Glenn Beck yesterday decided to compare his "Restoring Honor" rally to Saturday's One Nation rally by the usual Beckian means: contrasting his audience with the "radicals" -- "communists, revolutionaries, people who have called for the destruction of America." -- who showed up for the more recent rally.
How did he know they were radicals? Because they were "carrying giant signs bragging" about being socialists -- in contrast to to Beckapalaooza, where "there weren't any signs because the people who came weren't professional protestors or agitators." Of course, he didn't bother noting that he had also pleaded with his audience not to bring signs.
But my favorite moment in the comparison came when he decided to run the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance from 8/28 side by side with the one from One Nation -- well, sorta. See, he of course had footage from 8/28, which featured (as you can see on YouTube) just a single white Boy Scout leading the pledge. This was perfectly fitting, considering the unbearable whiteness of Beck's crowd -- another big difference Beck managed to overlook.
When it came time to show the One Nation side, though, he claimed he didn't have footage of people delivering the pledge: "We didn't have any footage because it was pre-show -- why, you know, make it part of the show". Instead, in order to show that people at One Nation weren't as respectful by placing their hands over their hearts, he could only run a single still photo.
This is more than just absurdly stacking the deck; it is just a flat-out lie. I recorded the Pledge while I was there, and the timestamp on my video shows it was shot at 12:19 p.m. -- well after the show had begun.
So I've run it here, and I think it's obvious why Team Beck mysteriously couldn't "find" the footage: Not only is it clear that people are engaged and respectful, but the Pledge was recited by a lovely gathering of schoolchildren of all ages, colors, and creeds, and not just a single white male.
In other words, it was perfectly emblematic of the REAL differences between the crowds: One looked like America -- the real America. The other looked like a conservative talk-show host's vision of America: Bizzarro Planet Beck.
