Glenn Beck Apologizes to His Audience; Admits He Wasted an Hour of Their Time for the First Time

Glenn Beck, in a stunning and unprecedented occasion on his TV show, has apologized to his audience, admitting he wasted an hour of their time for the very first time. The apology occurred near the end of Beck's much-hyped interview with disgraced and potentially sexually deviant, former Democrat Congressman Eric Massa of NY. Billed by Beck only a day ago as an interview where Massa may just expose verifiable corruption in the federal government and the Obama Administration with regards to their apparent retaliation for his position on the health care vote, viewers were led to believe that Massa's interview would actually, you know, expose corruption. Instead, Beck viewers were subjected to a torturous hour where Massa spoke only in disappointing generalities, evaded getting specific on actual examples of the Obama Administration retaliating against him, and generally had the whole show to himself to make a monologue.

Maybe Beck should've listened to Michelle Malkin who warned him beforehand? The issue at heart was the disgrace brought upon Congressman Massa by his own behavior, which he freely admitted on the show. For the last several days, Massa had been the focus of unflattering allegations that he sexually harassed a male member of his staff; to this, Massa had always only admitted using "salty language." This changed for the worse yesterday when a report came out that alleged Massa had done more than just use "salty language." In fact, the report claimed, Massa had also engaged in groping of staff members. It was in the context of these increasingly stormy allegations that Massa appeared on Beck's TV show with the implication being that he had a lot of incriminating dirt to dish on the Obama Administration. Massa always asserted that these allegations of sexual impropriety on his part where retaliatory payback from Obama for his opposition to a yes-vote on health care. Did he come through, though? Er...no...not exactly. In fact, not at all!

For an hour, Beck viewers were subjected to a congressman who just appeared to get slimier, dirtier and more untrustworthy with each utterance that came out of his mouth. Massa started out by admitting he was at fault, not for anything criminally sexual, but for putting himself in a wild situation which led to things being taken out of context. At this point, he already sounded like a liar trying to publicly spin his way out of his embarrassment...and Beck just let him basically do PR repair of his image for the good, first portion of his show. To be fair, Beck did admit that he was not the man for Massa to see if he wanted tough questioning, referring him to Bill O'Reilly instead. And boy, Beck wasn't kidding.

At times, I miserably felt like I was watching a seasoned shyster in Massa talking on his own Eric Massa Show with Glenn Beck being just an afterthought. I write this because the majority of the show was spent with Massa defending himself, planning to manipulate perception in a way beneficial to him...and Beck hardly interrupted with any questioning or caution of any sort.

Take this clip. You can hear Beck with some confusion ask Massa why he would be resigning as congressman if it was only over "tickle fights," especially if his good name was at stake. Earth to Glenn: Perhaps because the congressman was, you know, lying?! I fear that Beck had invested an exorbitant amount of belief in Massa's clearly fictional story about being victimized by the White House as retaliation for his health care vote, and this may've clouded his ability to evaluate Massa with more clarity. In example, Beck actually kept letting Massa merely tell his story with hardly any disbelief or interrupting questions, even inviting him to just tell his story. Such willfulness on Beck's part is why some conservatives like Michelle Malkin were openly skeptical about Massa before Beck did the interview, and we can painfully see why.

As the interview entered its second half, Beck began to very gingerly, only, prod Massa to finally get to the overly hyped, so-called specifics of his claims that the Obama Administration retaliated against him for his health care vote. Massa kept obstinately obstructing and refusing to get specific, at one point insultingly and absurdly asserting that his example of "corruption" was the accepted practice all over Congress of lobbyists lobbying politicians for votes. That's unethical, but not the damning proof of illegal corruption that the audience had been made to believe was coming for a day prior to the interview.

Beck, near the end of his show, somewhat ashamed, had to finally shoot straight with the audience-for which I'll give him kudos-and admit what everyone watching must've been angrily thinking at that point: that the interview and the hour were a waste of everyone's time! Yes! Indeed they were! Based on Massa's failure to deliver specific examples of government corruption that were actually, you know, illegal and so actual corruption instead of merely unethical habits, Massa's disreputable image as a fiend certainly solidified. At this point, I myself think he's guilty of the sexual harassment mischief, which is why he was resigning to begin with. Unfortunately, there was no evidence at all of Obama Administration malfeasance presented one way or another.

As a regular Beck watcher, I'm angry and disappointed that the hype over Massa didn't pan out, and I do feel baited a bit, as Beck seemed to have invested too much belief in Massa and failed to consider treachery on his part! I'm certainly not alone in this feeling as blogs from conservative sites Townhall and Hot Air concur that the Massa interview was a waste of time and a debacle, with Beck at fault for failing to dig deeper. Beck succeeds most of the time on his show with killer exposes of liberals sympathizing with communist dictators and kids being indoctrinated in public schools. So the one time when Beck misses the mark as he did with this Massa mess, it's all the more pronounced.

To send Marc questions, praise or criticism, e-mail him at marc_schenker@telus.net

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Sources:

Liz Benjamin, Upstate Rep. Eric Massa quits reelection bid, denies he sexually harassed male staffer, NY Daily News

Carol Leonnig, Massa investigated for allegedly groping staffers, Washington Post

Editorial Staff, Glenn Beck: Rep. Eric Massa Resignation Retaliation for Opposing Obama, Opposing Views

Oscar De Los Santos, Yes, Glenn Beck, You Wasted Our Time with the Massa Interview, Townhall.com

AllahPundit, Glenn Beck: Sorry for wasting your time with Massa, America, Hot Air