Since the teabaggers oozed to prominence last year, lots of people have brought up Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg’s brilliant 1957 filmA Face In The Crowd. It features Andy Griffith as a folksy right wing con man and proto-Beckian broadcaster, Lonesome Rhodes. It’s an analogy so perfect that Keith Olbermann pinned that moniker on Glenn Beck and left it there.
This morning I read a post by regular First Draft commenterSouthern Beale that I wish that I’d written. It’s about Tim Robbins’ 1992 film, Bob Roberts, which eerily foreshadowed the Tea Party movement down to the Revolutionary War gear and use of 1960’s New Left techniques in service of wingnuttery. Anyway, it’s a must-read post so follow this link.