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Glenn Beck

Is Iran Center of Perfect Storm?; Group Funds Whites Only Scholarship; Reverend Billy Warns of the Shopocalypse

Aired November 27, 2006 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GLENN BECK, HOST: Coming up, more signs of the perfect storm as Iraq`s president heads to Iran to meet with President Tom.
And a whites-only scholarship at a top university. Details, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by the Running of the Imbeciles. The shoppers, an American tradition since 2002.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need on a mop on aisle three. Spilled one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: So, I was just sitting at home over the weekend watching TV with my family trying to catch up on the news that I missed while I was eating my weight in drumsticks and pie, and it hit me. There is an increasingly, undeniable relationship between the world`s news events. And, as hard as it may be for you or me to believe, this is the only program that seems to be connecting the dots for you.

Here is the point tonight. That perfect storm that I`ve been talking about for the last six months, better grab your nuke-proof umbrella, because if just a few things go wrong, things can get ugly quickly.

You know the stories that are in the news and in the paper. And I`m just talking about the ones that happened this last weekend. We cannot afford to see them as a series of unrelated events.

Do you remember that scene in "A Beautiful Mind" where Russell Crowe`s character pasted up all the news stories and then connected them with strings, seeing how, you know, one party -- one story was all part of a big story? I`m about to do the same thing, and hopefully, I don`t look as insane as he did in the movie, but let`s start with Iraq.

First, the U.S. got rid of the bad guy over there, Saddam Hussein, or so we thought. Do you remember him? Those, unfortunately, were the good old days. Now this al-Sadr character is running the show. "Newsweek" magazine described him as a populist, a nationalist and an Islamic radical all rolled up into one. That is being kind.

If you ask me, this guy makes Saddam Hussein look like Kelly Ripa. He`s going get even scarier as Iraq`s civil war kicks into high gear. And, please, let`s not mince words here. That`s exactly what they`re fighting over there, a civil war.

By the way, am I the only one noticing that the weaker our stance is towards the war in Iraq, the stronger the insurgents get? Keep in mind, there`s no such thing as separation of church and state in Iraq. And the battle for control between religious factions is already claiming a ton of lives each and every day.

The Sunnis were the most powerful during Saddam`s day. Today the Shiites are controlling the country and al-Sadr is controlling their army, the army of the Mehdi or messiah. Where he leads they will now follow.

Just in case tragedy can be averted, Iraq`s president arrived today for an official visit in Iran, where he`s expected to seek its help in preventing an all-out civil war in Iraq. I`m not real optimistic, in seeing that I believe they`re the ones pulling the strings in Iraq.

So, in a nutshell, America is involved in an increasingly complicated war where a ruthless dictator was replaced with a guy who`s just pure evil. With the Democrats poised to cut and run, we`re on the brink of leaving Iraq with a power vacuum, and the Iraqi people are worse off than when we found them. That`s just storm front No. 1.

Now, let`s move over to Russia. The details surrounding the death of that former KGB spy is still coming out, but one thing`s increasingly clear. I don`t think he died of food poisoning. Somebody slipped that guy a radioactive mickey, and I`ll bet you Putin`s prints are all over it.

Vlady and the whole sneaky Soviets are waking up now and settling old scores, just like they did with the murder of that anti-Kremlin journalist just about a month ago.

It was reported just this last weekend that the Russians are delivering missiles and nuclear scientists to Iran. They are becoming the dominos of terror, but instead of, you know, delicious crazy bread, they`re pushing nuclear weapons. That`s storm front No. 2.

And to top the whole thing off this weekend I heard a report, a prediction, actually, from a financial guy that he said that gas he believed would be up to $4 a gallon by February of next year. Why? Once again, Iran.

He said if Iran gets nuclear capability, Israel will have no choice but to attack those power plants as a preemptive measure. The result would be an Iran-Israel skirmish that would put the lion`s share of the world`s oil supply out of reach, and bingo, $4 a gallon for gasoline. Expensive gas, inevitable shortage -- shortages that would follow, and that`s storm front No. 3.

So, tonight, here`s what I know. All of these things that just broke this weekend are all related, and the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts.

Iraq continues to be a nightmare, and leaving the job unfinished will only make things much, much worse and better for Iran.

As Russia resumes their own pursuit of world domination, they are helping Iran. Remember, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Then, if Iran can provoke Israel into war, not only does it draw the U.S., an Israeli ally, into the fray, but it pours our oil supply right down the drain.

What I don`t know is with a problem that is growing like a cancer, where do you start to make things better?

Danielle Pletka, she is the vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at American Enterprise Institute. Danielle, let`s start with al-Sadr. This guy, we should have killed him even if he was standing in the center of a mosque. We should have taken him out while we had a chance. We didn`t do it. What are our options with this guy now?

DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Well, first of all, I still think that al-Sadr remains a target for a lot of interested parties, the United States not least among them.

What we should do, absent that assassination, is to not to take him too seriously. He`s a bully. He`s a loud mouth. He`s a populist. And what we`ve learned is that he`s not always going put his money where his mouth is. So he threatens to topple the government in Iraq. I`m not sure he`s going do it.

BECK: Wow, that`s surprisingly optimistic. I am -- I am hearing reports that this guy is at least getting money from Iran. You say that, you know, he`s kind of full of hot air. The people in Iran seem to really believe that they are trying to bring back the Mehdi, the 12th imam, and change the world. Is this guy part of that, or is he hot air on the Army of the Mehdi?

PLETKA: Well, let`s take this in two parts. The first part is the hot air, and that`s the threats that he issues about toppling the government, taking his members of parliament and his cabinet ministers out and withdrawing support for the existing Iraqi government. That`s the part I think is hot air.

The killing, the threatening, the -- the sectarian violence, that`s all real. And the backing from Iran is all too real.

But let`s not give too much credit to the Iranian government. They are not backing him because they think he`s the second coming of the 12th imam or whatever.

BECK: Oh, no.

PLETKA: That`s for sure not true. This is cynical, regional politics.

BECK: Yes.

PLETKA: They`re backing him because he is a violent, strife-making terrorist inside Iraq, and he serves their purposes. They`re not only giving him money. They`re also giving his people training. That`s a big problem.

BECK: OK. So -- so let me go back, kind of, to this question about Iran and his connection with al-Sadr. I believe that there are people in Iran that actually believe that it is their duty.

I mean, President Ahmadinejad has prayed for it in his last two speeches at the U.N., to give him strength to bring back the messiah to, you know -- to do the things that he needs to do. This guy has named his army the Army of the Mehdi.

Does he believe that ancient Babylon is going to be the seat of a global, Islamic empire?

PLETKA: I don`t think so. I think he believes in himself. I think he believes in his own power. I think he believes in the power of his own rhetoric and the importance of his own family name. The Sadr family is a venerable, Shiite-Iraqi family, and I`d say that it would be nice to call him the black sheep. He is far from the quality of the rest of his family. What he believes in, himself, is power and money.

BECK: OK. So is he kind of -- he`s kind of like the guy in -- I mean, we could see, if he gained power, we could see in Iraq what we`re seeing in Darfur.

PLETKA: Well, first of all, let`s not suggest that he`s about to gain power in Iraq. He`s got 30 parliamentarians in a parliament of 275 members. That`s just over 10 percent, and I`d say that that`s his running strength.

BECK: You know what? That`s really what kind of is the same scenario that we had. And I`m not comparing him to this, and I`m not saying that he`s going get control. I`m just saying he`s somebody that we should pay attention to.

Everybody dismissed Hitler, as well, at the time and said, "Oh, well, he`s got a very small following," et cetera, et cetera. And they tried to placate him. Or for some reason or another these bozos can all of a sudden find themselves in power because nobody took them seriously.

Who`s going to stand up against this guy -- I mean, I was going to say without us there, but we`re not even standing up against him. He`s got an arrest warrant for a murder charge that nobody will arrest him for.

PLETKA: No, I agree with you, Glenn. I think that you`re hitting the point on the head. And that is that this guy only has as much strength as people are willing to give him.

And that means the Iraqi government. It means the Iraqi people. And overall it means the British and American troops that are on the ground there. We have, for all appearances, given up on trying to fight the people we need to fight. And that`s where we need to turn around.

PLETKA: OK. And real quick. You don`t think that there`s any coincidence that the weaker we get on this war, the stronger or the more violent that becomes. I mean, they`re not afraid of us at all anymore.

PLETKA: I agree with you. And I think the other thing is pieces of the string that you need to put together are Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia. And the one thing you didn`t mention, which is al Qaeda, because where this ends is not in Baghdad. It ends back in New York or in Washington or in L.A.

BECK: Danielle, thank you very much.

PLETKA: Thank you.

BECK: Coming up, racism. In America, still in the headlines, so perhaps it`s not the best time to introduce a whites-only scholarship over at Boston University. You think?

Also, if retail sales figures are any indication, Jesus, not so much the reason for the season these days. We`ll find out what the Church of Stop Shopping has to say about it. It`s real. Well, kind of.

And the pope and the eve of a historic trip to the Muslim nation of Turkey. He has backed down, but not away from his comments about Islam and violence. How safe is he this week? Important story you don`t want to miss coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I want to talk to you about this Iraq Study Group. Can we at least make it sound scary? Study group? That`s, like, come on, do you want to get together. We`re going to do a study group. What is that? Can we be scary at all? A secret council. A war council even sounds better. A study group? How are our enemies going to fear us if we`re doing study groups?

Let me tell you something, you might solve Iraq, but I`m telling you with study groups you`re never going to get a date to the prom, and that`s what`s important!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: More on the study group coming up in "The Real Story" in just a bit. You don`t want to miss.

Now, if I told you that a student group at a prominent U.S. university had funded a new scholarship that is only available to people who are at least one-quarter white, would you be outraged? Well, actually a group funding this scholarship hopes you are.

Boston University College Republicans have privately funded a $250 scholarship that is available only to Caucasians. Now, in order to apply, applicants have to submit a photo and answer some questions about their ancestry and what it means to be a Caucasian-American. Blood`s going to shoot out of my eyes.

Obviously, a little controversial, but that`s exactly the point according to the group. They are trying to provoke people into talking about the greater question of why blacks and Asians and other -- others are offered race-based scholarships and programs like affirmative action.

A lot of people who agree with their message believe that maybe this is not the best way to go about it.

Jason Mattera, he is the spokesperson for Young Americans Foundation.

Jason, your thoughts on this scholarship.

JASON MATTERA, SPOKESPERSON, YOUNG AMERICANS FOUNDATION: Yes. Well, Glenn, thanks for having me on.

BECK: Sure.

MATTERA: And I applaud these students for taking a bold stance against racial preferences on the college campuses.

Myself, I`m a Puerto Rican, and I have more advantages than the average college student open to me in admissions, open to me in scholarships, just because of my ethnic blood.

And these students have a shocking proposal to shed light on the inequity and unfairness of racial preferences. And I actually agree with their tactics, because right now you and me are speaking about it. They have a national dialogue about this.

The students have been doing tons of radio shows. And their dean of students at Boston University is organizing a forum where everyone can talk about the merits, pro or con, of racial preferences.

So I applaud them. It was a very bold stance on their end.

BECK: OK. So let me take it a couple of ways.

MATTERA: Sure.

BECK: Because you know, getting people to talk about things is great, but let me play devil`s advocate on this. In a lot of ways, this is really dividing people, and I understand causing some real controversy, in dividing the races yet again at B.U. Your thoughts on that?

MATTERA: Yes. That`s the point, is racial preferences on Boston University, on most colleges, for that matter, and universities. They`re constantly dividing people and categorizing people on the basis of race, not what they achieve, not their personalities, not their character or their merit. That`s the point.

Is it offensive to divide someone on the basis of rite race? You better believe. It`s insensitive, it`s divisive. And that`s what they`re trying to say. They don`t want white scholarships. I don`t want white scholarships. But they don`t want black scholarships. They don`t want Hispanic scholarships. They want people to get rid of classifying people on the basis of their skin color.

BECK: OK. The black student union.

MATTERA: Yes.

BECK: Which I think goes to make the point, because if there was a white student union, I would be upset and everybody else would be upset.

The black student union says these guys are not taking into account the, you know, historical aspect of what is has happened to African- Americans, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and the inherent disadvantages, historically speaking. Your response to that?

MATTERA: Yes, well, that`s very infantalizing. What they`re saying, essentially, is that they need a handout and help from the white man to get in places in society. That`s obviously not true with the prominent blacks and Hispanics that represent us today.

But even more so to the point, proponents of affirmative action, what they do is condone the very same power of discrimination that enslaved them or discriminated against them and what we fought a civil rights movement about. Not only do they condone, they commit the same act of discrimination, and they condone it. They tacitly accept it by offering their own form of discrimination.

If you want to move past race, you don`t continue to have race as a plus factor. You`re just saying, yes, we have a national blight on our history, but let`s move past it. Let`s keep going forward. By constantly reminding and reflecting on that in a negative way, you keep people as victims, and you don`t treat them as people.

BECK: You -- you are starting to sound suspiciously like Martin Luther King, at least the part of the speech where he says judge people by the content of their character.

MATTERA: Heaven forbid. Heaven forbid.

BECK: Thirty seconds, your response to the Republicans, because the Republican Party is saying we have nothing to do with these guys.

MATTERA: Yes. The Republican Party in Massachusetts, RNC officials, they`re a bunch of panty waists, in my opinion. Their manhood was neutered a long time ago.

Instead of taking a stance with these kids and saying, yes, racial preferences are wrong, they`re attacking them. They`ve been attacked more by the Republican Party in Massachusetts than attacked by the leftists. That`s insane.

BECK: You know what? I`ve got to tell you. I hope you become a politician in the future, because you`re just tremendous. Thank you very much, Jason.

MATTERA: Thank you, Glenn.

BECK: Now, imagine for a second that somebody does win that $250 scholarship, the average tuition price at a private college is nearly $30,000 a year. Not really going to make a dent, but I want you to know there is hope. There are other alternatives. Oh, yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: College, a good place to learn. A great place to get ahead, but with the escalating price of tuition, college is quickly becoming out of reach to all but the most affluent. Luckily, there is a choice.

Hi, we`re the Amalgamated Union of Pole Dancers Local 319, and we`re leading the fight to earn tuition through gyration. If you`ve got what it takes, then consider becoming a member today because a mind is a terrible thing to -- what was that expression? God, I totally lost my train of thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Hey, don`t forget this Saturday our Christmas comedy stage tour kicks off with two sold out shows in Salt Lake City. Some tickets are still available in other cities. And I promise you, these shows are a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. There`s not a lot of World War Three or nuclear talk, just a great holiday story telling and a ton of laughs. Go to GlennBeck.com to see the cities where we`re visiting and to purchase tickets right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. If you`re anything like me, you hit the mall this weekend, fueled by all the sugar and adrenaline that that third piece of pumpkin pie had to offer, and you raced headlong into consumer chaos that is Black Friday. `Tis the reason for the season, or so they tell us. I don`t think it is.

Last year`s war on Christmas becomes this year`s war on shopping, and leading the fight is Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping.

Billy, you call it the Shopocalypse.

REVEREND BILLY, CHURCH OF STOP SHOPPING: Yes, Brother Glenn, we`ve got to try to save ourselves from the Shopocalypse, amen. Slow down our consumption this Christmas. Amen!

BECK: Right. Now, see, you -- you strike me as someone who`s not entirely serious.

REVEREND BILLY: Oh, you think so?

BECK: Yes.

REVEREND BILLY: Well, we`d have to have a sense of humor about it. We needn`t get to serious.

BECK: Right.

REVEREND BILLY: We have to be serious enough that if there`s an American consumer listening to us right at this moment, and we believe there are many of them, and they`re tempted at this moment to get in their SUV and go out onto the highway and go to a big box store somewhere, that person might reconsider, hearing us here talking about the Shopocalypse.

BECK: Right. Why should they -- why should they reconsider? Besides, I believe, Sony, may I please just ask, make more freaking PlayStations. We`re stabbing each other.

REVEREND BILLY: PlayStation 3? You mentioned the devil, brother. Hallelujah. Or Nintendo WII or the Elmo Extreme.

BECK: Right. Yes. Right.

REVEREND BILLY: The devil today has got to back away from the project and leave those products on the shelf. Amen. Hallelujah!

BECK: And why should they do that?

REVEREND BILLY: Well, saving money. What about that one? The average American family is paying off their credit card debts in the month of May. Amen, hallelujah. The month of May.

BECK: Right. So wait a minute. You`re not really making the point that it`s because we`ve left the Christ out of Christmas. You`re saying it`s about credit card debt.

REVEREND BILLY: Let`s ask the question, what would Jesus buy? The only time that Jesus really raised his voice like I`m raising my voice right now, Brother Glenn, the only time he got a little bit "ahh," a little bit violent, the only time that he trespassed was when he was driving the money changers out of the temple.

And we`re doing that today.

BECK: Right.

REVEREND BILLY: We`re trying to get people to back away from the Wal- Mart...

BECK: Right.

REVEREND BILLY: ... back away from the Target, back away from the Home Depot. Try to buy your gift right in your own neighborhood.

BECK: Right.

REVEREND BILLY: Walk to your gift this year. Maybe take a bicycle.

BECK: And you were...

REVEREND BILLY: You don`t have to get in your SUV this time.

BECK: And you were -- you were actually exercising, I believe, cash registers at Victoria`s Secrets?

REVEREND BILLY: Hallelujah. Friday we went into two different Victoria`s Secret. We tried to drive the demons out of those cash registers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REVEREND BILLY: Come on into this cash register of Victoria`s Secret!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I mean, where were you educated? Where -- you`re the Reverend of, what exactly?

REVEREND BILLY: Well, I didn`t go to the Yale Divinity School, Brother Glenn.

BECK: Yes.

REVEREND BILLY: But we`ve got a church and we do -- we do perform weddings and baptisms and funerals.

BECK: Really?

REVEREND BILLY: Backing away from the product. Slowing down your consumption is a spiritual act, and Jesus was one hell of an activist, amen, hallelujah.

BECK: All right. Reverend Billy, thank you very much and best of luck.

REVEREND BILLY: Stop shopping, children! Amen.

BECK: We`ll look for the Shopocalypse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Welcome to "The Real Story."

Today, the bipartisan Iraqi Study Group met in Washington to begin debating the most controversial aspects of their upcoming report on how best to deal with the situation in Iraq. Now, most people believe that three options are being discussed. Either we add more troops and use overwhelming force -- what a concept that is -- scale back the number of troops, but stay longer -- I don`t even understand that one -- or pull out altogether. Basically, the options are go big, go long, or go home.

Now, as the report gets closer to the release in December, the debate will undoubtedly pick up, and it will probably seem like our country is literally falling apart. But the real story is that our politicians have been fighting about how to fight since the Civil War, a time when our country was actually falling apart.

Back then, the peace Democrats, as they were called, believed that President Lincoln had led them into a war under false pretenses. Sound familiar? The president was actually accused of turning what was supposed to be a war to defend the union into a war against slavery, like somehow that wasn`t a noble enough cause to fight for.

Some congressmen used their antiwar platforms to make sure that important legislation, like banking reform, was stalled. They avoided votes by actually hiding in cloakrooms and filibustered others in the Senate. One senator from Delaware actually took to the Senate floor and called Lincoln -- see if this sounds familiar at all -- an imbecile, saying that he was, quote, "the weakest man ever placed in high office."

These were elected U.S. representatives that so opposed the war that they literally wanted the troops just to put their arms down and go home, no matter what the cost. They knew that losing meant slavery would return, yet even the emancipation was not a big enough prize to keep fighting for.

Today, we may be fighting for a different cause, trying to emancipate different people from a different enemy, and the peace Democrats may offer different reasons why we should all come home, but the underlying story is exactly the same.

Walter Lippman may have summed it up best when he wrote, quote, "In the discipline of war, public opinion cannot control the details. Wars cannot be directed by committees and Gallup polls. We have been struck by an enemy who prepared his blow while we debated." That was written four days after Pearl Harbor.

But the message is important today, as it was in 1941, even in 1861: During a war, study groups and hearings are nice, but it is the president who must summon the courage to finish what we started. And, in this case, it would be nothing less than immoral for us not to.

Next, Pope Benedict begins his trip to Turkey tomorrow amid incredibly tight security. Now, you might remember that the pope kind of got into a little bit of trouble with the Muslims two months ago when he gave a speech that quoted a Byzantine emperor who said some less-than-flattering things about the Prophet Muhammad.

A lot of people are concerned for the pope`s safety on this trip, but the real story is: I don`t think enough of us here in the U.S. understand just how dangerous this trip actually is. I am hopeful and prayerful that nothing will happen this week, but you have to understand that the pope lit a fuse a while back, and now he`s about ready to fly right into the middle of the powder keg.

Turkey is a country that is 99 percent Muslim, a country where the book, "Who Will Kill the Pope in Istanbul," has sold thousands of copies and is even selling faster in advance of the pope`s visit. This is a country where Hitler`s book, "Mein Kampf," still sold 100,000 copies last year and made a bestseller list.

But amid all of the danger, one threat stands out: It was just a few days after the pope made the comments in September, he was warned to cancel his trip to Turkey. And even though that warning came from just another fanatical nut job, you know, this time the nut job had a resume. It came from the Turk who is serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981.

He wrote, quote, "Pope Ratzinger, please listen to someone who knows these things very well. Your life is in danger; you absolutely must not come to Turkey," end quote.

To many Muslims, the pope is somebody who has consciously decided that now is the time to drag militant Islam out of the shadows, and that makes him an enemy. But if that`s what he`s chosen to do, then all of us -- Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic, Mormon, Muslim, doesn`t matter -- we should all be down on our knees praying for his safety this week, because his mission is as dangerous as it is important. And unfortunately, if something were to happen to him in Turkey, it just might be the spark that finally would ignite that powder keg.

Raymond Arroyo, he is the news director of Eternal Word Television. Raymond, I just have to ask you, this is the network with the nun, right? I see her...

RAYMOND ARROYO, ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK: Mother Angelica.

BECK: Mother Angelica.

ARROYO: Our darling Mother Angelica. That`s her.

BECK: Absolutely. How concerned are you about this trip and his safety?

ARROYO: I`m very concerned, as I think millions around the world are. And, you know, you`re not alone in praying for his safety. There are millions of people doing so. There is nervousness in the Vatican. Some folks I spoke to -- you`ve got to remember, Glenn, the security in the Vatican -- John Paul, you know, he was very peace-loving even after the assassination attempt.

BECK: Right.

ARROYO: He basically downgraded the Vatican security to Tasers and judo. So these people are not really going to be able to protect the pope all that much. So they need the snipers and the Mossad and, you know, everybody and his dog is now protecting the pope in Turkey. They`re on the ground; they`re on all of the ceilings or the rooftops, rather.

So security is going to be awfully tight. The question is: We`re not dealing with state-sponsored terrorism. We`re dealing with these little cells that you`ve been reporting on so widely. The question is: Can they actually ferret out these groups and these individuals that might mean him harm? We`ll see. We pray they will be able to.

BECK: You know, this guy has -- this is not something new with Islam. The radical Muslims are against him for a myriad of reasons. What is the point of his trip this time? Because it`s not -- like Pope John Paul, he met in mosques and, you know, would kiss the Koran and everything else. That`s not what this pope does at all.

ARROYO: No.

BECK: What is he doing?

ARROYO: John Paul loved the dramatic gestures, and he believed, you know, everybody come into the tent. If we all get in the mosque and take our shoes off, everything will be better. At least we can forge bonds of friendship.

Benedict believes in highlighting the differences here so that real dialogue can take place. But you see what happens when you try to actually point out those stark lines that divide theologically and culturally. Regensburg is what happens.

You know, he made a simple comment here, and it was really a critique of the West, Glenn, which is at the heart of that address, but let`s backtrack for a moment here.

What you will see, I believe, in this trip is a very determined Pope Benedict, coming here in peace, in love, to heal the schism between orthodoxy and Catholicism. And this is why these radical Muslim factions are so upset.

They are very upset and don`t like Bartholomew, the patriarch there in Turkey. They hate this guy, because he`s a Greek, but he`s in their midst. And though he has a small flock, to have Pope Benedict come in and give him credibility, and raise his profile, and maybe give him religious freedom, is something they cannot tolerate.

So they will do everything to sabotage this trip. But that`s the real focus of this visit. Benedict planned this pilgrimage long before the Regensburg thing and, you know, these protests and everything else we`ve been seeing.

BECK: I mean, he must know how much danger he`s in.

ARROYO: Oh, sure.

BECK: This man is risking his life...

ARROYO: No doubt.

BECK: ... for this trip. So what -- God forbid anything happens to him, because this is the powder keg that would start it all.

ARROYO: Sure.

BECK: But what would the point be of risking your life? What is the main message that he`s hoping the world would see?

ARROYO: Well, you know, Glenn, you`ve hit upon it. It would be the powder keg. And I think he is risking his life because, a, he has to -- someone has to stand up and say, "We want to engage in dialogue. We want to live in a society with you," meaning with Islam, "but we have to find common ground here. You need to talk to us. And to do so, we have to have dialogue and not beheadings and bombings."

Other than Benedict, what other world figure can really begin that dialogue? So he`s going there on this mission. That is part of the mission here. But, remember, that book you mentioned earlier, "Who Will Kill the Pope When He Comes to Istanbul," is the subtitle, that was a bestseller, Glenn, last summer, before the Regensburg address in September ever happened.

BECK: I know.

ARROYO: So let`s keep our eyes on it, and we`ll all be praying for his safety. And thanks for having me on. It`s a pleasure.

BECK: You bet. Thank you, sir. I am not a Catholic, but I will be praying, along with my family, for his safety this week, as I hope everybody does. Thanks, Raymond. We`ll be back in a minute.

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BECK: What do over-privileged jerks, video voyeurs, drug-dealing low lives, and spanking sadists all have in common? A brief description of the staff that works on this program, also just a smattering of the character types played by my next guest. These days, he`s a star in the ABC drama "Boston Legal," one of my favorite shows on television. Season two of that series just being released on DVD, just in time for the holidays. What a coincidence there.

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Welcome to the program, James Spader. How are you, sir?

JAMES SPADER, ACTOR, "BOSTON LEGAL": Thank you very much.

BECK: I remember the first time I saw "Boston Legal," my wife came in, and she saw you and William Shatner, and she looked for a second, and she said, "Is that William Shatner?" And I said, "Yes." She said, "What the hell are you watching?" And I said, "I know it`s William Shatner, but these two together are brilliant."

You guys are great, just great.

SPADER: Yes, it`s a strange enigma, these two guys.

BECK: Do you have a good relationship off-air or are you just...

SPADER: Very, very good. I mean, I`m really not dissimilar from the relationship between the characters on the show. I mean, they don`t seem to have a tremendous -- they don`t seem to have very many very close friends outside of each other...

BECK: Yes.

SPADER: ... those two characters.

BECK: Really, weird, odd, successful losers.

SPADER: Yes, but I think they each have sort of these very sort of complex lives that are always alluded to, away from what you see on the show.

BECK: Right.

SPADER: Alan certainly does, always has this life that you always have the impression is just -- it`s not fit to show on television, his life away from the show, which I guess the same could be said in real life, in my life, as well.

But, really, Bill`s and mine relationship is very similar to Alan and Denny`s. We`re very different, and when we first met, I don`t think either of us had any real preconception of what the other person was like or how we`d work with each other or everything, and it just started working right from the start.

BECK: Does he know that it`s some of his best work ever?

SPADER: I don`t think Bill watches the show very much. If he does, it`s very sporadically.

BECK: You don`t watch it, either, do you?

SPADER: No, I do. I watch every episode, yes. I think he does. I think he`s been lauded for the show enough. I think people come up to him enough. I think he`s getting the attention now -- for the first time the attention that he`s getting now is eclipsing attention that he`s gotten in the past...

BECK: Right.

SPADER: ... for other things that he`s done. And I think that probably it`s got the strangely broader base in a way...

BECK: Yes.

SPADER: ... and although maybe not.

BECK: You know, I`ll tell you, one thing I appreciate about your relationship on the air is he`s a conservative. You`re clearly not, on the show, yet you like each other. You`re decent to each other, you know what I mean?

SPADER: And those aren`t the only dichotomies. I mean, they`re very, very different, I mean, in every way.

(CROSSTALK)

SPADER: Even in the way -- but you`re right.

BECK: You know what I`m saying in...

SPADER: In terms of politics.

BECK: ... today`s world, everybody divides by politics, and that`s such bull crap.

SPADER: I think, you know, there`s a very funny thing in that my cousin -- I have an Italian cousin that -- I`m not Italian, but we`re related by marriage. He`s Italian. He was raised in Florence, and he had studied the American labor movement. And he was writing a book or writing his dissertation and so on about the history of the American Communist Party and its involvement with the labor movement in the United States.

And he went to meet with -- he wanted to meet with this sort of grandfather of the American Communist Party at one -- many, many, many years ago -- this is decades ago -- and he wanted my grandfather to drive him there. Or, no, I`m sorry, my grandfather volunteered to drive him to this man`s house. And my grandfather was an arch-conservative.

And my cousin said, "No, no, that would be fine. That will be fine. You don`t have to drive me. Really, I think it`ll be best if you don`t." And my grandfather insisted, and he drove them there. And these two old farts sat around, and it was almost as if they were so extreme at that point, they were so polar, that they`d sort of met on the other side in a way.

And I think Alan and Denny are like that. I think that they are both so opposite and so dichotomist in a way that they`ve found a sort of meeting ground on the other side. And it works very well for them, and I think they forgive everything, you know? They`re very...

BECK: Yes, yes. Do you have -- do you get much mail, or does the show ever hear, "Why does a conservative have to be crazy? Why does he have to have Alzheimer`s"?

SPADER: I don`t think that Denny has Alzheimer`s -- the character has Alzheimer`s because he`s conservative.

BECK: No, no, but a lot of conservatives I`ve talked to have said, "Why is it he`s the crazy one?" You know what I mean? Maybe oversensitivity.

SPADER: It probably is, because I think a lot -- you could say an awful lot about Alan in terms of that, as well. I don`t think that Alan is -- I think he`s got a lot of screws that may be loose.

BECK: Yes.

SPADER: And he certainly is much of a loose cannon, as Denny is. I think that probably it comes from that the majority, I will say -- not all, but the majority -- of the people that make this show on a day-to-day basis and the creative staff, whether it be writers and certainly David E. Kelley, I think, have a slightly less conservative slant, in terms of their politics and so on. And therefore, I think, if they`re going really poke, they`re going poke in that direction.

BECK: Yes. I will tell you, I don`t care about their politics at all. It is a great, great show, and you are tremendous in it.

SPADER: Thank you.

BECK: Big fan. Thank you very much. Best of luck.

SPADER: Thank you very much.

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BECK: Well, welcome back from Thanksgiving, the holiday where we give thanks for one of the seven deadly sins: gluttony.

Larry in New Mexico writes, "Glenn, I was sitting at my Thanksgiving dinner when war talk broke out. I attempted to cut and run from the conversation several times, but even a phased redeployment wouldn`t work. I have to sit with these people again for Christmas. How do I avoid yet another holiday dinner being ruined?"

Oh, jeez, Larry, I`m sorry. I`m sorry your holiday was ruined; I really am. I mean, this happened all across America. Talk of war and politics, global warming and strife, it ruined tasty home-cooked meals, and that`s just not the way God intended it.

You know, you really don`t want the talk of the pope visiting Turkey ruining your turkey, and I think everyone`s first step to get out of those uncomfortable conversations around the holiday is the typical subject change, but sometimes it`s difficult to go directly from President Ahmadinejad to the new Wendy`s half-pound jalapeno cheddar double-melt.

What you need is something to connect them, you know? And I believe I make that solid connection. When somebody brings up Iran, you use me as a link. You say, "Oh, yes, I heard that story on GLENN BECK right before he went to that commercial for the new Wendy`s half-pound jalapeno cheddar double-melt. Have you seen that thing? The cheese sauce is in the middle of it."

If that doesn`t work, then a lot of people will tell you to go directly to choking or fainting or faking a disease. But, honestly, I don`t think any of those are going to work individually. You need to fake a disease that makes you choke and faint, I think.

And if all that fails, then I recommend really choking yourself, because there`s no way out, brother. I mean, that will make your point crystal clear, won`t it?

Still more fallout on Michael Richards coming in, this one from Matt in Utah. "Glenn, I`m responding to your comments on Richard`s tirade. First of all, it`s not your right to condemn. Second of all, who are you to publicly humiliate someone through your own righteous opinion?"

Matt, I`m not humiliating Michael Richards by pointing out how much of an idiot he was during that routine. He did that.

Also, yes, Richards is out there on the apology tour with his most recent stop with Jesse Jackson on the radio. Is it sincere? I don`t know. It`s not up to me to judge his heart; it is my job to give you my opinion on people`s actions. You know, that`s literally my job. And most likely, this thing will just end up with a few dozen more "I`m sorrys" and his signature on a very large check.

We`ll see you tomorrow.

END