A critical voice. Literally.

The lengthy Times article clocked in at just over 8,000 words. But the number of people who were directly quoted saying something negative about Beck? Zero.

That strikes me as odd considering Beck is an extraordinarily controversial political figure in America today, and somebody who makes his living saying outlandish and often hateful things; somebody whose job it is to be purposefully polarizing. Yet in an 8,000-word profile, the Times could find a single person, especially one from the political left, to directly quote who was critical of Beck? That's just astounding.(The Times did use a quote or two for other, previous published sources that were critical of Beck.)

But unfortunately, it continue a Times tradition of leaving out important voices (i.e. context) when publishing lengthy profiles of right-wing hate players.

For the record, here are all the people the Times writer quotes on the record and identifies by name in the article, besides the subject himself:

- Chris Balfe, the president and chief operating officer of Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's production company

- Joel Cheatwood, the Fox executive who brought Beck to CNN's Headline News and then to Fox

- Robert Beath, Beck's drama teacher at Sehome High School in Bellingham, Wash.

- Susan Trevethan, attended Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, D.C.

- Kraig Kitchin, the former president of Premiere Radio Networks, who signed Beck to a national-syndication deal

- Bill Shine, Fox News's programming director

-David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter

-Lee Hein, attended a Beck/Bill O'Reilly's “Bold and Fresh” tour event

-Steve Burguiere, a Beck radio sidekick

-Pat Gray, Beck's friend and former radio partner.

-Jerry Cole, attended the Beck/Sarah Palin 9/11 event in Anchorage.

Here's the one caveat to the list: The Times did include a quote from Anita Dunn, the former White House communications director, but didn't quote her saying anything substantively critical about Beck. Instead, she marveled at his on-air shtick: “There is that edge where you are always thinking, Is he going to totally lose it on camera?”

So believe it or not, this is true: There's nobody in the Times article who is quoted directly calling out Glenn Beck.