Boycotting Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is in the doghouse, said William Spain in Marketwatch. A growing number of advertisers -- including Geico, Procter & Gamble, Sargento Cheese, and Progressive Insurance -- are abandoning Beck's Fox News show following his "incendiary comments" labeling President Barack Obama as a "racist" who has a "deep-seated hatred for white people." Fox says it's not losing money as the advertisers have simply moved to other shows, but this is "shaping up to be one of the more effective boycott campaigns in years."

"The venom coming from the right recently" may not have created a broad, "visible popular backlash," said Adam Serwer in The American Prospect. But the boycott, organized by the online grassroots group Color of Change, is "certainly hurting Glenn Beck. It's a reminder that this kind of craziness can have consequences."

"Whether Beck said something controversial or not about the president’s reaction to the Henry Louis Gates arrest is not the question," said Rory Cooper in The Heritage Foundation's The Foundry blog. What matters is that the White House may be using a "closely affiliated group" -- Color of Change was recently operated by top White House adviser Van Jones -- to "launch an underground attack" on advertisers linked to someone who had the audacity to criticize President Obama. "Making fun of cable news" is one thing, but using "Chicago-style tactics" to silence critics would be stepping over the line.