Conservatives Defend Glenn Beck

Matt Lewis | August 18, 2009 9:23 AM

As several large corporations join the boycott of Glenn Beck, conservatives are rallying to his defense.

Institute for Liberty Senior Fellow in Law and Regulation Horace Cooper, JD, has created a

FIGHT FOR GLENN BECK website as "a place for those of us who support him to speak out."

Conservative bloggers have are also defending Beck. For example, RedState's Erick Erickson is calling on conservatives to join a counter-boycott, writing,

This left wing campaign is being orchestrated by a group started by Obama’s Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones.

If they are successful, they will move beyond Beck to others.

Two of the companies, GEICO and Progressive, are run by liberals. But that’s not the case with all the others.

The best response is to remind all of these companies that there will be repercussions from our side if they are so willing to become pawns of the left.

My personal position on Glenn Beck -- as I discussed on CBN last night (watch here and skip to the 00:15:15 time mark) -- is a bit more nuanced than most. While I understand the need for conservatives to defend him, I also have always viewed him as being much closer to P.T. Barnum than to William F. Buckley. That doesn't mean I would support a boycott against his show -- far from it -- but it does make me wonder how much political capital is worth expending.

So the question is: Should conservatives go to the mat to defend Glenn Beck?