Glenn Beck's revisionist history of Glenn Beck
November 04, 2009 1:01 pm ET by Simon Maloy
In case you missed it the other day, on his Fox News program Glenn Beck linked health care reform to 9-11, likening legislation designed to better the lives of Americans to a fuel-laden passenger jet striking the World Trade Center, and casting himself, as the leader of his 9-12 cult, as the only person standing in the way of disaster.
It's the type of deluded and offensive narcissism that we've come to expect from Beck, and normally I wouldn't have given it a whole lot of thought afterwards, but something else caught my ear in the middle of Beck's rant as he tried to cast himself as some sort of latter-day Cassandra whose prophetic warnings about bin Laden fell on deaf ears: "In the 1990s, I was on the radio warning people about Osama bin Laden, not because I was some super-smart genius. I just listened to the man's words. I really believed him. But that wasn't the top of the priority list in America -- no, no, no. We were dealing with the fat interns and the definition of is, and I like the rest of America went back to sleep on the terrorist threat."
It just so happens that Glenn Beck has on his website a section called "Classic Beck," which contains selected audio recordings of Beck's radio programs going back several years. One of those recordings is from August 22, 1998, and is described as follows: "Glenn debuts on the WABC in New York City. Glenn discusses the recent U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan and if the American people are ready for the upcoming War on Terrorism." And it just so happens that near the beginning of this recording, Beck comments on Osama bin Laden:
BECK: Now, another newspaper in Pakistan says that it received a statement for the--from the spokesperson for Azma bin Ladin [sic]. Is that is name? Bin Ladin? Bin Ladeen? Bin jelly bean, green bean, Mr. Clean? I love him. He's hot. He says he's ready for war with the U.S. Oh yes? Thank you Mr. Baked Bean.
A respected newspaper quotes the statement as follows: "The war has just started, and Americans should wait for the answer." Now, Mr. Ozma Dig-my-scene, I don't even know what the question was! Was the question "is my turban on too tight?" Yes! I think it is. The blood's not pumping around the whole brain. Loosen the turban, Mr. Clean, dig my scene. Oh yes, let's look at the latrine.
Does this sound like Beck was "warning" about bin Laden and taking his words seriously? Now, consider the time period - it's late August 1998, just a few weeks after the Al Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and President Clinton just launched cruise missiles into Afghanistan and Sudan in retaliation. If there was ever a time in the '90s when terrorism was the focus of America's attention, this was it. And Glenn Beck, debuting on WABC, used that time to make silly jokes about bin Laden's name and dismiss his threats as a symptom of an overly tight turban.
But the Glenn Beck of August 1998 doesn't jibe with the Glenn Beck of 2009, who desperately wants to be taken seriously as the last remaining bulwark against the rising tide of socialism or fascism or statism or whatever. So Beck simply rewrote his own history. Ironically, it was the actual historical records that Beck maintains on his own website that undermined his attempt at revisionism.
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Osama bin Laden was a danger, clearly. Clinton did what he could to fight against terrorists like bin Laden, including finding the guys who did the first WTC bombing and jailing them, retaliating against those who bombed our embassies, stopping the Millennium attacks, and uncovering who did the USS Cole bombing, just to name 4 things associated with Osama and terrorism.
Rightwingers made fun of Clinton. Beck made fun of him above - throwing red meat to his listeners with the "what the definition of "is" is" smear.
Beck says that all of America went to sleep WRT terrorism. But that's not true. Clinton didn't. Richard Clarke didn't. They tried to tell Bush to worry about terrorism. Clinton told Bush that it would be the most important thing he had to deal with. He ignored that for many months. Richard Clarke and others came to Bush directly and to higher ups in his administration repeatedly with "hair on fire" warnings, but the principals involved in the fight against terrorism had their first meeting scheduled for when everyone would be back from summer vacation, on 9/12. 8 months after Clinton told him that the highest priority he should have would be terrorism. How can it take you more than 200 days to have a meeting on the top priority?????
Unbelievable...Glenn Beck WORSHIPS Osama Bin Laden! He absolutely ADORES this terrorist who is responsible for the bloody deaths of thousands of innocent Americans!
These are Glenn Beck's own words, so he can't deny it. We have the tape to prove that Glenn Beck is one step removed from Osama Bin Laden.
WAKE UP, AMERICA...! Do something about this...!
BTW, Glenn...my red phone is right here by my side in case you want to refute anything I've said.
So yes, Beck definitely loves Osama Bin Laden and from that we can assume that Beck supports Islamic militants and terrorists.
We have terrorists right here in our own media people, wake up!
Not only would you make a million dollars (I'll order five BTW), but you also use Glenn Beck to destroy ... Glenn Beck.
As it is, they just don't care. He validates their bigotry and ignorance... and that's all they require of him.
Heck, we might be able to convince his fans to buy the t-shirt as a badge of honor.
They respond to emotions, and Beck's a master manipulator of that sort of person. Fear is his tool, and he knows his audience responds to it.
Unless that is, you're Van Jones. Or Bill Ayers. Etc.
Secondly, he's always used comedy and snark to present his point. For a while he referred to Ahmadinejad as "President Tom", because he didn't feel like saying his name and figured it was just easier to call him Tom. But he still vocalized his opinion against Ahmadinejad. Comedy doesn't discount severity.
That's a pretty weak defense. Beck is claiming to have taken bin Ladin seriously; let him produce the evidence that that's the case. Or find some yourself from Beck's archives. We'll wait.
Comedy doesn't discount severity.
Of course, when it comes to Beck's brand of "humor," comedy doesn't count for anything at all.
Change that to "a very weak defense."
I'd be willing to bet that eventually Beck followed the lead of his right-wing comrades and downplayed the entire issue of failed states as the breeding ground for stateless terrorism.