I hope have read Joe’s excellent post below on Glenn Beck’s magical mystery tour this weekend. So what is it all about? It’s all about snake oil. Here is a post I did over at Newshoggers a few months ago.
————————————-
While P.T. Barnum may be dead the fact remains that a sucker is born every minute. Last week Forbes reported that Glen Beck made over over 32 million dollars last year. And what did he say about his politics?
With a deadpan, Beck insists that he is not political: “I could give a flying crap about the political process.” Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. “We’re an entertainment company,” Beck says. He has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth. He gets $13 million a year from print (books plus the ten-issue-a-year magazine Fusion). Radio brings in $10 million. Digital (including a newsletter, the ad-supported Glennbeck.com and merchandise) pulls in $4 million.
So rather than a social pioneer Beck admits he is little more than a snake oil salesman. And that brings us to Sarah Palin, snake oil salesman extraordinaire.
Sarah Palin Has Earned an Estimated $12 Million Since July
Pundits can debate the political costs and benefits of Sarah Palin’s decision to step down as Alaska governor, but the monetary advantages of leaving her $125,000-a-year public service post are beyond dispute.
Since leaving office at the end of July 2009, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee has brought in at least 100 times her old salary – a haul now estimated at more than $12 million — through television and book deals and a heavy schedule of speaking appearances worth five and six figures.
Palin never had any interest in political office – she was in it for the fame and fortune. She may sound dumb but she’s not. Ignorant, perhaps, but dumb – no. She set out to be a rich and famous snake oil salesman and played the suckers perfectly.
—————————————-
Snake oil was often poisonous and Beck’s brand is no different. Snake oil was poisonous to individuals – the brand that Beck and Palin are pushing is poisonous to the country.