Glen Beck, Again

I don’t really care about Glen Beck. Let me amend that, I care that so many people hang on his every word. I realize that he must have done something right to get to the place where people tune in to his shows in such large numbers to be entertained and enlightened by him.

But that’s the thing… does he enlighten? I mean he does entertain. Often he is laughable. But he is also scary. He is also dangerous. One part of his job is to spread ill will toward the president and his family. I don’t mean taking on the president intellectually. That couldn’t happen. I mean, using his vast pulpit to spread fear and, dare I say, political hatred.

Why else would he use so much of his time and resources belittling Malia Obama for asking her father if they had plugged the hole in the Gulf oil leak? It seems like an innocent enough question, doesn’t it? It is the same question that millions of Americans are asking. Indeed the entire world is looking at this fiasco and wanting to know when the hole will be plugged. It seems like Glenn Beck could use his time on the air more wisely by asking the very question Malia asked.

Instead he took off after her on his radio show on May 26th, like she was in illiterate idiot, insultingly mocking her voice, and putting down her intelligence. The thing is, he doesn't sound exactly like a rocket scientist himself at the time he is putting her down... "Did you plug the hole yet, daddy?" Is that's their -- that's the level of their education, that they're coming to -- they're coming to daddy and saying 'Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?' " Plug the hole!

OK, I am a father. If someone mocked my sons for asking a question like this I would be furious. I would take them on. But, hey, I am a dad who loves his children. The thing is, Beck is also a father who loves his children. So I have to ask myself, how does the man sleep at night?

I am also a Christian, and while I have made some huge mistakes in my life, I know that it is simply wrong to belittle a child who has nothing to do with political agendas. It is simple. It is really a no brainer. The thing is, Beck is also a Christian.

I have seen clips of Beck’s tears on TV when he is saddened by the plight of our country. I guess they are sincere. I wonder if he could muster up a few tears asking for forgiveness for what he has done here. This time he should ask Malia for her forgiveness. There is absolutely no excuse for mocking an eleven year old. None. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue. He went on and on getting more and more ridiculous.

Once he got going, he just couldn’t shut himself up. At one point in his rant, he asks (while doing this foolish rendition of Malia’s voice in, I swear, a terrible ‘blackface’ routine), Daddy, “Why do you hate black people so much?” To which his partner answers for Mr. Obama, “I’m part white honey.”

Now, Mr. Beck defenders might say this is out of context. That with only a few sentences of his remarks the entire meaning of the piece is lost. If you were to read the entire piece or routine or rant – whatever you might call it, it is clear that he took a lot of time (around 4 minutes) and effort to be deliberately mean spirited and humiliating to Malia and the president. The thing is, he made himself out to be a stupid clod, soliciting laughs using the lowest form of humor. It doesn’t just border on unacceptable racist humor. It defines it.

The other part of me that sees this foolishness as something more than mere ignorance on Mr. Beck’s part, is the teacher in me. If someone were to mock one of my students or to question his/her intelligence (as Mr. Beck does in his routine) it would infuriate me. At best Mr. Beck is a mean spirited idiot (I would love to see his I. Q. compared to Malia’s). At worst he is a cowardly fear and hate monger bent on making himself look better at the expense of a little girl who has nothing to do with his political angst other than being the daughter of the man he despises. The man who happens to be our president. The thing is he calls himself a patriot.

Judge for yourself. Please leave a comment.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, did you plug the hole yet? Daddy?

PAT GRAY (co-host): (imitating Obama) No I didn't, honey.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy, I know you're better than [unintelligible]

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Mm-hmm, big country.

BECK: (imitating Malia) And I was wondering if you've plugged that hole yet.

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Honey, not yet.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Why not, daddy? But daddy--

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Not time yet, honey. Hasn't done enough damage.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Not enough damage yet, honey.

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah?

BECK: (imitating Malia) Why do you hate black people so much?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) I'm part white, honey.

BECK: (imitating Malia) What?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) What?

BECK: (imitating Malia) What'd you say?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Excuse me?

BECK: (laughing) This is such a ridiculous -- this is such a ridiculous thing that his daughter-- (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: It's so stupid.

BECK: How old is his daughter? Like, thirteen?

GRAY: Well, one of them's, I think, thirteen, one's eleven, or something.

BECK: "Did you plug the hole yet, daddy?" Is that's their -- that's the level of their education, that they're coming to -- they're coming to daddy and saying 'Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?' " Plug the hole!

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yes, I was doing some deep-sea diving yesterday, and--

BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I was doing--

BECK: (imitating Malia) Why--

GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah, honey, I'm--

BECK (imitating Malia) Why, why, why, why, do you still let the polar bears die? Daddy, why do you still let Sarah Palin destroy the environment? Why are -- Daddy, why don't you just put her in some sort of a camp?