LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Violence is an unfortunate theme in the history of our politics. And now, “Media Matters” is reporting that there`s a link between a man arrested for firing on police in California in July, who`s admitted to plotting the assassination of leaders at the American Civil Liberties Union and the rhetoric of Glenn Beck.

Now, the founder of “Media Matters,” David Brock, along with Michael Keegan, president of People for the American Way, are calling on Sarah Palin, who`s been a huge supporter of Glenn Beck, to refudiate the FOX News host, to use one of Palin`s invented words.

Joining me now is David Brock, the founder of “Media Matters for America.”

David, can you explain this connection between a contemplated assassination plot and Glenn Beck`s rhetoric?

DAVID BROCK, FOUNDER & CEO, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: Sure, yes. I mean, the concerns that we raised in the op-ed that you cited today, one, Glenn Beck incited an attempted assassination plot against innocent employees of the Tides Foundation in San Francisco.

But that`s not all. There`s a history here as Ilyse said -- he has attempted to poison in effigy Nancy Pelosi on his set. That led to a death threat by a guy in San Francisco who threatened to burn her house down. That guy`s mother said he gets all his ideas from FOX News.

And let me give you a personal one. Dick Morris is on the air every night on FOX News raising money for his political activities. One of his consultants after “Media Matters” fact-checked one of their ads and found it false tweeted that our staff should be curb-stomped. OK?

So, there`s a whole pattern here what`s going on. And I think the question is what to do about it.

So, I think there -- this is how we get to Sarah Palin. Basically Beck, Beck`s erratic, he either won`t or can`t control himself even after he loses a hundred advertisers, so you can`t go there.

Murdoch was asked at a shareholder`s conference a couple of weeks ago about Beck, shareholder concerns about Beck -- he said he doesn`t agree with everything that goes on on the FOX News Channel, but he`s standing with Beck.

Ailes recruited Beck to do this. So, he`s standing with Beck.

That leaves you with sponsors. So, PFAW has backed up a Tides Foundation call with “Media Matters” called Drop FOX to ask for advertisers to take responsibility for this rhetoric.

I was recently told by a member of the Murdoch family that if you could affect the bottom line, you might get attention by the News Corp board. But the truth is, we can`t wait for that.

So, Sarah Palin, right now, in our view, needs to step up. She needs to step up because she`s a leader of the Republican Party, of the conservative movement. She`s a Tea Party favorite. She is the one person in this country right now, today, who in the national interest, just in the moment to put partisanship aside, could pull this country back from the precipice of another Oklahoma City. And that`s what a real leader does, that`s what we`re asking.

As you know, you know, Bill Buckley, back in the `60s, divorced the conservative movement from the John Birch Society, and called it idiocy and paranoia. So, there`s precedent for this.

And Sarah Palin is a leader. We`re now going to find out what kind of leader, what she`s made of, and whether she`s going to do it. And I`m telling you, we`re going to find out.

We published this piece this morning. We heard nothing today. I hope she`s watching the show tonight.

If we hear nothing in the morning, I am personally going to call Sarah Palin. I`m going to ask Michael Keegan of PFAW to join me on that call and we`re going to make a personal plea to her to stop this insanity. It has got to stop, as Ilyse just said.

O'DONNELL: David, what you just laid out sounds to me like an absolutely brilliant political strategy, political posture for Sarah Palin to adopt at this moment in this kind of atmosphere. She would get so much credit for a move like that without, I think, costing her anything from her right wing base.

BROCK: I think that`s right. Now, you know, she`s a FOX News contributor star. She`s perfectly positioned. She`s joined at the hip with Glenn Beck.

We know she`s done a few tweets, right, about resisting and reloading and all of that. But, you know -- now, words have consequences, as Peter King, a Republican, had the guts to say last week. So, she`s on notice. And she needs to do the right thing.

O'DONNELL: David Brock, I think you`ve offered her a brilliant strategy. It`s almost -- it`s something of a political intelligence test and we`ll find out in a couple of days --

BROCK: We`re going to find out.

O'DONNELL: -- just how far she is going forward if she`s going to be a candidate.

David Brock of “Media Matters” -- thank you very much for joining us tonight.

BROCK: Thanks very much for having me.

Previously:

David Brock and Michael Keegan call for Sarah Palin to “Refudiate” Glenn Beck