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Glenn Beck

New, Improved Obama?; Fuel Prices Could Lead to Major Lifestyle Changes; History of Super Delegates in a Couple Minutes

Aired May 07, 2008 - 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): Obama takes big steps toward securing the nomination, and he`s doing so by saying exactly what America wants to hear.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Compassion and prosperity aren`t liberal values. They are not conservative values. They are American values.

BECK: I`ll explain, as if I need to, how Obama is one of the slickest politicians have I`ve ever seen.

Plus, move over, America. Here comes China. The growth of China is just one reason America might lose its status as the lone superpower. Some people, though, say that`s not necessarily so bad.

And with high oil prices already putting a strain on America, what happens if it hits $200 a barrel. We`ll look at some of the not-so- pleasant scenarios that could be headed our way.

All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Hello, America. I`m just watching the open there, and I`m like, you got a rope? I want to hang myself. I`m trying to be a little beam of sunshine for you.

Let me just tell you how great Barack Obama was last night. Right? I mean, he lost a narrow margin in Indiana -- like that`s a good thing -- he lost by two points in Indiana. He won decisively over Hillary in North Carolina, a huge 14-point. Leads in the state, leads in delegates and he leads in the popular vote.

So here`s "The Point" tonight. Barack Obama, I don`t know who this guy was last night. This is the new Barack Obama. He`s the slickest politician I have ever seen. And here`s how I got there.

The highlight of Obama`s big North Carolina win was -- it had to be his speech. I was talking to one of my producers this morning as we were getting ready for the radio show. And I said to him, if I were 20, 25 years younger and I was in college and I hadn`t seen the political game played over and over so many times and I didn`t read, you know, I`d be out campaigning for Obama.

But unfortunately, I`m old, burdened by wisdom. I do read. So I guess we have to take the speech apart and uncover the new and improved Barack Obama.

Watch this. Here`s where he`s talking about America and what it means to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We also believe that we have a larger responsibility to one another as Americans. That America is a place. That America is the place where you can make it if you try. That no matter how much money you start with, or where you come from or who your parents are, opportunity is yours if you`re willing to reach for it and work for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: That`s fantastic. I mean, I was like, yes, yes. No matter if you`ve gone to Princeton, or you were forced to go to Columbia, you can make it in America.

Unfortunately, the day before his wife said that there was -- and I`m quoting -- a veil of -- hang on, it`s "a veil of impossibility" that is suffering all of us here in America. I don`t think those two ideas work together.

So now that he`s set the hook, Barack then moves into some values stuff, taking a friendly poke at John McCain, ignoring Clinton and acting like he`s already got the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Somewhere along the line, between all the bickering and the influence peddling and the game playing of the last few decades, Washington and Wall Street have lost touch with these core values, these America values. And while I honor John McCain`s service to his country, his ideas for America are out of touch with these core values.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I mean, so is Karl Marx. I hate to point that out. But this guy is great. I mean, this was a fantastic speech.

Then, he got to my favorite part. This is where Barack Obama is playing the martyr, telling everybody that "No matter what, no matter what they do to me, no matter what the man does and gangs up on me, I will never give up."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I`m not naive. We`ve already seen it. The same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn`t agree with all their ideas. The same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives, by pouncing on every and association and fake controversy in the hopes that the media will play along.

This is the race we expect, no matter whether it`s myself or Senator Clinton who is the nominee. The question then is not what kind of campaign they will run. It`s what kind of campaign we will run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I`m telling you, he says everything you want to hear. Except the pouncing on associations and fake controversies, because we pay attention to the news. I thought to myself, I wonder what he`s talking about. Could it be the 20 years Obama spent marinating in Reverend Jeremiah Wright`s radical, anti-American sermons in a church that Oprah Winfrey left after only two years?

Or was it the -- the denouncing of the man who baptized his children, and married him. But then he distanced himself when it was politically convenient.

Or could it be his intimate association with William Ayers? This is the Weather Underground terrorist that bombed the Pentagon in the `70s, the man who in 2001, stomped on the America flag and who opened his home to Barack Obama, he and his wife, as he launched his political career.

Or maybe it was Barack`s deep personal and professional relationship with Tony Rezko, the Chicago slum lord who`s been indicted for taking kickbacks and influence peddling. I`m not -- I`m not sure which fake controversy he was talking about there. But we`ll get to the bottom of it, I`m sure.

So tonight, America, here`s what you need to know. Speeches are talk, and talk is cheap. It`s actions that matter. Barack Obama has finally stopped starring in his own version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." And from here on in, it is pure politics, and Obama is a natural.

Now it`s time for you, the citizen, to read between the lines. A gifted speaker and skillful politician does not a president make.

Joining me now for, I think from Dick Cheney`s hidden bunker is Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist and author of "If the Democrats Had Any Brains, They`d be Republicans."

Is this guy the best speaker you`ve seen since Ronald Reagan?

ANN COULTER, AUTHOR, "IF THE DEMOCRATS HAD ANY BRAINS, THEY`D BE REPUBLICANS": Yes. Yes, and I think you`re absolutely right. In his slickness. He is what`s the word -- he`s Clintonian.

BECK: No!

COULTER: He`s utterly Clintonian.

BECK: On, no. Come on. Clinton wasn`t even this good. I mean, I think Clinton -- I think Clinton watches this guy and goes, "This guy`s got balls, man. I can`t believe it."

COULTER: Yes, and there is this odd, Orwellian thing you`re talking about, where -- where you know, he`s against the politics of division and he will divide and crush those who are for division.

BECK: Yes.

COULTER: Well, what is that? What does that mean? Of course, he`s being divisive himself, in saying that he`s the one for change. We`ll crush the ones who are against change.

BECK: He was really good and very reminiscent of Ronald Reagan when he was talking about small-town America. I mean, as a conservative, and somebody who understands small-town America, I watched him and I`m like, yes, that`s the America I want. I want you to -- I want you to watch this from last night`s speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The people that I`ve meant in small towns and big cities across this country understand that government can`t solve all of our problems, and we don`t expect it to. We believe in hard work. We believe in personal responsibility and self-reliance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Self-reliance, and yet he wants the government to take profits away. Responsibility, yet he won`t take responsibility for his own actions with Reverend Wright. And we don`t believe the government can solve problems, except energy and health care.

COULTER: Right, right. And...

BECK: How does this work?

COULTER: And, and he won`t -- he doesn`t even understand that raising the capital gains tax will produce less revenue, which oddly enough, Charles Gibson on ABC just completely nailed him on, citing the various times the capital gains tax has gone on up and revenues from that tax went down.

And then it`s cut, which is exactly what he`s allegedly talking about here, supporting the productive element of society. No, no, no. Taxes like that punish the productive elements of society.

BECK: Right.

COULTER: And he won`t give up on it.

BECK: Ann, that`s exactly where he takes it to fairness. He wasn`t talking about -- what he was talking about last night was the America that I understand. And yet when he talks about the capital gains, he says, "I know it doesn`t work economically, but it`s a matter of fairness."

COULTER: Right.

BECK: "It is a matter of redistribution of wealth."

COULTER: Right. It`s the same old thing. Liberals want fairness in results. Not fairness in opportunity. That is the great divide between conservatives and liberals. And to have a wealthy society, you`re going to have to have different results.

BECK: OK. You have Barack Obama, while they were -- while they were serving together on the Woods Fund board in 2001, Ayers stomps on the flag and walks all over it. We know who this guy is. He is -- he is a terrorist. He spent time in prison for it.

In 2001, he was talking in loving tones how beautiful explosions are. I mean, it`s a spooky guy.

COULTER: Yes.

BECK: And yet, it doesn`t seem to matter to anybody. Any of these connections, and there`s a lot of them, it doesn`t matter to anybody. Why?

COULTER: Well, part of it is, and here I`ll be the ray of sunshine here. I do think we need to take a moment to revel in the fact that today marks the end of the Clintons. I mean, I think we`re seeing the same thing in this primary that we saw in the 2000 election.

Hillary ought to have won this primary. If you look at just her record since she has been a senator, she is pretty impressive, I mean, as far as Democrats go. Moderate Democratic senator from a major state. She gives a passable speech. She`s not as insanely left wing as this Barack Hussein Obama.

BECK: You.

COULTER: And yet she comes very close and snatches defeat from the jaws of victory because of her association with Bill Clinton.

BECK: Ann, I got to snag you on the Barack Hussein. Why do you have to do the Barack Hussein?

COULTER: I`m glad you asked. Because it`s his name. This idea that, "Oh, oh, that`s so mean."

BECK: No, I understand that.

COULTER: They went wild on Danforth -- J. Danforth Quayle, on Pierre Dupont. I`m not making up a name. That`s his middle name.

BECK: I know, I know, I know. OK.

COULTER: And the more they get upset about it, the more I`m going to use it.

BECK: OK. The -- is there -- do you see him winning? I mean, for instance, I found myself last night, because I know who this guy is, saying, "You know what? I think I`m finally in the John McCain category." And I don`t want to be there. And I find myself there.

Are you there? Because I know you were -- "I`ll vote for Clinton before I`ll vote for John McCain."

COULTER: I said -- right. I said I`d vote for Hillary. I never said I`d vote for B. Hussein Obama over -- over McCain. And as one great American hero said to me when I asked him what he thought, he said he thinks it would be less unfortunate for the country if John McCain became president than Hillary or Obama.

I mean, the one thing I think McCain has going for him, is at least his administration will be staffed. I mean, you have to hire a lot of people. There`s got to be some Republicans in that administration. I`m sorry.

BECK: I`ve got to go. Thanks, Ann.

COULTER: Bye-bye.

BECK: I appreciate it.

Coming up, how would your day-to-day life change if we were forced to buy oil at $200 a barrel? How high does gas go? What happens to your energy bills? Is there a solution? Yes, we have answers, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, is America a nation in decline? Gosh, I hope not. Food and energy crisis around the world. New global powers like China and India. The constant threat of terrorists striking America again. Are these things that the greatest nation on the planet can survive? You bet. Find out in tonight`s "Real Story."

But first, airline executives have said that the business model for airlines really wasn`t built around $100-a-barrel oil. Well, that number today is a little more like $120 a barrel, and airlines are buckling as a result.

You`re reeling; you`re feeling it, too. Your family`s business model, if I will, didn`t plan on this either. You know, and it`s not just like you feel it when you`re filling up the tank or, you know, planning that summer vacation. It may not be too expensive. So it`s not just that. It`s the cost of everything you buy. It`s all going up.

Forget about, you know, the thousands of everyday products that are made with oil. Of course, they`re going to cost more than ever. But it`s also the goods and food that we need every day. Have you checked the price of cereal lately?

All of that stuff is trucked to us. Gas prices rise. The increased price of gas gets passed on to you. If you think it`s bad today, what happens if the latest prediction of oil trading at $200 a barrel comes true? Some say it`s going to be a reality that we`ll have to face as early as October.

What is life like then? When gas is $8 to $10 a gallon? How do you afford to get to work? How do you buy food? How do you heat your house or your parents or grandparents heat their house for winter? What fundamental changes could be right around the corner for all of us here on planet earth?

Byron King is an oil industry analyst and editor of "Outstanding Investments."

Byron, I don`t even know where to begin with you. Let me start, I guess, with food. According to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, up to 20 percent of our fossil fuel is spent growing food. The average dinner, most of it is shipped about 1,500 miles to our plate? What`s going to change if we have $200 a barrel gas?

BYRON KING, OIL INDUSTRY ANALYST: Well, you`re going to be localizing a lot more than you are now. That`s for sure, Glenn. The food system in this country was built around cheap energy, cheap transportation. Think about fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, transportation, drying out the grain, processing the grain. It`s all a very energy-intensive process.

When you`re eating food, in a sense, you`re eating oil and gas.

BECK: OK. So hang on just a second. We just -- people will say, over in Europe, it`s already $10 a gallon. What`s the difference between us and Europe? Why can they do it and we`re going to really struggle?

KING: Well, Europe has built a different world. They have compact cities. They don`t have sprawling suburbs. They have great inner-city passenger rail. They`re used to driving smaller cars with more fuel- efficient engines.

Here in the United States, we built a country based on cheap energy, with sprawling suburbs, with you know, 40-mile commutes one way or the other. You know, the salmon that you buy in the supermarket was flown down from Alaska. It`s got more frequent flyer miles than you do.

I mean, these things are all going to be changing.

BECK: You`re saying now that, I mean, fresh fish is a thing of the past. You`re not going to have Alaskan king crab.

KING: Exactly. I mean, they fill Boeing 747s with tuna fish and fly them across the Pacific Ocean. That is not going to happen anymore.

BECK: OK. And while we`re on -- airlines, people have told me -- and I just have so much to talk to you about. We`ve only got about two minutes. I want to just take some of these up. I`ve been told airlines, it`s going to be more like 1955 than 2005.

KING: Exactly. I call it silent spring. We could see it as soon as next year. A lot of what passes for the airline industry today is going to be gone. The cheap seats are going to be gone.

What few airlines are still around, what few airplane are still around, are going to be packed to the gills with high-priced tickets flying hub cities. You know, New York to Los Angeles. Up to 70 percent of the cities in America, Glenn, are at risk of losing some or all of their scheduled airline service.

BECK: You say FedEx, UPS, that`s all going to change, because I mean, how much is it going to take to cost to ship a package.

But also, you say health care, we`ve got 40 million people they always quote that don`t have health care now. You`re saying companies are going to cut health care and shift it off to the government, because they`re going to have to pay for fuel.

KING: Exactly. Exactly, Glenn. In the last 10 and 15 years, the price of health care for employers has doubled and tripled. It`s just skyrocketing. The employers simply cannot afford skyrocketing health care and higher energy costs in terms of everything. Something`s got to give.

BECK: Byron, I`d love to have you back, because you`re at this -- this offshore tech conference in Houston. And may we have you back again and talk about what you`re learning there. Because we`re really a laughing stock there, aren`t we, in some ways?

KING: We really are, Glenn. Today, I had lunch with a guy from Malaysia, Columbia, Angola and Nigeria and Kuwait. This is who was sitting at my table for lunch. We were all talking about offshore exploration and production. This is a world industry. And the United States is falling behind because we won`t drill where we need to drill to make the oil come out.

BECK: Byron, love to have you back, because there`s just all sorts of stuff happening in foreign countries right off our shores we need to talk about. Thanks a lot.

Now, coming up, it looks like the pledge delegate, you know, race is all about but wrapped up. The media now is focused on the super delegates. Who are they and what do they want? Find out next.

And a quick programming note: tomorrow, we`ll be speaking with the founder of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson. In the age of scandalous teenage celebrity photographs, YouTube beatings, outrageously violent video games like Grand Theft Auto -- yes, bloggers, I still hate it -- you`ve got to wonder where are we headed? Where is our moral compass pointing now? We have all the answers for you tomorrow at 7 and 9 p.m. Eastern, only on Headline Prime.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, since it`s looking more and more like Obama and Clinton might just have to rely on the super delegates to get the nomination, I thought it was time to take a good, hard look at these people and who they really are and how ridiculous, quasi-communist system that we really have.

But don`t worry. I`m not going to bring on some historian to bore us to death. We made a cartoon. So sit back, relax, grab some bonbons. Get ready to gawk at just how elitist and how out of touch the working man`s party has become.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: And now, a history of the Democratic super delegates in a couple of minutes.

BECK (voice-over): 1968. Special interests and party leaders basically gave the nomination to Hubert Humphrey. He eventually lost to a guy named Dick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not a crook.

BECK: The loss had Democrats questioning how they lost to a guy who sweat as much as Nixon did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody got a towel?

BECK: So, they changed the rules. They took some power away from the party insiders and gave it to the people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, man. Power to the people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America runs on Duncan. What?

BECK: The problem with the primary process, nobody was showing up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, hello. Is anybody here? I brought raisin scones for everybody.

BECK: So who steps in to save the day? Your friendly neighborhood DNC.

Did they simplify the process? Nope.

I know they started electing candidates that didn`t suck. Right?

Definitely not. They did what politicians always do: they screwed it up even more.

In 1982, instead of streamlining, they just added something called super delegates. What exactly is a super delegate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Super delegates.

BECK: They are people like governors, representatives, senators and DNC members. You know, super people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Super delegates.

BECK: Number crunchers estimate that just one super delegate vote is equal in value to about 10,000 regular people votes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Super delegates.

BECK: That`s equivalent of 8 million votes or equal to every Democratic, Republican, independent and woman and child in all of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, combined.

Well, that sounds pretty democratic.

BECK: Yes. And you thought Republicans were stealing elections. Right.

Super delegates can vote the same as their constituency, but they don`t have to. So if super delegates decided they want Hannah Montana to be the president -- yes, yes -- they`d be able to get 20 percent of the vote overnight.

Oh, go, Miley Cyrus.

Democratic Party big-wigs wanted a way out in case the little people didn`t vote the way they wanted them to vote.

What`s funny is, you still thought it was the Republicans who were stealing elections.

So I think you now agree that it`s quiet simple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me, Glenn.

BECK: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love your show. Listen, I don`t get it.

BECK: All right. Let`s review one last time.

The winner of the Democratic nomination has to get 2,025 delegates from an overall group made up of district-level delegates, state-level delegates, pledged delegates, unpledged delegates, distinguished party leader delegates or DPLs, add-on delegates and, most importantly, party leader delegates, or PLEOs, which are also known as the protectors of the universe. The few, the proud, the super delegates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yay!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yay!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yay!

ANNOUNCER: This has been the history of the Democratic super delegates in a couple of minutes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, global warming hysteria has swept the nation. And more importantly, Washington, D.C. But I just heard a new stat about sea ice. I never thought I would be excited about news about sea ice, but I am, and you will be too.

You`ve got to question when this news comes out and our politicians continue to shove their environmental agenda down our throats, what`s really going on? We`ll have all the details in just a bit.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story."

One of the most popular columns in "The New York Times" -- at least the Web site for the last few days -- has been a piece by Thomas Friedman called "Who Will Tell the People?" In it, he talks about how JFK airport and Pennsylvania Station here in New York are grimy and crowded -- he forgot smelly, too -- while the airport in Singapore and the train station in Berlin are ultramodern and luxurious.

He says, how can this be? How can it happen like this?

If Americans could see the difference, he says they would swear we were the ones that lost World War II. But I think that Friedman is looking at this whole thing the wrong way.

"The Real Story" is that Obama`s pastor was right, kind of. I mean, America`s chickens are coming home to roost. But it has nothing to do with the roots of terrorism and exporting terrorism. It has everything to do with exporting capitalism.

The reason that countries like Singapore and India are prospering now is because we won World War II. Winning the war enabled us to sell a blueprint for life, liberty and the pursuit for happiness to the rest of the world. And for the most part, they ate it up.

And now, when everybody else is jumping on this bandwagon, we`re walking away going, oh, I don`t know. I think that`s a little grimy.

The same ideals that have been so successful that we have said, look at this, this is great, we`ve been successful at convincing others to try it. And now, all of a sudden, it`s like kryptonite to us.

Massive profits? Oh, no, don`t brag about that. You should be ashamed of yourself. They`re being taken by the government.

Health care, college? It`s not a privilege anymore. They`re God- given rights.

Dollars aren`t meant to be saved or invested. They`re to be spent or traded in for euros.

Friedman`s column goes on to ask, which one of our politicians are going to tell the Americans the truth? That we`re not who we think are, that we`re living on "borrowed time and bar rowed dimes."

I`ve got to tell you, I never thought I`d agree with somebody in "The New York Times," but I do.

But as my next guest says, maybe this isn`t all about us for a change. Maybe it`s really about all those that we have created. We`ve already seen the rise of the West. Perhaps it`s now just time for the rise of the rest.

Fareed Zakaria is the editor of "Newsweek International" and the author of a great new book, "The Post-American World," and host of a new CNN show, "FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS," which launches on CNN June 1st.

Fareed, tell, what is your evidence that we`re in a post-America world?

FAREED ZAKARIA, AUTHOR, "THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD": Well, if you look around, you know, the kind of things Friedman was talking about are kind of symbols. But the largest publicly traded corporation in the world is in China. The largest refinery in the world is in India.

If you look around the world, what I take it to mean is this -- I grew up in India. I used to look to America when I was growing up for the future to see where the next invention was going to take place, where the next biggest everything was going to happen.

And now you look to Singapore not just for the airport, but cutting- edge biotechnology is being done there. Microsoft`s best laboratory is now in Beijing. The biofuels revolution has really taken place in Brazil.

So, it`s a world in which there are many new centers of innovation. It isn`t all happening here.

BECK: But as we get mired into our government being so lumbering and huge, everybody else, we have the highest corporate tax rates in the world now. We`re -- our biofuel program is dictated by the government instead of saying, unleash it, man. Go for it.

ZAKARIA: Well, and the point that you make, Glenn, is perfect about corporate tax rates, because 20 years ago, our corporate tax rates were the lowest in the industrialized world. They`re now the second highest.

Now, what happened? It`s not that we raised ours. Everybody else lowered theirs.

So they became more competitive. It`s not that, for example, that New York did anything wrong over the last 10 years, but London got a whole bunch of things right and is surging ahead of New York as a financial capital. Now, we`ve got to realize, you know, the natives have gotten very good at capitalism.

BECK: Right.

ZAKARIA: And we`ve got to work harder.

BECK: So, we`re kind of -- I mean, on a global scale, we`re kind of Detroit 1972, where we have a choice. We can either be Lee Iacocca and revolutionize ourselves, or we`re just going to be left in the dust, and we`ll be Detroit 2008.

ZAKARIA: It`s funny you say that. In the book, I talk about the danger of us being, in terms of foreign policy, the General Motors of the 1970s. Now, remember, General Motors, Detroit were wildly successful.

BECK: Right.

ZAKARIA: This was the most successful corporation in the world. But it had gotten so successful that it forgot to look around and recognize -- you know those small upstart Japanese carmakers, Honda, Toyota? They`re doing a bunch of things well.

BECK: You know, I`ve said on the program so many times recently, it`s like we`re suicidal. I mean, for some reason, we have looked at all of the things that made us great. And we`re now looking at it and saying, oh, no, no. This isn`t good.

How do we get out of that? How do we reverse that?

ZAKARIA: It`s a great point. If you look at the statistic I have in the book that worries me the most, honestly, is a Pew survey -- a Pew Foundation survey of 47 countries. They asked them, "Do you think free trade, free markets are a good thing?" Ninety-five percent of Chinese say yes, 88 percent of Indians say yes.

Nigerians, everybody says yes. The country that comes 47th out of 47th is the United States of America.

BECK: Oh, my gosh.

ZAKARIA: And just as the world is adopting our game, we`re getting scared. And we`re losing the sense of confidence, of optimism, and a sense that if we worked hard and we worked smart, we can -- you know, we can do really well in this world.

BECK: You know, it`s amazing because there`s this new kind of government that is taking almost a dictatorship and combining it with capitalism that is frightening. Because if that ever takes hold and we step back, there`s no way to stop that kind, because the government will say, make bullets, make tanks now. And they don`t have to spend all of the time making decisions on what they`re going to build and what they`re going to make.

Does that make sense to you?

ZAKARIA: Oh, yes, yes, yes. And a lot of it has to do with high oil prices.

The oil-rich countries in the world are mostly all dictatorship, have found a way to prosper in this world of capitalism. Because they`re the one place where you don`t need to be capitalists.

BECK: Right. OK.

So, tell me, help me out, because I swear to you, on today`s show, I`m sorry, America. Today`s show, I`m like, I`m going to swinging from a noose, I am, later on.

How do we reverse it? Or can it be reversed at this point?

ZAKARIA: Oh, it can be reversed. Look, American society and the American economy are still amazing. They`re the most adaptable, flexible machines you`ve ever seen.

I mean, look at this society of ours. We`ve taken people from all over the world.

BECK: Yes.

ZAKARIA: We assimilate them. We make them buy into the America dream. You look at this economy, it takes ups and downs. It takes pain and moves on.

I think our think our problem is Washington. I think people really think that Washington is broken, that what comes out of Washington has nothing to do with what makes sense economically, with what`s good for the long-term benefit of the country.

It`s all about special interests. It`s all about, you know, pork barrel politics. And that produces -- you know, does anyone think that any of the stuff Washington has done for energy, for example, is about long- term energy independence?

BECK: No.

ZAKARIA: No. It`s about paying off political contributors.

BECK: So, again, we`re looking at three candidates that, I mean, we might as well have gotten a cookie cutter in some ways. It`s bad, worse and really, really bad.

I mean, how do we change? I hear from people all over the country, "Glenn, Washington doesn`t have an answer." But somehow or another when we go vote, we vote for people who we give more power to.

It`s like you`re a boss at a convenient store, and the guy who just puts the Doritos, you know, in the refrigerator every time, and just gets it wrong every time, and you`re like, you know what? I`ve got to give that guy more control.

What are we doing? We need to fire these people.

ZAKARIA: Well, and we ought to take some responsibility ourselves, which is these guys are all pandering right now. And they`re, you know, trying to outdo each other to show us how much they love us. And they`re pandering to, in some ways, our worst instincts, our short-term instincts. And now one is saying, look, here`s the stuff you don`t want to hear, but I`m going to tell you.

We`ve got to get over this. We`ve got to get to point where we elect politicians who really are willing to do things that are in the long-term interests of the country, not give us these freebies.

I mean, a gas tax holiday? What is that going to do for this country? Nothing, zero. And yet, it`s all we`ve been talking about for the last week.

BECK: Yes. Thank you so much. Best of luck to you.

And I`ll have to read your book. Thank you very much.

That`s "The Real Story" tonight.

Don`t forget, if you can`t take another Barack Obama hope/change speech without blood shooting out of your eyes, or Hillary Clinton or John McCain, you want to hear a real campaign speech? One that nobody should ever follow, you know, any of the ideas in? Head on over to glennbeck.com.

Order your tickets to Beck `08: Unelectable, my summer comedy political stage show. You can hear my stump speech. Oh, yes. What it would sound like if I ran for office.

It`s all at glennbeck.com. Get your tickets today.

Coming up, global warming, is it really happening? We have some new stats that were released yesterday that you just won`t believe when you hear it.

Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: If you saw Al Gore`s movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," then, well, honestly, you probably had a good 100-minute nap. But, if you managed to say awake like I did, then you probably remember seeing some of the amazing shots he had of the beautiful ice shelf that we`re killing.

Remember that? But imagine for a second if some of those shots in his movie weren`t real, they were computer-generated.

Now imagine that he ripped those fake shots off from another movie. Do you think it would hurt his credibility at all? Yes. Nobody would pay attention.

ABC News actually discovered this. And watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL GORE (D), FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And if you were flying over it in a helicopter, you would see it`s 700 feet tall. They`re so majestic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Wait a minute. That shot looks just like the one in the opening credits of "The Day After Tomorrow."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that`s our shot. That`s a fully computer- generated shot. There`s nothing real in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Yes. That`s what I said about the movie. Nothing real in there.

So now when Al Gore says that a cyclone that devastated a place we used to call Burma and killed over 100,000 people is "a consequence of global warming," should we believe him? What about when he says that the sea ice is melting faster than ever -- run for your lives! -- even though data shows from the government that sea ice in the southern hemisphere is now at 30-year high?

How is that?

Al Gore doesn`t have a science degree. He doesn`t have any credibility, quite frankly, either. But what he does have, political connections and a lot of money. You put those two things together, and the result is climate change bills that might just change the way all of us live.

George Landrith is the president of the conservative group Frontiers of Freedom.

George, come on, how much money do you take from Shell? Come on. How much from Exxon?

GEORGE LANDRITH, PRESIDENT, FRONTIERS OF FREEDOM: We`re not funded by them. I -- you know...

BECK: Really?

LANDRITH: Well, years ago, we did get some funding from them, but we don`t get funding now. So...

BECK: Years ago they planted the seeds.

OK. The Lieberman/Warner bill, this thing drives be crazy because, I mean, I`ve heard big oil. I`ve heard -- I think the president of Shell said, oh, cap and trade, that`s actually really good.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how cap and trade would be good for the average American.

LANDRITH: Well, I think it`s good for the average American if the average American wants to pay an extra $6,000. A study was recently done, and it determined that by the year 2030, the average American family would be paying $6,752, basically a stealth tax, as a result of the Lieberman/Warner bill.

Now, if that`s good news, then fine. I guess that`s good for families. But I know in my family that wouldn`t be good news.

BECK: OK. So wait a minute. How this works is, if you`re burning energy to make something, or you`re an airline, you have to -- you have a cap. And if you spend more than that, if you burn more energy, or put more CO2 in, you`ve got to trade with somebody else. So, in other words, you buy your pollution.

LANDRITH: Right, exactly. And to be very clear, we`re not really talking about pollution. We`re talking about CO2.

BECK: Right.

LANDRITH: I mean, a gas that you and I breathe out and breathe in, that plants need life, could not exist if we didn`t have CO2. So...

BECK: So, in other words, if we pay for our sins it`s OK.

LANDRITH: Exactly. And that`s what`s going to drive all of this. That`s what`s going to make it more expensive. So, you and I will have the privilege of paying all this extra money so that someone in Washington can feel good about themselves and feel like they did something good for the country.

BECK: Yes. Go ahead.

LANDRITH: Well, it`s not going to do anything to change the climate. Even, for example, the U.N. agrees that if we do all this stuff we suggested, that it would make literally tenths of a degree difference.

And so the question is -- you can`t even tell that. So, do you want to pay that much money for the privilege of, you know, handing over $6,752 annually to -- you know, to help someone in Washington feel good about themselves?

BECK: This is really amazing, because these -- this is from the same clowns. They just spent over $400 million redoing the Capitol so the Capitol is now green. Eighty thousand dollars we`re paying some guy. I think it`s in North Dakota to plant trees that he was going to plant anyway.

LANDRITH: Right.

BECK: But now they have taken $80,000 of our tax money and sent it to some guy to plant some trees. And spent $400 million replacing the light bulbs and everything else.

These ideas are the same -- coming from the same people that we begged, don`t mandate ethanol. And now we`re paying higher food prices for.

LANDRITH: Well, you`re exactly right. I mean, the truth is, two years ago, a year ago, six months ago, ethanol was the solution, and we were all supposed to be -- it was going to be cleaner, better, cheaper, blah, blah, blah. All that.

And yet, what we see it`s doing is it`s starving people in the third world. Our food prices are higher. And the truth is, ethanol is not an economic replacement for typical gasoline.

BECK: All right. Thanks very much.

I`ll tell you what this is all about. The oil companies are for it because it`s going to choke the bat snot out of coal. And we`re going to need the coal.

John McCain has been through a lot in his career, to say the least. He`s been beaten, he`s been starved, he spent years as a North Vietnamese POW, where they broke practically every bone in his body over and over again.

Last weekend, the movie "Iron Man" hit theaters. And I started thinking, you know, I think John McCain may actually be kind of like a real-life Iron Man. Kind of. Here`s what I mean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am John McCain.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let`s have some straight talk.

People want to destroy us.

Times are tough because they`ve lost a lot of manufacturing jobs. And so we`re going to have to fix it.

GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTRESS: I hate job hunting.

MCCAIN: That old Beach Boys song Bomb Iran. You know?

(singing): Bomb, bomb, bomb...

If I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get Osama bin Laden.

See the yellow flowers? Cindy, look at those yellow roses. See the poppies over there? See these cherries here?

It`s harder and harder trying to do the lord`s work in the city of Satan.

It`s always darkest before it`s totally black.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: When the Democratic primary started, I had this crazy belief that, you know, it was the voters that actually made the difference here. I know. I`m a romantic.

Then we found out that it was the superdelegates, the ones with the real power. OK, party leaders that are actually making the decisions.

But today, we find out something else. The media is apparently the one who actually gets to choose who`s going to be the next president.

Suddenly, I don`t know if you noticed this, late last night and all day today, we`re being told over and over and over again, turn on any news channel, or read what the pundits are saying, this thing is over. It`s all locked up for Barack Obama.

And let`s be honest, it pretty much is.

But the question is, what has changed from yesterday to today?

Yesterday, Clinton had no chance of winning at all in the delegate count. Today, no chance in winning the delegate count.

Yesterday, she couldn`t win the majority of the states. The same today.

Yesterday, she wasn`t winning the popular vote. Today, she`s not winning the popular vote.

Yesterday, everybody expected her to win one out of the two states. She won yesterday one out of the two states.

So, if these were the standards of the race being over, wasn`t the race really over months ago? I mean, Clinton`s margin of victory was two points instead of four or five in Indiana, which some late polls showed. She also lost North Carolina by 15 instead of the 8 or 9 she might have been hoping for. But that`s still better than the 20 or 25-point deficit that the polls were showing a month ago.

And at least, according to "The New York Times," despite the dwindling lead, Clinton still has more superdelegates than Barack Obama.

So, unless Obama starts winning states by 50 points, he probably can`t lock up the nomination either, unless she drops up. So, put yourself in the position of Hillary Clinton.

You have loaned yourself millions of dollars for your campaign. You have 16 million primary voters that went your way. And you have an opponent who, despite given the greatest speeches -- I mean, they`re amazing -- he`s shown himself susceptible to gaffes when speaking off the cuff, and a guy with some shady connections, to say the least.

Why not just stay and see if the guy melts down? The truth is, that`s been her best hope for months. Why stop that plan?

Don`t forget, for more in-depth commentary every day, sign up for my free daily e-mail newsletter. It`s absolutely free. It`s at glennbeck.com. Sign up for it now.

From New York, goodnight, America.

END