I mean, Beck is a - sort of an entertainment guy. He does stand-up comedy. He can be bombastic and over-the-top and all of the rest, and if you want to criticize that, that's perfectly legitimate. But, you know, we've gone through almost eight years now of the mainstream, elite media worshiping and lionizing people like Jon Stewart, who blur the lines between serious news and commentary and comedy far more so than people like Beck. The in-house Media Watchdog Program on NPR on the media, the host of the show told the Associated Press that their role model is Jon Stewart.

I think part of it is Beck's influence. He does the dance that certainly others do on the left as well, which is to critics, he'll say hey, look. You know, I'm a rodeo cowboy or a clown, I think is actually what he says. And he says you don't have to take me seriously. I'll cry. I'll rant. I'll rave. I'll say things, and, you know, if they don't happen to be perfectly true, hey look, it's not like I'm - I have a Ph.D. in political science. I'm not a senator. Nobody elected me, don't worry about it.

To viewers, even though he's histrionic and quite entertaining and quite enjoyable, actually, in person, as well, he's kind of asking to be taken seriously. And he's kind of asking them to lend to him a credibility so that he can influence them. And indeed, I think that's shown by some of the protests that he helped to engender and encourage.

You know, that's not a - you know, Jon Stewart is on the comedy channel now. I know CNN might love to have him on its air. But that said, you know, he's in a place where he is fixed as a figure of satire also exploring some factual issues.