Beck on his new role at ABC: "How do you tone down honesty? You just are who you are"
During an interview on the March 18 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz asked Glenn Beck, host of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck, if he will "be toning it down a bit" during his upcoming appearances as a "regular commentator" on ABC's Good Morning America. Beck told Kurtz: "No. I mean, I think my success comes from being honest. ... How do you tone down honesty? You just are who you are."
During his lead-in to the interview, Kurtz noted that Beck has been "mired in one controversy after another" since his television show premiered in May 2006. Kurtz aired video clips -- documented by Media Matters for America -- of Beck joking about putting Braille on coffee pots and labeling the Iraq Study Group recommendations "Operation White Flag." Kurtz also noted that Beck recently called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) a "stereotypical -- well, it's an unflattering word starting with B." As Media Matters noted, on the March 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Beck described Clinton as "the stereotypical bitch." Further, Kurtz confronted Beck about this statement, made during a November 14, 2006, interview with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who recently became the first Muslim elected to Congress: "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' "
From the March 18 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources:
KURTZ: Since joining CNN's Headline News 10 months ago, radio talk-show host Glenn Beck has been getting mired in one controversy after another.
[begin video clip]
BECK: I work at Radio City in midtown Manhattan, and up by the doors, you know, like where the -- you know -- the office kitchen is, in Braille, on the wall, it says "kitchen." You'd have to -- a blind person would have to be feeling all of the walls to find "kitchen." Just to piss them off, I'm going to put in Braille on the coffee pot -- I'm going to put, "Pot is hot." Ow!
[...]
BECK: The Iraq Study Group recommends a new course of action in Iraq. I like to call it "Operation White Flag."
[end video clip]
KURTZ: Just the other day on his radio show on Premiere [Radio] Networks, Beck called Hillary Clinton a stereotypical -- well, it's an unflattering word starting with B. Earlier, I spoke with him from New York.
[...]
BECK: I find it very offensive. I find it extraordinarily offensive in rap music, and [Rev.] Al Sharpton and I had an hour-long conversation -- we both agree on the N-word. I agree on the K-word. I agree on the F-word.
However, when you are having a discussion about words, can you not utter the words in an adult conversation? And need I remind everyone you can call me all kinds of names. Racist is a word that I find very offensive. Bigot, I find very offensive. I'm not a bigoted man. I'm not a racist. I'm a guy who asks honest questions. And when you get into the situation where you can't have conversations about words, I have to go back to what my mother said, and that is, "Sticks and stones my break my bones, but names will never hurt me."
Names -- those words said in hatred are absolutely offensive and have no place in our society. But when you're having a discussion about the power of words, and when are you having a discussion of what words are acceptable, what words are not, can we not be adult enough to have that discussion?
KURTZ: All right. I want to ask you now about the single most controversial thing you've done since you've joined Headline News, this was your interview with the newly elected Democratic congressman from Minnesota, Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress. Let's watch what you asked him.
BECK [video clip]: You are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let's cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies." And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.
KURTZ: I've got to be blunt here. I found that horribly offensive.
BECK: I can appreciate that. It was a poorly worded question. And I apologize for a poorly worded question. However, I think we're all living in denial if we are really saying to each other that a world that we live in now, where we can't -- where we have to shut up because of political correctness, and we can't say, "Muslim extremists are bad. Ten percent of Islam is extreme and want to kill us." Because I say those things, people gather together and want to shut --
KURTZ: Why assume that an elected member of Congress, who happens to be a --
BECK: No sir. I didn't -- no sir.
KURTZ: -- Muslim would in any way be affiliated with those extremists?
BECK: That is not what I said. And I immediately said, "I am not accusing you of that." But we need to recognize because it's dangerous for Muslims, good Muslims, the 90 percent-plus of Islam, it is dangerous for them. Because there is a feeling in a lot of Americans that, "Jeez, everybody is trying to shut me up. Nobody wants to admit that maybe as much as 10 percent of Islam is bad, and so we can't have these conversations," and that buries these, "Gee, I don't know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are."
I am not saying anything like he was a bad guy. What I was trying to say is, is there is a feeling in America that is unreasonable, but it is being fostered by a political correctness blanket that we have to throw on everything.
[...]
KURTZ: Got about 20 seconds here. You are going to start soon as a contributor to ABC's Good Morning America. Will you be toning it down a bit on those appearances?
BECK: No. I mean, I think my success comes from being honest. How do you tone down honesty? How do you tone down honesty? You just are who you are.
Ahh, the narcissism of the sociopath. Is it not a beautiful thing? No?
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!
The Man whom would presume to call Pres. Jimmy Carter a traitor, and a 'waste of a human skin' would be a daily commentator on a national morning news show!!! A bigot, rascist, liar, homophobe, and evangelical fanatic whom thinks he's honest!!! Insanity!!!
The Man needs a lesson in manors, and is the last man to tell anyone whether they are patriotic, or not!!!!
The Man is the argument for the return of the Fairness Doctrine!!
Nah, he's just another reason to turn CNN off and never look at it again. I try to keep the orcs off my tv and out of my home.
Honesty?
Please.
Maybe Beck will start using that cheesy Billy Joel song as his theme.
I wish CNN played Beck's "come on" to that young woman a few weeks back. That would have been priceless.
I for one think Glen Beck is honest. He acts like a dumbass, and I believe he truly is a dumbass.
Well said Rusty.
Right, so the way to "tone down" being a dumbass would, of necessity, be to STFU. And this is not going to happen, for the clear and specific reason that he is doing exactly what they pay him to do.
At the moment that being a public dumbass is no longer a money-making enterprise, Mr. Beck will be shown the door, and not before.
Exactly. There's no good reason for Kurtz to have this conversation with Beck: if he really wanted to have a substantial discussion about how responsible media should behave, Kurtz should have interviewed someone with the authority to fire Beck and asked, "Why keep Beck on the air when every dollar he earns for you is offset by greater damage to CNN's reputation?"
Yeah, that's all fine and good, but what if you're an asshole?
Heck, I'm an asshole, but at least I can tone it down when I need to.
My dad always said if you have to tell someone you are a christian, you probably aren't. I'd say the gist of what he said applies here as well.
Why, oh why, are these fools given air on radio or television? OK, we all know now that they are hate-filled, Bush-apologists, who only want to return to the days when everything was white and minorities and furn-ers were shut up in some corner. Is it worthwhile to allow them to show how backward-looking and bigoted they are?
Beck is being extremely manipulative and deceptive in his use of the term "honesty." What he is doing is saying that because he acts on TV the same way he acts in his daily life, and says all the same things on TV as in his daily life, that he is simply being himself. However, he is also trying to equate "being himself" with being honest with his viewers...which is actually two totally different things. Just because Beck acts like "himself" on TV and therefore giving viewers an accurate portrayal, he can still be a liar and use his soap box to spread misinformation, prejudice, hatred, fear and ignorance.
Just because he is acting like his true self on TV, and not playing a role, does not mean he is being honest with his viewers in terms of his claims and shows content. One can still be honest about who they are as a person while being factually dishonest (deliberate or no) to viewers.
Excellent observation. Beck is a propagandist...period. On last Friday night's radio show, he trotted out that tired old "45 Stated Goals of Communism" and implied that all have come true. The list was compiled by a Mormon "scholar" and reads like a list of Conservative paranoid delusions. You don't have to get very far into it to realize that it's nonsense.
I looked those "Goals" up, just for fun. Surprise - you can find them on Freeper! I bet they have their genesis in this old piece of propaganda.
I was wondering what happened to my "ruggedness" and why I'm so interested in sex.
Now I know.
You may be right. The "45 goals" were fabricated by Cleon Skausen, a Mormon who would be a member of a Conservative think tank if he were still alive. He's credited with such gems of wisdom as "Every boy should know that masturbation may be the first step toward homosexuality."
One of those stated goals is quite telling:
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
...who would be a member of a Conservative think tank if he were still alive.
Considering the quality of output of conservative think tanks, I'm surprised being alive is a prerequisite.
Geez. Some of that 10 ten list look like Fox News modus.
I find this one interesting...
<> "4. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance."Isn't this what the Right has been doing for about 30 years?
Whoa!! I just fell off my chair I laughing so hard!!!I have not been to this site for awhile, and whoa!! you people are as funny as ever!!!Do you even read this stuff. Yea, like you are really attemping to bring the country together and not dividing. And what is really funny, is the fact that you think these comments are real important. Thank you once again for the laughs.
ESADYFL? yeah, I recognize that name.
weren't you the republican troll who came here with a bunch of talking points that were obvious BS to anyone with a functioning central nervous system, lost every argument, got whooped, then typed "hahahaha" and "lololololol" before running off? Then you came back to tell everybody how much they made you laugh, rather than work up a point or an opinion?
I'm sorry, I may have you confused with any one of 50 others.Did you have something to say?
Yeah HBL I do remember you too. You are just not as funny as the others. If I recall correctly (and I do) it wasn't me who got whopped last time. Anyway, I just don't have the time read all the wonderful and highly important comments you've been posting. And in the future, please refer to me the Libertarian Troll. Thanks!!
You misremember. HBL is a very funny guy and you DID get shredded libertarian or not.
I don't remember that twerp easy-something, but HBL is definitely hilarious. Keep up the good work HBL.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones..." is different when you talk about politics. After all words are like bullets in politics, some are just more dangerous than others.
Every time a right-wing android like Beck and his ilk (i.e. Hannity, Limbaugh, Wiener-Savage, Morgan, etc) obtains a national media soapbox, it drops the nation's quality of discourse just a little bit more.
It's amazing how stupidity and loutish behavior can be so rewarded in this country. To hell with smart ideas; all that matters is who can be the most obnoxious behind the mike, and collect ratings points.
I find Beck to be very honest. He has told us all he is a sexist and racist. Thank you Beck, now please resign from a mainstream media outlet. Shame on you ABC.
under the gun on kurt'z interview, beck lied about his interview with rep. ellison. he completely changed around his intent, as well as his verbal slap to the representative. not only is he a bigot, racist and CONserve water boy, he doesn't even have the courage to admit he said what he really said. as i've said before, there are 11 and 12 year olds out there who can sit behind a microphone an mouth his sophmoric garbage. how fast would thom hartman verbally destroy this fraud? pretty quick.
It doesn't appear that Kurtz pressed Beck about calling Hillary a bitch.
Why did Kurtz let him off the hook?
Would that be Atty Gen Gonzales' form of honesty?
But more seriously, the answer to Beck's question is yes, you can tone down honesty. Specifically, being completely honest about your opinion is sometimes unnecessary and hurtful. For example, if your spouse botches dinner, is it really necessary or smart to say "yeah, honey, that was awful?"
As for an explanation for Beck's comment, narcissism is definitely one possibility. It kind of makes you wonder what happened with his first marriage.
Why do I have the feeling that Beck does indeed tell his wife that the food she just spent an hour cooking tastes like crap, and that he's going out to get some better food instead.
It's still amazes me, even after all of these months, that he actually asked an elected official to "prove that he isn't working w/ our enemies."
He asked him that to his face! On NATIONAL TV!
How crazy is that??????
And I like how he backpedalled in the interview here, trying to make it seem like that wasn't his intent. And ABC hired him! What is the world coming to???
Glenn - could not agree with you more. You are indeed who you are and still CNN and ABC hired you?
Not sure what the point of the Kurtz interview was. Ratings sagging at CNN? Need to remind people that you say really stupid (yet honest) things...because as we know, the more outrageous the better the ratings? Catching heat for the comment you made to the congressman or all of the above?
The problem here isn't Glenn Beck...okay he is problem, but the real problem is CNN and ABC. Hey CNN / ABC, I know where you can get a guy who will say even dumber (yet honest) things than Beck for just half the price!! CALL ME!!
I think he stole that line from David Duke? Or was it Lewis Faracon?
These Cons wear their stupidity and ignorance like a badge of honor.
...I'm ignorant, I'm a moron, I'll spew filth and lies at the drop of a hat. But I'm honest as hell and I've got my own TV show!!
CNN has reached a nadir with the Fox Noise approach that Glen Beck brings to infotainment. He's a bigot, and that's his best quality. CNN should return to the credo that Ted Turner used when he founded that cable station. There was a dignified factual approach by anchors and well researched news stories and less entertainment disguised as news. Beck should be let go.
Of course Glenn Beck is honest! He was trained by Bill O'Reilly, Ann(thrax) Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Savage
"Racist is a word that I find very offensive. Bigot, I find very offensive. I'm not a bigoted man. I'm not a racist. I'm a guy who asks honest questions. "
- Glenn Beck
I keep forgetting. It's not racism if you have REASONS for being racist.
He's just asking honest questions. Like,
"How many ________s does it take to change a light bulb?
How do you tone down stupidity? You just are you are.
"How do you tone down honesty?"
Perhaps except for the sake of tact, politeness or some extraordinary cinrucstances, you should not have to tone down honestly. Bu the real issue with Beck is not about honesty, for he may believe much of the goofiness he speaks. The real issue is whether Beck has the capacity to comprehend truth.
" I think my success comes from being honest. How do you tone down honesty? "
And that would be why you find no liberal hosts on tv or radio. Dishonesty and success seldom mix (example: dan rather). Beck is certainly honest, to the point that he seems to upset a rather vocal company of bloggers. However, once you get past your hypocosies, you see that he is just a comedian doing what comedians do. BTW, how long has he been doing this, now? For a couple years on tv, right? Hmmm, that sounds like a couple years longer than air america lasted.... dishonesty and success seldom mix.
"...sounds like a couple years longer than air america lasted."
Yes, perhaps, but not as long as "Gilligan's Island" lasted...
Also, I'd have to disagree about Dan Rather. Although I've never cared for him that much he had a long and successful career. What... about forty years on TV?
Air America is still going.
I'm not sure but I think "Gilligan's Island" got cancelled. I know "Rome" cancelled itself... last episode is next week.
At any rate, twenty years from now I doubt if anyone will even remember who Beck was. I can picture him gliding across a freshly waxed showroom floor stocked with glistening new Chryslers of many colors, smiling sincerely as he greets a middle-America, family values couple at the door. "And how can I help you nice people today?" he asks earnestly.
I don't think he has the gumption to sell cars. That's work. Glen doesn't seem to have ever held a real job.
If Beck could stay focused I'd bet he could be Salesman of The Month Really...!
"...and for $500, which is our cost, my boss said I could throw in undercoating, too."
Glen would be hearing "third place is you're fired," followed by "you're fired, Beck."
Not only were those assertions basless they were evidence of borderline insanity. Of COURSE dishonesty and success often mix. Limbuagh, Savage, Coulter, and Beck are ALL examples. Rather had more integrity and honesty in his little finger on an off day than Beck will EVER see. YOUR side has Bush, a president who lies like most people BREATHE, Limbaugh who ADMITTED he lied to his audience when he said he was tired of making cases for GOP policies that were bad. Raygun who was so dumb even though most of what he said had ZERO connection with reality may not have been lying just too ignorant to know the difference, and you want to paint LIBERALS as dishonest? Man, you have lost all touch with reality, that is if you were EVER within miles of it which I have seen no evidence of.
Good points, Solon. The absurdity of it all is that lying is way of life for so many of those guys on the other side. What phonies...
Face it, I called that one right. Rather got caught in a lie and tried to lie his way out of it. He lost his job over it. Are you trying to say he is NOT a liar? Facts are, if someone lies once, they probably lie more often, before and after. So, that proves that Rather has been a liar for 40 years. And you think he is more credible than right wingers, yet you claim right wingers are bunk because they lie. That explains why so many thinik your liberal mind is wasted on some kind of drug. Which is your drug of choice today??
. Beck is certainly honest, to the point that he seems to upset a rather vocal company of bloggers. - autopsychic
I don't know if "upset" is the right word, more "annoyed" by his stoopidity.Either way, does being annoying or upsetting automatically indicate honesty.
then again, maybe that's just my hypocosies talking,
"...maybe that's just my hypocosies talking,"
Thus proving that at least we're not hypocritical about our hypocricies... ;>)
"Dishonesty and success seldom mix"
<> Autopsycho is another conservative who apparently slept through the past 15 years. The Right Wing spinners have created a cottage industry on lies. Rush Limbaugh got more back from Bush's tax cut last year than you'll make in a lifetime.Rush Limbaugh's tax breaks...?
Yea... but the poor guy had to spend it all on rehab.
I remember the first time I stumbled upon the Beck program on Headline News. At first I did not understand why there would even be a program on Headline News. I guess some people don't expect just a recap of headlines on Headline News. Oh, well silly me, I guess I'll watch for awhile, maybe this will be the CNN version of O'Reilly but this guy will be a liberal or moderate or something besides an O'Reilly clone. So, I admit, I was fooled twice.
and here I thought Beck was about unbiased as the rest of the CNN show hosts..
He just leans in the opposite direction (right) to the rest of what CNN offers up.