) watching Glenn Beck and increasing the revenues of companies that are currently advertising in his time slot, and/or b) pulling their support from companies that have pulled their advertising.

  • AceInTX

    in exposing their folly. Do the individuals have a right to do this?…absolutely…do I have a right to gripe about it??? You bet you bottom dollar I do…

    Is this the way issues should be debated in America?…Hell no…I have very little tolerance for Alan Dershowitz and agree with him on virtually nothing…one thing I do agree with him though that we need a free market of ideas and anything that restricts the free flow of thought and ideas is an enemy of a free people. I’m paraphrasing him here but this is one of the ideas he’s always advanced…and I loath the tactics that have been deployed by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson against Don Imus and now by these clowns against Glen Beck.

  • aesthete

    Plus, these intimidators are citizens (unfortunately) in their own right, exercising their rights to free speech.

    If you look at the companies currently engaging in the boycott, there aren’t too many conservatives or moderates among them. Essentially, it is the consumers who decide what gets produced, and the free market is quite unforgiving to those who forget this simple precept (a fact evident in the current leftist spectacle).

    Personally, I like to look at it this way: there’s a reason that a boycott of Glenn has been initiated, and it’s not because he’s so irrelevant. I certainly don’t see anyone boycotting/intimidating Olbermann’s wreck of a show :)

  • AceInTX

    Of course those intimidating advertisers by demagoguing a single statement Beck made have a right to do what they are doing…and the Companies they are intimidating have a right to be intimidated and pull their advertising. I wouldn’t dispute that…

    But I also have a right to deplore and condemn the tactics they are employing. And I don’t think I’m out of line calling them Brown Shirt tactics either because many of the same tactics were used to slence the JUews in the 20s and 30s Germany.

    I don’t like it…and again…I’d condemn Pat Robertson employing the same tactics against Kieth Olberdork…or even better…the late Jerry Falwell…of course…he wouldn’t resort to such tactics because he always invited the Jacksons, and the Kennedy’s and the radical leftists of his day to speak at Liberty U because he knew how important the free exchange of ideas is to a society…and how poisonous censorship can be whther it’s initiated by the government, the press who refuses to report both sides of an argument…or a Klan of radicals using threats and intimidation to engage in censorship!

  • cclive

    It’s a boycott, which is a tactic used by scores of individuals, groups and organizations of all political flavors.

    Remember the Boston Tea Party? They weren’t the only ones, they were just more zealous about it :) Ships carrying tea from the East India Company were sent back from ports in New York, Philadelphia and Charleston too. It was an organized boycott of both Britain and the East India Company.

  • AceInTX

    a boycott is me refusing to patronize a business I don’t agree with…It is a voluntary act based on my own objections to a business’ practices. A boycott is my refusal to use a product or service provided by a company because of my own objections.

    What we’re talking about here is a bunch of poverty pimps and race hustlers intimidating one business to keep that business from doing business with another business, (or media personality), through threats and intimidation…there is a completely different set of circumstances and you are trying to force a square peg into a round hole. There is no comparison between the two.

    If one of these companies had decided on their own after listening to Beck that they no longer wanted to support what Beck stands for…then that would be a boycott of sorts and I wouldn’t have a problem with it…but what you have here is a grievance group threatening these companies about being branded Racists for purchasing ad time on Becks program and threatening to cause a racial controversy and their sole purpose for the intimidation is to dry up Glenn Beck’s Revenues and silence his voice…it’s out of line and strait out of the NAZI playbook!

  • gensec

    Beck has decided to try to be an amalgam of Michele Bachmann, Michael Savage, and that ?Leave Britney Alone? guy. It makes for compelling television, but hardly anyone I?ll lose sleep over, and I can?t get too outraged over advertisers preferring more vanilla programming to run spots on.

    I never could figure out who Beck reminded me of when he chokes up on queue – thanks for bringing it to me, the ?Leave Britney Alone? guy.

    But seriously, while I agree with your point that a lot of advertisers have a legitimate preference for “more vanilla programming”, I’d want to know which advertisers are just using that as a smokescreen. If the same advertiser doesn’t buy spots on Keith Olbermann either, then I’d buy their explanation that they don’t want their brand image associated with performance artists’ “I’m mad as hell and not going to take it any more” schtick

    If on the other hand some of the advertisers that have ditched Beck turn out to be advertising on Olbermann, then you know they’re giving you a line of bull.

  • cclive

    If a boycott is my refusal to use a product or service provided by a company because of my own objections. Then if someone calls up GEICO and says “I’m not going to buy your service because I object to your advertising on Beck’s show” How is that not a boycott? The fact that a group or organization does it too, doesn’t really change anything.

    You also refer to “threats and intimidation” but what are you saying these groups are threatening? That they will tell more people about their dissatisfaction?

    And of course they are trying to dry up his revenues, thats one of the goals of a boycott, hurt the monetarily til they change their ways.

  • gensec

    <i<their sole purpose for the intimidation is to dry up Glenn Beck?s Revenues and silence his voice?it?s out of line and strait out of the NAZI playbook!

    Promiscuously characterizing something you don’t like as NAZI is typical of leftist idiots, but regardless of the political angle it’s always for idiots.

    Have you no sense of proportion? Have you no shame?

  • gensec

    nt

  • http://www.redstate.com/britcom/ Britcom

    Then I’m going to trot this one out:

    Abortion's 50 million dead

    Nazi genocide killed 12 million.

    Soviet genocide killed 23 million.

    Red Chinese genocide killed over 40 million.

    Democrat genocide has killed 50 million.

    (What was it you were saying about keeping things in proportion?)

  • defendglenn

    They emailed and called us to confirm. More revelations to come about the astrosmurfs today.

    http://defendglenn.com/color-of-lies-best-buy-denies-boycott-of-glenn-beck.html

  • gensec

    When the Nazis ran Germany, a German patriot’s duty was to try to kill Hitler if he got half a chance.

    I trust you realize you’re just blowing retarded rhetoric out of your nether orifice, and that you’re not really stupid enough to believe your comparison of Democrats running our government to Nazis, and the conclusions that would necessarily lead to.

  • robobbob

    with a little book book written by a little man. And no one paid any attention. If ruthless people driven by blind ambition and ideology are willing to use such tactics in a peaceful democratic society, what will they be willing to do if they acheive total power? The problem is that when confronting possible tyranny, you are never given a second chance.

  • gensec

    When I typed the previous reply, I didn’t recall that you’re the same guy who said FL Atty. Gen. Crist was a “Nazi” for not fabricating some nonexistent legal authority to force continued “life” support for what was left of Schiavo.

    Man, what an America you’ve discovered, Nazis holding power all over the place! And the American people seem no better, after all in Florida, Republican voters go nominate that Nazi Crist for Governor, and then Floridians in general elect that Nazi!

    So what’s you assessment of American society, are we generally a bunch of Nazis, or at least willing to elect Nazis?

    From your point of view, it must really suck to be an American in this Nazi state. Fortunately, I’m not afflicted with your problem, and I still like my fellow Americans, even if I think a majority of them erred in electing Obama.

  • gensec

    Directly say what you think is the proper course of action, without burying it in obscure hints.

    You signed up for an account so you could post comments, so what’s the point of saying it with hems and haws, without taking a discernible position?

  • VinceP1974

    There will have to be insurrection if the people who want the Federal Govt to implement grossly illegal usurpation of our liberty succeed .

  • AceInTX

    This isn’t happening in a vacuum and there is a context.

    As for the rest of it…I’m not disputing anyone’s right to lobby these corporations to not advertise for Beck…and I’m not disputing these corporations right not to advertise on the Beck program or to allow themselves to be intimidated by the groups behind this…and I’m with you in that we should make it plain that either they stop playing to this bunch…or WE’LL boycott them.

    What I AM doing is exercising MY right to condemn the tactic…and condemn those who are using the tactic to shut someone up who is effective at communicating the truth. I don’t like it…and as I said…I’d be condemning it if it were a right wing group doind it to Keith Olberdork…Chris Matthews…or any other leftist. Fight their ideas…dispute their facts…show them to be the fools they are…but I have NO tolerance for CENSORSHIP in any form!

  • AceInTX

    The Brown Shirts did exercise these tactics on their long march to power as a way to silence their opposition . It is out of the NAZI play book…It’s also been used by every despot and dictator in the twentieth century including SAtalin, Mao, Castro, Ho Chi Min and on and on…it’s history…and a fact of history…

    Spare me your moralizing melodramatic rants please and look in the mirror before you start calling people idiots!

  • Old_Dominion

    If an advertiser is withdrawing from Beck and only airing spots on non-opinion news shows, then I think they’re trying to avoid controversy. If they insist on running ads on, say, Olbermann or Maddow after pulling their ads from Beck, then I think it’s fair to say that someone has an agenda.

  • Old_Dominion

    censorship with using one’s market power. They’re not trying to censor Beck’s right to speak, they’re trying to make it unprofitable to give him a large megaphone in the form of a television show. I’m not really one for boycotts, and I don’t much care about Beck personally, but I think any group should be able to harness their influence in a (legal) way they see fit.

  • AceInTX

    No one is talking about the Democrats running the government…I’m drawing the comparison of a specific group employing a specific tactic that was used in the past who employed the same tactic to silence their opposition on their way to absolute power and enabled them to create the image you post above…

    Censorship was the chief tactic of the Brown Shirts and the Regime they helped bring to power…and this is no different.

    I would also point out a little fact to you…Calling people, “Idiot”, “Moron”, “Stupid”, and “Retarded” is at best bad form and rude to say the least and is considered fighting words in my neck of the woods….at worse it would solicit an invitation to the parking lot for a good thrashing….you want to call names without discussing the underlying facts of what I’m saying. That sir is a tactic used by the left….so maybe a little sel;f examination is in order?

  • AceInTX

    Come out moby, don’t beat around the bush…

    Directly say what you think is the proper course of action, without burying it in obscure hints.

    You signed up for an account so you could post comments, so what?s the point of saying it with hems and haws, without taking a discernible position?

    I don’t see anyone beating around the bush here!

  • AceInTX

    Oops, I forgot your Nazi slinging was bipartisan

    When I typed the previous reply, I didn?t recall that you?re the same guy who said FL Atty. Gen. Crist was a ?Nazi? for not fabricating some nonexistent legal authority to force continued ?life? support for what was left of Schiavo.

    Man, what an America you?ve discovered, Nazis holding power all over the place! And the American people seem no better, after all in Florida, Republican voters go nominate that Nazi Crist for Governor, and then Floridians in general elect that Nazi!

    So what?s you assessment of American society, are we generally a bunch of Nazis, or at least willing to elect Nazis?

    From your point of view, it must really suck to be an American in this Nazi state. Fortunately, I?m not afflicted with your problem, and I still like my fellow Americans, even if I think a majority of them erred in electing Obama.

    I never said any of the above…and have no idea what part Crist played in starving Teri Schiavo to death….that said…the NAZIs did systematically and deliberately starve a lot of people to death who they decided weren’t human didn’t they?

  • AceInTX

    Of corse they have the right to intimidate these corporations and influence them to pull their advertising….and the Corporations have the right to pull their advertising…

    I also have a right to condemn it…and to call it what it is…it’s censorship…pure and simple

  • http://www.redstate.com/britcom/ Britcom

    RINO Crist is running for Senate. If he wins, then he’ll be your problem too. I’d like to avoid that, but you go right ahead and defend him, I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.

  • lwe6576

    I loved this and saw him on the show the day he did it. I wish he wasn’t on vacation this week because we need him out there on TV pounding this stuff home.

  • American_Infidel_Too

    who spent 20 years listening to the likes of Jeremiah Wright and being “friends” with a racist Harvard professor who “preached” the same BS as “Rev” Wright?

    When the left finds that the truth hurts, they always want to shut it down

  • exgop

    Why get so worked up over it? Glenn Beck exercised his First
    Amendment right to say something that many would deem stupid
    and insulting and like anything in life, there’s consequences to your
    actions. This is just about money. It’s great publicity. He wasn’t
    arrested, he wasn’t censored, he wasn’t put in a FEMA camp. If
    he wants to be dumb enough to lose one of the biggest advertisers
    in the business (Proctor&Gamble), then he and Fox must have
    some awesome master business plan, or he’s just plain stupid.

    Why do all discussions on this site devolve to anger, Nazi’s and holocaust,
    and plain dumb-ass conspiracy theories? Grow up. I thought only
    liberals acted on emotional impulses.

  • garygfam

    isn’t this boycott somewhat knee-jerking around? Once you boycott the sponsors who pulled from Beck’s time slot but still aired in other Fox News segments, are you then going to patron those who never advertise on Fox News at all?

    Because that seems to just be what liberals like me want to see. Which Geico competitors even advertise on Beck right now?

    By all means, stay the course, but your plan needs a stage 2.

  • cclive

    has gone off on somewhat of a tangent but I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

  • diakrioi

    Everyone contributing to this “nazi” thread should stop, take a deep breath, count to 100, and read the following post before you type another word.

    http://michaelpatrickleahy.blogspot.com/2009/06/rules-for-conservative-radicals.html

    Pay particular attention to rules #4 and #5, quoted here…

    4. Observe Ronald Reagan?s 11th Commandment ? do not engage in personal attacks of fellow conservatives in public forums. Anything you say will be ammunition for the left. Personal disputes among fellow conservatives are best handled privately.

    5. When communicating through any public forum on the internet–Twitter, blogs, websites ? remember that anything digital lives forever, so refrain from the use of profanity, personal attacks, or statements that are factually unsupportable.

    And have a nice day. :)

  • ColdWarrior

    If you’re interested (and I think you should be), Michael’s new book can be purchased here:

    http://www.michaelpatrickleahy.com/

    Thank you.

    ColdWarrior

  • AceInTX

    just so you understand…I kept my posts in reply to you on a civil debate level so if you read any of the slams as applying to you…they did not

  • rec0n

    I watch Glenn, I think he has some great information, and when he bursts into tears or loses his freaking mind on air it bugs the crap out of me. But – he has good information. He is who he is, just as I am. I get emotional too and that also bugs the crap out of me, so I’ve got a pretty short rope where that’s concerned.

    However – the control the left wants to exert in MY life straight up pisses me off. I took time out of my busy day to write every one of the advertisers, and explain that I would be exercising my right to boycott their products. And I will. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s past time the left was put in IT’S place.

    Particularly Soros, who took time out of his busy day last week to invest in Brazilian oil, so that he can again profit from my tax dollar while Brazil drills and we don’t. Which *shockingly* America on the whole didn’t even know about yet.

  • gensec

    My use of “stupid” and similar terms is strictly directed toward the tactic of comparing political adversaries to Nazis. I still maintain that kind of rhetoric is stupid, best left to idiots like the Larouchites.

    I?m drawing the comparison of a specific group employing a specific tactic that was used in the past who employed the same tactic to silence their opposition on their way to absolute power and enabled them to create the image you post above

    Hitler also built freeways, so by your “logic”, environmentalists objecting to new highway construction would be justified calling their opponents Nazis. Even if the environmentalists were correct that highway building was something that Nazis did, comparing the highway advocates to Nazis would still be idiotic.

    Censorship was the chief tactic of the Brown Shirts and the Regime they helped bring to power?and this is no different.

    Censorship is the use of government power to prevent speech it doesn’t like. Voluntary boycotts, however they’re organized, is not censorship. What I characterize as “stupid” is the idea that people who write companies asking them not to advertise on a show are “no different” from Nazis (whether you use the term “Brown Shirts” here or “Nazi” in your earlier post).

    Calling people, ?Idiot?, ?Moron?, ?Stupid?, and ?Retarded? is at best bad form and rude to say the least and is considered fighting words in my neck of the woods?.at worse it would solicit an invitation to the parking lot for a good thrashing

    I really like your rankings as to what’s good manners. According to you, slinging words like “Nazi” is supposedly less offensive than “Idiot” etc, Then Miss Manners rates settling it with a fist fight as more civil. I always enjoy your perspective ;-)

  • gensec

    if you paid attention to who that post was a reply to.

  • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

    Weird, huh? The author makes some good points regarding free speech and wise advertising practices:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-warner/advertisers-should-not-ca_b_263012.html

    I cancelled my GEICO renter’s insurance today. I felt kinda guilty doing it as GEICO only serves as the agent and the actual insurer is Assuarant. Oh well. Partnerships have consequences too.

    Now if I can only find carrier that will cut me as good a rate on my car insurance as Progressive so I can tell them to get lost. So far, no one has come close.

  • nessa

    Right behind Nickelodeon, news shows don’t get that high. I think the advertisers who pulled their ads are rethinking their actions right now, there are probably a few leftist throbbing brain cells at Geico et al who are wondering if they are getting a pink slip.

    This was started by the left, astroturfing a boycott, OK, other groups in America do that on a regular basis. One thing to be considered when beginning a boycott is the publicity that will naturally result. It’s like banning a book, once people hear its going to be banned they want to read it and see why.

    IMO the leftists who started this failed to consider the current political events in America today.

    Huge numbers of Americans are frightened, rightly so, by the actions of our leftist driven government. NOT JUST healthcare, with out the Porkulus, TARP, the gov’t take over of GM, Crap and Tax to have proceeded Obamacare, they might have gotten away with it. The problem, for the leftists, is that all these things have been snowballing, one rolled into another, incrementally gaining size and momentum as they were rushed through congress. Once that monster snowball bumped into Obamacare it quadrupled in size.

    It’s not a far reach to see the recent actions of the govt will “fill in the blanks” in HR 3200. As thousands of concerned Americans flock to Townhall meetings they also hear about the same people who support the governments actions calling for a boycott on a right wing TV host. Well guess what!

    The left may have just created a monster! Beck’s off the wall, borderline conspiracy theory, evil clown act is going to resonate with a lot of new viewers.

    Maybe we should write the advertisers thank you notes. While they lost millions, and Beck laughs all the way to the bank, we got some help laughing all the way to the polls.

  • miroco

    The problem with we conservatives is that most of us have both jobs and weak stomachs. Combine with a party who has lost it’s way and we have a BIG problem. I can’t watch Olbergirl or Madcow without throwing up so I can’t figure out who might advertise with them, we should boycott those advertisers in spite of our free market instincts.

  • AceInTX

    Careless being the operative word…but that’s not to say I object to using the term to describe those who use a tactic to achieve the same ends that the NAZIs did in the 20s and thirties. and in this context…the characterization fits…The Brownshirts came to power buy threats an intimidation and they were empowered to do so by a silent majority who were threatened and intimidated into silence.

    As to your silly comparison to censorship and building roads…keep in mind…the Brownshirts didn’t build any roads since they didn’t hold any power….in fact…the Brownshirts veirtually ceased to exist once they got Hitler elected to the vice chancellorship. After deposing Von Hindenburg in a quiet coup, Hitler sent out his goons in an event known as the night of the long knives and had the leadership of the SA murdered in their beds and disbanded the group. so…building Roads has nothing to do with the Brownshirt’s actions during the beer hall putsch and their rampaging across Germany intimidating people into silence in a bid to put Hitler in Power.

    I’m not haphazardly throwing the term around…I’m applying it appropriately to a specific tactic used to silence an effective voice of opposition. There is a historical context that applies here.

    And you are two cute by half by cutting my cmments apart and making your counter to my arguments by destroying the context in which I made the comments. By quoting the following:

    I?m drawing the comparison of a specific group employing a specific tactic that was used in the past who employed the same tactic to silence their opposition on their way to absolute power and enabled them to create the image you post above

    and cutting off the quote I used to tie the thought together:

    Censorship was the chief tactic of the Brown Shirts and the Regime they helped bring to power?and this is no different.

    you paint a false picture of what I said!

    As for this goofiness from you:

    Censorship is the use of government power to prevent speech it doesn?t like.

    From Webster:

    * Main Entry: cen?sor?ship
    * Pronunciation: \?sen(t)-s?r-?ship\
    * Function: noun
    * Date: circa 1591

    1 a : the institution, system, or practice of censoring b : the actions or practices of censors; especially : censorial control exercised repressively
    2 : the office, power, or term of a Roman censor
    3 : exclusion from consciousness by the psychic censor

    I see no mention of government in that definition…one doesn’t have to be a government authority in order to censor anyone…one only needs to present a threat and/or control over a thought or statement in order to be a censor…

    This group is threatening these corporations with being branded as racist organizations unless they withdraw advertising revenues from Glenn Beck all for the purpose of Censoring Beck and destroying his ability to say what he has been saying…That is censorship…and the tactic this group is using was used by the NAZI party in order to silence their opposition and cease power…It’s a historical fact with a historical context and my use of the term has a proper contextual application in this specific instance no matter what you say…

    The fact that you have ignored my repeated attempts to put my comments into a simple to understand context combined with the fact that you have ignored my factual historical statements and instead you have chosen to name call rather than deal with each fact presented says far more about you than I could ever say!

  • DavidS1787

    Barbara Gannon

    Sargento Foods Inc.
    One Persnickety Place
    Plymouth, WI 53073

    Barbara Gannon

  • DavidS1787

    Barbara Gannon
    Sargento Foods Inc.
    One Persnickety Place
    Plymouth, WI 53073

    barbara. gannon@sargento.com

  • DavidS1787

    Barbara Gannon
    Sargento Foods Inc.
    One Persnickety Place
    Plymouth, WI 53073

    barbara.gannon@sargento.com

  • DavidS1787

    Allergan
    Caroline Van Hove
    Global Corporate Communications
    (714) 246-5134

    Email: VanHove_Caroline@Allergan.com

  • dwarfmama

    Wal-Mart said they never advertise on opinion programs, in their response to my email.I don’t watch enough TV to know if that’s true or not.

    On the other hand, this site ( http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/NewsRoom/9238.aspx ) describes their support for Obamacare. There’s a link there to the letter they sent, jointly with SEIU and CAP, to Obama. I figured I didn’t want to support their efforts, regardless of where they advertise.

  • http://www.redstate.com/britcom/ Britcom
  • 6eorge Jetson

    I tend to think of Whole Foods as more of a leftie company.

    Nonetheless, just to make the 18,000 Facebook protestors futile, I’ll make a point to shop there for a few weeks.

    Greta just called for it as I write.

  • bs

    now all the smelly hippies will be gone from Whole Foods, thus improving the shopping experience.

  • GregInFla

    No we cannot. Another reason why the left controlling government media really sucks.

    As for Obamacare, has anyone seen a nice little 10 page summary of Obamacare? That would be what a good marketing plan would provide to its perspective supporters. All the left does refute criticisms. Give me what it does, not what it does not do.

  • IJB
  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    I’ve been wanting to see a good Moe Blamsticking a Troll