Milbank: Beck "gave legitimacy" to the conspiracy theories of alleged California cop shooter Byron W

[RamboLiberal]

Glenn Beck has a friend in California.

"I would've never started watching Fox News if it wasn't for the fact that Beck was on there," says this friend, Byron Williams. "And it was the things that he did, it was the things he exposed, that blew my mind."

"I do enjoy Glenn Beck," Williams also says, "and the reason why I enjoy that is because . . . no other channel will speak about the same things that he's talking about, and if you go and investigate those things you'll find out that they're true."

Unfortunately for Beck, this satisfied viewer currently resides at the Santa Rita Jail near Oakland and stands accused of a freeway shootout with police. Williams pleaded not guilty to four counts of attempted murder of a police officer. But according to court documents, he said he had been on a mission to kill people at the liberal Tides Foundation, which happens to be a favorite Beck target.

In August, I wrote that while it's not fair to blame Beck for violence committed by his fans, he would do well to stop encouraging extremists. Now, Williams has granted a pair of jailhouse interviews, one with the conservative Examiner.com and one to be published soon by the liberal group Media Matters. These recorded exchanges, which I have reviewed, show precisely why Beck is dangerous: because his is the one voice in the mass media that validates conspiracy theories held by the unstable.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010080049

BTW, I'm reading Milbank's book on Beck that came out last week & it is excellent. Really documents the looney crap Beck is spewing and how he is feeding Mormon end time prophecies to his mostly fundie Christian audience.

[Doctor_J]

1. ALL Beck addicts should be considered clear and present threats

to the country. If we are going to get the country back from the teabaggers, anyone seen reading, watching, listening to, or repeating Beck should be thought of as the enemy.