- In a letter posted on his personal website, Beck announced plans to conduct a series of conventions to teach his followers 'how to be a political force in your own neighborhood and country.' Photo: AP
- Glenn Beck, the popular conservative Fox News television host whose broadsides against President Obama have drawn his network into a feud with the White House, on Saturday signaled he intended to branch off more directly into political activism.
In a letter posted on his personal website, Beck announced plans to conduct a series of conventions to teach his followers “how to be a political force in your own neighborhood and country.”
Beck wrote that he has been meeting with “some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders” to develop “a 100 year plan” to defeat “the bipartisan corruption in Washington.” The activities will culminate in an August rally in Washington timed to coincide with the release of a planned Beck book that will “provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps” to launch “a new national movement to restore our great country.”
Additionally, POLITICO has learned that Beck’s 9.12 Project is co-sponsoring a march on Washington on Sept. 11, 2010 to voice unhappiness with the agenda of President Obama and the Democratic congress, and that the group will also become involved in voter registration drives.
The letter, released at the conclusion of a campaign-style rally at a massive retirement community in Central Florida at which Beck discussed his plan, is short on specifics and long on self-promotion, as well as the populist, anti-government, self-help rhetoric that has become Beck’s trademark.
Nonetheless, it seems to indicate a new course for Beck, who this year began encouraging his followers to organize themselves politically but had refrained from participating directly in their activities.
During a special March broadcast on Fox News, Beck urged a return to a united America he said emerged the day after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, unveiled the 9.12 Project (which is both an homage to the day after the attacks, and an allusion to a mission statement composed of nine principles and 12 values), called out politicians for leading the nation astray and encouraged his viewers to organize to right the nation’s course.
The response revealed Beck’s potential influence as a force in conservative politics. Local 912 groups – similar to the hundreds of grassroots Tea Party organizations around the country – sprang up, and many credited Beck’s on-air promotions with the huge turnout at the Sept. 12, 2009 “Taxpayer March on Washington,” where some waved “Glenn Beck for President” signs and credited the tv and raio host with spurring them to become politically active for the first time.
But Beck’s 9.12 Project played no role in sponsoring or planning the march. He has mostly not involved himself personally in any of the 912 movement activities, and has downplayed characterizationswww.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28608.html that he is leading the movement.
It’s unclear, though, how Beck plans to pull off his new role.
The 9.12 Project has no discreet funding, but rather is a project of Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s production company. The company – which manages Beck’s radio and television shows, as well as his book projects – publishes and maintains the 9.12 Project’s website, but Fox News hosts the site on its servers.
There could be campaign finance law implications for both Fox and Mercury if the 9.12 Project became involved in overtly political activities.
Beck wrote that he has been meeting with “some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders” to develop “a 100 year plan” to defeat “the bipartisan corruption in Washington.” The activities will culminate in an August rally in Washington timed to coincide with the release of a planned Beck book that will “provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps” to launch “a new national movement to restore our great country.”
Additionally, POLITICO has learned that Beck’s 9.12 Project is co-sponsoring a march on Washington on Sept. 11, 2010 to voice unhappiness with the agenda of President Obama and the Democratic congress, and that the group will also become involved in voter registration drives.
The letter, released at the conclusion of a campaign-style rally at a massive retirement community in Central Florida at which Beck discussed his plan, is short on specifics and long on self-promotion, as well as the populist, anti-government, self-help rhetoric that has become Beck’s trademark.
Nonetheless, it seems to indicate a new course for Beck, who this year began encouraging his followers to organize themselves politically but had refrained from participating directly in their activities.
During a special March broadcast on Fox News, Beck urged a return to a united America he said emerged the day after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, unveiled the 9.12 Project (which is both an homage to the day after the attacks, and an allusion to a mission statement composed of nine principles and 12 values), called out politicians for leading the nation astray and encouraged his viewers to organize to right the nation’s course.
The response revealed Beck’s potential influence as a force in conservative politics. Local 912 groups – similar to the hundreds of grassroots Tea Party organizations around the country – sprang up, and many credited Beck’s on-air promotions with the huge turnout at the Sept. 12, 2009 “Taxpayer March on Washington,” where some waved “Glenn Beck for President” signs and credited the tv and raio host with spurring them to become politically active for the first time.
But Beck’s 9.12 Project played no role in sponsoring or planning the march. He has mostly not involved himself personally in any of the 912 movement activities, and has downplayed characterizationswww.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28608.html that he is leading the movement.
It’s unclear, though, how Beck plans to pull off his new role.
The 9.12 Project has no discreet funding, but rather is a project of Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s production company. The company – which manages Beck’s radio and television shows, as well as his book projects – publishes and maintains the 9.12 Project’s website, but Fox News hosts the site on its servers.
There could be campaign finance law implications for both Fox and Mercury if the 9.12 Project became involved in overtly political activities.
