By Hannity's Standards, Fox Must Fire Beck

Written by Adam Shah

Published

We've previously documented that by Glenn Beck's own standards, he deserves to be fired. As someone who spews falsehoods and baseless accusations on a continuous basis, he should not be allowed to remain on the air. It turns out Beck is also violating the standards of fellow Fox News host Sean Hannity, who said “they'd fire me” for engaging in incendiary rhetoric.

On Thursday, Hannity interviewed Media Research Center director L. Brent Bozell, who attacked media figures for wishing for the death of conservative figures. Bozell also went after Bill Maher for supposedly saying “conservatives want to kill liberals.” (According to Bozell's own website, NewsBusters, Maher actually said: “The right-wing loves, the go-to rhetoric for them is, 'Wouldn't it be fun to kill the people we disagree with?' ”)

Hannity responded in part, “If we did talk this way, I'd be fired. Let's be honest.” Bozell agreed: “Absolutely, you'd be fired.” Hannity then said: “If I just -- to take any of these quotes, and it's me talking and me attacking a prominent liberal politician, whatever, they'd fire me.”

Since Beck has fantasized about the death of progressive politicians and has repeatedly explicitly stated that progressives want to kill him and other people, by Hannity's standards, Beck should be fired.

Beck has fantasized about killing filmmaker Michael Moore and poisoning House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

And he regularly suggests that progressives will engage in violence or want to kill him and other conservatives. For instance:

  • On March 23, 2010, Beck suggested that members of the Obama administration want to kill him, saying: “And for those of you in the administration who are coming after me on this one -- I mean, remember, you've broken three [of the 10 Commandments], let's not make it four. 'Thou shall not kill.' ”
  • On February 16, 2010, Beck said, “I'd better start wearing a vest,” because “White House advisers promise a quicker, more aggressive response to GOP attacks on the president and his policies.”
  • On September 13, 2010, Beck warned that “if you don't think violence is coming, I'm going to share some audio of Frances Fox Piven that will boggle your mind.” Beck said that “they don't mind violence. Violence will come. And violence will come from the left. Violence is part of the plan. Not mine, not yours.”
  • On June 10, 2010, Beck warned that “anarchists, Marxists, communists, revolutionaries, Maoists” have to “eliminate 10 percent of the U.S. population” in order to “gain control.”
  • On May 27, 2010, Beck said that progressives are engaging in a “soft revolution” designed to silence voices like his. He added: “If somebody starts to turn on them, or they can't get everyone to silence, that's when the arrests come, or that's when they start a hard revolution. That's when they start just shooting people. I hope we don't get to that point.”
  • On September 24, 2010, Beck suggested that Obama would respond to potential GOP victories in the November 2010 elections by “going right directly” to the “most progressive, most violent, the worst of the worst on the left and stir 'em up. 'Get out into the streets. Cause trouble.' It's what's coming. It's what's coming.”
  • On March 23, 2010 -- the same day he warned that the Obama administration wants to kill him -- Beck suggested that Pelosi and Obama have thought of “pick[ing] up a gun” to advance revolution.

We await Hannity's call for Fox to fire Beck.