Eric Burns vs. Glenn Beck?
Former Fox News Watch host Eric Burns writes on the Huffington Post about Glenn Beck. This ought to get interesting to see what wing of FNC gives Burns the smackdown…
I speak out now because it is the time of year when one is supposed to count blessings. I have several. Among them is that I do not have to face the ethical problem of sharing an employer with Glenn Beck.
Actually, Beck is a problem of taste as well as ethics. He laughs and cries; he pouts and giggles; he makes funny faces and grins like a cartoon character; he makes earnest faces yet insists he is a clown; he cavorts like a victim of St. Vitus’s Dance. His means of communicating are, in other words, so wide-ranging as to suggest derangement as much as versatility.
He is Huey Long without the political office.
He is Father Coughlin without the dour expression.
He is John Birch without the Society.
He is an embarrassment to all true conservatives, men and women who believe sincerely, thoughtfully and sensibly that the role of government in American life should be limited.
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December 2, 2009 at 10:39 am
Caution Will Robinson! Is this in fact the same Eric Burns that was w/FNC? Sounds like he may be (as he speaks about sharing the same employer), but I believe there is another EB, who is in fact a darling of the far left.
December 2, 2009 at 10:40 am
YIKES!!! I should have clicked on the link first! Sorry to have doubted you, Spud.
That said, I’m glad this Eric Burns is gone from FNC!!!!!
December 2, 2009 at 11:39 am
What a whiner.
December 2, 2009 at 11:56 am
I still don’t get the father Coughlin comparison. It demeans Beck as if his whole shtick is about Jews or something. I thought that was Pat Buchanan’s shtick.
All kidding aside, Beck is a loose cannon but in no way is he an extremist to the degree that Huey Long or John Birch. Huey Long was far left, anyway.
December 2, 2009 at 12:19 pm
– he cavorts like a victim of St. Vitus’s Dance. –
I love a man who knows his obscure diseases. Some great lines, there.
December 2, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I love a man who knows a blithering idiot when he sees one. Anybody know why Burns doesn’t work there anymore?
December 2, 2009 at 2:40 pm
All I know about Burn’s departure from FNC is from what he said about it, that is he was advised one day while working on the next show that his contract wasn’t being renewed and he was done. Nothing against Jon Scott, but I enjoyed that show more when Burns was the host.
Obviously there’s an audience for Glenn Beck’s message so I don’t fault FNC for giving him a show. Aside from that, I agree with Burns.
December 2, 2009 at 10:03 pm
joeremi Says:
December 2, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I liked Burns a lot when he hosted Newswatch… although, this particular article strikes me as someone who has a bit of an axe to grind. But, another place and time…
Anyway, I believe (and this is on my opinion) that Burns was let go because he was a one trick pony. On FOX, unless you have a highly rated program, you have to do double duty. Appear as a guest now and then, fill in as a host for someone else, etc. Burns was pretty much just Eric Burns on FOX Newswatch. Heck, aside from Neil Gabler, everyone else on the panel appeared on multiple shows. Burns only had the one show… and it’s more economical to pay for talent to host two shows (like John Scott), than to get two hosts for two shows.
Burns came in, did his thing (only a 30-minute thing at that), and then went home… and that’s not the FOX way.
December 2, 2009 at 10:15 pm
As I recall, blue, Eric Burns held a “contributor” position at Fox and was occasionally on some of its other shows as a media critic. And didn’t he write for a newspaper or magazine while he worked at Fox? In other words, I thought his was a part-time gig.
Neil Gabler was an irritating, snidely little yapper on Newswatch… it was great.
December 2, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Any good group needs a snidely little yapper. Fortunately, we have several to spare.
December 3, 2009 at 11:16 am
Al Says:
December 2, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Well, he was a “contributor,” but as I recall, rarely used. In other words, not a great loss to the other programs.
As for his other stuff… I’m sure that happened. But that wasn’t really FNC stuff, so it doesn’t count. “Part-time status” for a host is still more expensive (IMO) than double duty for someone else.