In the media event of the decade, or at least the last week of a slow summer news cycle, controversial Fox News talk show host and conservative radio broadcaster Glenn Beck swooped into liberal Seattle to speak to supporters at Safeco Field.Roughly 7,000 people turned out to watch the event, some standing in line for a couple hours hoping to snatch up the few remaining tickets on sale. Across the street on First Avenue, a scant hundred or two counter-protestors showed up to heckle and recite dated chants.”Glenn Beck lies. Shame. Shame. Shame.”Sponsored by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, Take The Field with Glenn Beck, featured your standard helping of small government, fiscal conservatism, flag waving and support for the troops.Two Congressional Medal of Honor recipients were in the audience, Maj. Bruce Crandall and Lt. Col. Joe Jackson, who were both honored for their service in the Vietnam War.Beck touched on familiar topics. Blaming government and unions, trashing the media, rubbing the nose of ACORN in the dirt and misquoting Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.”Barack Obama has awakened a sleeping giant,” Beck said, using the oft-repeated line from the movie “Tora! Tora! Tora!” to describe the Tea Party movement.To show that he was not being a simple partisan shill, Beck was just as critical of Republicans like Senator John McCain and former President George W. Bush for pushing a Wall Street bailout package and not securing the nation’s borders.Jenifer Lambert, who describes herself as a fiscal conservative who could care less about social issues, came to the event from Edmonds. She has gotten disillusioned with politicians of all stripes, including the former president, whom she voted for twice.”I like the fact that [Beck] takes on both parties,” Lambert said. “Party politics is what got us into this situation.There’s No Crying In PoliticsEven more than his conservative politics, Beck has gained a bit of notoriety with his on air, emotional breakdowns. He’s the ultimate Angry White Metrosexual.On Saturday, Vegas oddsmakers had a line of 5 1/2 for the number of times Beck would choke up, sob or break down into hysterical tears during his performance. He didn’t disappoint.Sure enough, he got teary-eyed about flying over the Rocky Mountains. He choked up about failure being the test that builds an individual. He nearly sobbed about being an American and he broke down about a caller who was critical of him on his radio show.”I… trust my… God… overmygovernment,” tears welled up in Beck’s eyes. “I… trust my military… over my politicians.”Don’t Know Much About HistoryWhile on stage, Beck leavened his performance with a sprinkling of historical anecdotes. Most were your standard School House Rock, After School Special stories. Thomas Edison failed with over a 1,000 different designs before inventing the light bulb. But he kept trying, and he didn’t ask the government for help, which is what makes America great. That sort of thing.Apparently there is a crack team of researchers which helps in the process. One has to assume the researchers are crack, because he even mentioned them.Despite the help, and despite making God knows how many millions of dollars a year to professionally communicate ideas in a verbal format, the historical ignorance displayed by Beck in a public setting was shocking and better reserved for a middle school social studies class.The most blatant example came when he tried to quote President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he laughably framed as some big government liberal. Not once but at least three times, Beck took Teddy’s most famous quote, “SPEAK softly and carry a big stick” and turned it into the malaprop, “WALK softly and carry a big stick”. No QuestionsDuring Beck’s visit here to Seattle and his later appearance in Mount Vernon, the local press was given the cold shoulder. No media access or interviews were allowed. Period.For a man who makes a living pretending to be a journalist on television, calling out politicians for being too afraid to come on his show to answer the hard questions, it was rather telling that Beck himself refused to grant any interviews.Interjecting myself into the story for a moment, press blackouts have never phased this hicktown reporter. The fact that somebody was not granting interviews has never kept me from getting my story. A reporter just has to work harder.After his performance, Beck spent about an hour signing copies of his new book, the irony challenged “Arguing with Idiots”, in the Diamond Club Lounge behind home plate. In these circumstances, the best approach is to chat up the handlers, talk to your interview subject’s press guy and see if you can’t get a couple minutes to ask a question or two.The easiest way is just to walk along with the subject to their car. Every reporter has done it, time and again. Trying to scribble on their notepad, get a hard-hitting question answered while not walking into a telephone pole. I’ve done the same with Senators, Governors, the Ambassador to Colombia, whoever. Most recently, I used the technique with Congressman Adam Smith during his town hall in Lakewood.After the book signing, Beck took one look at my Seattle Weekly press badge and studiously avoided me, craning his face away and turning his back towards me whenever I got into his line of sight along the entire walk through the inner labyrinths of Safeco Field, until he was hustled to safety from prying reporter’s questions inside his well-appointed black SUV.Courage…Beckisms”America was not built by people who Hoped for Change””We will march ourselves into Slavery if we don’t stand up and peacefully demand our Freedom””We love our institutions. They just need to be cleansed and sterilized””If they couldn’t succeed in the good times, how will they succeed when Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are designing the cars?” Speaking about General Motors.”If your kids keep losing, maybe they just need a swift kick in the ass!”You’re Not From Around Here Anymore, Are You?It appeared in many ways that Beck was trying to reconnect with Seattle, to show that despite trotting off to the East Coast to make his fortune, he really still is a true Washingtonian at heart. It’s the kind of stunt a rock band uses to rev up the crowd, by dropping random place names into their performance.Beck told stories about his grandparents who blamed Californians for ruining everything here in the state as well as using the old stand-by of saying that it rains here all the time… I mean ALL the time. He brought up Boeing (yay Boeing!) and reminisced about going to the Puyallup Fair – twice – and partaking in the Western Washington Fair culinary classic, scones. (yay scones!)Despite efforts to show his local street cred, Beck unconsciously showed that he has truly become estranged from his childhood home. Maybe in more ways than he even knows. During his intro by KTTH 770 talk jock David Boze, a train passing Safeco on the nearby Burlington Northern railroad blasted its horn. For more than a decade, the train horn has been the iconic signature of all Seattle Mariners ballgames played at the park. Rather than using the train whistle to draw an easy allusion to summer baseball, mom, apple pie and listening to M’s broadcaster Dave Niehaus on the radio, Beck made some bizarre crack about the locomotive being the Barack Obama Express coming to derail him.Photos:Sgt. James McEachin, a Korean War veteran, television actor and winner of the Silver Star was the keynote speaker for EFF’s tribute to American veterans and active duty military personnel. McEachin said that he had some reservations about coming to the event, with Beck as the keynote speaker but ultimately found the presentation “extraordinarily interesting”.”I’m here not for him but for the veterans,” McEachin said. Although he disagrees with Beck on some issues – such as his criticism for President Obama – McEachin agreed that many of the government bailouts that have been passed are bad policy.Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Col. Joe Jackson receives a token of recognition from Evergreen Freedom Foundation.And the award for the biggest protest sign goes to…It’s sunny and you got no hats? Improvise, adapt and overcome!Yeah, er, um… No chem trails!Everyone look left.KTTH 770 AM radio host David Boze fires up the audience.Epic fail. At a patriotic rally, please keep the Made in China boxes discreetly out of sight when selling your wares. Journalism 101. There’s 7,000 people supporting Glenn Beck. And less than 200 liberal counter-demonstrators protesting him. Quick. Send a TV crew to interview the lefties!Glenn Beck’s security team. Scary…A protestor from the Animal Liberation Front tells the world exactly how she likes it. And wait, on the other sign… Hate is not a value in Washington. Go Cougs?!?Extra: There have been some questions about how much it cost to rent out Safeco Field for the day. According to Evergreen Freedom Foundation CEO Lynn Harsh, the price tag was around $40,000. It was fortunate the weather was so sunny because Harsh said the group would be charged another $8,000 if the roof had to be closed on the stadium.Personally, it would have been preferable to see a sudden rain storm move in and keep the retractable roof open. Give the whole event more of a Queensryche, “Jet City Woman” music video feel.