First Martin Luther King, Now 9/11

As if last week's rally on the anniversary and at the location of  Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech wasn't arrogant and dishonorable enough, it came out this week that Glenn Beck will join with Sarah Palin in another rally to be held in Anchorage on September 11, 2010. News of the event came first in Vanity Fair, buried deep in a scathing article about Sarah Palin, which is worth a read on its own merits. Then, Beck talked about it on his show, coyly dodging questions about it and failing to mention the actual date. Here's the video:


Today, several media outlets are reporting the story, including Huffington Post,  Salon, and Politico. But I believe David Weigel has hit the nail right on the head in his assessment of this event. In an article on Slate.com, Weigel says:

"I think you're going to see a sequel to Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally. Like I noted in my article on that rally, it wasn't overtly political for the same reasons that his paid speeches aren't overtly political. The people who show up for these events are already converts. The point of these events is to bolster their political anxiety by telling them they are needed to reclaim America in the name of God."

Of course Beck wasn't and won't be overtly political! Everyone knows the religious conservatives have already co-opted God, so when Beck talks of returning to God, he is inviting a new conservative crusade to rid the country of the infidel liberals into whose hands we foolishly entrusted the government. He never has to use the words "conservative" or "liberal," "Republican" or "Democrat," because everyone, especially his millions of bleating disciples, already know the code. I have already talked about who the God is that Beck is talking about, but the point is quite clear. Beck has placed himself in the enviable position of being able to talk politics without talking politics, to seek converts and still be able to deny that he is proselyting.

Beck has already desecrated the memory of Martin Luther King, and now he will dishonor the memory of the thousands who died on September 11th, taking what is an American tragedy that belongs to all of us, and claiming it for his own personal and political gain. If this isn't a window into his soul, what is?