Since Glenn Beck's recent resurgence in ability to attract media attention to himself and his television and radio shows there has been some navel gazing into trying to understand why Beck is popular and why several thousand would gather in Washington DC as part of his 912 project.

Salon ran a three part series on his media and personal life prior to the move to fox which covers his youth, his height as a zoo jock and then his transformation to a talk radio host. From those articles one thing has been consistent, Beck will go to any length to market and promote himself and his shows. He is relatively new on the national scene, and as a result polls well against established talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh who's history of shameless comments are much longer. Limbaugh's length of time on the radio has also meant his political philosophy is better understod whereas Beck flip flops to an extent to keep or enlarge his audience. Greenwald writes:

Some of this confusion is attributable to the fact that Beck himself doesn't really appear to have any actual, identifiable political beliefs; he just mutates into whatever is likely to draw the most attention for himself and whatever satisfies his emotional cravings of the moment.

Beck had a transformative moment in his life where he gave up alcohol, drugs, partying etc and settled on Mormonism. Apparently he and his wife church shopped before choosing the Church of Latter Day Saints. While his 912 project does place god at number two and just under America is good; "I believe in god and he is the center of my life" the 912 project largely seems to be one of hyper nationalism. For instance the five pledges contains:

I believe the United States is the greatest country on earth and therefore will not apologize for policies or actions which have served to free or feed more people around the world than any other nation on the planet.

Apparently humility and humbleness are not virtues. I think I agree with Greenwald. Beck is not politically coherent and his 912 project is more a big marketing stunt for his career and current media shows. I don't doubt that people see value in his words and actions, enough to march on Washington DC and state their political beliefs; for that reason it cannot be ignored, but this is not a new strand of American politics or political philosophy, it is a well executed marketing campaign for Glenn Beck.