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From The Newshour with Jim Lehrer--TV, Radio Talkers Shaping Political Discourse in U.S. It was nice to see Thom Hartmann and Media Matters' Eric Burns featured in this segment. They both did a great job here.

GLENN BECK, Host, "Glenn Beck": If it wasn't for FOX or talk radio, we would be done as a republic.

JEFFREY BROWN: In a multimedia world of talk and more talk, the latest big talker is Glenn Beck, known for his folksiness and emotion, which sometimes spills over to tears...

GLENN BECK: I just love my country.

JEFFREY BROWN: ... and, most of all, for his over-the-top style and words, which, for many, push the limits of acceptable public rhetoric.

GLENN BECK: ... is that there are Marxist revolutionaries who have dedicated themselves to principles that will destroy our nation as we know it.

I'm saying he has a problem. He has a -- this guy is, I believe, a racist.

JEFFREY BROWN: Since moving from CNN Headline News to FOX last year, Beck has successfully built up his cable TV audience. He now reaches almost three million viewers with his 5:00 p.m. show, unseating FOX's Sean Hannity for the number-two spot, right behind the network's Bill O'Reilly. On radio, Beck's audience of nine million is second only to Rush Limbaugh.

All of these talk show hosts far exceed the numbers of their liberal counterparts. And, as the numbers grow, so has the attention in other media, and Beck's seeming influence on the national agenda.

Beck is a persistent critic of the president and his policies. Among much else, he helped rally opponents to show up and speak up at this summer's town hall meetings on health care, and led the way on exposing problems with ACORN, the community organizing group that ran into numerous public controversies.

ROGER HEDGECOCK, Radio America: I like Glenn Beck personally. And I like that his TV show, in that he is speaking truth to power. That's his attitude. He really is trying to overturn the apple carts.

We're not in favor of illegal alien amnesty.

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Eric Burns from the invaluable Media Matters weighs in on Antia Dunn's statement on Reliable Sources that Fox News is an arm of the Republican Party. Burns warns that they are even more dangerous and powerful than that and I agree with him.

O'DONNELL: Joining us now is Eric Burns, president of Media Matters for America, a not-for-profit group that monitors conservative misinformation in the media. Welcome.

BURNS: Thank you.

O'DONNELL: Why has the White House finally come out and stated the obvious, that the Fox News Channel is opinion journalism masquerading as news?

BURNS: Look, Anita Dunn has it exactly right with her description of Fox News. I said as much on this program just two weeks ago. But I take it a step further, Lawrence. I think that what we have all thought of as a conservative news organization has really morphed itself this year into a 24/7 political operation with a very specific goal. And that is to destroy this presidency, and destroy any sort of progressive policy agenda that the American people voted for in November.

That's their goal. They have set it. You saw it at the top of the clip. And I think that that's what we are dealing with. And so Anita Dunn is absolutely right to call them out for that.

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Rick Sanchez and Media Matters' Eric Burns fact check Mike Pence's recent appearance on Sanchez's show.

SANCHEZ: So he was telling the -- so he's right?

BURNS: Well, on...

SANCHEZ: He did challenge a Republican administration, albeit as a Republican?

BURNS: On just a few things. But I'll tell you the part that you didn't hear is that he voted for Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut that actually destroyed the surplus that we had coming out of the Clinton years. He also voted to make those tax cuts permanent, helping to create the largest deficit in American history. And...

SANCHEZ: So he went along with the gang -- which, by the way, the gang included just about everybody back then, Democrats and Republicans, to be fair. But he did tend to go along with the gang back then, but he wasn't a leader.

BURNS: Well, no, he wasn't a leader back then. But he certainly went along with the gang. And I do know that -- that he joined Jeff Flake in opposing a few earmarks -- in opposing some earmarks from others. But in this recent transportation bill that came through the House, he got two earmarks of his own. So to suggest that he's out there championing the fight against earmarks I don't think is really -- is really accurate or genuine.

SANCHEZ: Well, you know, I was watching -- in fact, just before talking to you, I went on the Web site and I read his speech that he gave at CPAC -- a strong very pro-capitalism speech.

BURNS: Sure.

SANCHEZ: In fact, I'm going to quote him here. He said: "They're writing the obituary on capitalism." I mean that sounds like a guy who's outraged about what's going on in our government now.

Did he ever show signs he was that outraged before...

BURNS: Abso...

SANCHEZ: ...when some of these decisions were being made that, as I said earlier in this newscast, were even bigger earmark totals?

BURNS: No, absolutely not. I mean this is -- this is pandemic of the entire conservative establishment and the Republican Party. I don't know if, you know, if they've got amnesia or if they're schizophrenic now -- possibly both. But I was working in Congress for much of the Bush presidency and under Tom DeLay. And, you know, there was a lot of spending going on. And there was a lot of Enron accounting -- hiding war, you know, wartime expenditures (INAUDIBLE) out of budget.

There was a -- you know, the worst ethics and corruption scandal we saw since Watergate. And so this notion that there's some sort of accountability that's going to be brought to bear by Chairman Pence and other Republicans, I just don't think holds water.

SANCHEZ: Here...

BURNS: And I think it's, also, Rick, worth noting that, as the chairman of the House Conference, you know, Mr. Pence does have some influence in these matters. In this omnibus spending bill that the House just passed, 40 percent of the earmarks were put in by Republicans.

Full Transcript to follow. It's nice to see some of the good people from Media Matters getting some air time.

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