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Glenn Beck
Encore Presentation: Holding Court With Nancy Grace
Aired December 28, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Passionate, fiery and relentless.
NANCY GRACE, HOST, "NANCY GRACE": I mean, isn`t that the point of the justice system to do what you believe in, what you think is right, for Pete`s sake?
BECK: Nancy Grace`s aggressive style has made her a media favorite. "Boston Legal" and even "Saturday Night Live" has cashed in on her popularity.
AMY POEHLER, NBC`S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Good evening, I`m Nancy Grace.
BECK: As a champion for victims` rights, she`s got a loyal fan base that can`t seem to get enough. Whether it`s on Court TV`s "Closing Arguments" or her self-titled CNN Headline News show, Grace is always ready to lay down the law.
GRACE: One person can make a distance.
BECK: She`s regarded as one of television`s top legal analysts. For ten years, she was a special prosecutor for rape, murder and child molestation cases. Now she dedicates her life to fighting for the rights of victims.
Provocative, aggressive and unapologetically persistent. Tonight, Nancy Grace faces an hour of honest questions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: As you know, I am a rodeo clown. Proud of it. Although it`s an insult to actual rodeo clowns, I believe. I`m on a TV show every night yakking about the coming apocalypse. But once a week we turn away from the mushroom cloud for a couple of minutes, spend a whole hour with one special guest for a sneak peek into their world and how they are changing ours.
Tonight, we have a woman who`s known as being very tough, very outspoken. She puts her truth and her compassion on the witness stand every day to give a voice to the voiceless victims of crime. Her name is Nancy Grace.
Welcome to the program, Nancy.
GRACE: First of all...
BECK: Oh, boy.
GRACE: I saw your special...
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: ... about the extreme...
BECK: Yes. The Muslim extremists?
GRACE: Yes. And I`ve consulted with my experts.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: I think you made up all the subtitles.
BECK: Do you think so? Really? What is...
GRACE: No. No. I was so scared I got under the sheet and stayed there the rest of the night.
BECK: You know, I think a lot of people feel that way about your show, though, too. Because you`re like they`re coming to get me. The predators are right around the corner.
GRACE: They`re right around the corner with the hypodermic needle and the net at all times.
BECK: Right. I will tell you, the first time -- and I think I said this to you maybe right before we went on the air. The first time I ever went on your show, I said, "You frighten me. You`re not going to kill me, are you?"
GRACE: You`re scaring me.
BECK: You are -- you are somebody -- and tell me if you believe this is what your appeal is. I watch your show. And, there`s a couple of things.
One, I believe you believe in what you`re saying. You speak -- I know. You speak it as you believe it.
And the second thing I think is your appeal is you don`t take any B.S. and you could -- that`s why we have a very wide table. You could reach across the table and choke me to death. Am I -- am I -- is that your appeal?
GRACE: I don`t know about appeal.
BECK: Right.
GRACE: Because I get an equal amount of hate mail and fan mail.
BECK: Oh.
GRACE: So, as it should be.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: That`s the way our system is.
BECK: Right.
GRACE: Thank God in heaven.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: But, having tried so many cases, and handled so many -- literally thousands -- I can`t even really count. If you estimate it out, Glenn, we would do about 100 cases a week, felonies, every month. That`s 400 a month.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: That`s 12 months a year times 10 years. That`s a lot of felonies.
BECK: So, are you -- have you been -- because you started out -- let me take you back to the beginning. And then we`re going to get some of the...
GRACE: You`re not showing the childhood pictures, are you?
BECK: No, no, not me, of course not.
GRACE: As they run the childhood pictures.
BECK: Yes. Let me -- let me -- because I want to get into some of things about what`s currently going on. Because you`re under an enormous amount of pressure and somebody is suing you. And it`s a nasty story. But I want to get into that, but I think it`s important that we start...
GRACE: I`m not under pressure.
BECK: You`re not under pressure?
GRACE: No.
BECK: Really? I`m about to collapse under it. And I`m not dealing with half the stuff.
GRACE: Well, let me tell you something. Even at the end of a courtroom day...
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: It would be about -- 6:30, quarter of 7, because I would never leave my evidence that had not yet been entered into trial alone. I wouldn`t take it back to my office or leave it. I would take it with me home, because I didn`t want it tampered with.
So I`d pack everything up at the end of the courthouse day. Everybody would be gone. And sometimes I would literally wonder, you know, how did I get here? Why am I not at home with a family, cooking supper or, as you guys say, dinner, hearing about what happened at school?
You know what? That`s not the way my life turned out. And, I got a very different life than what I intended early on, which I love. I am so blessed. So, as things come up along the way, adversity, you know what? It is an opportunity.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: To try to take that and mold that and turn it into something good.
BECK: Yes. My father said to me when I was -- oh, must have been 30.
GRACE: Get a job and get out!
BECK: Yes. When I was about 35, he said to me...
GRACE: You have to get out.
BECK: He`s one of the wisest guys -- I know. He`s one of the wisest guys I know. And he -- and he was listening to me whine one time. And I was saying, "Oh, dad, my life is -- I have so many problems."
And he said, "Really?" He said, "Boy" -- and I didn`t realize my father was being car sarcastic with me. He said, "You are right. You have such a tough life. You -- you know what? Make a -- I`ve got to run right now, but make a list tonight and then let`s talk tomorrow. You tell me all the bad things that have happened to you."
And I actually started to. I got to about -- I don`t know, No. 8 on the list and I realized, wait a minute. That`s not really a bad thing because if that hadn`t happened, this wouldn`t have happened, and this was good. And then I got my father`s point. I looked at the whole list, and there is no bad that ever happened.
GRACE: You know what you reminded me of? We were in the grocery store. I`m sure my mother does not remember this. And she was a working mom, and I remember I would wait at the window for her to -- see her coming up the driveway so I could go out and help her carry her things in.
By the time I can remember all this, she was running a payroll division of a company. And she would come home with a stack of papers that would come up to her and on top is one of them, one of those old calculators with the cord hanging off of it. And it would hurt me to see her come home from work with all -- and I would try to go help her.
I remember one day, we were in the grocery store. And you know when you get to the checkout, there`s all those little toys? There`s chewing gum and candy? And I asked her for something. I don`t remember what it was.
She looked at me like how dare you? She never said anything. I never asked for anything again. That one look, that did it.
BECK: Yes. People perceive you differently, and it kind of -- it kind of goes to where you were talking about here at the beginning that you have seen a build up of so many things. Early on in your life, you wanted to be a schoolteacher?
GRACE: Uh-huh.
BECK: You studied Shakespeare, which if I may quote my father, what were you thinking you were going to do with that degree? But you -- you studied Shakespeare, et cetera, et cetera. And then your life took a turn for the worst.
GRACE: Well, when I went to school, I wanted to be a Shakespearian professor. First of all, my mother said...
BECK: A lot of money in that.
GRACE: ... what you just said, and she said, "You`ve got to be a pharmacist."
I`m like, "OK."
BECK: Right.
GRACE: And the first chemistry lab I fainted. I passed out when I smelled them bending the glass.
BECK: Really?
GRACE: Yes. So that didn`t work out.
BECK: Right.
GRACE: I even dated the lab assistant. Didn`t help. No good.
All right. So I went through a couple of other majors, and I finally -- everyone agreed that I should do what I loved, which was be a starving English professor. And that was really, truly my love.
And, not long after I had gotten engaged, my fiance, which many people know by now, and it`s a very -- blur of memories. When Keith was murdered, shortly before our elopement. In fact, as has been pointed out to me in the press, a lot of my memories of the trial are blurred. And -- painful and I changed.
BECK: OK...
GRACE: I dropped out of school, actually. And I remember I had to go to the dean of the whole university and explain why, that far into the semester, I wanted to just drop out. I remember I went in there and I looked at him, and he -- and started crying. And finally, a secretary or somebody came and took me out, and that was that.
And I moved to Philadelphia, where my sister was a professor at the time at the Wharton School, and I stayed there for a while. And I was sitting on a bench while she was in class, just watching people go by. And it dawned on me -- and I remember this moment -- that I decided I would try to get into law school. I didn`t even know what that was, really. And that I would try to represent crime victims.
And this is so funny. I remember the first week of law school. I had to look up the words "plaintiff" and "defendant." I didn`t know what that meant.
So I am a living example of anybody can do it.
BECK: That`s great.
GRACE: You don`t have to be the smartest, the prettiest, the funniest, the richest. All you have to do is work harder than anybody else.
BECK: OK. Back with more Nancy Grace here in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POEHLER: Joining us from Microsoft is customer representative Bethany Blake.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for calling customer support. My name is Bethany.
POEHLER: Bethany, how do you sleep at night working for a company that provides the tools to the pedophilia industry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m sorry, ma`am. Do you have a technical issue?
POEHLER: I`ll tell you what I have an issue with, Bethany. Your company created Windows. And now perverts are looking through those Windows at young boys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: That`s from "Saturday Night Live", who -- they love to nail you. I -- I just saw latest episode of "Boston Legal". That was actually the latest episode that I saw.
GRACE: I got hit in the head with a shovel.
BECK: You were hit in the head with a shovel.
GRACE: I hope I live.
BECK: I still haven`t -- I didn`t see the other subsequent episodes.
GRACE: It`s all because I wouldn`t sleep with Shatner.
BECK: Is that what it is?
GRACE: That`s what that`s al about.
BECK: That is -- I mean, that parody.
GRACE: So clear.
BECK: Oh, yes. And it is -- it is laugh out loud funny.
GRACE: I grew up -- my brother was a total Trekkie, a.k.a., nerd! So we had to -- we only got three channels. You know why? Because the pine trees were so tall around our house, we could really get one channel; we could kind of get two other channels. And we had to watch "Star Trek" every day. I know everything about "Star Trek". I loved Captain Kirk.
And I normally watch "Boston Legal every episode.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: But I`ve been so busy this season I`ve TiVo`d it all.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: But I understand that there is a character mocking me, which I think is hilarious.
Now, about "Saturday Night Live," I love Amy, and my favorite character of hers is the one-legged redneck, who I also thought was a parody of me.
BECK: Right, right.
GRACE: But it turns out that this actually was the parody of me.
BECK: Right. So I watched the "Boston Legal". In fact, it turned into an hour conversation on the radio show. Had to shut it off. People were calling, and they were so passionate about one side or the other.
And that was, I said, I thought it was funny. I even thought it was - - no offense, I even thought it was funny when they hit you in the head with a shovel. But -- I know.
GRACE: That equals conspiracy in my book. But go ahead.
BECK: No. It`s funny. However, there was one place where I thought they put words into your mouth that -- no, no, no. But to me it was -- for instance if somebody said this to me -- what they had you say. And this was it. This was the sole clip.
What they had you say was, well, you know that he`s a homosexual and homosexuals, if they can`t abide by the law of God, they certainly can`t abide by the law of man.
And I thought in today`s world, with the hate speech that is thrown back and forth, and Nancy, whether you say it or not, I`ll say it. I know there are whole organizations that spend their whole day listening to every word I say, trying to take me down.
Is there a line in the parody -- is there a line on something like that, where you say, you know what? You can make fun of me all you want. I`m fair game, but don`t put hate speech in my mouth when it`s clearly you?
GRACE: I tell you, I believe that that was a parody. I think it was a joke, and I`m -- frankly, flattered.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: Of course, my real opinion, my true opinion on the law is anything but Gracie Jane`s. One of the very first hate crimes I prosecuted was attacks on gay men in Atlanta.
The first time I was exposed to hate crime was when I handled an appeal, and that was a series of murders of young gay men in Atlanta. I went on to prosecute a case where gay men were targeted and abused and mistreated.
And, that sentiment is anything -- is the furthest from my sentiment.
BECK: All right. So let me change gears but play off of this a bit. Maybe you can explain this, because I`ve never understood it.
GRACE: And yes, I won the case.
BECK: Yes. No!
GRACE: Don`t worry. He got the max.
BECK: Explain exactly a hate crime. This is a concept that I didn`t understand. If somebody beats you to death, I`m just assuming they hate you. What does it -- why is there a hate crime? Why shouldn`t you get the maximum penalty for doing what you did, not because you hated them for some reason?
GRACE: I tend to agree with you, because for me, I saw the maximum on practically every case I tried.
However, hate crimes add an additional penalty. It`s actually an additional hurdle for the prosecution. Typically, the state does not have to prove motive or reasoning as to why a defendant committed a crime. In a hate crime, you have to go into the mind of a criminal and prove to a jury what they were thinking at the time they did the act, which is very hard to do.
BECK: I know. But why do you have to do that?
GRACE: If you want to get a hate crime penalty. For instance...
BECK: But why do we need that? Why don`t -- why doesn`t somebody who beat somebody to death, you know, either get absolute, really, life in jail or the death penalty? Why do I have to throw on something else on top of it to make sure they stay in jail?
GRACE: I`ll tell you why. No. 1, you`re preaching to the choir, Beck. But No. 2...
BECK: This is where she takes me down. This is where she comes after me. Help me.
GRACE: When you are really in the pit and you are trying cases and you are representing victims, there`s not always time to say, "Why? Hmm. Why did the legislature write this?" You deal with what you`ve got.
And right now, for instance, the maximum on an aggravated assault might be 20 to life. Great. You can get life in prison for an aggravated assault, but for appellate purposes or if you want to keep this guy behind bars as long as you can, go for that hate crime. Get the other 20 years tacked on, just to make sure he`s off the street for maybe six more months. That`s the reality that lawyers deal with.
I don`t have time to crusade to get a bunch of politicians in Washington to see the light. OK? But I can do what I think is right in my world.
BECK: Do you think our system -- has it changed? Have we -- are we started to break down? Is our system of criminal justice...
GRACE: It`s breaking down -- my God, it`s been breaking down since day one. Yes. Our criminal justice is terribly screwed up, but it`s the best thing going.
BECK: What I meant -- I know. But that`s what I`m saying is, has it always been this screwed up?
GRACE: Sure. Yes. O.J., do I have to say that? It`s for a long time.
BECK: I know that. But I mean prior -- O.J. for me the first time that I, as an American went, wow, this system doesn`t work. Now...
GRACE: The only argument I ever had with my personal investigator of ten years in the D.A.`s office. He insisted Simpson was innocent. The only fight we ever had in ten years.
BECK: You know, you worked with Johnnie Cochran for a while. I would like to ask you when we come back if he ever slipped up and said, "No. Please."
GRACE: No, he was too smart for that.
BECK: Back in a second with Nancy Grace.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: All right.
GRACE: Wait a minute. How did you get funky music and I have to have investigative music?
BECK: Well, that`s because -- that`s because we`re not credible.
GRACE: You know, I asked for one thing last night. I asked for one thing. I asked for please play "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" music.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: Didn`t happen.
BECK: Not going to happen with you.
GRACE: No.
BECK: No. People take you too seriously. Me, they know.
We left with O.J. Simpson. Johnnie Cochran. Did he ever -- did you ever think about taking him out and getting him drunk and just saying, "OK, really?"
GRACE: No. He was too classy for that.
BECK: Really?
GRACE: God rest his soul. At first, when we started the show, "Cochran and Grace", they had to take me out in the hall and talk to me several times. Take me to the cloak room.
BECK: Right.
GRACE: Because I would sit there going...
BECK: Right. He...
GRACE: Because I kind of held him responsible for the double murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
And after I started watching him and working with him, I actually learned something from him. I learned how juries can be totally captivated with someone like Cochran. He`s attractive. He`s eloquent, articulate, dresses to the nines, much better than me. You know that. And he`s charming. And I got to know him and his wife and his family. And really got to like them.
Now, about Simpson, oh man, could he make an entrance to a room. He`d walk in about three feet and stop. Effect. And then walk a little bit more. It is so cool that way. And the thing about him is I would say, "Simpson did it."
And he would always say the same thing. He would go, "Jury acquitted him."
BECK: Oh, wow. He is -- you know...
GRACE: He never said, "Hell no, he didn`t do it!"
BECK: You know, I think I learned...
GRACE: He went, "Jury acquitted him."
BECK: I think I learned the same thing about the court system that you did with Johnnie Cochran, and I have friends who are attorneys and, you know, trial attorneys.
GRACE: You have friends that are lawyers?
BECK: I do.
GRACE: "I`ve got a lawyer friend."
BECK: I do. And they -- I tell them all the time, you`ve got to be a performer in the courtroom, especially in this -- in this setting now with everybody...
GRACE: Objection! I don`t think you necessarily have to be a performer.
BECK: You have to be a good...
GRACE: You have to believe. You`ve got to believe in something. When you get in front of a jury, or a camera, and you don`t believe, they can smell it a mile away.
BECK: I agree with you, but I was sitting -- I was actually a foreman of a jury, and that`s a wild, nasty process.
GRACE: You`re kidding.
BECK: It`s like sausage through a -- you don`t want to see how it`s made.
GRACE: No, I mean you were a foreperson?
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: We don`t say foreman anymore, FYI.
BECK: I do. Foreman.
GRACE: OK. I`m having the national burn your bra day.
BECK: Good.
GRACE: For persons...
BECK: Honey, I wear one. Anyway, but the -- the thing that I really learned was everybody in the jury box really expected it to be more like TV. They expected it to be, you know -- you`ve got to put on a show in today`s world.
GRACE: You are making a presentation.
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: And it reminds of when I would put on dog witnesses, who were, P.S. the best witnesses I ever had. For instance, in a drug case or an arson case, which was later reversed, because I brought in evidence of a dog.
We would get there -- my investigator and I, Earnest, would get there at 7 a.m. in the morning to practice with the dog, which means I would get there at about 5:30. So the dog wouldn`t screw up the demonstration.
BECK: Right.
GRACE: And that`s where the Simpson case failed, in that one spectacular moment where the evidence was handed over to the one person in the world most likely to screw it up and the glove.
BECK: Back with more Nancy Grace in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Back with Nancy Grace. You know, if you watch her program, I`m here to tell you she`s exactly the same off the air, as she is on. And you don`t have to just take that from me. You know who I really got that from? I got that from the women in the office. They say, "She`s like -- in the bathroom, she`s just a regular woman"...
GRACE: Yeah, I apprehended a woman who didn`t wash her hands right before I came down here.
BECK: So you are -- she really is the same that you see on television. And, Nancy, I`ve got to be honest with you, I have really felt for you, recently, just as a co-worker. And when I watch you, I know you really believe what you say.
And I want to get into something -- and feel free to say what you can, because I know you`re in the middle of litigation. But let`s start with the Duckett case. You`re being sued now. I saw the episode and, as a viewer, I was sitting there thinking, "My gosh, if I were a parent and my child were missing, I would" -- I mean, this is the point.
Every investigator will always tell you, you have a certain amount of time, a couple of day window. If you don`t find your child within a couple of days, the odds go dramatically down. Get in front of the media as much as you can and just spill your guts. I know I would be.
And I was puzzled by it. I didn`t think those were unreasonable questions that you asked. What is happening now with you?
GRACE: What do you mean what`s happening with me? Am I hurt? Yes, the lawsuit, the allegations are very hurtful. But you know what? I really believe, Glenn -- and I know this may sound naive -- that the truth will be a complete defense. I firmly believe that with all my heart.
BECK: We are people that feel passionately about something, and we tell the truth as we perceive it. And a lot of people don`t like that. Now, where is the line? Have you found the line between telling the truth, pushing for the truth, being honest about things, and trying people in the media?
GRACE: As far as trying people in the media, that`s a total croc, and it`s B.S. Nobody`s tried in the media. Do I have to say Robert Blake, for Pete`s sake, O.J. Simpson, Jason Williams? The list goes on and on and on, where there`s been a lot of media coverage and it`s not tainted the jury.
The jury is not listening to what we`re saying. They`re listening to the facts they hear in the courtroom. It depends on the two parties and how they bring the case -- whether they are effective in pursuing the truth. It`s trial by fire.
So, long story short, nobody`s tried in the media. The only people that run around saying that are media people, as they`re talking about themselves. One of their favorite things to do is media talking about media. And I think that, in this case, the truth will win out.
BECK: Tough question to ask you, because I think, I think it was your coverage of Natalee Holloway that made me ask this question on my radio program before we even knew each other. What is the point? How does Natalee Holloway`s disappearance affect me?
What am I supposed to -- I`m living in Cleveland, and I don`t know anything about Natalee Holloway. I don`t who she is. I don`t know the family...
GRACE: Are you serious? "How does this affect me?"
BECK: Yes, how does this affect me?
GRACE: OK, you may be living in Cleveland, but you`re still an American, right?
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: And this girl and her family got rid rough-shod by the Aruban government and the Aruban police. And maybe I`m different from you, but they were done very, very badly. And they`ve given up on seeking the truth. And what`s this mom supposed to do, go home and twiddle her thumbs and try to forget that somebody killed her daughter?
BECK: Here`s what -- no, no, no. And I`m not saying that. Here`s what...
GRACE: I called for a boycott on Aruba. And guess what? Tourism went up. I`m like, "People, didn`t you hear me?"
(LAUGHTER)
BECK: I have to tell you, I saw the worst advertising campaign I have ever seen. It was during that episode with Natalee Holloway -- this is horrible. I`m going into the Lincoln Tunnel. And right before the Lincoln Tunnel, there`s this giant billboard, and it was for Aruba. And it said, "Your last glimpse of sunlight. Come to Aruba."
GRACE: You mean, before you die?
BECK: No, it was before you go into the tunnel, but with that case going on, it was your last...
GRACE: Your last glimpse of sunlight before you die...
BECK: Oh, I know.
GRACE ... in Aruba.
BECK: I know, that`s exactly what it screamed to me. It was there for about a month after that.
GRACE: Since you brought it up, people always ask me, "Why does Natalee`s mom go on TV all the time?" Well, what else can she do?
BECK: Yes.
GRACE: She`s trying so hard. And...
BECK: Don`t get me wrong. I feel the compassion. I watch her, and I think to myself, "What would you do?" How do you -- this is what I got from it. As I was watching it, I thought to myself, "My gosh. A, I`m not sending my kids down to Aruba. B, I don`t think I`m sending my kids anywhere."
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: Right. But the other thing was, I spent a lot of time during that thinking, "How would I react? How would I possibly go on as a dad?" Something happens to my child -- I`ve got four children -- I don`t know how I would go on, I really don`t.
GRACE: You endure. And I learned immediately -- not immediately after Keith`s murder, but in the years that followed that, that the key is to endure and not to let people or circumstances chip away at you, so every day you lose a little bit more of what you believe in.
BECK: I have a theory about...
GRACE: Oh, God.
BECK: No, no, no -- this is a theory about me, and I don`t even know if it`s true.
GRACE: Oh, Beck`s got a theory.
BECK: Yeah. No, I don`t even know if this is true. I said this to a good friend of mine, who is a big guy on Wall Street. And we`re very similar. And I said, "You know, we both work so hard. And I wonder -- I wonder why? Are we running from something?"
And in a way I think I am, in a way. I don`t know how to be a good dad. You know, and so some ways I run from that, because it`s not as easy for me as what I do. Do you think you -- you are so busy. You do two shows. You`re everywhere. Why do you do it? Do you ask yourself that question?
GRACE: Yes, I do. I do. Well, I feel a duty. I know it may sound idealistic or corny or naive, but I`ve been given so many blessings. You know, the other day I came up the elevator here at Time Warner. You know, they`ve got a TV in the elevator?
BECK: Yeah.
GRACE: I`m like, "Whoa." I hug myself, OK, because I was so happy. To think that a girl off a red dirt road -- literally, a red dirt road. And if you ran the water too long, it would turn red, too, because we had a well dug by my grandfather in the backyard -- to think that, you know, I could get to law school, and graduate, and be here is beyond anything I ever dreamed of. And don`t you feel a duty to try to do something right with all your blessings?
BECK: I do.
Back with Nancy Grace here in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY POEHLER, COMEDIAN: Good evening, I`m Nancy Grace. And, yes, I intended for my hair to be this shape. I think my chair was moved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I don`t even know. I don`t understand that last joke, but it`s "Saturday Night Live." Nancy Grace...
GRACE: Yes. I intended to look this way. This is a look that gave me a lot of -- years to develop the look...
BECK: Really? Wow. Wow.
We were talking before the break that you said that you felt some responsibility to pay back, you know, for the blessings that you have received. And I can relate to that. And I feel that way somewhat myself. I don`t know if I do a good job at it, but I feel that some way myself. America is an amazing place.
You come from -- we both do, in a way, but I don`t know. Your family might have been more meager than mine. We were working-class people. My dad owned a bakery and we struggled for every dollar and loaf of bread that we had. You great up on a red dirt road, as you said. What were your parents like?
GRACE: Well, they`re still alive, number one, so they`re still the same way they were before.
BECK: Right.
GRACE: Let`s see.
BECK: My dad`s not the same. My mom`s not the same. They`re both crankier.
GRACE: Let`s see. My dad is a railroad man. He was with the Southern Railroad, which turned into the Central Railroad, for 44 years, I think. And my mom, when she was in grammar school, first grade, someone noticed that she had the ability to play piano at 7, and they could not afford piano lessons. It was out of the question.
And she had an anonymous benefactor pay for her private piano lessons from age 7 until she graduated from high school. And then she would walk - - this is not a joke -- she would walk, I guess, about two-and-a-half miles to get to a bus stop to go to the first university for women in the world, Wesleyan University, and take piano lessons later.
And that`s what they`re like. And I remember my dad going to work even when he would have chest pains. He was a heart patient. And I really learned from that. I did. I learned -- he never said anything, although once I asked my mom what would happen if I didn`t go to church with him the next day, and she said, "Why, Nancy, we`ll just take you out of school and send you to the Georgia Industrial Home for Girls to learn a trade." She had it down.
Like, "OK." That`s how they are. And I talk to them all the time. They`re very political. They`re very into the world around them. My mom still teaches piano in the home. She`s 75.
BECK: Wow, good for you. Do you think that the -- do those people still exist? You know, here`s why I ask this question.
GRACE: They do in Macon.
BECK: Yes. There is a poll that just came out recently. It said 50 percent of the American public don`t think that the American dream can be accomplished. There`s another poll that shows 50 percent of the American people believe now the American dream is to be famous. I think the American dream is to have a better life than your parents did, and I...
GRACE: You`re so negative!
BECK: I know, and I don`t think...
GRACE: Fifty percent of the people think you can obtain the American dream.
BECK: Yes, but that`s...
GRACE: The rest are just downers.
BECK: Right, but that is greatly down from the past, where people used to believe in the American dream. A lot of people are just whiners. A lot of people -- what has happened to us where we don`t believe...
GRACE: Whining is a huge waste of time. Where does it get you? The whining, the crying, the carrying on, huge waste of time, because it never gets you anywhere. I try to, like, focus on going forward.
BECK: Best piece of advice somebody gave you?
GRACE: When in doubt, say little and do less. OK, wait. Let me think.
BECK: You know what? That`s very close to one of the best pieces of advice I ever got, was, "When in doubt, leave it out."
GRACE: Let me think. Yes, the best advice ever is: Keep your nose in the wind and your eye on the horizon. That`s really my motto.
BECK: Back to political or, I mean, legal stuff. John Mark Karr -- I...
GRACE: Karr, next, rapid, go ahead, hit me.
BECK: He was a guy...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Oh, yes, I called the new CEO of Court TV the other day, and I said, "Hey, Kiernan (ph), this guy moved to your neighborhood. I saw him looking in your mailbox." Yes, he went to a beautiful Atlanta neighborhood. I understand he left there and went to another neighborhood. God knows where he is now.
BECK: He is a guy that I thought from the first videotape I saw of him -- thought, "Guy didn`t do it. The guy didn`t do it."
GRACE: Well, the first thing I thought is, is he wearing eyeliner? Then I thought, "The guy didn`t do it."
BECK: Yes, he is a spooky dude.
GRACE: Yes.
BECK: And there is really -- is there anything that we could do, besides alert people on who this guy is?
And this brings me, kind of, back to our parents and our grandparents, their generations -- they had more common sense than this. What has happened to common sense?
GRACE: I really don`t know, but what is disturbing to me is, he was actually given a daycare license in Alabama to take care of children in the home.
But, you know, not everybody has it so good. My mom was lucky. When she was out starting off as a bank teller, my grandmother lived across the street, at that time, in the old farm house, and she helped raise us. And not everybody is that lucky.
They have to go to daycare, and they have to go through so many hoops in life. And yet they trust the system, and they trust us to do the right thing with people like John Mark Karr.
BECK: It was a different age. I`m very active in my faith in our -- we hold to rather traditional values, and it is nice to be able to have some sort of connection to the values of the past, in a way. Do you -- are you religious at all? What role does God play in your life?
GRACE: Yes, I`m religious. I`m a horrible sinner.
BECK: Are you religious, or...
GRACE: I`m bad, and I know I`m bad.
BECK: That is lying!
GRACE: And that`s the only way -- no, this is true. The only way I will ever get into Heaven is if my mother somehow pulls some strings, because she`s a really good person.
BECK: Let me tell you something...
GRACE: If she gets me in, that`s the only way I`m getting in.
BECK: I`ve talked to so many people, "You`ve got to vouch for me. When you get there, you`ve got to vouch for me." I get that.
GRACE: I am a Methodist.
BECK: Are you spiritual or religious?
GRACE: I am devout in my attendance at church and supporting the church. I don`t really like the concept of organized religion, because it can be so wrong, excluding people because of who they are or how they live. I don`t remember seeing anything like that in the New Testament, anything so hateful or exclusive, the way it is portrayed now. And...
BECK: Well, he did turn some tables over for the moneychangers.
GRACE: Yes, I liked that part.
BECK: Yes. He did do that.
GRACE: There`s nothing wrong with being PO`ed.
BECK: OK, back in a second with more Nancy Grace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POEHLER: And you know who else I think should sue Michael Richards?
MATTHEW FOX, ACTOR: No.
POEHLER: Michael Richards.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And for everybody that`s been watching the case, as we go to break, I`m having a little crow sandwich on the set tonight, and it`s not going to taste good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Are you doing product placement now?
GRACE: No, it did taste bad, because I predicted, on national television that Michael Jackson would be convicted...
BECK: Oh.
GRACE: ... and, of course, he is walking scot-free. And, yes, I had to eat a crow sandwich on that one.
BECK: That`s really unfortunate.
GRACE: And on Simpson, and on Blake.
BECK: You know what? You were wrong on all of them?
GRACE: Oh, yeah.
BECK: What the hell is anybody watching you for?
GRACE: No, I was right; the jury was wrong.
BECK: Oh, you -- yes, that`s right. You know, actually -- because we were just talking about it.
GRACE: Bring it on, Beck. Come on. You know you agree.
BECK: I was just standing there -- oh, you`re absolutely right -- standing behind stage in Tampa, I was doing a stage show -- when Michael Jackson...
GRACE: A what? You were doing a what?
BECK: I do this comedy stage show. And I was doing it during the summer, and the Michael Jackson verdict came back, and people actually cheered and said, "I knew he wasn`t guilty." And I thought, "I knew you were insane!"
GRACE: I have something for you. I have something.
BECK: What do you have?
GRACE: Are you ready?
BECK: Yeah.
GRACE: First of all, I have -- I have two things for you, which you - - you can display that one...
BECK: "I`m Guilty"...
GRACE: ... or the other one. "Of"...
BECK: ... "of being a Nancy Grace fan."
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: OK, and this is the other thing. These are very hard to get.
BECK: OK, I am so pissed off.
GRACE: Maybe they didn`t think the show would actually last over a few months. There are only a few of these.
BECK: Give me that. Conway Cliff, our executive producer, it`s a Nancy Grace mug. You know what my people get on this show? Styrofoam cups.
GRACE: We have Nancy Grace hats, too. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
Yes, chew that, Beck.
BECK: You know what I have? I would like to give you an official Glenn Beck Question Card. Yes, made out of entirely 100 percent...
GRACE: So chew on that.
BECK: ... yes, recycled paper. What`s next for you?
GRACE: Next?
BECK: Come on. What`s next?
GRACE: I`ll tell you what`s next: I`m going to try to put up my Christmas tree. I`m going to try to turn my crock pot off at home. No, you know, when people ask me that, I know, from having had a long-range plan a long, long time ago...
BECK: It doesn`t work, does it?
GRACE: ... whenever you think you`ve got a plan, there`s an angel somewhere laughing, OK, because the plans are not going to work out the way -- you`ve just got to go with it.
BECK: Marriage in your future, kids?
GRACE: I don`t know if anybody will have me. But, yes, I want a family, just like my family. I want a family just like my family. Why? Are you suggesting I`m too old?
BECK: No, no, definitely not...
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: We`re leaving now! See you next week!
(LAUGHTER)
END
