Um, Has Anyone Noticed That Glenn Beck Is Getting Even More Paranoid Than Usual These Days?

[Cross-posted at Crooks and Liars.]

Look, it's not any big news that Glenn Beck is a paranoid nutcase. That's been his schtick, after all -- dredging up every far-right conspiracy theory on the books, warning that those evil progressives are the enemy within, that the liberal Democrats are out intentionally to destroy America. It wasn't just a coincidence that the ADL identified him as the nation's Fearmonger in Chief.

But I don't his recent week off did him a lot of good. Returning yesterday, he was more paranoid than usual. Of course, there was also the usual obfuscation and prevarication, such as when he claimed that he argued for giving antiwar protesters during the Bush administration full respect for their views (apparently this didn't extend to Nancy Pelosi).

But throughout there was a drumbeat of fear that the Obama administration is trying to destroy Fox News generally and Beck's show specifically -- culminating in a warning that the administration is trying to "silence" him, which is what those boycott efforts have been about.

Beck: I have to tell you, there is something -- there is something that is amazing that you need to understand, because it's a very specific plan of attack against this program since it came on the air. But it's really not about us. It's about you -- the viewer of this program. The goal is to get you to shut up, not me, but you.

Last year, there was a fake outrage -- twisted words, a political attack disguised as grassroots protest. Eventually, it led to the big reveal that in fact, the organization that started the protest, the boycott, was cofounded by Van Jones.

Yeah, the Color of Change boycott was all about twisted words, all right -- the unadulterated words that came out of Glenn Beck's mouth, all in their full context. Specifically, these words:



No extra twisting necessary there -- they just came out that way.

Anyway, Beck wants to pretend that the boycott effort -- which is doing rather well, actually -- wasn't about anything he said being outrageous and profoundly irresponsible. Nuh-uh. Anything but that.

Hmmmm. Isn't paranoia one of the traits of psycopathic narcissists? Just wondering.