Abortion? Gay marriage? Meh, small fish. So saith Glen Beck.
(Note: The transcript is included at the end of this post.)
To be fair, Beck isn’t a conservative so I can’t expect him to support the conservative position on gay marriage. He’s also not the kind of guy who is able to understand why abortion and traditional marriage are the “bigger fish” and more important than shouting about whatever closet-socialist was hired to work as an Assistant Secretary for Farm Subsidies at the USDA. He’s a libertarian entertainer acting like a libertarian entertainer.
But he is a very influential libertarian entertainer, and that worries me. Either Beck is someone to be taken seriously because he can sway the opinions of multitudes or he is someone that we can safely ignore.
What do you think? Is there a concern that Beck will be able to sway his audience into believing that gay marriage will not harm the country? Or does it not really matter what he thinks?
Here is a transcript of the video:
O’REILLY: But let’s take the gay marriage deal. Big ruling in California. You really didn’t cover that much, right?BECK: Nope.
O’REILLY: Why?
BECK: Because honestly I think we have bigger fish to fry. You can argue about abortion or gay marriage or whatever —
O’REILLY: Yeah.
BECK: — all you want.
O’REILLY: Yeah.
BECK: The country is burning down. I personally think these—
O’REILLY: But isn’t that one of the reasons because we are getting away from the traditional way we used to live into this progressive—
BECK: So let’s get back to — instead of arguing about these divisive things, let’s get back into our churches and our synagogues and—
O’REILLY: You’re not going to get people going back unless there is a reason to go back.
BECK: But here is the reason, America. Your country is burning down. I don’t think marriage, that the government actually has anything to do with -
O’REILLY: But they do have.
BECK: —what is a religious right.
O’REILLY: I know, but they do have something to do, because gay marriage is going to be a reality in this country in 10 years.
BECK: Why do they have anything to do with it?
O’REILLY: Because they choose to, and you’re not going to stop ‘em.
BECK: This is where we disagree.
O’REILLY: The Supreme Court may rule against gay marriage, very possible it would be a 5-4.
BECK: You’re willing to continue to go down the road of just accepting well that’s the way it is.
O’REILLY: I’m not accepting anything. I wrote a book about it! Don’t give me this “accepting.” Come on.
BECK: He’s so hostile.
O’REILLY: Yeah
BECK: Need a little Jesus?
O’REILLY: I have to correct you. I do. You are ignoring the profound change in the American family. In the way —
BECK: No, I’m not. No I’m not.
O’REILLY: But you are not covering it?
BECK: Because I think that the thing that needs to be covered — Bill, I believe in a symphony. If we are all playing clarinets we ain’t gonna get very far. A symphony needs to sound. I’m covering what I cover. You cover what you cover. Both of us are saying the same thing. Watch the culture.
O’REILLY: Do you believe — do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?
BECK: A threat to the country?
O’REILLY: Yeah, it going to harm the country?
BECK: No, I don’t. Will the gays come and get us?
O’REILLY: OK. Is it going to harm the country in any way?
BECK: I believe — I believe what Thomas Jefferson said. If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?
O’REILLY: OK, so you don’t. That’s interesting. Because I don’t think a lot of people understand that about you.
BECK: As long as we — as long as we are not going down the road of Canada, where it now is a problem for churches to have free speech. If they can still say, hey, we —
O’REILLY: Oppose it —
BECK: — we oppose it —
O’REILLY: Right.
BECK: — but we’re not trying to kill anybody or trying to —
O’REILLY: In Sweden they have that too. OK, so gay marriage to you, not a big a threat to the nation.
