Bob Beckel Like Sharpton is Given Protection And Sanctuary By Fox Hosts

By now you’ve no doubt heard and/or seen how Fox News’s in-house Democrat strategist Bob Beckel had an “F-bomb” meltdown on Sean Hannity’s show Monday evening. But look, this isn’t a surprise–everyone at Fox News knows that Beckel is a train wreck of a human being. That they laugh, joke, and have him as their go-to liberal Democrat says more about the program hosts than it does about Beckel.

He has repeatedly boasted of his sexual conquests/exploits with college age women, lap dances, and prostitutes, during breaks on the sets of different shows. And he has done it in front of female guests. His vulgarity is as well known as his drinking binges and drug abuse were. I say were, because it’s my understanding he has, at least for the moment, cleaned up the drinking and drugs–and from the bottom of my heart I hope that’s true for his sake.

Beckel is vulgar and crude, but this isn’t about him as such; it’s about those who have him on their shows; it’s about those who let him bully and bluster on the set as he does. But this time he got caught coming out of break, and like a good liberal he blamed Hannity, telling him: “You should run your show a little better, instead of having me get caught like that.” And there it is, there’s the nod that this is common practice. He blamed Hannity because he was accustomed to getting away with it.

As I said, my angst isn’t about Beckel as such, he’s just a tired, angry, old sot. My angst is about the way these things are covered up. And Fox is notorious for covering up. I’m not going to recount all of the goings on behind the scenes: I’m asking why does Hannity give credibility to the likes of Beckel and Al Sharpton? A gullible viewing public watches his programming not realizing that it’s all an act.

Former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura said it best: “Politics in America is identical to pro wrestling. In front of the crowd, in front of TV, they pretend they hate each other. They pretend like they are big adversaries and that’s the sell job they do to us, the citizens. Just like pro wrestling, my job was to go out and piss everybody off so bad they would pay their hard earned money to go out and see me get my butt kicked. Well, the point is, we are all friends in the locker room. We all work together. It’s entertainment. We put on a show and this is no different. They are putting on a show, because behind the scenes, they are all friends. They go out to dinner together and cut their deals together. It’s a show.” (Interview with Christopher Stipp; 2/22/10)


And that’s what you get on these shows. If those like Hannity were really about showing these people for what they are, they wouldn’t give cover to the likes of Sharpton. Hannity had an opportunity to hold Sharpton accountable when I sought his help in pressuring Sharpton to accept my challenge to debate him along with Chairman of the Urban League, Marc Morial; and former Congressman and co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, Walter Fauntroy. Hannity’s way of helping was for him and Sharpton to have their own debate one week after the one I had scheduled for February 28, 2011. I had rented space at the National Press Club to host the debate. I had challenged them because of their attacks and accusations directed at the people who gathered at the Lincoln Monument on the same day that Dr. Martin Luther King had led his march on Washington.

Instead of helping me hold Sharpton and the others accountable, he and Sharpton held a mock debate at a New York hotel, charged admission, and proceeded to make a mockery of reining in troublemakers like Sharpton. But specific to my point, that’s what they do. That’s why Beckel and Sharpton can behave as they please, because they know those like Hannity have their back. If Hannity had helped me pursuant to my challenge to the February debate, Sharpton would have had less credibility in Sanford, Florida.

People want to believe that the Fox News hosts are fair and balanced. What they are in reality is part of the fraternity that gives aid, comfort, shelter, and fat paychecks to the likes of Beckel and Sharpton, and that gives credibility and platforms from which they can spew their grotesque heterodoxy.