Beck's Nothing Special To Smithsonian

Glenn Beck was quick to note that The Smithsonian Institution was seeking items from his Restoring Honor rally, claiming that proves some kind of signifigance for the event.

According to a transcript of his Aug. 30 Fox News show, he said:

I'm going to tell you something now that no one knows. On Saturday night, I woke my family up. It was 11:00 when I got the news that the Smithsonian called. They want -- they want items from the event preserved for the Smithsonian.

Well, gee, now, why would America's museum of history want something about a rally that had 87,000 people and just wasn't racist? Is that worthy of being in a museum or being held in archives?

The reason it's not reported is the media doesn't understand things like this. And the other reason is because those who do understand know that if it's explained and you understand what it really, really is, it could change the course of our country.

No, the reason it was not reported is because it was not a big deal.

An official at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History said they did seek artifacts from the Beck rally. But she added that they also sought items from Rev. Al Sharpton's competing rally across town and routinely do so for such events in Washington, D.C.

"We have a division of political history and they do routinely collect from various rallies, demonstrations and protests," Melinda Machado, director of public affairs for the museum, told me. "Our political history collection goes back 200 years."

She said the museum collected water bottles, pamphlets, leaflets, T-shirts and buttons from the Beck event. But she pointed out that such items have also been collected from Tea Party rallies, pro gay-marriage demonstrations and "most demonstrations on the National Mall."

Machado also pointed out that such efforts in no way indicate any endorsement of the groups involved: "They are people exercising their freedoms."