Glenn Beck took to the airwaves today to follow-up Roger Ailes' falsehood-laden defense of him with falsehood-laden defense of his own.
On Sunday's This Week, Ailes told Arianna Huffington that when Beck insisted the White House and progressives are “taking you to a place to be slaughtered” that he was simply “talking about Hitler and Stalin slaughtering people.”
This blatantly false interptation of Beck's remarks means one of two things: either Ailes does not watch Beck's show or Ailes is lying.
Here was Beck in November:
BECK: They need to do it this way. They need it do it in the cover of darkness. They need you to not to listen to me -- because if you start to listen to me, you're never going to willingly give up your freedom. You're going to be nudged into it, and if they can't nudge you into it, well then they'll push you into it.
What was it that Andy Stern just said a minute ago?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERN: We're trying to use the power of persuasion. And if that doesn't work, we'll use the persuasion of power because there are governments and there are opportunities to change laws that affect these companies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
STERN: We took names. We watched how they voted. We know where they live.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: Yes, they do know where I live. They know where you live, too. All they need is that final emergency, and it's going to come creeping up. We didn't realize it was this bad. Mark my words. No, don't mark my words -- mark the words of George Soros or anyone else around this White House. Play Soros' words again!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOROS: The system we have now has actually broken down, only we haven't quite recognized it. And so, you need to create a new one, and this is the time to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: These are the people that broke the system! It's broken because of corruption.
Look, this is not about the things that you and I believe in. Progressives think they know better than you do. They want to control every aspect of your life. Workers of America unite against these people!
The smart grid is not about saving energy or helping the planet. It is about one person, the rich guy, paying more than another guy, the poor guy. He'll pay less!
They call it social justice. They call it fair. They call it -- they call it anything but what it is, Marxism, spreading the wealth, leveling out the playing field.
There is one thing you cannot call any of these plans. You can't call it America. You can't do it.
I told you yesterday buckle up your seatbelt, America. Find the exit. There is one here, here and here. Find the exit closest to you and prepare for a crash-landing because this plane is coming down because the pilot is intentionally steering it into the trees! Most likely, it will happen sometime after Christmas.
You are going to see this economy come up -- we're already seeing it - - and now it's going to start coming back down again. And when you see the effects of what they're doing to the economy, remember these words: we will survive. We know we'll do better than survive. We will thrive -- as long as these people are not in control. They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered. [emphasis added]
And that certainly wasn't the only time Beck used violent rhetoric and warned of "danger" from Obama and progressives.
Not content to let his boss do the heavy lifting, Beck mounted his own defense of his violent rant: he flat out denied it.
BECK: I don't even know if I've ever used the word “slaughtered.” And if I used the word “slaughtered,” if it wasn't in a context of Mao, Stalin, or Hitler, it was in the idea that the truth is being slaughtered by this administration, not saying that this administration is going to slaughter anyone. [...] I have said that progressives, this ideology has lead to the slaughtering of millions. It has, it has. In particular: eugenics.
As Huffington, Crooks and Liars, and Brave New Films all clearly noted today, that's just not the case.
With these assertions, and O'Reilly's recent defense of his colleague, it raises the question: Does anyone on Fox (including Beck himself) watch Beck's show?
And if they do, is there any length they won't go to in order to defend him?