South Park - Eric Cartman parodies Glenn Beck

VIDEO: South Park Mocks Glenn Beck

ERIC CARTMAN: Lunch today is going to be pizza. Again. Friends our school is dying and you know it. You feel it. You're like me you want to change it but aw no Wendy Testaburger is not gonna let that happen. This is not the school we grew up in and I don't know if we can get it back.

So let's just take a look at what our School President wants, what is she trying to achieve. Let's just take a quick look at these key words right here...

Stephen Colbert fights with Weekly Standard's Christopher Caldwell

Al Franken is not the only Pundit who isn't afraid to actually fight. Stephen talks about coming to fisticuffs with one of his guests on a recent episode of 'The Colbert Report'

VIDEO: Stephen on his fight with Christopher Caldwell (Nov 11, 2009)

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Sign Off - Stephen's Fight With Christopher Caldwell
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Sign Off - Stephen's Fight With Christopher Caldwell (Nov 11, 2009)
STEPHEN COLBERT: That is it for tonight's show. I thought that it went pretty well except for the violent fistfight I had with Christopher Caldwell that we had to edit out. I bet he tells everybody back at the Weekly Standard he walked into a door. Goodnight everybody

Watch Stephen's full interview with Christopher Caldwell - November 11, 2009: Christopher Caldwell

Jon Stewart tag teams with Wrestler Mick Foley to protect 10-Year-Old Gay Marriage Activist

Wrestler Mick Foley and Daily Show host Jon Stewart

Via the Huffington Post

Jon Stewart Enlists Pro-Wrestler Mick Foley To Protect 10-Year-Old Gay Marriage Activist (VIDEO)
Last week we told you about young Will Phillips, a boy who refuses to pledge allegiance to the flag and the United States of America until gays and lesbians are allowed to marry. While Will is finding support from op-ed columnists and his parents, the kids at school are not as kind. They are harassing Will and calling him a "gaywad."

Well, last night Jon Stewart decided to do something about it. After praising this precocious 10-year-old, he decided the boy must be protected so he brought out professional wrestler Mick Foley to deliver a message...

This isn't a surprising partnership as I've spoken of Hall-of-Fame wrestler Foley's involvement in Politics and Jon Stewart's support of the wrestling analogy as it relates to politics. The bully protection tag team of Stewart and Foley is reminiscent of wrestling duo 'The APA' (Acolytes Protection Agency), who acted as bodyguards for hire for their fellow wrestlers.

VIDEO: Gaywatch - Peter Vadala & William Phillips
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JON STEWART: This child must be protected. Foley! Ladies and Gentleman, Mick Foley.
(crowd applauds)
MICK FOLEY: Thank You Jon, like a lot of my professional wrestling brethren I was touched by young Will's plight. Well I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do, If I find out that anybody has hassled this young man or teased him or called him a wad of any sort. I and perhaps a few of my friends will come to his school and bring a world of pain...

Jon Stewart exposes Hannity for using Glenn Beck's 9/12 rally footage

November 10, 2009: Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage

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Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
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Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest FootageJON STEWART: Can we back up a little, Cuz that was weird. When that clip started it was a clear fall day in Washington DC. Not a cloud in the sky, the leaves have changed. It's well attended but sparse but then the leaves turn green again, then it's cloudy and it looks like thousands and thousands more people arrive. If Ididn't know any better they just put two different days together. Where have I seen that last footage before.

(Glenn Beck footage is played)

Wow! That was actually from Glenn Beck's 9/12 rally two months ago, his much bigger 9/12 rally.It seems Sean Hannity used footage of a totally different event to make the GOP Healthcare rally more heavily attended

Though the analogy isn't airtight in this instance, Wrestling has its own storied history of inflating audience numbers

WWE (WWF) - FAQ
Was the Wrestlemania III attendance really 93,173? I've heard from several credible sources that it was a work, and that the actual number is closer to 78,000. Can you guys clear that up?
First of all you have to understand that the WWF back in those days routinely lied about attendance numbers on TV to make them bigger than they were...

Meltzer asked Vince McMahon himself why they used to inflate the numbers, because the shows were sold out themselves and the real number was impressive enough. Why add a few thousand? Vince was quoted as saying what appears on television people should consider for entertainment purposes. This actually isn't exclusive to WWE, as other forms of sports and entertainment often lie about the actual attendance to make it sound impressive.

Read discussion of The Hannity shows' "creative editing" from Conservative blog 'Hotair' - Uh-oh: Jon Stewart catches Fox News’ creative editing

Update: November 12, 2009
Sean Hannity apologizes and concedes that Jon Stewart was right, thought he inserts a subtle dig by referencing "Jon Stewart's writers"

VIDEO: Hannity Apologizes To Jon Stewart For Airing Wrong Protest Footage

SEAN HANNITY: Although it pains me to say this; Jon Stewart, Comedy Central - he was right... He was correct... It was an inadvertent mistake but a mistake nonetheless. So Mr Stewart you were right, we apologize and by the way I'd like to Thank You and all your writers for watching.

Jon Stewart follows up on Hannity's apology and comments unflatteringly on the 'Hannity' program - Sean Hannity Apologizes to Jon

The View's Hot Topic - "The Battling Presidents": George W Bush and Bill Clinton

The View - Day of Hot Topics (November 11, 2009)

The ladies of 'The View' discuss the wrestling style promotion of the touring lecture series featuring former Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton.

Bush, Clinton to appear at Radio City Music Hall
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are set to appear at Radio City Music Hall in February - though if history is any guide, the matchup is likely to produce few fireworks.

The famous New York City venue announced Wednesday the two former presidents will share the same stage February 25, nine months after the ex-presidents shared a similar stage in Toronto, Canada.

As the ladies discuss, because the event was beginning to be billed as something it was not - A fight event rather than concurrent speeches from two former Presidents, it was canceled.

'The View' - Hot Topics (November 9, 2009)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: A debate between Presidents Bush and Clinton that was billed in an ad in the New York Times as the hottest ticket in political history has been cancelled. A Clinton spokes person said it happened because it was being billed into something it was not.What do you guys think?

BARBARA WALTERS: ..the first thing that sort of annoyed me and it's happened in other place. Is this what's happening. Is this show business now? That the two ex-presidents come on together and do mano-a-mano. So I thought I'd buy the ticket, cuz they'd done this in Toronto... but evidently this was being described as a debate. But these two men don't want to do a debate. They want to do nice- nice. In the other cities it was very boring and people were disappointed. So they tried to Jazz it up. So that's why this happened and it got canceled.

JOY BEHAR: You got to sell tickets. Radio City is a big hall

The ladies go on to discuss the value of the former Presidents debating and why it should or shouldn't be billed as a wrestling style battle in order to generate ticket sales.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: ...they don't want to be billed as the battling presidents cuz that's not what they're doing

JOY BEHAR: In the Toronto report they were making nice with each other and I thought that was pretty boring

BARBARA WALTERS: So that's the point people were not buying tickets... If you're going to try this guys and you're coming on like show business. And you're getting paid $100,000 maybe more. You can't just come on and do a nice (inaudible)

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: Wait a minute,Why do we have to demand show business from our Presidents

"The 11/3 Project" - Jon Stewart parodies Glenn Beck

Jon Stewart parodied Glenn Beck in a recent episode of 'The Daily Show'. Lampooning Beck's signature presentation style and Beck-isms - making conspiratorial connections from random threads, the theatrical delivery and emotional pleas.

The jumping off point for Stewart was Beck's absence from his show due to appendicitis

VIDEO: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The 11/3 Project
The 11/3 Project

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The 11/3 Project
JON STEWART: The powers that be don't want you to talk about this. There is a war going on in America, and the stakes are nothing less than Glenn Beck's internal organs...

I've been working on something since November 4th. That was the day that Glenn Beck was hospitalised and I wanna share it with you tonight. I wanna take you to something that I call the 11/3 project. It's 11 principles and 3 herbs and spices...

Whilst its clear that Jon Stewart is directly ripping off Glenn Beck. One could argue that Stewart is plagiarizing Stephen Colbert who is a living parody of Bill O'Reilly. Stephen Colbert was the first to reappropriate Beck's signature lines into facetiously "fearing for Glenn Beck". Colbert also established the 10/31 project before Stewart developed his 11/3 project.

So what is the over and under that Stephen Colbert takes a shot at Stewart for ripping him off? Colbert taking a shot a Stewart for copying his original parody of Beck whilst originally being a parody of O'Reilly. As a fan of meta, that might make for an interesting gag considering Stephen and Jon's partnership.

PBS Newshour's feature on "Talkers Shaping Political Discourse in U.S."

PBS Newshour had an illuminating feature examining the role Talkers are playing in American Politics.

Some of the most poignant comments came from Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers Magazine

On why Talk Radio is the way it is and why it always has been

TV, Radio Talkers Shaping Political Discourse in U.S.
MICHAEL HARRISON: Radio, popular radio in America, all the way back to the '30s, has been a street medium. It's always been the medium of the street, reflecting populism.

So, what you hear on radio and what you're seeing now on cable news talk television, which is really an extension of talk radio, is just the First Amendment in action.

On the misleading estimation of the influence of Talkers

MICHAEL HARRISON: We have these nationally famous people who really have much smaller audiences than the awareness of them would indicate or make you believe. What happens is, they -- they talk to their faithful in terms that the faithful expect and understand. They preach to the choir. And some of the things they say are repugnant to people who have other choirs.

- Download the audio from PBS Newshour's report airing Nov 4, 2009

Bill O'Reilly on the Halloween episode of 'The View'

VIDEO: Bill O'Reilly As Dracula On 'The View' For Halloween

Bill O'Reilly appeared on The Halloween episode of the 'The View'. O'Reilly has been a regular guest on the show, this appearance seems like a calculated move that allowed him to play off his "heel" persona by dressing up the charismatic villain Dracula. The cordial View panelists riffed on how scary O'Reilly was as he maintained his tough guy posture. Bill clumsily teased Whoopi. He reliably asserted his independence by saying he personally liked President Obama.

BARBARA WALTERS Intro: He is the most feared man in cable news, who has those who oppose him quaking in their boots but to us he's a pussy cat. Please Welcome back Bill O'Reilly.

Bill O'Reilly makes entrance as Dracula, Walters makes faux scary gesture to greet him

BILL O'REILLY: I'm afraid to touch anybody. C'mon, what are you kidding? You think you're scaring me. Are you kidding!?
WALTERS: I hear you dress like this [as Dracula] at home all the time.
O'REILLY: I do and I hang from the ceiling. I'm the scariest guy in the world

There was an interesting discussion on the popularity of Fox News and the Obama administration's fear of the network. Bill O'Reilly makes the interesting concession that it is because of CNN's "lack of pizazz".

As Matt Taibbi illustrated in his column 'Keep on Hatin', emotional, personality driven opinion news is a proven ratings winner. It's clear that Fox News hosts the most popular and bombastic pundits in Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. MSNBC, its closest aesthetic competitor has assembled its own colorful roster of pundits with Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough and Ed Schultz. This is the first time I can recall any pundit conceding that it is the theatrical wrestling-style presentation of their news which has led to their success in the ratings.