August 28, 2010

Beck says US has ‘wandered in darkness’ too long

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck told the tens of thousands of activists he drew from around the nation Saturday that the U.S. has too long “wandered in darkness.”

His rally’s marquee speaker, Sarah Palin, praised “patriots” in the audience for “knowing never to retreat.”

The two champions of the tea party movement spoke from the very spot where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech 47 years ago. Some civil rights leaders who have denounced Beck’s choice of a venue staged a rival rally to honor King.

Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee who may make a White House run in 2012, said activists must honor King’s legacy by paying tribute to the men and women who protect the United States in uniform.

Beck, pacing back and forth on the marble steps, said he was humbled by the size of the crowd, which stretched along the Washington Mall’s long reflecting pool nearly all the way to the Washington Monument.

“Something beyond imagination is happening,” he said. “America today begins to turn back to God.”

“For too long, this country has wandered in darkness,” said Beck, a Fox News host. He said it was now time to “concentrate on the good things in America, the things we have accomplished and the things we can do tomorrow.”

Neither Beck nor Palin made overtly political comments.

Palin, greeted by chants of “USA, USA, USA” from many in the crowd, told the gathering, “It is so humbling to get to be here with you today, patriots. You who are motivated and engaged … and knowing never to retreat.”

“We must restore America and restore her honor,” said the former Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, “Restoring Honor.”

Palin told the crowd she wasn’t speaking as a politician. “No, something more, something much more. I’ve been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier and I am proud of that distinction. Say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet and you can’t take that away from me.” It was a reference to her son, Track, 20, who served a yearlong deployment in Iraq.

Palin honored military members in her speech. She likened the rally participants to the civil rights activists who came to the National Mall to hear King’s historic speech. She said the same spirit that helped civil rights activists overcome oppression, discrimination and violence would help this group as well.

“We are worried about what we face. Sometimes, our challenges seem insurmountable,” Palin said.

“Look around you. You’re not alone,” Palin told participants.

The crowd — organizers had a permit for 300,000 — was vast, with people standing shoulder to shoulder across large expanses of the Mall. The National Park Service stopped doing crowd counts in 1997 after the agency was accused of underestimating numbers for the 1995 Million Man March.

Civil rights leaders protested the event and scheduled a 3-mile plus march from a high school to the site of a planned King memorial near the Tidal Basin and not far from Beck’s gathering.

Karen Watts, 57, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., was among those attending the King rally and march. “The dream is not forgotten,” she said. “I live my life honoring Dr. King to make sure I’m part of that dream, by serving my community.”

Of Beck’s rally, she said, “They’re American citizens. So long as they don’t infringe upon my rights … let them do what they do.”

Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s delegate to Congress, said she remembers being at King’s march on Washington, which she said prompted change and ended segregation in public places. “Glenn Beck’s march will change nothing. But you can’t blame Glenn Beck for his March-on-Washington envy,” she said.

Beck has said he did not intend to choose the King anniversary for his rally but had since decided it was “divine providence.”

Beck, in a taped presentation mixed in with his live remarks, invoked King’s message and said “the fight for freedom was not easy.” He repeatedly injected religion into the event and urged rally participants to rely on faith to help the U.S. recover from an economic recession that has given the country stubbornly high unemployment.

“Faith is in short supply,” Beck said. “To restore America, we must restore ourselves.”

Organizers said their aim was to honor military personnel and others “who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.”

Many in the crowd watched the proceedings on large television screens. On the edges of the Mall, vendors sold “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, popular with tea party activists. Other activists distributed fliers urging voters “dump Obama.” The pamphlet included a picture of the president with a Hitler-style mustache.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, leading the civil rights march, said Beck’s demonstration was an anti-government rally that advocated states’ rights — counter to the message in King’s speech, in which the civil right leader appealed to the federal government to ensure equality.

“The structural breakdown of a strong national government, which is what they’re calling for, is something that does not serve the interests of the nation and it’s something that Dr. King and others fought against,” Sharpton told C-SPAN hours before his event.

People began filling up the space between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument early in the day, many waving American flags. Wasington’s subway system was extremely crowded with long lines of people trying to get to the rally. Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said that there was crowding at least a dozen stations.

Ricky Thomas, 43, a SWAT team police officer from Chesapeake Beach, Md., brought his 10-year old son Chase to the Beck rally. “I wanted my son to see democracy in action,” Thomas said.

He said he wants government to stay out of people’s lives. He acknowledged that he works for government, but said it’s “a part of government that helps people when they are in trouble.”

Beck has given voice to those angry and frustrated with President Barack Obama and other Democrats this election year, especially members of the tea party movement.

___

Associated Press writers Brett Zongker, Nafeesa Syeed and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.

45 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

schleufer on August 28 at 10:22 a.m.
yet she still goes on and on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6urw_PWHYk
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/10/troopergate/7087/
dont forget our buddy john
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpOUctySD68
zelda on August 28 at 10:27 a.m.
Oh, great. That’s just what this country needs — a Mormon version of Billy Sunday.
I just don’t get the presence of Rand Paul at this event and Sarah Palin (who, let’s face it, will show up for the grand opening of a car wash). I thought that Libertarians opposed any military action except what’s needed to defend America’s shores and borders. But they’re all for military action in Iraq and Afghanistan? I honestly don’t have anything against soldiers but the tea party movement is so laden with contradictions and wild offshoots that it’s objective is incoherent.
zelda on August 28 at 10:55 a.m.
Oops, dang. “Its objective” not “it’s objective.”
JBlim on August 28 at 10:59 a.m.
Well isn’t it nice that the Glennbeckists honor the men and women who protect the United States in uniform. I’m sure they would NEVER use their tribute for shallow political purposes. Oh no. I like the part about “Restoring Honor” to America. Yes, it’s sorely in need after all the damage done to our reputation in the George W Bush years when the right wing had its way. You remember, setting aside the Geneva Convention to torture prisoners, Abu Grahib and so on. Yup never retreat! There’s more people out there to hate, blacks, gays, “socialists”, brown people, non-Christians, the French, illegal aliens, Liberals … . C’mon everybody!
Loudin on August 28 at 11:05 a.m.
There have always been whiny cranks in this nation and there will always be whiny cranks in this nation…so I’m not sure this “rally” really means anything. All I can take from it is that we are becoming a country of hypocrites…we want hardline “law & order,” yet we get the message from a coke addict (Beck). We want patriotic fervor, yet we get that opinion from right-wing draft dodgers (Limbaugh, O’Reilly). We want strong family bonds, yet we get that morality tale from unmarried, childless, conservative males (Limbaugh)…some of whom have paid hush money for their sexual indiscretions (O’Reilly). And lastly, we want strong leadership in America, but the leading voice of the Tea Party movement is a quitter (Palin). This is not a “Don’t Tread on Me” crusade…it’s a “Do as a I say, not as I do” fraud.
Nothing is changing in this country…nothing.
misjustice on August 28 at 11:27 a.m.
The Quitter on Twitter, by invoking Dr. Martin Luther King’s name when she stated that ” activists must honor King’s legacy by paying tribute to the men and women who protect the United States in uniform” demonstrates, once again, that she is an idiot.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was opposed to the war in Vietnam. And had he not been murdered, I am most certain that he would have denounced our current foreign entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Beginning in 1965, Martin Luther King began to express doubts about the U.S. role in the Vietnam War. On April 4, 1967, a year before his death, he gives a speech in New York entitled, “Beyond Vietnam: the time to
break the silence.” He denounced the attitude of the United States in Vietnam and insists that “they occupy the country as an American colony” and the U.S. government calls “the largest provider of violence in the world today.” Dr. King also stresses that the country needs a big moral change:
“A true revolution of values will soon look like a shameful striking contrasts between poverty and wealth. With justified indignation, she would look beyond the seas and see the capitalists of the West individualistic investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, just to make profits without any concern for social improvements in these countries,” he said: “This is not fair.”
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1383620/martin_luther_king_jr_against_the_vietnam.html?cat=37
The hypocrites that staged the faux rally, especially those that tried to tie their perspectives to those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s are beyond pathetic; they and their followers are dangerous and their ignorance of history is not to be taken lightly.
soccermomsusie on August 28 at 11:47 a.m.
Glenn Beck is the prophet for our times. Let the 60s keep MLK. Today, it is the rest of us who need to be led to freedom. Lead on Pastor Beck. If you could do a few healings to show the doubters. MLK never even tried that!
God favors Glenn! Think about how much media attention this rally is getting compared to the commie anti Iraq war knuckleheads’ rallies, even though it is just a fraction of the amount that showed up for those wacky demonstrations. God has infiltrated the liberal media obviously and softened their hearts!
Glenn has been prophesied in 1. the Book of Revelation, 2. that Mexican Indian Calendar and 3. The History Channel! On your knees America!!
“Ricky Thomas, 43, a SWAT team police officer from Chesapeake Beach, Md., brought his 10-year old son Chase to the Beck rally. “I wanted my son to see democracy in action,” Thomas said. He said he wants government to stay out of people’s lives. He acknowledged that he works for government, but said it’s “a part of government that helps people when they are in trouble.”” This guy gets it. We should eliminate all those parts of the government that are set up to hurt people when they are in trouble. I am so proud to see the intelligence of those of us who proudly call ourselves TEAPARTIERS!
Glenn also snuck a good one in about us wandering around “in darkness.” This is an obvious humorous reference to MLK and where and when Glenn was making the speech. I know some are going to say this humor is inappropriate, but remember how inappropriate prophets can be sometimes. Glenn likes black people, he has them on his show sometimes, so I think they will think his little joke was OK.
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!!!
flutieflakes on August 28 at 11:51 a.m.
Less Jesus, more jobs, please.
jenniirv on August 28 at 12:12 p.m.
Glenn Beck is a fraud. He is simply using the “Tea Party” movement to fund his lifestyle. How do you explain his work on CNN in which he said that America’s health care system was in dire need of change and a mere 16 months later—after he switched to fox news, he completely changes his story.
I think hes on to something. Maybe I’ll become a “prophet” and live the high life!
Diana on August 28 at 12:25 p.m.
This is taken from the disclaimer at the bottom of the official “Restoring Honor” website:
“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.”
Honoring the men and women in uniform, indeed. Glen and Sarah, stop lying. Do it for the troops.
oneanddone on August 28 at 12:41 p.m.
What’s really pathetic, misjustice, are the libdems who are hellbent on destroying the American spirit, all in the name of internationalism. Take your ilk and move east.
That said, when Bill OReilly dubs Beck a whackjob, it’s good enough for me.
Shadedmuse on August 28 at 12:54 p.m.
Soccer mom Susie are you for real? or are you just being sarcastic, I’m hoping your being sarcastic because if your for real you need medication just as bad as your paranoid suicidal pastor Glen Beck, he will commit suicide live on TV or he will lead his fallers down to some small south AMerican country and do it their after Obama wins in a land slide come 2012 and Democratic COngress lives on reducing the tea-bag gop party to the scrap heap of history with the whigs.
PlanB on August 28 at 1:11 p.m.
Why is this ‘news’? Shouldn’t it be in the entertainment section? I mean, these people are really funny!
misjustice on August 28 at 1:15 p.m.
“My ilk?” Lol!
At least I don’t take my marching orders from O’Reilly and the other miscreants at Faux Noose! But, hey, to each their own.
FYI; oneanddone, I’m a Veteran of the U.S. Army. Did you serve?
Montauban on August 28 at 1:26 p.m.
Obvious as it is, all Obama is doing is using a backhoe instead of a teaspoon to dig the hole the USA is getting into. However, no matter WHO are officiating gatherings in Washington DC or anyplace else, seems the echoes are always resonating the US needs to jerk itself back into reality and of course, turn to God; as this is presumably the last hope for America.
As far as Beck is concerned, this guy came out of the wall with the mice. This is all we get on “talk TV” nowadays; radio talk show hosts that have a very bad case of mouthilitis. Sara Palin…well, sorry, Charlie Tuna, she does not impress me with her “homey speaking style”, nor her wit. I think without these two drumming up business for their personal self-interests as well as for something else here, the people of the US know better. They can handle the problems very well (please and thank you) come next voting season on the national level and this coming November when the mid-termer’s get their come-uppance; either way!
Dazzeetrader1980 on August 28 at 2:01 p.m.
It’s a clash of cultures. Nothing wrong with “In God we trust”.
Convservative vs More liberal values. Beck likes the conservative approach founded in the 40’s and 50’s. Many don’t like his approach. Mormon’s are Christians…nothing wrong with Christianity.
When a clash of cultures occurs, zealots appear on both sides.
Conceptually, I like the more conservative approach. Truth be known, MLK would like be closer to Beck’s philosphy than Obama’s Black liberation theology. We all have a “say” in this country. Balance and discussion are goals but we have none with Obama’s far left agenda. He’s simply and idealogue who is intolerant of middle ideas. He’s a short timer….watch in November as his support falls away. He is a shill for the left who is heading the US to absolute bankruptcy….in many areas. Of course the goal is to rebuild a broken country into what he sees in his Black Lib Theology. Most divisive guy I’ve seen in a while.
Beck’s “return to Jesus or God” isn’t a bad idea. It’s attacked by those who don’t like the idea. It’s a way of life though. Separation of Church and state are tenants we must stand fast for. It’s a mess in the US right now. There’s a little bit of good in the worst of us and a little bit of bad in the best of us. I do know this: that “Hopey Changey” thing isn’t work out so well.
chefxh on August 28 at 2:03 p.m.
Lame, lame, lame. Insulting to Dr. King’s memory. Ignorant whackjobs making TONS of money off the public’s stupidity.
PhiltheBibliophil on August 28 at 2:24 p.m.
This ignoramus is in a perpetual state of outer “darkness”! If this is the best the Tea baggers have got, God help us all! As a Mormon, this is the guy who believes God lives on a planet of glass and fire near a star called Kolob that is the center of our universe and that our sun draws its energy from and believes that Christ is returning to set up his Kingdom in a cornfield in Iowa or Missouri and not Jersualem! How many ways can you say “Whackadoodle”!
Ron_the_Cop on August 28 at 2:24 p.m.
I linked to two essays in another thread which sum up my thoughts about what’s wrong with the Country that Beck’s views somewhat echo:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/aug/25/primary-creates-odd-bedfellows/?comments#c185178
Dazzeetrader1980 on August 28 at 2:34 p.m.
It’s not enough to just “think” of things. Ron…you’ve done lots of work…and thoughtful work. Best wishes. Indeed, I salute you as a patriot.
misjustice on August 28 at 2:49 p.m.
For anyone interested in the Beck-a-palooza or the Dr. King Jr. remembrance, beyond the reporting by others such as the above article, check it out for yourselves on C-Span.
http://www.c-span.org/
bdr on August 28 at 2:57 p.m.
If you believe Palin or Beck can find Race relations for a day.
You would certainly believe a felon who finds religion for a day as well….
total tea party bunk…trying to fight back against the colors of change group.
Join the c-party…..(default on china)…..ITS DOES A COUNTRY GOOD.
spokanecougar on August 28 at 2:57 p.m.
Do people realize the money they are donating is first being used to pay the event, including for the speakers like crazy Palin and to pay the lunatic Beck first, before ANY money is being donated to charity? If you go check even crazy Glenn’s website mentions this. So actually very little of the money people are donating will go to any charity and it will instead go to make Palin and Beck richer and more crazy. Great, again this proves that this country is full if dumb ignorant people for not only giving up their money to go directly to these crazy idiots, but they are dumb enough to believe the lies and hate they are preaching.
soccermomsusie on August 28 at 2:58 p.m.
Daisy Minkin, You are minkin me mad! You say, “Truth be known, MLK would like be closer to Beck’s philosphy than Obama’s Black liberation theology.”
The FBI had MLK being watched because of the Communist things he was saying. At least that’s what the records show. They were concerned also with his antiwar rhetoric.
So you are saying Glenn Beck is a Communist too and Obama is not?!?! You are living in Crazy Backwards World!
Pretty soon you will be saying us tea partiers and Obama are on the same page! Get a grip!!!!!
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!!
james_l on August 28 at 2:59 p.m.
I think this is a very courageous thing for Beck and Palin to headline this event without their white hoods. I don’t believe his remarks regarding “wandering in the darkness” refers only to the dark people the group had to wander through to get to the rally, but the choice of words is not a coincidence.
All in all, it was a great teaching moment to explain to my kids what jingoism is.
soccermomsusie on August 28 at 3:27 p.m.
I can’t stand how people are assassinating Prophet Glenn’s character, which is almost as bad as what happened to MLK.
My nephew (nice but dumb socialist) sent me this comparison timeline between Glenn Beck and MLK. It made me extremely angry!
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-beck-does-remind-us-civil-righ
HEAR OUR VOICE!
JBlim on August 28 at 3:57 p.m.
I haven’t had the TV on. He’s asking for money? Well that figures. Move over Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Bakker. Send us your money and JESUS will take care of you forever . . .
maria on August 28 at 4:00 p.m.
soccermomsusie:
BRWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/stills/BehindTheScenesGlennBeck.flv.jpg
misjustice on August 28 at 4:18 p.m.
Yeah, JBlim, send us your money to attend the Beck-a-palooza, and while you’re there buy the tee shirt, get the book, and don’t forget the 3 CD set! Ain’t capitalism, I mean Jesus, great!
mikeln on August 28 at 4:31 p.m.
Palin and beck are busy counting their take while our soldiers are dying for the wealth of others. It saddens me that palin would sacrifice her son for such a worthless cause. These peoples view of god, like soccormoronsusie, is just plain wrong. The people in power, including our current president are nothing more than opportunists who care nothing about america or it’s people. This is evident by the current mess we are in. By the way, one of the owners of fox news was named a terrorist by the idiots at fox news. These people are total morons and so are the people that beleive everything that comes out of their pea brains. We need a new direction, one without these kind of people. We need to put america back to work by using science, not religion. We could be free of our dependence on oil in ten years if we put a leash on the oil companies. We need to break the hold these corporations have on our government, a government of the people, for the people, not just for the profits of greedy, greedy people.
Scoutster on August 28 at 4:37 p.m.
Mission Accomplished.
Diana on August 28 at 6:33 p.m.
There was a rally today?
Cougardave on August 28 at 6:48 p.m.
I feel sorry for you all. Did any of you even watch the event? ……I figured as much. God bless Glenn Beck and God bless the USA.
Loudin on August 28 at 7:16 p.m.
CBS News is reporting that attendance at Beck’s self-absorbed “rally” was 87,000. In a country of 300,000,000, that hardly seems like a landmark, socio-political changing event. 87,000? Heck, the U. of Michigan attracts more fans to a home football game…Cokeboy & Caribou Quitter must be steamed.
Silly Glenn Beck: He’s bad at religion, he’s bad at drugs…now he’s bad at math. You’d have to be a pretty partisan simpleton to believe Glenn Beck is a good guy…
Loudin.
Spokane_Citizen on August 28 at 8:01 p.m.
‘Prophet Beck’, and his acolytes of ignorance, are immensely amusing. Yes indeed, soccermomsusie, Daisy, and Cougardave are for real, pining away for the good old days, you know, when black people knew their place (it certainly wasn’t in their clubs or neighborhoods (let alone the Whitehouse), we were a nation of god-fearing moral rectitude, and lynching was the way these matters were settled. The only good thing about the ‘good old days’ is that they’re gone.
cdspokesreader on August 28 at 8:20 p.m.
soccermomsusie - you are so full of truthiness I can hardly believe it. But I thought your wonderful prophet Beck was talking about himself wandering into darkness since he has some eye condition that’s making him go blind… or was that caused byhim doing one of those naughty things his fellow republicans do in the closet? I get so confused - it’s a good thing I have people posting here that help me see the light.
Ron_the_Cop on August 28 at 8:43 p.m.
Photos of the rally would tend to indicate perhaps 500K +.
Spokane_Citizen on August 28 at 8:49 p.m.
Yes, Ron_the_Cop, this is a sea-change in the direction America is heading. Prophet Beck will lead us out of the dark! Begin the deification!
You’re a major whack job, aren’t you?
Mr_Bloggy on August 28 at 8:54 p.m.
Prophet Beck got his Prophetnessiness from his mother. She was such a prophet that when she saw what the future held in store for her son she offed herself.
Spokane_Citizen on August 28 at 9:06 p.m.
Actually, the cocaine-alcohol fueled Beck (like the prescription drug abuser Rush Limbaugh) was much more honest and genuine than this pale substitute. There’s nothing worse than a hypocritical and self-serving ‘conversion’. A few years, and he’ll be ‘right as rain’….ala the ‘Uber Republican’ Senator Craig, The Very Reverend (and boy loving) Tim Haggard, Mayor West, or some other seedy and tawdry tale that will reveal his true nature. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Dazzeetrader1980 on August 28 at 10:23 p.m.
ALL money will go for the children of Veterans for their educations. Beck, Palin, etc keep nothing. Patriots.
How can anyone argue with the outcome?
Sharpton sounds a bit jealous. Thinks Beck stole his his thunder.
Too bad. Reverend Al has yet to tell us where his proceeds might go. I think it’s admirable for a large group to donate proceeds. I’m sure Sharpton’s goals are similar. We’ll soon see what shake’s out.
schleufer on August 28 at 10:46 p.m.
this is off of becks web site right at the bottom of the rally promo page. its been all over the news.
This rally is compliant with IRS Rules and Regulations found in IRS publication 557 and IRS publication 4221-PC. For tax purposes a gift to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation is deductible in accordance with Internal Revenue Service’s tax laws. No goods or services were provided in exchange for your contribution. The purchase of Restoring Honor Rally merchandise is not a donation to SOWF, but all net proceeds from the sale of Restoring Honor Rally merchandise is being donated to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. 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. Tax ID 52-1183585.
james_l on August 28 at 11:24 p.m.
“ALL money will go for the children…”. Yeah, right.
Notice that all NET PROCEEDS are being donated. This is after expenses for the rally are deducted, such as Beck’s and Palin’s speaking fees, private jets, consulting fees, laundry for the white hoods, etc. This is no different than Hannity, etc. This has been well documented in the past.
Do you not have a problem with Glenn Beck’s lies that the choice of location and date are coincidentally the same location and on the anniversary of MLK’s speech? So much for “Restoring Honor”.
Jingoism at its finest!
Spokane_Citizen on August 29 at 8:40 a.m.
I would be very surprised if net proceeds to SOWF even approach 5% of the gross revenue that people like Beck and Palin (and their various minions) will pocket. This is just another scam like the ‘Promise Keepers’ and ‘Million Man March’, and it will become (just as they have) another silly vainglorious memory.
eagleproducer on August 29 at 12:17 p.m.
More jingoistic pablum from the wing nutters, I see… I really love the “divine providence” rationale Beck employed to hold the rally on the anniversary of the MLK speech.
Daisy is right, this is a clash between cultures. Those cultures break down into two camps: Those who believe public institutions can create conditions of long-term prosperity and those who reject any long-term planning because they strongly believe Jesus is waiting right around the next corner, sucking on breath mint and straightening his tie.
As a veteran I’m offended by these two snake oil charlatans doing anything to “honor” me.
james_1: “laundry for the white hoods…” Freaking priceless, dude!