Because the weeping histrionics of Glenn Beck, as the poster bastard for all that is so very wrong with Fox Pseudo News, deserves a dishonorable mention all their own -- and because this update from politifact.com just arrived in my email box at precisely the best time to coordinate with the Palin award by Media Matters of their Glenn Beck Honorary Misinformer of the Year Award.
This is the time of year when many fans make a holiday tradition out of watching the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life", starring the great late Jimmy Stewart, directed by the equally great Frank Capra, from 1946, in the traditional black and white of the era. To borrow the summary from Imdb.com, "An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed." This time of year the 'where are they now' folks trot out the last remaining living cast member, who was a child in the movie, famous for the line that every time a bell rings, 'an angel gets their wings'.
So, the despicable,ever-maniuplative Glenn Beck has picked this movie to use to persuade his mostly unsophisticated audience, to use as a basis for selling his line of bull.
"This town (Wilmington, Ohio) hasn’t taken any money from the government. They don’t want any money from the government."
Politifact tells it better than I do:
Radio host and Fox News personality Glenn Beck loves to tell a story with dramatic flair. And he’s latched onto one this holiday season that’s familiar to many Ohioans.
It’s the story of Wilmington, a town of 13,000 people in Southwest Ohio that has lost about 8,600 jobs since DHL Express, it largest employer, pulled out in 2008. The job losses the small town has suffered since DHL’s departure have been the subject of presidential campaign stops, celebrity charity events and numerous media reports, including two from CBS’s vaunted 60 Minutes.
In Beck’s version of the story, Wilmington is real life Bedford Falls, the fictitious town in the holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life.
Wilmington, Beck said on his Nov. 22 radio show, is ground zero of the recession, and its people – like those in Bedford Falls -- are pulling together to save the town through self reliance and prayer.
What makes the Wilmington really special, he continued, is that Wilmington refuses government assistance, a key tenet of the political philosophy he espouses on his shows.
"It went from the No. 1 most up-and-coming city, and a city everybody wants to live in, to ground zero. And this town hasn’t taken any money from the government. They don’t want any money from the government," he said on the show.
Beck then noted how Wilmington area churches are working together to provide food for the citizens and asking God -- not the state or federal government -- to fill its food pantries.
To highlight his Wilmington story, Beck will hold a show titled "America’s First Christmas" at city’s Murphy Theatre on December 15. The proceeds will be donated to a charity in the city.
"I’m going there because I think this town needs to be highlighted," he said. "I think this town is going to help the rest of the country, not the other way around."
With such a large spotlight headed shining on the small town, Politifact Ohio decided to review Beck’s storyline that Wilmington shuns government assistance. We asked for Beck’s sources, but our e-mails to his producer went unanswered. So, we looked ourselves.
We quickly found Beck’s story full of holes.
The city of Wilmington itself has received federal assistance, including money from the federal stimulus bill that Beck often rails against.
