Apparently Beck on his show yesterday felt it was time to deal with the timely topic of the anti-Americanism of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA".
He apparently also took Woody Guthrie to task, never mind that he's dead more than 40 years and has hopefully got better things to occupy himself with.
No word on how he believed William Shakespeare felt about America
In fairness, at least Beck got past the hook and catchiness of the song and actually listened to the lyrics enough to discover that it is not a song celebrating all things America. (Unlike numerous campaigns through the years who used the song as a rousing patriotic number. Then again, some NJ legislator once proposed making Born to Run the state anthem, since after Virginia scooped up "for lovers" as a slogan, where else can you go other than celebrating the fact that your state is "a death trap, a suicide rap, we gotta get out while we're young"). OTOH, given that the song came out in 1984, it sure took him a while to figure it out.
Perhaps more importantly, Beck apparently feels that a song that recounts the plight of American men who fought and bled for this country in war time overseas is "anti-American". So much for supporting our soldiers, eh Glen?
That our country hasn't done enough for our veterans ought to be incontrovertible, because in many cases we cannot do enough to repay them. And, this is not a left vs right issue, there is plenty of blame to go around. If Beck wanted to point to the song and claim that it was the fault of the anti-Vietnam protestors that the returning veterans were cheated so shabbily, there may be an argument on the merits, but at least he would have nominally been on the side of those who fought and died.
Maybe in the grand scheme of things, this isn't even worth a diary. I don't listen to or watch Glen Beck, couldn't pick him out of a crowd if I was asked. (No, not claiming some holier than though purity- I have seen and listened to plenty of Hannity over the years, and to a lesser extent Rush as well). By reputation, this may not be even in his top 10 dumbest things he has said this week. (I did enjoy reading a recount of his interview with Massa). Put for whatever reason, it touched a nerve, maybe just run out of patience after a long week.