US Politics: Glenn Beck on Martin Luther King "A Radical Socialist Icon"

Glenn Beck stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial today, 47 years to the day after Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington. He claimed to be reclaiming the "civil rights" that King pursued throughout his life. The organisers of the rally brought in King's niece to give an endorsement.

So what did Glenn Beck think in January of Martin Luther King? I've listened to this audio, of a conversation between Beck and his team on his radio programme, several times. I still can't quite --- even with the shrewdest editing --- make sense of what Beck is saying, as it verges on incoherence. However, what I think he is doing is trying to manipulate Martin Luther King into a poster boy for the "radicalised socialists" he believes are in charge of Washington.

But let's hold Beck to a simpler test: if he believes it is wrong to use the image of Martin Luther King to justify one's political agenda, what exactly was he doing in Washington DC today?

The audio begins with a statement by Julian Bond, a civil rights activist from the early 1960s to the present day:

*BOND: We don't remember the King who was the critic of capitalism is, who said...[to] Charles Fager when they were in jail together in Selma in 1965 that he thought a modified form of socialism would be the best system for the United States. We don't remember the Martin Luther King who talked ceaselessly about taking care of the masses and not just dealing with the people at the top of the ladder. So we've kind of anesthetized him. We've made him into a different kind of person than he actually was in life. And it may be that that's one reason he's so celebrated today because we celebrate a different kind of man than really existed. But he was a bit more radical. Not terribly, terribly radical but a bit more radical than we make him out to be today.*

US Video: Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech (1963)
US Politics: The Daily Show on Martin Luther King (1963) and Glenn Beck (2010)

GLENN: Okay. Hold on just a second.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: This is and correct me if I'm wrong, America. Maybe I'm wrong. But I didn't think it was politically correct ever.

PAT: Oh, my, no.

GLENN: To say that Martin Luther King was a socialist. Ever. I believe this is the first time I've ever heard this from someone, you know, on the side of praising Dr. Martin Luther King. I've heard people say, oh, well, you know, he was a communist, he was a socialist.

PAT: FBI had files on him.

GLENN: Files on him! Okay, I've never heard this as praise for Martin Luther King.

PAT: No. Anybody who's ever said it has been beat down.

GLENN: Beat down. Beat down. Sarah, would you agree with that? Is that your recollection? Keith, is that your recollection? You've never heard anything like it?

SARAH: Absolutely.

GLENN: Right? Keith?

KEITH: Absolutely, yeah, this is a first.

GLENN: Got it. But listen to the words.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: Listen to the words. We don't remember the King that was a critic of capitalism. That wanted a modified form of socialism, that thought it would be the best system for the United States, that talked ceaselessly about taking care of the masses and not just the people at the top of the ladder.

PAT: I have it again if you want to hear it in his words.

GLENN: Yeah, go ahead, yeah, yeah.

*BOND: We don't remember the King who was the critic of capitalism who said to Charles Fager when they were together in Selma in 1965 that he thought a modified form of socialism would be the best system for the United States. We don't remember the Martin Luther King who talked ceaselessly about taking care of the masses and not just dealing with the people at the top of the ladder. So we've kind of anesthetized to this.*

GLENN: Listen to this.

*BOND: We've made him into a different kind of person than he actually was in life. And it may be that that's one reason he is so celebrated today because we...*

GLENN: Stop. Stop! We celebrate a man that is different than the kind of man that really existed. And maybe that's why he's so celebrated. Do you hear this?

PAT: That's a total admission, that if Martin Luther King, if it got out that he was a socialist or a communist or what.

GLENN: He wouldn't be as celebrated.

PAT: He wouldn't be. Well, he wouldn't be.

GLENN: He wouldn't have been. Okay, so listen. So why in your wildest dreams would you do this? In your wildest dreams would the president or the chairman of the NAACP say that Martin Luther King was not terribly, terribly radical but more radical than we thought, basically a radical socialist? Why would you do that? A guy who we have combined George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We've combined their birthdays, taken a holiday away from one of them and made it, you know, a double these two guys only deserve one day. Together, they can share it together, we'll call it President's Day. This is Martin Luther King day. Do you understand the icon that we have created? And then now to come out and say he was a radical socialist, this week, this week, this Martin Luther King holiday, why would you do that?

PAT: Hmmm.

GLENN: You are putting every chip up on the table....Why would you do that? Look what you're risking here. If radical socialism is discredited, you have then tainted the image of Martin Luther King. You have a holiday for a guy who, if America he just said, I think it's probably why we celebrate him the way we do now, because we're celebrating somebody who really didn't exist that way. He was different than that.

Now, they're either saying here, the left, that America is a radicalized, not terribly, terribly radicalized but a radicalized socialist nation and so we'll accept it now.

PAT: No.

GLENN: Or they're saying, well, that's just the way it is and I think this is probably more likely scenario that the president is under fire and we know that a radicalized socialist is a label that is going to be attached to this president and so we want to show you that a radicalized socialist is Martin Luther King and it's okay

PAT: He's got his own holiday. Right.

PAT: Perfectly fine.

GLENN: But if, if because now they are tying the fortunes of Barack Obama's policies to Martin Luther King. If radicalized socialism falls apart, what happens to the image of Martin Luther King? If America rejects that, will America be okay with a guy who I mean, the picture that is coming out of the White House to more and more people every day that these are radical socialists, some of them, Van Jones, a radical communist, that they believe in Chairman Mao. To quote Ron Bloom, power comes from the end of a gun. To quote Anita Dunn, my one of my favorite philosophers is Chairman Mao. If this is discredited, you've just put every chip you have on the table into the kitty....

Things are going to get extraordinarily difficult in America because I mean, I don't, I don't know what I don't know how to interpret this any other way. I don't know when it became politically okay to say that Martin Luther King was a radical socialist. You wouldn't even say that about President Obama. If I got on the air and said the guy is a radical socialist, which I do, they hammer me to death! Well, if it's okay that Martin Luther King was a radical socialist, why is it bad to say Barack Obama is a radical socialist? Am I reading this wrong?

PAT: I don't think so. I don't think so. We'll see.

GLENN: I'm waiting for another explanation. I...

PAT: We'll see what kind of fire, if any, Julian Bond comes under. I mean, if this is totally rejected

GLENN: No, no. Let's look for the kind of fire because this is, there are booby traps from the progressive left everywhere. I can't see the booby trap on this one, but maybe there is. There are booby traps everywhere. Let's see if I come under fire from the left for reporting Julian Bond and saying, okay, this is what he said, when did radicalized, not terribly, terribly radical, to quote Julian Bond but a radical socialist, when did that become acceptable in America? If we didn't celebrate, if he wouldn't have been as celebrated today had that news come out, when did it become okay and expect us to celebrate it today? Let's see how much fire I come under for asking that question. But look out, gang. These are the times that try men's souls. The left, look at the power arrayed with the unions and everybody else on the left. They are not going to let this one slide. They may pretend that they are being more moderate, but the uber left, if they are defending and using Martin Luther King as a radical socialist icon, they are not going to back away from socialism.