Earlier, Markos wrote about a June 2010 clip from Glenn Beck's show in which Beck told his audience that Democrats like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi had used progressive revolutionaries to gain power and that the only way to stop them would be to "shoot them in the head."
Beck's words were such an obvious incitement to violence that it's hard to believe Fox ever allowed them on the air. But the fact is that they did, and the full context of Beck's remarks make it clear that he meant every word to be taken literally.
As you'll see from the video, which I've posted below along with the full transcript, Beck delivers his monologue in front a Swastika that he'd put on his chalkboard earlier in the program. Beck argues that Democrats have risen to power by cynically leveraging the efforts of progressive revolutionaries who are plotting to overthrow the American government. Together they form an unholy alliance that threatens America's very existence, Beck says.
So who are the members of this unholy alliance? Beck put their names on his chalkboard: Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Cass Sunnstein, Van Jones, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Jeff Jones, Jodi Evans, Andy Stern, Michael Moore, Bill Maher, and -- I kid you not -- Rosie O'Donnell. The only way to stop their plot, Beck says, is to "shoot them in head" before they "shoot you."
You can watch the full video here (the transcript is below the fold):
It's worth noting that this wasn't the first time Beck told his audience that the only way to stop their political opponents was through violence. In 2009, he compared President Obama to a bloodsucking vampire, and said the only way to stop him would be to "drive a stake through the heart."
It's bad enough that Fox gives Beck a platform to spew his paranoid conspiracy theories, but the fact that they look the other way when he explicitly calls for violent action against political enemies is truly outrageous. It's one thing to put a partisan hack like Hannity on the air. That's just politics. But broadcasting a paranoid lunatic who openly calls for violence crosses far beyond any recognizable line of decency, even for Fox.
Full transcript:
You want to know why TV doesn't reflect you? You want to know why Washington doesn't reflect you? Because they don't understand, from the radical revolutionaries to the Islamic extremists and yes, DOJ, they do exist to the tea party movements.
Just because you in Washington and you who are so out of touch with life in the media, just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean nobody else does. We do. You know why you're confused by this show? It's because I believe in something. You don't.
Tea parties believe in small government. We believe in returning to the principles of our Founding Fathers. We respect them. We revere them. Shoot me in the head before I stop talking about the Founders. Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government.
I will stand against you and so will millions of others. We believe in something. You in the media and most in Washington don't. The radicals that you and Washington have coopted and brought in wearing sheep's clothing change the pose. You will get the ends.
You've been using them? They believe in communism. They believe and have called for a revolution. You're going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you.
They are dangerous because they believe. Karl Marx is their George Washington. You will never change their mind. And if they feel you have lied to them -- they're revolutionaries. Nancy Pelosi, those are the people you should be worried about.
Here is my advice when you're dealing with people who believe in something that strongly you take them seriously. You listen to their words and you believe that they will follow up with what they say.
Didn't we learn that lesson from Osama Bin Laden? I heard his warning in 1998. I said on the air at the time, listen to him. We didn't listen. Germany, the revolutionaries in Russia or Venezuela or Cuba no, no, no. They all have one thing in common. They have all called for revolution.
They want to overthrow our entire system of government, and their words say it. Why won't you believe it?
As you will learn on "Founding Fridays(sic)," this Friday, we're talking about James Madison. Here is what you will learn. The revolution of 1776 was a picnic compared to what the revolutionaries of today would like to do. It's not a lot of fun. Usually, millions of people die.
But I'm glad to see our politicians will co-opt those people so they can have power. Fundamental transformation. It's what America is going through right now. And the progressives, the Marxist revolutionary progressives are still not happy. I'm going to show you the beginning of that civil war inside the Democratic Party, next.
