I've Finally Got Glenn Beck Figured Out

Glenn Beck is a clown. Everyone knows it, even his supporters; deep in their hearts they know his shtick his just that, an act, and that he's not a True Believer. Which is why his inevitable fall will be epic.

But the thing that's been stumping me is exactly what act Beck is doing. It seemed kind of familiar, yet I could never quite put my finger on it.

Couldn't put my finger on it, that it, until I was flipping channels and caught the middle of a movie I hadn't seen in a dog's age.



Glenn Beck is channeling JT Walsh's Big Bob character from Pleasantville. Same hair. Same basic look, although Larry King had dibs on the suspenders. Same reactionary desire to hide in the past and never let things change from what they were before Things Went Bad.

Don't believe me? Then let's play, "Who Said It?":

"It's a question of values. It's a question of whether we're gonna hold onto the values that have made this place great. So the time has come to make a decision. Are we in this alone, or are we in it together?"

Now, is that from Beck's infamous "We Surround Them" bit, or from Big Bob's bowling alley speech in Pleasantville?