Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 04:59 pm
On his radio show today, Glenn Beck not only admitted that he hates America, but he laid out the rationale for why it is okay for the Right to hate America too, “No, we’re not always great. Sometimes we really suck beyond imagination, and we have had out and out evil presidents,” so when a president is evil, it is okay to hate America.
Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:
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Beck said, “I was somebody that during the Clinton administration said, Can we please stop saying that the president is killing people in our national parks? Can we please stop saying that? You know, because what I said at the time was, if we believe that then we are farther down this road than you even imagine. You can’t have a president offing people in the national parks and think, well, but he’s good with the dot com thing. You can’t have it.”
Beck admitted that he hates America, “I’m a guy who has always believed that we’ve had good presidents and bad presidents, but not presidents who want to destroy the United States of America, and that may remain true. They may not think they’re destroying the United States of America, but I have come to a more adult conclusion after I have stopped just chanting USA, USA, USA, and stopped just waving the flag because it’s the flag and this is America, and we’re always great.”
He then attacked Obama as the worst president of them all, “No, we’re not always great. Sometimes we really suck beyond imagination, and we have had out and out evil presidents. Woodrow Wilson is one of them. Andrew Jackson is another one. Barack Obama may be the worst of all of them, and Barack Obama is a guy that fundamentally. He really I believe I think he’s doing the right thing, and in fact with his idea of collective salvation, he thinks he’s doing the moral thing, and he wants to fundamentally transform America, which means more regulation and telling people how to live their lives, and this would be a perfect opportunity.”
What Beck laid out here is the conservative definition of conditional patriotism. Conservatives love America when a “non evil” a.k.a. Republican people have elected an “evil president.” This is why we all were supposed to rally around George W. Bush and wave the flag, but doing so for Barack Obama is wrong. Beck is providing justification for the Tea Party’s hatred of America. He is saying that it is legitimate to disrespect the office of the presidency, and the Commander in Chief when that person is of the opposing political party and therefore “evil.”
In this area Glenn Beck and the Tea Party are different than Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. They both hate America. They hate America, but not only did the country elect a Democrat to the presidency, but even worse, we elected a black Democrat, and because this black Democrat is from the wrong political party, in their view, the president is illegitimate and it is their patriotic duty to hate him, his office, and the people who elected him.
Glenn Beck’s point is that it is okay to hate America when America does not do what you want. Instead of being an adult view as he contends, this worldview is the height of childishness. As much as progressives and Democrats loathed George W. Bush after the 2000 election, once he was sworn into office they never attempted to delegitimize him like the Right has done to Obama. George W. Bush was the President of the United States and even if people didn’t respect him, they respected the office.
Not only does the Right currently hate America, but they are carrying out a campaign of rage and political terrorism. By not respecting the basic institutions of our system is not only unpatriotic, but it is undemocratic. People on the Right like Glenn Beck only love America, when it is shaped in their image. Beck, Palin, the Tea Party, Fox News, these people aren’t patriots. They are terrorists conducting a guerilla campaign against our flag, our freedoms, and our democracy. Call me old fashioned, but I’ll support the red, white, and blue no matter which party controls Congress or the White House. A real patriot always supports their country no matter what. Glenn Beck, and all of those who share his beliefs are traitors to America, and don’t deserve to live in our great nation.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
