The Other McCain

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Mark Levin vs. Glenn Beck (And Some Other CPAC-Related Musings)

Posted on | February 23, 2010 | 69 Comments

My 17-year-old son Bob was driving home Monday evening after we’d picked up his twin brother James from work and we were listening to the Mark Levin’s opening monologue on 1490 AM here in Hagerstown when I said, “Uh-oh, he’s going after Glenn Beck.” I grabbed pen and a piece of paper and jotted down a few notes, but Mark Maloney at the Radio Equalizer has pretty much the whole thing.

Rather than go into detail, let me ask you something possibly related: Am I the only one mystified by Michelle Malkin‘s non-participation in this year’s CPAC?

Michelle always speaks at CPAC. But not this year. Instead, she made a surprise appearance at the blogger’s bash hosted by FreedomWorks.

I don’t know that her absence had anything to do with Beck having the coveted closing-night address — reserved last year for Rush Limbaugh — but a few things occur to me as I think about this Levin-vs.-Beck dust-up.

Michelle Malkin and Mark Levin both had No. 1 bestsellers this past year. Levin’s conservative credentials are impeccable, dating back to the Reagan administration. Malkin has been a conservative columnist since she was in her 20s, is a frequent Fox News contributor and popular campus speaker and, in terms of the conservative blogosphere, her influence is rivaled only by Instapundit.

If you compare either Levin or Malkin to Glenn Beck in terms of their years of service to the conservative cause, then, Beck is certainly much their junior. And since we’re making such comparisons, what about Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter?

Granted, Beck has had an amazing impact since switching from CNN to Fox. He is a dynamic personality and his innovative show is now arguably the most fascinating hour on television.

Despite all that, however, he hasn’t paid his dues to the conservative cause to the extent that Levin, Malkin, Hannity and Coulter have paid their dues. The choice of Beck for the final night’s slot, then, could be perceived as a slight to those others. If that prime spot had gone to any of those four, well, OK. But . . . a Johnny-come-lately? And a somewhat erratic Johnny-come lately, at that?

I’m not saying that’s the explanation, I’m just pointing out that Beck’s lack of seniority in the conservative movement could be a factor here, above and beyond whatever specific criticisms Levin or anyone else makes.

The inexplicable absence of Malkin from this year’s CPAC program is certainly an omen of something. Whether it has anything to do with Beck, I don’t know, but my gut hunch tells me it’s an interesting story, whatever it is.

UPDATE: I agree with what Jonah Goldberg says about Bill Bennett’s criticism of Beck’s CPAC speech. And I like Dan Riehl’s take on the topic of conservative leadership.

In general, I don’t like conservative infighting, except when I’m the one starting the fight, like my call for Goldberg to lead a National Review coup against Rich Lowry. I saw Jonah at CPAC and again urged him to overthrow the Lowry regime, but he demurred. Don’t wait too long, Jonah, or I’ll start talking to eager young Robert Costa – he has that lean and hungry look — and the Costa uprising will overthrow both you and Lowry in favor of a Ponnuru-Derbyshire junta.

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Category: CPAC

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  • chuck cross

    @ theCL — very well said.

  • chuck cross

    @ theCL — very well said.

  • mariner

    I didn’t know about Levin until last year. When I saw how much effort he expends bashing other conservatives, I decided he isn’t worth listening to.

    Beck isn’t perfect. None of us is. But in the last year he has done more than any conservative except Rush to show the American people the truth behind Obama and his minions.

    The idea that he shouldn’t have addressed CPAC because he hasn’t been around long enough is offensive, and the people pushing it are exactly the elitists that conservatives need to overthrow to make the Republican party represent the rest of us.

  • mariner

    I didn’t know about Levin until last year. When I saw how much effort he expends bashing other conservatives, I decided he isn’t worth listening to.

    Beck isn’t perfect. None of us is. But in the last year he has done more than any conservative except Rush to show the American people the truth behind Obama and his minions.

    The idea that he shouldn’t have addressed CPAC because he hasn’t been around long enough is offensive, and the people pushing it are exactly the elitists that conservatives need to overthrow to make the Republican party represent the rest of us.

  • Rob Howard

    Here we go again with the Levin is jealous meme. That’s stupid and false. The man has nothing to prove. I’m going to call this out when I see it from here on out because it makes perfectly no sense why a man such as Levin would be jealous of Glenn Beck.

    To me, Levin criticizes Beck because he says *stupid things*. Not all the time, but sometimes. Certainly, his pox on all your houses routine is harmful and untrue. His claims that he was the only one being critical of Republicans and Bush is also wrong.

    Levin’s point is that Beck shifts from conservatism, populism, and libertarianism constantly to the point where he is hard to follow.

    And by the way, to deny Levin’s extremely keen intellect because of his bombast, proves you do not give him enough attention nor listen to his show for more than a few minutes.

    I don’t like infighting either. But Beck sometimes behaves like a useful idiot and he needs to be called out for it.

  • Rob Howard

    Here we go again with the Levin is jealous meme. That’s stupid and false. The man has nothing to prove. I’m going to call this out when I see it from here on out because it makes perfectly no sense why a man such as Levin would be jealous of Glenn Beck.

    To me, Levin criticizes Beck because he says *stupid things*. Not all the time, but sometimes. Certainly, his pox on all your houses routine is harmful and untrue. His claims that he was the only one being critical of Republicans and Bush is also wrong.

    Levin’s point is that Beck shifts from conservatism, populism, and libertarianism constantly to the point where he is hard to follow.

    And by the way, to deny Levin’s extremely keen intellect because of his bombast, proves you do not give him enough attention nor listen to his show for more than a few minutes.

    I don’t like infighting either. But Beck sometimes behaves like a useful idiot and he needs to be called out for it.

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  • Joe

    I like Mark Levin. He is a cranky outspoken New Yorker and is annoying as hell. He missed his chance to be a career State Department diplomat. I still like him.

    Beck is Beck. I like Beck more than I like…say Bill O’Reilly. I disagree on some of Beck’s demogoguery, but he is not just a shameless populist. I definitely like Beck a lot more than Olbermann. But Beck is also no Rush and that is what Levin is saying. And Levin is right. Beck is not in that league.

  • Joe

    I like Mark Levin. He is a cranky outspoken New Yorker and is annoying as hell. He missed his chance to be a career State Department diplomat. I still like him.

    Beck is Beck. I like Beck more than I like…say Bill O’Reilly. I disagree on some of Beck’s demogoguery, but he is not just a shameless populist. I definitely like Beck a lot more than Olbermann. But Beck is also no Rush and that is what Levin is saying. And Levin is right. Beck is not in that league.

  • K~Bob

    I won’t weigh in on Beck. He has enough fans. Levin’s behavior toward him is amateurish as hell. It’s one thing to start a fight with someone to get some attention (it’s in your rules). It’s another thing entirely to accept the role of backstabbing weasel (earned or not).

    But enough of that.

    Derb and Ponnuru? You gotta be freaking kidding me. Derb gets squishy as hell, just when you get used to him standing firm on stuff. And Ramesh Ponnuru, who is at least at intellectually gifted as Charles Krauthammer, is nonetheless an eeyore of the first magnitude. While others in the NR masthead are focusing on the Bright Tomorrows of Reaganism, you’ll typically find the estimable Mr. Ponnuru gloomily pointing out the inconsistencies, the intellectual gaps, and the statistics errors of the home team. All, of course, in an effort to “not look like the other side.”

    When you only have two parties (of note), you cannot avoid massive problems associated with Niven’s Law #16. Ramesh should stop with the “own goals.” Or at least cut the practice down to a dull, eeyorish roar.

    I love the guy’s service to ideas, but dang!

  • http://k_bob.smallerpage.com K~Bob

    I won’t weigh in on Beck. He has enough fans. Levin’s behavior toward him is amateurish as hell. It’s one thing to start a fight with someone to get some attention (it’s in your rules). It’s another thing entirely to accept the role of backstabbing weasel (earned or not).

    But enough of that.

    Derb and Ponnuru? You gotta be freaking kidding me. Derb gets squishy as hell, just when you get used to him standing firm on stuff. And Ramesh Ponnuru, who is at least at intellectually gifted as Charles Krauthammer, is nonetheless an eeyore of the first magnitude. While others in the NR masthead are focusing on the Bright Tomorrows of Reaganism, you’ll typically find the estimable Mr. Ponnuru gloomily pointing out the inconsistencies, the intellectual gaps, and the statistics errors of the home team. All, of course, in an effort to “not look like the other side.”

    When you only have two parties (of note), you cannot avoid massive problems associated with Niven’s Law #16. Ramesh should stop with the “own goals.” Or at least cut the practice down to a dull, eeyorish roar.

    I love the guy’s service to ideas, but dang!

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  • Sydney Brillo Duodenum

    Levin stated on his Facebook page:

    “I was invited to be the opening speaker at Saturday’s CPAC session. I had accepted but then, to my amazement, I learned that the John Birch Society would be one of many co-sponsors. This takes the big-tent idea many steps too far for me. So, I withdrew. Apparently, others were not so moved. That’s fine. But it wasn’t for me. Bill Buckley and Barry Goldwater, among others, chased the Birchers from the movement decades ago. And they’re not a part of the movement. So, to give them a booth at CPAC was boneheaded.”

  • Sydney Brillo Duodenum

    Levin stated on his Facebook page:

    “I was invited to be the opening speaker at Saturday’s CPAC session. I had accepted but then, to my amazement, I learned that the John Birch Society would be one of many co-sponsors. This takes the big-tent idea many steps too far for me. So, I withdrew. Apparently, others were not so moved. That’s fine. But it wasn’t for me. Bill Buckley and Barry Goldwater, among others, chased the Birchers from the movement decades ago. And they’re not a part of the movement. So, to give them a booth at CPAC was boneheaded.”

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  • http://e3gazette.com The Monster

    Well, my respect for Levin went down a notch. What is so horrible about the John Birch Society that he can’t speak at a conference co-sponsored by them?

    I think the JBS was one of the first practical demonstrations of Alinsky tactics to fix a target, isolate it, etc. The very name of the organization has become synonymous with “kook”, and why? What position has the JBS taken that is so far beyond the pale that respectable folks can’t associate with them?

  • http://e3gazette.com The Monster

    Well, my respect for Levin went down a notch. What is so horrible about the John Birch Society that he can’t speak at a conference co-sponsored by them?

    I think the JBS was one of the first practical demonstrations of Alinsky tactics to fix a target, isolate it, etc. The very name of the organization has become synonymous with “kook”, and why? What position has the JBS taken that is so far beyond the pale that respectable folks can’t associate with them?

  • Sherry

    I think it’s so obvious that Sean Hannity and Mark Levin are insanely jealous of Glenn Beck. My gosh, do they have to make it so obvious??? You would assume that they would try to show support for a fellow conservative and so what if they disagree on some topics, etc. Hannity is actually the worst because he is on the same tv station as Glenn Beck and yet if he is speaking about conservative talk show hosts, he mentions every other person beside Glenn Beck. Shame on him and Mark Levin.

  • Sherry

    I think it’s so obvious that Sean Hannity and Mark Levin are insanely jealous of Glenn Beck. My gosh, do they have to make it so obvious??? You would assume that they would try to show support for a fellow conservative and so what if they disagree on some topics, etc. Hannity is actually the worst because he is on the same tv station as Glenn Beck and yet if he is speaking about conservative talk show hosts, he mentions every other person beside Glenn Beck. Shame on him and Mark Levin.

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