Meet the new conspiracy, same as the old conspiracy

Generally, conspiracy theory is framed as an equal opportunity fallacy, propagated equally on the Left and Right. First comes Michael Moore and the 9/11 Truthers, soon after comes Glenn Beck and the Obama Birthers. And historically, JFK conspiracy theorists tend to be slightly left of center, while anti-New-Dealers are squarely right. All that said, there's something fascinatingly ironic, but also familiar, in terms of the CTs that circulated around Roosevelt and Clinton, in Glenn Beck's broad appeal. As with many conspiracy theorists, Beck constructs a wide-ranging conspiracy out of assorted truths and half-truths: the Cloward-Piven strategy, Van Jones' early Marxism, ACORN's community organizing, and so on. The irony here is that the Right represents the most powerful interests in the culture-interests who benefit most from the Right's relentless agenda of more tax cuts and less regulation. So it makes sense, in many ways, that Beck has to create an agenda against people like himself, because otherwise the equation doesn't work.