Attorneys for Glenn Beck ask judge to toss suit tied to Boston bombing

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - Attorneys for U.S. television commentator Glenn Beck on Monday asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit charging their client with defamation for wrongly accusing a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing of being the "money man" behind the attack.

The plaintiff, Saudi Arabian national Abdulrahman Alharbi, 21, had been present at the race's crowded finish line on April 15, 2013, when two homemade pressure-cooker bombs ripped through the crowd and was injured.

He was briefly investigated by federal authorities who concluded within days that he played no role in the largest mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Federal prosecutors now contend that a pair of ethnic Chechen brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, carried out the bombing.

Attorneys for Beck and his media company, The Blaze Inc, argued that by granting interviews to media outlets after being cleared of suspicion by federal officials, Alharbi made himself a "limited purpose public figure" subject to higher levels of scrutiny than a private citizen.

"The fact that Mr. Alharbi said what he said and availed himself of the opportunity to inject himself into this controversy in an attempt to shape the debate is not a fact that can be denied," attorney Michael Grygiel said during a hearing at U.S. District Court in Boston.

Alharbi's attorney, Peter Haley, said that Beck showed malice by continuing to claim the Saudi exchange student was responsible for the attacks even after he was cleared.

"All of the statements that we're focused on come after the point of exoneration," Haley said. "They're statements Mr. Beck has reason to know are false ... he continues to make them with reckless disregard to truth or falsity."

Chief Judge Patti Saris said she would consider the request but noted, "I'd be surprised if I resolved this in a motion to dismiss."

Neither Beck nor Alharbi attended Monday's hearing.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages.

Beck, Rush and the Boys ..

I am taking Rush, Beck and Newt off of my Facebook. They are using it as a TOOL to SELL, SELL, SELL and SELL. T-shirts seem to be the big item, and bumper stickers.

They do one post of SCARE STUFF, Obama this and Obama that ............ and OH, I have these T-shirts to sell. They have thousands of followers buying this junk from them. I wonder how they feel about those posts where people would like to have the item, but, "just don't have the money to get one now."

Facebook is FREE to them to gain their following, and FREE for them to sell their wares.

Leroy acquired his vast following through TV and appearances in his church and others. Then, he sold them pills to do all sorts of things, and then, he said that God told him just where to drill a well on his property for water, they he told his followers, the pills will work better if you wash them down with his water, "Sold in four gallon cartons, no broken cartons." That is a direct quote.

I think of him when I see Beck and all the "good old boys," selling their wares on Facebook.

Scare them, make them feel that the world is coming to an end, there is no future, so, buy and read my books, t-shirts, caps and cups ..... I have NO solutions, NO suggestions, just books and t-shirts and cups, and OH, Yea, "Wait Till November" and everything will be OK, then, if you read my books, etc. etc.

In many ways, they are more dishonest than the politicians. They fill the public with SCARY thoughts and ideas, but offer no solutions, while making tons of money ........ now that is REALLY dishonest.

Rush and Beck

What do I have to do to get a gigantic following of readers so I, too, can open an online store and make BIG BUCKS selling T-shirts and cups and hats?

Beck, who admittedly does not like politics* has a store and now has some sort of a pay-to-view show admits he is nothing but an entertainer, and they still blindly follow him and take his word as gospel. I think all these talk show hosts should be made to get Ministerial Licenses. They are nothing more than Evangelists,

I'll bet if you look deep enough, Leroy Jenkins is on the Beck advisory staff. They both do or have done the same think. GET A LARGE FOLLOWING AND THEN SELL THEM STUFF.

They have the bold faced audacity to critiize politicians for thier money making schemes, then they go on Facebook, get a large following and then start their "selling ways."

*In a 2010 interview in Forbes, Beck asserted that he was not political and his business is entertainment: "I could give a flying crap about the political process," continuing on to say "We're an entertainment company".

Buy a T-shirt from Glann Beck

I am really upset about Beck and all of these other DJ's, who by having loud voices, and an audience of sheep, who hear something that appeals to them and they become "fans," capitalizing on their fame. How much to you imagine that Beck makes, with his store, selling EXPENSIVE T-shirts and other items, cups, hats, many items by taking advantage of their following.

He has the bold faced audacity to  call the politicians unprincipled, thieves, stealing money, and the stupid looking guy in the above banner ad, from his site is as bad or worse than them. They at least had the guts, or whatever it took, to run for office, while Beck just goes to his studio and expounds his home spun propaganda.

He commented on Obama reading from a teleprompter, while he himself has a staff feeding information into his ears. I wonder if he is donating any of his PROFITS to any political party?

We are a great people, our country is falling into ruins and we buy T-shirts and cups and hats and let DJ''s tell us how to correct all of our problems ..... his new line ............ FAITH    HOPE    and   CHARITY T's  21.95 each ............... soon coming out with a new line ......... Get the Bill of Rights .... on  a T-shirt ........... ONE LETTER AT A TIME...............

Is that political commentary or merchandising ............ does he want you to listen, or BUY?