The war on Beck

Fox News has taken a relatively cautious line toward the White House attacks on the network, leaving the real fireworks to Glenn Beck, who Monday accused the White House of being "more worried about the war on Fox than the actual war in Afghanistan." The charge prompted one source with too much time on his hands to send over the results of a Nexis search of Beck's program since it began on Fox in January. The frequency of the words used offers a clue to its themes. And unsurprisingly, the Taliban (38 mentions) just isn't in the same league as some domestic threats, notably ACORN, which tops the list at 1,224 mentions. It's a remarkable shift, indeed, for Fox, which dwelled heavily on terrorism during the Bush administration but which, like the conservative movement, has turned toward a sharply domestic focus this year.