Opinion: Glenn Beck, defiant as ever on his last show on Fox News

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Glenn Beck did not cry once during his final show on the Fox News Channel. He did, however, pat himself on the back, he reviewed an odd list of things he and his audience learned over the 30 months on the network, and he gave his trusty blackboard a good working over.

He even told the media that although he is leaving televison and heading for the Web, where he will charge his fans $10 a month to hear his rantings and ravings for two hours a day, ‘you will pray for the time I was only on the air for one hour a day.’

Despite the fact that sites like Media Matters were successful in scaring away numerous advertisers of Beck’s show after the host called President Obama a racist, he said of his departure to the Web, ‘I didn’t run away from something, I ran to something. I knew exactly where I was supposed to be.’

Beck, whose ratings plunged 23% over the last year, was defiant until the end, comfortable in his role as underdog.

‘I’m the only host who is supposedly the most dangerous person in America because of my influence and the least influential person in America because my ratings are supposedly declining,’ he said not mentioning the annoying detail that he has lost more than 1 million viewers over the last year. The program began with fans heaping praise on the conservative. ‘Thank you for everything you do. Thank you for speaking the truth every day,’ one fan gushed.

Comedian Michael Ian Black took, let’s say, the opposite view. ‘Glenn Beck just had his last show on Fox. Weird: I already don’t miss him,’ he tweeted in a message that was retweeted over 100 times.

Writer and editor Paul Constant had a bit of advice for the outgoing host. ‘So long, Glenn Beck. Don’t let the crazy hit you in the crazy on the way out, you big crazy,’ he tweeted.

RELATED:

Glenn Beck: Slavery was a liberal cause
Glenn Beck goes after Color of Change co-founder Van Jones
Steve Lopez: Looking for common ground in Glenn Beck country

-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

Andrew Malcolm is on vacation

August 28, 2010.