South Park Does Glenn Beck

If you didn't happen to catch the new episode of South Park last night, it was a parody of Glenn Beck. Cartman lands a job as the school's morning announcements reader...and, with the power of the microphone, takes it upon himself to lambaste the "socialist" regime undertaken by Wendy as president of the student council. (Watch it here. Warning: it starts off quite violently, with a shooting at the school that resonates a bit differently in the wake of Ft. Hood.)

Cartman wonders if school money is going to drugs...he doesn't know that it's the case, but how would we know if it wasn't? He's just asking questions.

South Park pretty much nails the conspiracy theories, the outrage, the anger over government use of money, and the populism, plus Beck's tendency to sometimes stand up and walk around the set.

But ironically, the reason Cartman gets to continue his tirades: ACLU lawyers step in to defend his free speech. Not that the ACLU wouldn't do so. One doesn't exactly think of Beck and the ACLU as peas in a pod...but the ACLU did defend Rush Limbaugh one time, filing an amicus brief on his behalf when state officials went through his medical records in Florida. So perhaps it's not so far fetched.