TIME Gives Glenn Beck a Big Boost

Sometimes, you don't know whether to cheer or cry; to boo or cheer. This situation is best exemplified by TIME's article on Glenn Beck. (They even put Beck's picture on their cover.)
I first learned of what TIME's intentions were when I tuned in to "Morning Joe." I then read the article online thanks to a link from the Drudge Report.

Clearly TIME wants it's readers to know that it doesn't approve of Glenn Beck. Their article says he's a recovering alcoholic, that he's afflicted with ADHD, and that he was traumatized by his mother's suicide.

They suggest that his broadcasting has led to the ouster of one of Obama's czars and the defunding of Acorn. (These are bad things?)

But, the article also told me things about Glenn Beck I hadn't known (because I don't really watch him all that much). The TIME article says that Beck said that, if it were up to ordinary American people, the Twin Towers would have already been rebuilt.

That really hit me. After the tragedy of 9/11, that was one of my first thoughts; namely, let's rebuild those towers just the way they were. Let's show those SOBs they can hurt us but they won't have the final victory. And, here I see Glenn Beck expressing the same sentiments. In fact, he even suggested that we now make these towers maybe 25 stories higher. I'd be willing to bet lots of Americans felt, and continue to feel, exactly the same way.

The article suggests that Beck panders to the abstract fears and disassociated angers of Americans. The accusation suggests that there is no basis for such anger. But there is. Some days earlier, I was reading in the NY Times where some developer wanted to put up a building next to, or near, the MoMA. Some self-appointed archetectual critics put the cabash on the developer's plan, because they felt that the building would be too tall. Its size would distort the New York skyline and would create conflicts with the City's traditional look. The planned building would be as big as the Empire State building.

Really? Who are these critics? Who appointed them? Who needs them? Had we had them at the time we were developing plans for the Empire State Building, it is reasonable to believe we would never have built this grand structure. Americans, and, in this case, New Yorkers, have a right to be angry with the stupid critics who impose their will over our skyline. Incidentally, what they've recently done to Lincoln Center is also a crime. Thank goodness for someone like Glenn Beck to give us ordinary citizens a voice.