Beck: ‘Just one lunatic like Timothy McVeigh could ruin everything.’

THINK PROGRESS

Among high-profile media pundits, Glenn Beck has used some of the most divisive language when speaking about President Obama. Just last week he called Obama a “racist” who “hates white people.” But yesterday on his Fox News show, an unusually subdued Beck turned down his hostility to deliver a message, in an apparent attempt to insulate himself, saying the interaction needs to be “respectful, polite, forceful and peaceful” because “one lunatic like Timothy McVeigh could ruin everything”:

BECK: If anyone thinks that it would be a good idea to turn violent, think again. It would destroy the Republic. They have awakened a sleeping giant. But just one lunatic like Timothy McVeigh could ruin everything that everyone has worked so hard for. Because these people in Washington won’t pass up the use of an emergency. Look how the media ran with the abortion doctor killing. They tried to pin that despicable act on Fox in general and specifically Bill O’Reilly and me. …I don’t want to ever hear from our own Americans, anyone voicing some sort of Muslim-extremist type justification.

Watch it:

Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen writes: “Beck has spent months — literally screaming and crying — insisting that the president is a socialist/fascist/communist/racist who’s trying to destroy the country through totalitarian means. Major media outlets have plenty of irresponsible voices, but Beck has been unique in his insane rantings. It wasn’t hard to imagine some of his viewers/listeners getting so worked up, they might at least consider doing something dangerous.”

Update - A fan of Glenn Beck was recently arrested for “scouting out and taking pictures of an Air National Guard base." The woman had an arsenal that included an XM-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and 500 rounds of ammunition.