Putting Glenn Beck to the Truth Test: He Flunks, Again
Fox News commentator Glenn Beck sparked a firestorm in July when he declared on the air (though not on his show) that President Barack Obama possesses 鈥渁 deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture鈥� and called him 鈥渁 racist.鈥�
Fox News commentator Glenn Beck sparked a firestorm in July when he declared on the air (though not on his show) that President Barack Obama possesses 鈥渁 deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture鈥� and called him 鈥渁 racist.鈥� He seemed unchastened even after his own network distanced itself from his and advertisers began to flee his show, 鈥淕lenn Beck.鈥� (Disclosure: Southern Poverty Law Center board member James Rucker is executive director of ColorOfChange.org, the organization that asked advertisers to boycott Glenn Beck.)
Now, Beck has issued a list of 鈥渞easonable questions for unreasonable times鈥� that he wants his viewers and listeners to ask. 鈥淚t鈥檚 vital that we all question with boldness, hold to the truth and speak without fear,鈥� he says on his .
Trouble is, many of the questions are based on faulty assumptions. Take the question about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, a nonprofit social justice group whose work includes advocating for better housing. Beck asserts: 鈥淭he stimulus package funneled billions of dollars to ACORN. How does giving billions of dollars to ACORN stimulate the economy?鈥�
In fact, if Beck actually read the , which Congress passed in February with the goal of boosting the economy, he鈥檇 learn that it makes no mention of ACORN. Just in case we missed something, however, Hatewatch consulted two nonpartisan sources: the St. Petersburg Times鈥� and the Annenberg Public Policy Center鈥檚 . Both said it鈥檚 untrue that any money 鈥� let alone billions 鈥� is earmarked for ACORN.
What the stimulus bill does do is open up competition for 鈥渘eighborhood stabilization鈥� funds to nonprofit groups, rather than limit them to government agencies. So ACORN could theoretically apply for money to buy and fix up foreclosed homes. But neither ACORN nor its sister organization, ACORN Housing, renovates foreclosed homes.
ACORN is often vilified by conservatives because its workers have been investigated several times for voter registration fraud. But borders on loony: He has accused the agency of having 鈥�270 other names鈥� and has complained that Obama is deliberately wrecking the economy so that young people will have to work for the ACORN.
Perhaps it鈥檚 time someone asked Beck a few reasonable questions about his unreasonable rants.
