Washington — Glenn Beck says it’s just a coincidence his Restoring Honor rally on Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial will take place on the anniversary and at the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Civil rights veterans are skeptical.
“This is going to be a moment that you’ll never be able to paint people as haters, racists, none of it,” Beck says of the event featuring Sarah Palin and other conservative political and cultural figures. “This is a moment, quite honestly, that I think we reclaim the civil rights movement.”
“When we heard about Glenn Beck, it was puzzling,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said. “Because if you read Dr. King’s speech, it just doesn’t gel with what Mr. Beck or Mrs. Palin are representing.”
Beck, a popular figure among tea party activists and a polarizing Fox News Channel personality, is headlining the event, and Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a potential 2012 president candidate, will be a prominent speaker. But Beck told his television audience again on Thursday that it’s not about politics.
The event’s website says the rally is to pay tribute to America’s military personnel and others “who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.” It also is to promote the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships and services to family members of military members.
The website urges citizens to attend and “help us restore the values that founded this great nation.”
Organizers of Saturday’s rally are telling attendees not to bring signs, “as they may deter from the peaceful message we are bringing to Washington.”
Comments
KEITHMILES05 6 years, 10 months ago
Another flamer attempting to get his fame and money.
Maddy Griffin 6 years, 10 months ago
Way to go Agnostick!Well said. How can he "reclaim" an event he hadn't even been born to witness?
Gene Wallace 6 years, 10 months ago
Agnostick - Would you call your Mother/"Mommy" a "teabagger," if she attended this rally or any other "Tea Party" event? You, Nancy Pelosi, and all the other "Progressives" who use this insult fully know it's obscene meaning. Teabagging refers to the oral manipulation of a man's scrotum. You complain and rant about "Tea Party" Signage while using profane and obscene Verbage. This speaks loudly about the responsibility and image of you and your fellow "Progressives".
beatrice 6 years, 10 months ago
pendragons, you must know that the use of the term "teabagger" was begun by the right. Is it really the left's fault that the right didn't know that it was a term that already had another usage?
Here is something from the National Review that supports this: "... So, conservatives started it: started with this terminology."
http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=Mjk1YmRjNzIxNmUwMTI0ZWYxZWU4OWU2MzFiOWJmNDE=
whats_going_on 6 years, 10 months ago
I've seen several teabaggers refer to themselves under that title.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 6 years, 10 months ago
Beck "reclaiming" the civil rights movement is like what happens when a serial-killing pedophile spots his next target.
Jeff Cuttell 6 years, 10 months ago
Are you serious? You can't be. You must be joking.
Joe Hyde 6 years, 10 months ago
Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party and various assorted ultra-conservatives will "reclaim" the Civil Rights Movement?
NASA should spin the Hubble Space Telescope around, triain its lens on the Lincoln Memorial and see if can spot anywhere in the crowd even one person of color...other than white, that is.
Jeff Cuttell 6 years, 10 months ago
Oh, I bet there will be many people of color there to try to save this day from becoming a joke and to possibly let Ms. Palin know she would not be receiving their vote because of her stance on..........everything.
Maddy Griffin 6 years, 10 months ago
Honor and dignity do not even belong in the same sentence with Beck.
Jeff Cuttell 6 years, 10 months ago
I'm sure it WAS a coincidence. I don't think Beck cares about dates and events that have to with any minority. He thinks Cinco de Mayo is the day tequila was invented. He thinks Yom Kippur was the guy that starred in the King and I and Magnificent Seven. He's glad Black History Month is in February since it is the shortest. Beck thinks Gay Rights have to do with the bedroom. He threw a surprise party for Fred Phelps' birthday. Beck wanted the caterer today to serve ribs and fried chicken. Rosh Hashanah, to Mr Beck, must have something to do Limbaugh. Glenn thinks the wrong side won the Civil War. Martin Luther King Day is a day off for white people to try to "even things out" in Glenn Beck's eyes.
Jimo 6 years, 10 months ago
"Beck has said repeatedly this weekend is a coincidence and has absolutely zero to do with MLK day."
ROFL
You know, if he says it often enough some of the feeble-minded might believe him too.
Facts are facts - Beck is a liar, and not a very imaginative one at that.
Scott Drummond 6 years, 10 months ago
"This is going to be an iconic event," Beck said. "This is a moment quite honestly, that I think we reclaim the civil rights movement."
Yes, it is quite clear that the event has nothing to do with MLK.
War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength
somedude20 6 years, 10 months ago
"Of course, Beck has said repeatedly this weekend is a coincidence and has absolutely zero to do with MLK day"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... sounds like you went to the school of Bush and Rove. I would say that I hope you are not that foolish to believe Mr. Beck, however, I feel that saying that would just be a waste of my time.
I have prime swampland to sell you......
BrianR 6 years, 10 months ago
Ok, if I'm standing all the way back at the Reflecting Pool, how am I supposed to see the chalkboard?
Scott Drummond 6 years, 10 months ago
"All contributions made to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) will first be applied to the costs of the Restoring Honor Rally taking place on August 28, 2010. All contributions in excess of these costs will then be retained by the SOWF. "
blindrabbit 6 years, 10 months ago
Dubya should have been ripped by even by a clown like Herr Beck. Goes to show you he (Beck) at one time had a smattering of gray matter. For a brief period, while he was with CNN Beck made some sense; but it quickly became apparent that some of his old demons began to cloud his usefulness. Those and the "entertainment" dollars soon effected his legitimacy.
I've got a couple of WW2 Nazi flags that my uncle brought back from his 1943-45 US Army tour with Patton. They would make great props for Herr Beck and Herrerina Palin to use in D.C. Stands to reason since TeaBaggers have labeled Progressives as lefty pinkos, that Right-wingers should carry the mantra for "the Far Right" political mantra of 1930-40's Germany. Sieg Heil Herr Beck.
slowplay 6 years, 10 months ago
Most moderate, mainstream Republicans are giving him a wide berth. Democrats are applauding the polarization of the Republican party. Independents will not vote for any candidate endorsed by extremists (left or right). So basically you have the far right who support Beck and the Tea Party. These are basically the same people who campaigned unsuccessfully for Pat Robertson to become the Republican Party's nominee in the 1988 presidential election.
What's the most popular sign you'll see at a Democratic Party rally? "Palin for President"
Boosh 6 years, 10 months ago
My vote goes to.......Team Stupid.
I don't think Beck gave a single thought to it having anything to do with MLK. I think he heard that Jon Stewart was taking vacation and that by the time he got back it'd be old news :)
blindrabbit 6 years, 10 months ago
Tom: You have made my prior posts points. The reason that Beck and other right-wing media types are so successful is that they prey on the fears of the populace. Many, if not most (GOP media hypers) are recovering from some form of prior or on-going addiction. Additionally, they are attractive to many Americans that have accepted the fashion of the "Dumbing of America"
beatrice 6 years, 10 months ago
You have to love the "leave your signs at home" comment. Wonder what are they afraid of?
beatrice 6 years, 10 months ago
If only he had somewhere else to state his views, like a television show on a "news" channel. Nobody is there, so no signs to worry about. Get to the "meat" of his issue all he wants. If only ...
Inviting people to a political rally and telling them not to bring signs -- to a political rally -- that is just fear of the obvious photo opportunities that are bound to arise.
And, you know this. However, feel free to spin all you want. People know what is and what isn't reality.
thusspokezarathustra 6 years, 10 months ago
Sure Tom that's why the left sent people to Town Hall's to shout at representatives. That's why the left organized Tea Party protests on Tax Day. That's why the left organized the Taxpayer March on Washington on 9/12. That's why Bryon Williams loaded up with guns intending to start a revolution by attacking the ACLU and Tides Foundation because the left told him how "evil" these groups were. Tea Party groups like Freedom Works are run by "liberals" like Dick Armey and Americans for Prosperity was founded by the "leftist" Koch brothers. Yep all coming from the left and all "off the charts".
blindrabbit 6 years, 10 months ago
Tom: Don't think most of the "left" posters are disgruntled; we just know how to "light your fire". You are a good barometer for what the rest of your ilk is thinking.
salad 6 years, 10 months ago
Beck/tea party claims to be anit-corporate intrest, anti-lobbiest, yet an article in the current New Yorker clearly shows that the Koch brothers have funnelled $100 million into these libertarian causes to promote their agenda. Cup of tea? how about cup of hipocrisy!!! This story was also on NPR on thursday.
Scott Drummond 6 years, 10 months ago
And the crowd goes wild!!
Cait McKnelly 6 years, 10 months ago
Woohoo!!!!
geekin_topekan 6 years, 10 months ago
Lessee, after all the paranoid hype over the Muslim's community center being a fling of the nose to Americans and it being a symbol of conquest, insert Beck for Muslims and MLK for 9/11. Wat do you get?
Hypocrisy anyone?
thusspokezarathustra 6 years, 10 months ago
It's not an issue of rights it's an issue of sensitivity. Hmmm?
geekin_topekan 6 years, 10 months ago
The WTC?
I don't follow you.
thusspokezarathustra 6 years, 10 months ago
The same argument the Right is using in the Park 51 Community Center is applicable to Glenn Beck giving a speech on the anniversary of MLK's speech. Glenn has the right to give a speech but it is insensitive to do so. Personally I think the argument is B.S.
Scott Drummond 6 years, 10 months ago
Not quite the same, really. The one argument is where the community center is to be located. The other argument is the timing of the speech. The left argues another date would be less offensive, but has not seriously argued the right to hold the event. The right pilloried our President for failing to assert the community center should never be built in the planned location and for stating what should be the well-established constitutional principle that our government cannot discriminate in favor of any particular religion.
thusspokezarathustra 6 years, 10 months ago
I'm aware of the circumstances. I was being sarcastic, using the right's argument against themselves. They are the same in the sense that Glenn Beck's right to assemble trumps the issue of sensitivity just like the right to build a house of worship trumps the issue of sensitivity.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 6 years, 10 months ago
RE: "I have a scheme!"
-Glen Beck
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-august-26-2010-michael-bloomberg
Scott Drummond 6 years, 10 months ago
If you are ashamed of the messages your followers may display, perhaps it is not a worthy movement.
...standing by for the propaganda and subsequent argument on the number of attendees.
acg 6 years, 10 months ago
This guy's ego never ceases to amaze me. Saw some clips of this yahoo on Daily Show last night and he was stroking himself and crowing like he was the second coming of Christ. Going on and on about how this rally was going to change the world and his speech was going to be so profound the whole country is going to wake up. Makes me want to puke on his face. I'm mean like literally on his face.
Scott Drummond 6 years, 10 months ago
Not to mention there is no real point to ratcheting up expectations. Based on everything I have ever seen or heard this guy is not going to meet the lofty expectations he is creating. Fool.
bisky1 6 years, 10 months ago
have not read everything but here is the vote tally http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/183344.html beck looks right to me bisky
beatrice 6 years, 10 months ago
Beck in Washington with all his sign-less Beckensteins applauding his every utterance. That isn't going to be pretty. Somebody should take pictures.
Cait McKnelly 6 years, 10 months ago
Glenn Beck? Having a rally at the Lincoln Memorial? On the anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech? Glenn Beck? "..reclaiming the Civil Rights movement"? HAHAHAHAHAHAHOOHOOHEEEEHAHA!!! snortsnort, gasp, cough, chuckle
sniff...
nudgenudge "Do it again." Glenn Beck...reclaiming the Civil Rights movement. HAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!! OH GOD I'M GONNA WET MYSELF! HAHAHAHA!!!!!
Cait McKnelly 6 years, 10 months ago
You're just havin' a sour grapes moment because we're having so much fun with it. Personally, I'm to the point where all anybody has to do is say "Glenn Beck" and "civil rights" in the same sentence and I go right back into falling down, tear cryin' laughter.
Cait McKnelly 6 years, 10 months ago
This from a good friend in Michigan; "Glenn Beck has described himself as a rodeo clown. The job of a rodeo clown is to distract the nasty, dangerous beast that has caused injury and has not yet been corralled. This is done so that others may help the fallen.
In this case, the nasty, dangerous beast is the Tea Party. But this rodeo clown isn't trying to distract it. He's trying to focus it. He's trying to aim it.
Gonna be an interesting day."
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