Glenn Beck at Safeco Field

It's WONDERFUL to see Obama supporters finally start to get off their asses and defend the President they voted for. Liberals and Democratic voters really believe that politicians are messiahs who grant wishes when in office. Like Bill Maher said, the tea baggers are crazy, but they're willing to move and act and protest. Our side isn't. And that's why we're losing, even though we're the majority.

Protesters with vile signs, that is what is wrong with the left no sense of decency. Just bigger government and smaller personal freedom and even smaller personal responsibilities. If I fail Uncle Obama will save me. Oh wait it is getting closer to Christmas Obama Claus will save me.

What a montage of rambling gibberish. I imagine Don Ward actually considers himself a journalist too. He could have just said "Beck is an idiot" and been done with it, but instead we have to be bored to death with his so called editorial. You may not like him, but Beck has a following Ward could only dream of - what's his reader base now . . . 20 or 25? Just keep believing his message is meaningless, then watch the country change in 2010.

Dan,

If you like your conservative icons to be so gutless that they can't even stand to give a simple press interview, then go ahead and listen to Glenn Beck.

If you like your conservative icons to be ignorant of basic historical facts, then go ahead and listen to Beck.

Personally, I prefer a conservative who has the balls to answer a reporter's question. I prefer a conservative who knows - like any sixth grader - that Teddy Roosevelt speaks (not walks) softly and carries a big stick.

And even though I'm one of the few reporters in the region who happens to be a conservative, it is against my ethics to simply allow a powerful celebrity figure like Beck to spout off falsehoods, half-truths and lies without calling him on it, simply because I may or may not agree with him on this issue or that.

I'd suggest you choose your heroes better.

I was one of the 7000 there. I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt for forgetting that the last home game Glenn could have attended while he lived here was way before the train whistles were memorialized by Dave. Couldn't hear them in the Kingdome in the 1980s, could we. Of course, if Glenn had not shared memories of the Northwest, the author would have poked fun of him for forgetting where he came from. Better to be authentic and share the memories.

While it is technically accurate "less than 200" demonstrators showed up (maybe the “hundred or two” in the article means between 2 and 100 people), the reality is at noon, and again just after 1:00, there were only a couple dozen or so protestors across the street. (Seattle Times said "about 30.") Unless their numbers increased by a factor of 5 by those showing up late which is highly unlikely. "Less than 200" is NOT a credibility enhancer for this writer. Kinda like “Less than 40,000 attend weeknight Tampa Bay Rays games” when the reality might be 10,000 or less. Oops, that number would be 25% of the actual, and Saturday’s actual to the author’s estimate is only 15%. Any high school journalism editor worth his salt (before even taking Journalism 101) would advise the author to not exaggerate by this magnitude.

The author seemed disappointed not being able to buttonhole Glenn afterwards. I was one of the last to get my book signed. It actually looks like rushed, scribbled initials. You see, he stayed 15-20 minutes after he was scheduled to leave, and he had to get out of there. He stayed to sign all books (not just the first 1,000-1,200) and shake hands with everyone in line. Granted, I wasn’t there to witness Glenn’s interaction with the author, but he was no doubt behind schedule.

At a rough count, there were about 100 protestors/anti-Beck people there, scattered on both sides of the street and mingling with the 7,000. However, there were less than 200. These are "scant" numbers indeed for liberal Seattle.

Not to be too snide, but before you give lectures on Journalism 101, please remember the Seattle Times did not have a reporter at the event. Not sure how they got the number "30" other than using Ryan Blethen's Magic 8-Ball. But probably their one photographer on hand gave a rough guess. Which was low.

I looked on the internet to see how the Safeco event was handled and read this article.

I find it ironic that a so called reporter can be so damn childish. No wonder newspapers are going out of business. If the worst thing you can do is find where Beck slipped a couple of lines you are really looking to slam him no matter what happened.

Acorn is helping alleged prostitutes falsify claims, cheat on taxes and bring in underage illegals for prostitution and you are concerned that Beck misquoted Roosevelt.

The President is surrounding himself with communists, radicals, tax cheats and the like and you prefer to wax on about how he did not allow interviews with reporters.

You go on about his falsehoods and lies, prey tell what lies did you see when he discovered acorn and their corrupt affiliates?

Prey tell what lies did he present when he showed Van Jones videos?

What lies did he tell when he shows the czar in charge of the FCC talking about how the media, left unchecked, almost took down the "Glorious democratic revolution" in Venezuela?

Personally I would suggest you watch his show. He basically shows videos, excerpts from speeches and writings from the people he is discusssing and then ends his comments in legitimate questions. If you are truly a conservative reporter why are you not digging into acorn, the czars and the presidents so called birth certificate? Why are you not asking the same questions that Beck is asking?

I loved it when you said how you took it personally when Beck would not allow newspaper interviews. With idiots like you writing, it is no wonder he did that.

Wonder how the reporter feels when the President refuses to go on Fox News.

Your report came off as boorish, childish and gave the impression that no matter what Beck said or did, you were bound and determined to write something negative.

You dealt with minatue and have no clue about the big picture of what is going wrong with our government.

Don
I have a few minutes to waste, so I’ll try to address some of your points:

1. My only heroes are the military men and women that serve this country and the founding fathers of our great nation – not Glenn Beck.

2. Glenn didn’t give you a personal interview because he was behind schedule – not because he is "gutless". I also heard that the media was not included in the event agenda. Now I understand why.

3. Beck understands the history of the country better than any correspondent I've seen. I’ve studied the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, Jefferson’s Rights of British Americas to name a few. Beck may trip over a word or two now and then, but he is dead-on when it comes to principle, content, and heart of the historical issues. Glenn is genuinely trying to preserve the principles our founding fathers developed for this country and he is doing a darn good job of it. Tell me Don, as a conservative reporter - what are you to accomplish? Wait – aren’t real reporters supposed to be non-biased??

4. Your allegations of falsehoods, half-truths, and lies are ridiculous. Glenn’s reporting has successfully uncovered the truth about Van Jones and the other Czars, like Cass Sustein and John Holden. He was the only one with the intestinal fortitude to report on Acorn, the Apollo Alliance, SEIU, and all the radicals in the White House. His TV ratings are 3-4 times larger than all the other cables news shows – COMBINED. His reporting has resulted in a huge movement of patriotic Americans that want their republic back, and the numbers grow every day. Kudos to Glenn and all his efforts. Tell me Don, what has your reporting done for America? Oh yeah . . . we learned Glenn misquoted Roosevelt. Great headline.

While you go on a rant to cherry-pick Beck’s occasional misquotes, you completely ignore and miss the real story. As a result, you waste your reader’s time and serve them no benefit. Glenn Beck has united a group of American patriots that FULLY understand this country is straying dangerously away from its founding principles. If you are the conservative reporter you claim to be, you would seek out the heart of Glenn's agenda, write to his accomplishments, cover his principles, or just report the news in a non-bias way for a change. Your irresponsible reporting methods do more harm to the conservative movement than any radical politician ever could.

Get it together Don. The conservative movement is much more than picking on somebody that makes a trivial error now and then, or getting trite because you missed an opportunity to get an interview. Get over your personal rejection and start doing some responsible reporting.

Don, Glenn may not have given the quote "Speak softly,,," correctly, but so what? Your comment that any 6th grader would know it is disingenuous. We do not teach our children History anymore. As an adult, you should know this. To me what is worse is that the President of the United States does knot know what the word :calibrate" means (as in "I should have calibrated my words more carefully") and all his adorers parrot him. Calibrate is a mathematical term, and has no meaning in grammar. Better watch out for rocks aimed at your glass house.

Don,

If it makes you feel better, most of EFF's staff didn't get to meet Glenn either--not even for a few minutes. Glenn's schedule was packed from arrival to departure and he was actually 20 minutes late to the first private reception, which had a domino effect for the rest of the schedule. He finished his speech late and signed over 700 books in under an hour and had to hoof it over to Mt. Vernon.

I guess I had a different take on Glenn's crying. Of course, I cry myself when I am moved deeply about something so I am loathe to make fun of others for it. It's not a welcome experience for me, though I don't know about Glenn.

Teddy Roosevelt, in my opinion, could accurately be labeled as progressive due to his support of increased regulations--including anti-trust legislation. He coined the term "square deal" to emphasize what he believed a primary role of government to be--mainly leveling the playing field and providing equal opportunity for all through government regulation. Sure, he's not progressive by most of today's standards, but he's no limited government hero either.

Finally, I have to laugh at the "Made in China" box picture, because you looked at that and saw some kind of embarrassing anti-patriotic moment for EFF. I looked at that and thought of the beauty of the free market. EFF supports free trade. The freedom to trade with Chinese companies, or with American companies producing in China or any other country for that matter, is what helps create prosperity, efficiency and conservation for both parties (and ultimately the consumer). Comparative advantage is econ 101. China has a comparative advantage over us in many things, which is why we trade and buy products produced by them. Both parties benefit from voluntary exchange in a free society, otherwise, they wouldn't trade.

I'm sure not everyone at Safeco would agree with me, but nonetheless I wanted to correct your misconception that EFF had committed some kind of faux pas by purchasing something from China. Quite the opposite.

Don,

Thank you for lowering your estimate from 100-200 down to a "rough count" of "about 100" - this could mean almost anything. This is starting to get closer to reality. As I'm sure you noticed, there were approx. 2 dozen protestors across the street at 12:00 and at 1:00. The Seattle Times article seemed spot on to me. Their count of 30 captures the number of people with signs across the street plus those hanging with them. I noticed only about a half dozen other anti-Beck people with signs mingling with the crowd, and would find it hard to believe there were 50-60 with no signs heckling the crowd. There's safety in numbers (across the street) if you don't have a sign. To get to about 100, maybe you counted everyone distributing stuff: the folks in the red T-shirts promoting the Republican Senate candidate, numerous other folks handing out various types of conservative and religious flyers, and vendors selling buttons and "Dont Tread On Me" flags. All these, combined with the anti-Beck people would get you to around 100. Which would still not make the pre-Journalism 100 advisor happy.
To come clean, I based my 1,000-1,200 book signing estimate on the number of books the EFF said were available, who said he'd sign all 1000 or so but no more. A couple hundred of us were told he wouldn't get to us, hence my estimate. It may have been closer to the 700 someone else estimated, I was not in a position to count. But there was almost exactly 400 in my area of the line, with I'm guessing 600-700 in front of this area: 300-350 or so who sat on the field and I think 300-400 ahead of our area.

You said, "During Beck's visit here to Seattle and his later appearance in Mount Vernon, the local press was given the cold shoulder. No media access or interviews were allowed. Period."
Too bad you didn't check with KGMI, the Bellingham radio station that carries Beck.
http://www.kgmi.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4050105

So since I missed the event, I have to ask ... what else did you get wrong in the article?