Beck's misleading presentation of information and mischaracterizations are so predictable that he can be debunked in advance. And that is exactly what the scholars at MediaMatters have done, with much aplomb.
At the end of today's show, Beck teased tomorrow's episode:
BECK: Barack Obama has his new faith-based initiative where he is literally merging faith with the EPA -- your church with the EPA. I’m gonna tell you all about it tomorrow. It is horrifying.
Horrifying!
From that single sentence, combined with the knowledge of how Beck's smear jobs typically work, Terry Krepel at MediaMatters was able to crank out the particulars of Beck's planned smear job immediately - almost a full day in advance!
...we have a pretty good idea of how Tuesday’s Glenn Beck is going to go down.
Here’s the background: In March, the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships issued a series of recommendations “on how the government can better partner with faith and neighborhood based organizations.” Among them:
Providing greater clarity on guidelines for how religious charities receive and utilize government funds to provide social services;
Encouraging government to work with faith and community-based groups to streamline access to benefits for the unemployed and the most vulnerable;
Promoting strategic partnerships between Fortune 500 companies, community organizations, domestic violence groups, veterans and those in the Fatherhood field to promote responsible father engagement in the lives of children; and
Bringing the power of 370,000 houses of worship across the country to the fight of climate change by greening buildings and promoting environmental stewardship in their congregations.
Guess which one Beck will be focusing on?
(emphasis added)
Me me me me! Pick me! I know which one!
MediaMatters then links to the brief, complete list of recommendations regarding “Environment and Climate Change” from the full report and lists them. Krepel then concludes:
We’re pretty sure you aren’t going to hear on Beck’s show about the utterly benign nature of making churches and nonprofit buildings more energy-efficient, or of streamlining issuance of benefits, or of promoting the involvement of fathers in their children’s lives, or of encouraging community gardens. Nor will you hear that Obama’s task force includes such high-profile evangelical Christian leaders like Joel Hunter, Richard Stearns, and Frank Page.
...
What will you hear about from Beck? Lots or ranting about “green jobs,” with a likely bonus mention of Van Jones. You will hear that the task force includes longtime right-wing nemeses like Jim Wallis, Harry Knox, and Dalia Mogahed. You will hear the term “social justice” being twisted and linked to communism. You will hear Beck's inane theory that carbon dioxide can't be a pollutant because we exhale it, and probably something about his "Crime, Inc." conspiracy.
Oh, and there’s one more thing you won’t hear from Beck: any actual evidence that Obama will be “literally merging ... your church with the EPA.” But then, Beck has never been one to let the facts get in his way.
(emphasis added)
That second to last paragraph there I think is the daily job description for Beck's producers.
I predict that if Beck has the guts to show the actual text of the complete list, he'll shout over it the entire time and tell his audience that the words don't have their plain and obvious meanings - they have the evil crazy meaning Beck says they have! Horrifying!
It's Becckam's razor - the most bizarre and far-fetched explanation is usually the right one.
Let's have some fun with this and show Beck that MediaMatters pretty much has his number. Please send this to all your twitter friends and lists:
Tuesday's Beck show debunked in advance! "http://shar.es/mC3OU" #p2 #tcot #teaparty #foxnews #glennbeck