Beck Takes Swing at Obama, Karate Chops Pelosi

One Fox executive said that the jabs by the White House could solidify the network’s audience base and recalled that Mr. Ailes had remarked internally: “Don’t pick a fight with people who like to fight.” — from: Fox’s Volley With Obama Intensifying/NYT.

In light of the fisticuffs breaking out between FOX and the White House, a reader brought a troubling Glenn Beck behavior to my attention, one consistent with Mr. Beck’s loose grip on reality. What it made me wonder was when, if ever, I saw a TV personality gesticulating at figures on a video background as if physically interacting and even hitting them.

Last Wednesday’s Beck program offered up several examples. In the first (if you’re watching the video), he puts a double karate chop on Pelosi at the 3:32 mark, takes a more coy swing at Obama at 7:33, then delivers a more angry slap at the President’s mid-section at 7:45.

Beyond the loose boundaries, the clinical world has a term for this. It’s called: modeling aggression.

(h/t: kh)