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Conservative columnist David Frum had some choice words on Morning Joe for the industry that has swelled to basically steal money from republican voters.

Republicans have been fleeced, exploited and lied to by a conservative entertainment complex...there are too many to name. Because the followers, the donors and the activists are so mistaken about the nature of the problems the country faces...just a simple question, and I went to Tea Party rallies and asked this question, have taxes gone up or down in recent years? They can't answer this question.

Frum declined to name names but he's more forthright in his ebook, Why Romney Lost. Frum is scathing in his criticism of the usual suspects (Fox News, Rush Limbaugh & talk radio, and many many more charlatans).

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Keith Olbermann talked to Congressman Anthony Weiner about his plans to try to put a stop to Glenn Beck and other fear mongering, primarily right wing radio show hosts from scaring the hell out of their customers and then using that fear to help their sponsor Goldline fleece them. Media Matters has more.

Rep. Weiner goes after Beck's house of gold:

Throughout Glenn Beck's meteoric rise to become king of all right-wing media, a once-obscure Santa Monica peddler of gold coins called Goldline International has been along for the ride. The support of Beck and other radio hosts -- mainly conservatives like Mark Levin and Fred Thompson -- who spend 55 minutes creating fear of an economic collapse and then five minutes telling you why coins from a company like Goldline are the only safe haven has helped Goldline become a $500 million company.

This, for example, is what 2 million TV viewers who clicked on Beck's nightly Fox News Channel show heard on Oct. 6, 2009:

You don’t have any gold, right? This is you. This is you. This is your savings. How much did you lose if you had any money in your 401k? Did you lose, let’s say, I don’t know, 40 percent of it? So, that’s gone. Now, did you know that the dollar has lost nearly 29 percent of its value in the last seven years? Twenty-nine percent. OK, that’s gone. Just gone.

This isn't an advertisement, although it may sound like one. It's the editorial content of the show, although at some point during the hour viewers are sure to see an ad for Goldline with their "800" number prominently displayed. Meanwhile, visitors to GlennBeck.com see a big ad for Goldline, while visitors to Goldline.com can see testimonials from Beck for Goldline. It's hard to know sometimes where Beck -- who famously told his viewers to get behind "God, gold, and guns" -- ends and Goldline begins.

Never mind that anxiety-drenched radio listeners never got to hear the other side of the gold coin, which is that the industry is plagued by high-pressure sales tactics as well as high commissions which mean that gold -- already at a record high (although not when adjusted for inflation) -- would have to rise well beyond its current highs to see a reasonable return on their investment.

Finally, a grown-up has stepped in to try to clean up this mess -- Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York. Read on...

Media Matters posted Beck responding to this on his show and of course he didn't bother to mention the content of the investigation. Stay classy Beck, you huckster.

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While talking to Avatar director James Cameron about climate change and the point his movie tried to make about the need for it, Cameron ended the discussion by adding this about the likes of Fox News and Glenn Beck:

MATTHEWS: I know. I`m worried about the media, though, because now we have a right wing media available that if you feel like -- if you`re a business guy, for example, or a business woman, and you want to have a good excuse, a good dodge not to do anything, you listen to someone on the right like Beck, who comes in saying you don`t have to do anything; these guys are a bunch of tree huggers. Forget about it.

What do you think of Beck`s power in that direction to give people a big excuse slip not to do anything?

CAMERON: Guys like Beck and the others --

MATTHEWS: Are they dangerous?

CAMERON: I think they`re very dangerous to this country. I think that some day they`re going to have to answer to my children and to your children and their children for the world that they`re helping to create right now.

Amen brother. It would be nice if we saw our sorry excuse for a "main stream media" calling out the Becks of the world as well, and he is dangerous. They're all too worried about protecting their Villager status to go after one of their own even if he is off the reservation, so you see nothing but tepid criticism for the most part if any at all.

From our friends over at Media Matters for America, Erick Erickson at the 2010 CPAC Convention talking about right wing media infrastructure. He basically says out loud here what we already know, which is that Fox is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. Apparently ClusterFox isn't good enough for Erickson since CNN has made him part of their "best political team on television".

Countdown's Worst Persons for Jan. 28, 2009 with winners being a whole host of right wingers for their response to the State of the Union address. Media Matters has the breakdown--The right-wing response to Obama's SOTU address: "jerk," "arrogant," cocky". Runners up Karl Rove for his appearance on Fox & Friends--Does Rove Think Reagan And Bush Were ‘Weak’ For Discussing The ‘Situation’ They Inherited? and Rudy Giuliani on the same show--Giuliani falsely claims Obama never said "war" in State of the Union.

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Who better for Bill O'Reilly to get a "fair and balanced" opinion from following President Obama's speech to Congress than serial liar Karl Rove? Media Matters has the run down on this one.

Rove advances "glaring misstatements" and "distortions" in criticizing Obama speech:

Purporting to examine President Obama's health care speech, Karl Rove claimed that while discussing "the so-called lies and misstatements about his proposal," Obama "made a series of very glaring misstatements or distortions." In fact, it was Rove who was advancing falsehoods and distortions.

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Rove distorts "what people were concerned about" regarding "panels to kill off senior citizens".

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Contradicting CBO, Rove suggests "most companies" will "dump the coverage" under House bill.

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Rove distorts Obama statement to claim he is "not shooting straight" on deficit.

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