Silcc69
08-13-2010, 05:20 PM
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/13/glenn-beck-says-gay-marriage-no-threat-to-america/
"You can argue about abortion or gay marriage or whatever else you want," Beck told O'Reilly, according to the Fox News transcript (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/transcript/glenn-beck-explains-why-he-doesn039t-focus-culture-war-issues). "Instead of arguing about these divisive things, let's get back into our churches and our synagogues . . . "
When asked if gay marriage was a threat to America -- a tenet of faith to many conservative Christians -- Beck said, "No."
"I believe that Thomas Jefferson said, 'If it neither breaks my leg or picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?' "
[Transcript is reprinted below]
That's actually a new position for Beck, who in the past has decried gay marriage as leading inevitably to polygamy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq2kLf1NXt8) and incest (http://www.politicususa.com/en/Beck-Incest), and other things that would destroy American society.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/08/glenn.jpgBut the political dynamic has changed. The unexpected rise of the Tea Party movement has stolen some of the thunder from the Religious Right this season, and sparked some dissension within the conservative ranks -- as PoliticsDaily reported (http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/13/should-christians-pay-taxes-abortion-funding-debate-meets-tea-p/) -- between Tea Party libertarians and moral conservatives.
Beck's unapologetic abdication on abortion and gay marriage, at least as campaign issues, could well revive those tensions, and at a time when Republicans are hoping to ride both the Tea Party tiger and traditional religious conservatism to a resounding victory in the November midterms.
But Beck is nothing if not savvy, and he may recognize that the economy is going to trump hot-button morality this year, as The Washington Post's Dan Balz reported (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/07/AR2010080701677.html).
Such calculations aren't going to mollify Christian conservatives, of course.
"He's a libertarian entertainer acting like a libertarian entertainer," Joe Carter, who worked for Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign, wrote at the blog (http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/08/12/glenn-beck-sees-no-harm-in-gay-marriage/) of First Things, the theo-con journal where he is currently Web editor. "But he is a very influential libertarian entertainer, and that worries me."
In the relevant segment of Beck's interview (click here for video), (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/4308988/why-does-beck-avoid-culture-war-issues/?playlist_id=86923) O'Reilly challenges Beck, saying that people won't go back to their houses of worship if they don't have the kind of motivation the gay marriage issue provides. But Beck protests that moral issues like those have nothing to do with the threats to America today:
"You can argue about abortion or gay marriage or whatever else you want," Beck told O'Reilly, according to the Fox News transcript (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/transcript/glenn-beck-explains-why-he-doesn039t-focus-culture-war-issues). "Instead of arguing about these divisive things, let's get back into our churches and our synagogues . . . "
When asked if gay marriage was a threat to America -- a tenet of faith to many conservative Christians -- Beck said, "No."
"I believe that Thomas Jefferson said, 'If it neither breaks my leg or picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?' "
[Transcript is reprinted below]
That's actually a new position for Beck, who in the past has decried gay marriage as leading inevitably to polygamy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq2kLf1NXt8) and incest (http://www.politicususa.com/en/Beck-Incest), and other things that would destroy American society.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/08/glenn.jpgBut the political dynamic has changed. The unexpected rise of the Tea Party movement has stolen some of the thunder from the Religious Right this season, and sparked some dissension within the conservative ranks -- as PoliticsDaily reported (http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/13/should-christians-pay-taxes-abortion-funding-debate-meets-tea-p/) -- between Tea Party libertarians and moral conservatives.
Beck's unapologetic abdication on abortion and gay marriage, at least as campaign issues, could well revive those tensions, and at a time when Republicans are hoping to ride both the Tea Party tiger and traditional religious conservatism to a resounding victory in the November midterms.
But Beck is nothing if not savvy, and he may recognize that the economy is going to trump hot-button morality this year, as The Washington Post's Dan Balz reported (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/07/AR2010080701677.html).
Such calculations aren't going to mollify Christian conservatives, of course.
"He's a libertarian entertainer acting like a libertarian entertainer," Joe Carter, who worked for Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign, wrote at the blog (http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/08/12/glenn-beck-sees-no-harm-in-gay-marriage/) of First Things, the theo-con journal where he is currently Web editor. "But he is a very influential libertarian entertainer, and that worries me."
In the relevant segment of Beck's interview (click here for video), (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/4308988/why-does-beck-avoid-culture-war-issues/?playlist_id=86923) O'Reilly challenges Beck, saying that people won't go back to their houses of worship if they don't have the kind of motivation the gay marriage issue provides. But Beck protests that moral issues like those have nothing to do with the threats to America today: