Fox News's Chris Wallace said last week that the folks at the New York Times must be "breaking out in hives" as a result of Charles Krauthammer and Bill O'Reilly topping their Best Sellers List.
Talk radio host Glenn Beck took this a step further Wednesday ticking off five books by right-leaning authors currently topping the charts deliciously observing, “Conservatives now are dominating the book world - and that’s got to be driving people crazy” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
GLENN BECK: I want to show you what out of the top ten books that are for sale right now, how many are conservative history books or written by a conservative. You have Krauthammer, you have Rush Limbaugh, me, Brian Kilmeade, Bill O’Reilly. That’s five of the top ten.
PAT GRAY: The rest are either, one’s a pop singer, you know, there are some stories in there.
BECK: One’s a cookbook.
GRAY: One’s a diary of a wimpy kid. So that’s three, what else is left? Doris Kearns Goodwin, and that’s the only thing that cracks that top ten that could be considered, you know, by a liberal. Doris Kearns Goodwin.
BECK: Yeah, and that’s history. Okay, so I just want to point this out, because I think this is really good news. This shows what America is consuming. What is it that we’re doing? Now, nobody in the mainstream media - remember this, think of this – nobody in the mainstream media is doing American history. Nobody in the mainstream media is talking about mainstream history, I mean American history. Nobody is producing this stuff on television. You’re not seeing the movies being made. Look at the appetite for real American history. Look at the appetite for conservative views.
Beck then mentioned that when he made his first book deal with Simon & Schuster, they actually told him conservatives don’t read. As a result, the industry felt there was no appetite for conservative books. As such, the industry was dominated by liberals.
Limbaugh then came out with his book in 1992, but the book industry’s excuse was, “That’s just Rush.”
So, in 2003, Beck got his first book deal, and he was told that nobody would read it. Counter to expectation, Beck said this first book “did okay.” His next book did “really good.” As a result, other conservative authors – in Beck’s view – also began to get books published.
Eventually, because of his sales, Simon & Schuster gave him the same contract that science fiction writer Stephen King has. He can now publish people as well.
Beck then mocked MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and how many of his new book will sell. “I’ll bet you under 5,000,” he predicted. “Maybe under 1,000. And he’s been everywhere.”
Beck and Company then got into a discussion about how many of his new book CNN’s Piers Morgan has sold.
Producer Stu Burguiere said he knew how many Morgan sold in its first week, but wasn’t allowed to disclose it on air.
Beck then had the mikes turned off, Burguiere told him, and Beck just started laughing saying, “Oh my gosh!...I could go door to door and sell more.”
“This tells me that the market is wide open,” Beck concluded. “Conservatives now are dominating the book world - and that’s got to be driving people crazy.”
You bet it is, Glenn!
That said, Beck is forgetting a few important conservative writers here.
Ann Coulter's "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" spent eight weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers List in 1998. Her second book "Slander" actually reached number one in 2002. Virtually everything she's written since has been a best seller.
Also forgotten here was Mark Levin whose "Liberty Amendments" was just recently on the Times Best Seller List. This followed his best sellers "Liberty and Tyranny" and "Ameritopia."
(HT Mediaite)
