The Short Truth on Beck

In the last twenty-four hours, it's now become news that Beck from Fox will finally leave the air by the end of the year.  I sat and read a dozen different views of "why".  I stood back and started laughing because they mostly all wanted you to know that Beck had burnt the candle and simply didn't have the pull anymore.....or that Fox just didn't want his style.

Here's the deal with the numbers....he has lost viewers over the past six months so the news guys have one slight point there....however, all of CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.....have lost viewers since late 2010.  Every news show has found some loss of viewers.  Frankly, everyone is tiring of this 24-hour a day news coverage or pretending to be news.

As for the style?  The truth is that Beck might have forty percent of his shows actually of interest to folks on a normal monthly basis.  Sadly.....the rest of the shows went from a 3-star situation on down to a 1-star situation.  You could tell in the first three minutes if the show was going to fall flat for the day.

Now, as for the replacement choice?  Fox has no idea.   My suggestion?  Greg Gutfield with his current show "Red Eye" on Fox.  I realize some of you have never viewed the show....mostly because it's on at midnight or later.

I admit....his entire show is based on a cynical view of the news and it's mostly humor-based.  But the whole of Beck's efforts....wasn't exactly news.  I think this might be an interesting diversion for the public and maybe the numbers mostly stay with Fox.

Oh, they could go out and hire Katie Couric.  They could hire Matt Lauer of the Today Show.  They could hire some washed-up British actress.  They could hire some guy from Tulsa who mostly farms and plays bingo on Sundays.  It's their choice who replaces Beck.  

Unusual Night in the District

So, four dead and six in serious condition in DC from last night's activities.  The strange thing is that they relate to seven different episodes.  Two were stabbings and the rest were shootings.  A full moon?  No.  About every fifteen minutes....another episode occurred, with the first starting around 9:30PM.  It's almost like they were all watching some 8PM show and then went out with some aggressive chip on their shoulder.

Spring is Here

They waited, and waited, and waited.  And finally when the winds of Spring had arrived (April)....they finally could let the cat out of the bag.  Yes, the President is running for re-election now.

It's a great period.  He can now campaign 24-7 from April of 2011 until November 2012.

If you had to go out and look at the last twelve presidents....this is the only one that likely wanted election campaigning to be a full-time job.

My humble guess is that there will be a minimum of three major events each week for the rest of this year.  A major interview will be tossed out each week to printed press, blogs, or national TV.  His wife will be seen more often and likely have a speech each month in some major American city.

Too early?  I suspect that the 4-star speech bucket is mostly empty and you might see two or three of these for the remainder of this year.  If you have any great material left....you'd best save until the real heat of October 2012.

The plus-up of the government shut-down?  Here's the deal which makes this radically different from the previous experience.  We are seven months into this financial year for the government.  The President, and the Democrats were oddly standing there in July of 2010 with a budget to push....and never pushed it.  As October of 2010 rolled around....with all of the necessary votes lined up....nothing could be accomplished.  With the election in full swing....nothing was accomplished.  After the election.....nothing was accomplished.  Curiously, we are fairly close to May when you start start forming up the next financial year budget and start talking votes for that.

Frankly, there's a bunch of grinning going on as some folks think it'll go badly for the Republicans now.  Independents aren't exactly buying that, and you might worry a bit.  You really don't want another dozen Democratic senators tossed because of a government shut-down and the way people perceived the mess.

There is this mythical point where a guy does too much campaigning, and everything starts to slide off his plate because people have lost genuine interest in the words spoken or promises made.  With a April 2011 start, I might think about that and really limit my exposure for the next five months.  There's no need to be aggressive in Iowa or New Hampshire.  Well....unless you know someone is out there to run as a Democrat against you.  That would be a curious thing....if it were a serious contender and the cause of a early entry.