On his radio program today, Glenn Beck attacked 9-11 conspiracy theorists and mocked former White House green jobs adviser Van Jones' explanation that he didn't sign “up for a 9-11 truther thing.” On his Fox News program Monday, while discussing the Tucson attacks, Beck included “people who believe that the government was behind 9/11” as part of a “recipe for danger.”
Let's put this as simply as possible: Glenn Beck is a big hypocrite.
Beck's go-to-guest host is Andrew Napolitano, who is a 9-11 Truther (yes, the same group of people he's criticizing). As we documented in late November, Napolitano said that it's “hard for me to believe that” World Trade Center Building 7 “came down by itself” -- a central tenet of 9-11 Truth -- and claimed that “twenty years from now, people will look at 9-11 the way we look at the assassination of JFK today. It couldn't possibly have been done the way the government told us.”
Napolitano, by the way, made a similar statement in May, when he said he's suspicious of the government's accounts of the 9-11 attacks since the government has a history of lying (it is now “taken for granted that the government was involved in some way in the assassination of JFK”). Napolitano's 9-11 conspiracy views have drawn condemnation from liberals and conservatives.
Napolitano didn't make his 9-11 conspiracy theories known on just any radio show - he made it on Alex Jones' radio program. Jones describes himself as the founding father of the 9-11 was an “inside job” movement. Napolitano has repeatedly expressed admiration for “friend” Jones and another prominent 9-11 Truther, Jesse Ventura.
In September 2008, Glenn Beck criticized Rep. Ron Paul for associating himself with truthers like Jesse Ventura. Here's what he said on his CNN Headline News program to Paul:
BECK: But part of my problem is, well, for instance, we just had a picture up of Jesse Ventura speaking. Jesse Ventura is a 9/11 Truther. The guy practically accosted me in the makeup room about a year ago. I think he is off the deep end. Don`t you think it hurts the credibility of what you`re trying to say when you`ve got people saying that we intentionally blew up the World Trade Center, standing with you on stage?
Yet Beck hasn't had that same public talk with his friend Napolitano, who's gone further than appearing “on stage” with a truther. To the contrary, after Napolitano's remarks became public, Beck not only had him guest-host his Fox News program, he's also praised him as “a guy who gets it.”