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Glenn Beck

Handling Scandal: Does Washington Endanger Us All?; Ted Nugent Makes Controversial Statements about Candidates; Glenn Beck Fan Saves Woman for Second Time

Aired August 30, 2007 - 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): Tonight, Senator Craig`s political future, in the crapper.

SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: I never have been gay.

BECK: But what would happen if bad guys tried to blackmail some of our nation`s most powerful lawmakers?

And gun-toting guitar god Ted Nugent fires a few rounds at the Democrats.

TED NUGENT, MUSICIAN: Hey, Obama, you might want to (expletive deleted) on one of these, you punk!

BECK: Ted, you should be aware, I`m packing a weapon tonight, as well.

And a naked hula dancer`s desperate night moves caught on tape. Of course, there`s a perfectly good explanation. All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Hello, America. Do not adjust your set. As much as I look like him, I am not George Clooney. I am Glenn Beck.

Larry Craig is busy tonight not being gay. He`s busy contradicting his own guilty plea for lewd conduct. And what we need to do is look at this story and find out what it`s really all about.

It is not a matter of personal embarrassment. It is not about him being gay or not gay. It`s not even really about breaking the law.

Here`s the point tonight.

By trying to keep a secret, Senator Larry Craig put our nation in danger. And here`s how I got there.

When this story first broke, I kept thinking back to that scene in that the Tom Cruise movie, "Mission: Impossible". Remember, Tom Cruise`s character is on the run, and the impossible mission force, can`t figure out a way to get him to give himself up.

Then the team leader says, "Everybody has pressure points. You just have to find something that is personally important to him and squeeze."

That is how blackmail works. And whether you`re in a Tom Cruise movie or you`re Larry Craig in the Senate, people will often do shocking things just to keep their secret safe.

Think about it. You`re a United States senator, and you get busted for lewd conduct in an airport men`s room. Larry Craig says, you know, "I`m innocent." But honestly, Senator, I don`t believe you. But remember, that`s not important. What is important is that he kept the whole thing secret: from his staff, his attorneys and even from his wife.

Now, you know as well as I do that bad news travels fast. And none faster than a sex scandal that involves a high-ranking conservative senator, an outspoken gun advocate, in a bathroom.

But what if the news about the senator hadn`t gone public, but instead someone with the worst intentions found out about it? Let`s say that person approached Larry Craig and suggested that that, unless the senator reconsider his position on a bill, or performed some other professional favor, news of his bathroom hijinks may come out.

I don`t want any of our leaders vulnerable to that kind of pressure, especially not in this day of age. With home-grown terrorism, the war in Iraq, Iran threatening a nuclear holocaust and a new international crisis every week, we are leaving in a real-life political thriller. The stakes are really life and death. And we can`t afford to have anybody, especially a senator, susceptible to getting squeezed.

So tonight here`s what you need to know.

People with secrets, secrets to keep, have something to lose. And people with something to lose do stupid things. Honestly. Have you wondered in the last 12 or 18 months why Congress has seems to have abandoned the American people? Why they have seemed out of step with us? That`s not being cynical. That is the way I feel. I bet you do, too.

Remember these guys: Mark Foley, David Vitter, William Jefferson, the guy with the money in his freezer, now Larry Craig, all men of power, all with secrets they tried to keep quiet, every single one of them made vulnerable as a result. And these are the guys we just know about in the last year.

Is it just me, or do you wonder who in Washington might be voting to keep their secrets safe, instead of voting to keep America safe?

Richard Levick, he is the president and CEO of Levick Strategic Communications. Your business is crisis management, basically making scandals disappear. Am I right, sir?

RICHARD LEVICK, PRESIDENT/CEO, LEVICK STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: Pretty close, Glenn.

BECK: How do you do it? Let me start here. If Craig were your client, could you have made this disappear?

LEVICK: Not at this point. I mean, you know, the first thing you do is not go out and plead guilty, and then say, "Oops, I didn`t mean it." It`s pretty difficult to backtrack from there.

In crisis, you always want to run to the crisis. You want to run to the light. But here, you had an individual, a member of Congress making a classic mistake.

That is, know your crisis team first ahead of time. The lawyers, the crisis communications experts, your chief of staff, your press secretary, and if you`re lucky enough, your wife. Have them know and trust each other ahead of time.

BECK: OK. Do you ever have clients where you look at them and you`re thinking to yourself, "You are so guilty, I can`t even believe it"?

LEVICK: None of my clients.

BECK: No, none of your clients. Do you believe -- if he were your client, or your client came in and said, "I just pleaded guilty to something and I didn`t do it," would it ring true to you?

LEVICK: In this case, no. It doesn`t ring true. And so let`s go into the way back machine.

The reason why it`s so important that you want to know your crisis team is, you`re going to have -- you`re going to face at some time in a public life, difficult moments. So you want to have that trust.

Before you run off on your own, making the kind of mistake of pleading guilty, you want to decide, what is our strategy here? And a much better strategy, rather than pleading guilty is, go on the offense. As far as we know, there are only two people who know what happened in that restroom: the senator and the police officer.

BECK: Kind of hard to combat a police officer. I mean, here`s a police officer in another state. He clearly didn`t know who the senator was. I mean, what would his motivation be to lie? I mean, how would you combat that?

If -- if the senator would have called you from the bathroom and said, "I`m in the bathroom and there`s a cop that just said I was trying to pick him up," how would you combat a police officer`s story?

LEVICK: Well, first of all, almost any strategy is going to be better than the happy feet strategy that the senator used. I mean, if his feet are that good, maybe they should have signed him instead of Beckham.

But, you know, here is what you want to do. If there are only two people that know what happened there, then you`ve got the senator`s story, you have the police officer`s story. Why don`t you go on the attack?

Why don`t you say, you know, "It`s important that we regulate what happens in our public restrooms. But has America come to a point in time when individuals going to restrooms have to be careful about what they say, what they wear or what they do in terms of, you know, how far they spread their feet?"

BECK: Is it -- is it best just not to hide anything? Is it best just to be -- just let me lay all my cards down on the table and say, "Look, guys, I made some mistakes in my life. I`ve been a scum bag. I`ve been a good guy"?

Or is it best to hold some things back?

LEVICK: Every situation is different. In many ways, this is the juxtaposition between Michael Vick, who took three months to apologize, and he had no choices, and here, a senator who goes ahead and, if you will, through a guilty plea, apologizes way too soon.

So every situation`s going to be different and based on the individual facts.

In this situation, though, you`ve got a senator who has run on a platform of pro family. Nothing gets lost more quickly in terms of public trust than hypocrisy.

BECK: OK. Thanks a lot.

LEVICK: Thank you.

BECK: Now, let me look at -- let me look at the congressional blackmail that could or could not have been happening. In fact, some of this stuff has happened. This is a guy who knows all about the bad men and the bad things that they do. Ronald Kessler, he`s the author of "Inside Congress: The Shocking Scandals, Corruption, Abuse of Power Behind the Scenes on Capitol Hill".

Let me start with Mark Foley. You say that the Mark Foley scandal is much more broad than what anybody knows.

RONALD KESSLER, AUTHOR, "INSIDE CONGRESS": Well, you know, in my book "Inside Congress", I interviewed Capitol police officers and other people who know what goes on behind the scenes. And what goes on is much greater than what comes out, which is pretty much a no-brainer.

So in the case of Foley, and other members of Congress, there are rumors about these activities years before they actually came out. In the case of Larry Craig, the same thing. And you do hear rumors about members all the time.

So it`s like a little tiny club. Everyone knows what`s going on. Very rarely does it actually come out.

BECK: So -- so help me out with this. Because my theory in the opening monologue was, all you have to do is find the pressure points. And there are unscrupulous people in our country and -- that would -- you know, whether you`re for global warming or against global warming or whatever, that would say, we need that vote, get that vote, get that information on him and squeeze.

What is the likelihood and what would you think the percentage of those congressmen that are trying to hide something that are vulnerable to this kind of thing?

KESSLER: The very classic example was J. Edgar Hoover when he was the FBI director, who would send an agent to a member of Congress and say, "We understand you were arrested last night for soliciting for prostitution. Of course, we won`t say anything about this. We`ll make sure it doesn`t come out."

And then, of course, this congressman was beholden to the FBI when they would ask for big budget increases, and there would be no problem.

By definition, usually if there`s a blackmail attempt, it doesn`t come out. But there`s a reason that the FBI and the CIA, in order to give a security clearance to FBI agents, the CIA officers, they require that, if someone is gay, they disclose it. It`s not that they can`t work with them. They have to disclose it.

BECK: Here`s the problem. It looks like -- I mean, Washington seems to be a cesspool. They police themselves and tell the American people about the unarrest.

KESSLER: Well, in my book "Inside Congress", I found there was this term unarresting. It`s not anything official. It`s certainly not in any law.

But it means that Capitol police officers, if they`re unfortunate to find someone like Representative Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island, who is drunk, who smashes into a police cruiser, and then they find out that it`s a member of Congress, if they`ve already arrested this person, they unarrest that person. They bring him home, which they did in Kennedy`s case, and they speak nothing of it in the future. It`s totally covered up. This is the way Congress works.

BECK: Unfortunately. Thank you very much, Ronald.

Coming up, legendary rocker turned activist Ted Nugent tells Hillary Clinton that she should suck on his machine gun. Yes, not real subtle, Ted. We`ll talk to him next.

And remember the illegal immigrant who sought sanctuary inside a Chicago church before being deported? Don`t call it a comeback; call it a return. Diplomatic immunity. Tonight`s "Real Story". Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, deported illegal immigrant Elvira Arellano says the United States treats undocumented migrants as terrorists. I say we`re just protecting our country and our citizens. More on this in just a bit.

First, in this day and age, you can never be too sure who`s watching you. Camera phones, video recorders the size of iPods turn everyday day schmoes into James Bond. And because of this, celebrities and politicians often get caught with their pants down. Sometimes in airports, but that`s a different story.

The reality is that this is a different age. And it`s a reality that rock star and gun activist Ted Nugent faced last week when one of his fans recorded this greatest hit and posted it on the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NUGENT: Obama, he`s a piece of (expletive deleted), and I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let`s hear it for him!

And then I was in New York. I said, "Hey, Hillary! You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless (expletive deleted). Freedom!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Hillary Clinton and Obama, suck on my machine gun. I am no stranger to having my words taken out of context, but what Nugent said seems to be pretty darn clear. I`m more interested in understanding why he would say something like that.

I`m all for the right of free speech. I`m all for the right to bear arms. But I believe in this country we focus too much on our rights and not enough on the responsibility that comes with those rights.

I sat down earlier with Ted Nugent to get to the bottom of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: You`re still mad at me from this morning, aren`t you, Ted?

NUGENT: Bottom line is, I think your representation on the radio this morning -- which, by the way, I`m not mad at you at all. I love you madly. You just don`t seem to grasp what literally tens of millions of Americans do grasp, in that good rock `n` roll, the best rock `n` roll, especially Ted Nugent rock `n` roll, is over the top! It`s intense. It`s scary! It`s uninhibited; it`s even irreverent.

And I`m not going to try to get a list from anybody of what they authorize me to say, because I draw the line at law. I`m not going to break the law. I`m not going to incite any illegal activities, and I`m not going to hurt anybody. Other than that, nothing is sacred.

BECK: Look, Ted, Ted, Ted, listen to me.

NUGENT: Glenn, yes.

BECK: I`m not saying you don`t have a right. I`m not saying you don`t have a right to say it. I`m not saying you did anything illegal. What I`m saying to you is the same thing that I would say to -- I hate to compare you to this, but a porn producer.

NUGENT: Ahh!

BECK: You have a right to make -- you have a right to make any kind of porn you want. You have a responsibility not to.

My problem is, if you had held the gun up and said, "Hey, Michael Bloomberg, freedom!" If you would have done that, you wouldn`t have had a problem.

But you`re combining the gun with saying, "Hillary Clinton, suck on this." If Barbara Streisand would have done that at her concert, which, I mean, I wouldn`t know, she might have already done that. I don`t know anybody that goes to Barbara Streisand concerts. If she would have done it, I would have taken a hard stand against her and say you don`t say that about the president, or whatever, no matter how much you dislike them.

It`s the imagery, and it`s the responsibility not to.

NUGENT: God -- God bless you, Glenn. But I`m not going to write down the Glenn Beck authorized rock `n` roll rants.

BECK: I`m not saying that.

NUGENT: I`m going to go with -- I know. But you`re giving me a recommendation, and to compare my show to porn is irresponsible and grossly inaccurate.

BECK: Did I not say that I wasn`t comparing? I just said I`m not comparing.

NUGENT: Well, that reference was off the charts, my friend.

BECK: You know, I have to tell you, I -- my listeners wrote, and they called in after your appearance on my radio program today. And you can get the newsletter today if you want to get the full transcript and read it or hear it.

They were split. Half praise for, thank you for saying what you mean and meaning what you say and just doing it and forgetting about all the PC crap. And the other side saying, "You know what? I don`t want a crazy Rosie O`Donnell on our side."

You`re so good at making a decent point on guns, you don`t need to have this footage out there of somebody looking like they`re -- they`re threatening a candidate with an assault rifle. It`s irresponsible, Ted.

NUGENT: And I -- I understand that line drawn in the sand, but I`ve got to tell you, Glenn, it`s a stream of consciousness when I`m rockin` and rollin`.

BECK: That`s bull crap.

NUGENT: It is irreverent. And you`re -- you`re missing the point. Why don`t you admit it, Glenn. It`s too intense for you. But I meant no harm, no harm occurred. No one got hurt.

BECK: Look...

NUGENT: No threats were made. And everybody there had a great time!

BECK: I`m not saying that.

NUGENT: It`s funny.

BECK: I`m not saying that, Ted. Look. I would be irresponsible, and I would be less consistent. I would take on the left if they did something like this to George Bush, et cetera. And I`m going to take you on, because I feel the same way. It`s right and wrong, not left and right.

The second thing is, you know, the idea that you can say that this is just ad lib, you told me today, you`re still doing this piece, and you`ve turned it up at the end of every show all the way through this weekend.

NUGENT: Because the tour gets more intense as it rolls on, and the audience`s response is intoxicating. The people get a great laugh out of it. The laughter is universal, Glenn.

You`re right. Half of my e-mailers at TedNugent.com said that Glenn doesn`t get it. The other half said, "God bless Glenn Beck for at least facilitating a dialogue." And I send you a salute for that myself.

BECK: You are just amazing. Let me ask you...

NUGENT: Glenn, may I -- may I have the final word?

BECK: All right, go ahead.

NUGENT: I just wanted to say that I do appreciate the opportunity, but you made a gross miscalculation after the radio show -- someone e- mailed me your words -- that you thought I was putting on a front. You know, I love you, but you`re not worth me putting on a front. I put on a front for nobody. This is Ted Nugent. I`m not grandstanding. I`m not an actor. I believe.

BECK: I never said...

NUGENT: I`m not showboating.

BECK: You -- you took that out of context. You took it out of context.

NUGENT: Whoa!

BECK: You said to me -- you said to me that you do things on stage that are just crazy that you wouldn`t do elsewhere. That`s the difference.

NUGENT: Yes.

BECK: That`s the difference.

Ted, thanks a lot.

NUGENT: In the show, but not here with you. God bless you.

BECK: All right. God bless you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Always an interesting conversation with Ted Nugent.

Coming up, a small town firefighter saves a woman`s life for the second time. Yes, yes, great and everything, but he was trying to watch my show when he got the call. The two-time hero joins me next.

And deported illegal immigrant. Elvira Arellano will do just about anything to get back in the United States. I`m going to tell you about her plan to become an ambassador. The "Real Story" around the corner. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Real-life heroes come in all shapes and sizes. And no, they do not wear capes or spandex or utility belts. They put their pants on one leg at a time. And sometimes they get sucked into watching one of the biggest draws in cable television -- yes, me. Kind of.

July 7, a little after midnight, a volunteer firefighter was faced with a daunting decision: answer the call of his fire radio, or continue to watch this show -- this show. I don`t know what I would have done.

Joining me now is the man who was faced with that "Sophie`s Choice", Duane Royal.

Hi, Duane, how are you?

DUANE ROYAL, FIREFIGHTER: I`m fantastic, Glenn. How are you?

BECK: Great. Which did you choose, watch this show or go save somebody`s life?

ROYAL: Well, actually, I put one shoe on. And stood up and -- it took me a minute. But I decided I better get traveling down the road.

BECK: You really are a fan of the program?

ROYAL: I sure am.

BECK: Yes.

ROYAL: I listen to you on the radio and watching you on the TV for years.

BECK: God bless you. OK, so you actually had a tough time deciding. Then you got into your car or your truck and then you -- you went to the scene. And this is where the story gets absolutely amazing. What happened?

ROYAL: Well, actually, I wasn`t going to go, but I had a sick feeling in my stomach that I better get traveling. So I arrived on the scene, and they -- there was a white car in the tall grass that was reported from dispatch as a rollover.

I walked out in the field. And it was a female in the car. The roof was collapsed. And a 6`4" specimen of a man was standing outside the car, which had a familiar face. I asked him what his name was. And he said it was Chris.

And I -- I said, "You look familiar." And I looked in the car and I said, "I hope that`s not Rhonda sitting there in the car." And he stated that it was.

BECK: Who were these people?

ROYAL: Rhonda was a female that a year earlier that was involved in a 55-mile-an-hour crash into a tree, which we had to airlift, a 45-minute extrication time to get her out of a vehicle.

BECK: OK. So here`s -- here`s the amazing -- this is the amazing part to me, is that you saved her life last year. You pulled her out of a wreck last year, same place, and then you happened to be the guy who would answer the call this time. Same woman, same place.

ROYAL: Same road. Same woman.

BECK: OK.

ROYAL: Different location.

BECK: First of all -- first of all, how is she? Is she all right?

ROYAL: Right now she`s doing fine. She`s a college student in Oswego. She has a couple scars.

BECK: Is there something with this road? Have you said to her, "Look, three times, I`m watching the show"? I mean, I`m not...

ROYAL: She`s employed at Wal-Mart, which is on Route 49, so she doesn`t have much of a choice. She has to travel that road.

BECK: Is it a dangerous road or is she just a really crappy driver? Or is this a wild case of coincidence?

ROYAL: Just bad luck. Bad luck.

BECK: Unbelievable. Well, good luck for us, sir, to have you on the program. Thank you for all you do. And did you TiVo the show? Did you get to watch the rest of it?

ROYAL: I think we had Time Warner cable with the DVR.

BECK: Right, right.

ROYAL: I want to thank...

BECK: Go ahead.

ROYAL: Before we end this, could I -- I would like to thank our mutual aid departments, Todd Noye (ph), Metro Ambulance, Central Square.

BECK: No, you can`t.

ROYAL: Can I do that?

BECK: No.

ROYAL: OK.

BECK: No. We`ll have to cut that out later.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Great programming note: if you can think of a plan to solve our world`s energy crisis, or global warming, I know a guy who will give you $25 million. He is Sir Richard Branson. He`s a knight, you know. And he has the full hour tomorrow night, without the "K." Don`t miss it.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story." There are two things that we talk about an awful lot on this show. I mean, it just goes on and on. That`s common sense and personal responsibility. Unfortunately, the next story has a shortage of both of those things.

Elvira Arellano, she is the woman who chose to come to this country illegally. She thought, "I`m going to go through the back door." She decided to have a child here. Then she either made or purchased fake documents to do work cleaning airplanes on the tarmac in Chicago after 9/11. Hmm. Then, when she was caught, she hid inside a church for over a year before being deported. Now she`s blamed all of this on -- yes -- us, the United States.

Quote, "I`m not a terrorist, and the United States can`t continue treating me, an undocumented migrant, as terrorists." Really? OK, let`s do ourselves a favor and stop with the cute little word games here. You`re not an undocumented migrant. You`re an illegal alien. And, two, if you think being flown home on a government jet is the same as being waterboarded at Gitmo, then I guess that Mexican school system is worse than I thought.

But worse than the name-calling is the fact that this woman was actually able to meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. She reportedly asked the president of Mexico to make her a peace and justice ambassador, to provide her with a diplomatic visa that would allow her back into the U.S. I don`t know about you, but I`ve got kind of a huge problem with that, if it were to ever actually happen. But the "Real Story" is, this whole thing is likely nothing more than a carefully orchestrated P.R. campaign by our friends down south. Unfortunately, I believe it actually has a chance to work.

Elvira may just end up being the Rosa Parks -- no offense, Ms. Parks - - of illegal immigration, yes. Every cause, whether it`s righteous, like the civil rights movement, or asinine, like open borders, needs a sympathetic figurehead, someone with a great story, someone with an insatiable appetite for the media spotlight and a memorable name: Elvira, the woman of the future. She has all of it. In fact, she would seem to be the perfect candidate, except for those two little things I mentioned at the top: common sense and personal responsibility.

She has neither of those. But then again, in today`s America, maybe you don`t need them when you have good friends who are elected to extraordinarily high offices.

Joshua Hoyt, the executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, I have a feeling we`re not going to agree on an awful lot, Josh.

JOSHUA HOYT, COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS: Well, good evening from the heartland. For a guy as nice and decent as you, how can you stand being so wrong so much of the time?

BECK: Oh, I know. You know, you say that she`s a woman that`s full of pride. Help me out with that.

HOYT: I met her the day after she got arrested at O`Hare Airport. You know, way back when, she was a cleaning lady making $6.50 an hour, working nights to take care of her son. She got arrested because John Ashcroft wanted to make a big show.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: Oh, shoot, John Ashcroft again. How much pride...

HOYT: Going to make us safe for terrorism.

(CROSSTALK)

HOYT: And the way he`s going to do is he`s going to grab a whole bunch of people cleaning O`Hare Airport.

BECK: Off the tarmac of the airport with fake documents. He`s crazy like that. How much pride does it take, and how much pride do you get from stealing things that don`t belong to you?

HOYT: Well, you know what? People have been invited to this country for generations to do some work.

BECK: No, through the front door. Excuse me. Let`s not play word games. Through the front door, sir, through the front door.

HOYT: To do some work. Well, you know, then let`s change the immigration system and make it possible for people to come through the front door.

BECK: I`m with you. Hey, do you want to build a bridge together? Let`s do that. Let`s not go ahead...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: ... coming in and using false documents.

HOYT: The human beings who are here doing good work, contributing to our economy.

BECK: Yes.

HOYT: Yes. Like Elvira Arellano...

BECK: You are -- this is absolutely amazing. Here she is and saying to us that we`re treating people like terrorists in this country. No, I`m sorry, if you have false documents, and...

HOYT: Glenn...

BECK: Shut the pie hole, sir!

HOYT: No, you know...

BECK: Shut the pie hole. If you have false documents on a tarmac, at Chicago O`Hare, you and I have nothing to talk about.

HOYT: You invited me onto your show. Look, she was working...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: Because you know what? I regret inviting you on the show, because you have nothing to say but propaganda. You have nothing to say but propaganda.

HOYT: Look, I know the woman. Do you want me to talk about the woman? I`m happy to talk about the woman. Or do you just want to talk at me?

BECK: No, I don`t -- I`m done with you. Thank you very much, Joshua. I appreciate it.

HOYT: So long.

BECK: Bye-bye.

HOYT: Bye-bye.

BECK: Now, I completely understand, you know, that there are going to be people who disagree with me, and I disagree with them. You`re not going to come on the program and talk to me about anything if you don`t -- if we can`t agree on even language on what`s legal and what`s not, what a terrorist is and what a terrorist is not.

I am constantly talking on this program about radical Islam, radical Islam. It is inevitably a result of a lot of criticism of this program and a lot of misrepresentation of what I say. Here`s somebody else that`s not going to agree with me on the program, because the other day I was looking through the newspaper and I was shocked to read an editorial by an American Muslim who was condemning me for supposedly promoting Islamophobia, some other group that I hate now.

Quote, "Others like Glenn Beck associate violence with Islam." Yes, radical Islam, I do -- "to propagate fear." Nope, to make people understand what`s really going on. Why is it I can say things on the air, and most people don`t hear me? Every time I talk about Islam, you`ll hear me say something like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: The vast majority of Muslims are peaceful people, and they represent our greatest hope for victory.

The vast majority of Muslims are good people who want to live here in peace.

Let me say clearly: Islam, I believe, is not evil. A vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving, God-fearing, and law-abiding people who just want to go about their lives just like you and me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: It`s crazy, what a hatemonger he is. The author also went on to say, quote, "There is little or no coverage of rallies where Muslims denounce terrorism and violence on a national scale." On that point, he`s absolutely right, which is why I say it all the time, which is why I went down to Florida earlier this year to broadcast this program from the secular Islamic summit. As far as I know, we were the only broadcast media there. While I was there, Muslims denounced me for covering it. It was crazy.

The editorial finally said, quote, "I wish I had a podium like Glenn Beck. I wish I could get in front of the camera and tell you that I`m a Muslim and I am the religious you in many ways." Well, sir, you can do that right now.

His name is Atif Quraishi. He is the writer of the editorial "Islam is not the enemy." I agree with you 100 percent, sir. Islam is the answer; it is not the enemy. Political Islam is the enemy.

ATIF QURAISHI, OP-ED WRITER: Thank you. I stand corrected otherwise, I guess. The point of the essay was really more to shed some light on a lot of the issues that are covered in the media. True, I mean, you guys do cover everything that goes on in the world, but a lot of the times I just don`t see the other side, because it`s not as interesting.

BECK: There are political forces that want to use Islam, to twist it and scare everybody from saying what the truth is, by hiding behind, "Oh, you don`t say anything about the religion." Nobody`s saying anything about the religion. What they`re saying is people are using the religion, and they are going to kill us, and they`re going to kill you, too, sir.

QURAISHI: Oh, I know that. Yes.

BECK: So then why is it -- we seem to agree. Why is it, then, that you decided to take me on and use me as the poster child for hate?

QURAISHI: Well, there have been some shows that I`ve seen in the past -- because I`ve stopped watching the show, I admit, after some of those episodes -- and in those you sort of, you know, were on the other side most of the time, and you know, we all know what happened with Senator Keith Ellison there.

BECK: Oh, Keith Ellison. That`s a great one. That`s a great one. We all do know, don`t we? No, sir, we don`t know. You apparently don`t know. What I said to Keith Ellison was, "I feel like saying, prove to me like -- that you`re not working with our enemies," because there is a perception in this country that nobody talks about, who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. And so you don`t ever know; that was the purpose of the question. Poorly worded, absolutely, but, sir, I believe it`s your point.

QURAISHI: Yes, and so that`s what I`m trying to do is ask you to help me keep saying that point and try to...

BECK: By making me the enemy, you`re asking me to help you make the point that I`ve been making for about four years?

QURAISHI: You`re not the enemy; you`re a great resource we have.

BECK: Have you read your article?

QURAISHI: Well, no, I just said you propagate the fear sometimes.

BECK: Oh, the fear, OK. Yes, I also -- I am also "isolating us from meaningful dialogue."

QURAISHI: Well, that does occur, because a lot of the times when people just hear the things they want to hear, and they take it a step further...

BECK: That would be you. You have taken what you wanted to hear me say. Sir, let me say it to you face to face: I`m a friend of Islam. I do not believe Islam is our enemy. I believe it has been politicized. I believe it is a political Islam that is going to be the death of you and me.

QURAISHI: I would even go a little bit further and I would say that it is the ideology of hate that they`ve put under the banner of Islam, because these people are just trying to use it. There`s no better employer than God. So these people are just trying to use it to recruit other people who hate like them.

BECK: There you go.

QURAISHI: And, you know, I do agree with you, and I stand corrected. I should have continued to watch your show, I guess.

BECK: Yes, I guess so. Or just not hear what you want to hear. Thank you very much.

QURAISHI: No, I try not to do that.

BECK: Atif, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. We will have you on again.

That`s the "Real Story" tonight. Back with the last segment, the last couple of segments. I forgot the clock went out. I`ve got my least favorite segment of the week coming up next. Oh, yes, he`s back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Monday is Labor Day, and sadly it marks the end of summer, but it was great while it lasted. I mean, Harry potter dorks, they were lined up from here to eternity trying to get their hands on that final installment of that damn series that I`m sick of. Fidel Castro enjoyed what probably is his last summer. Well, you know, when he wasn`t busy endorsing presidential candidates, he was snorkeling and drinking mojitos with his Mini Me dictator-in-training Hugo Chavez. And in a shocking turn of events, Britney Spears lost her mind, you know, what was left of it anyway, leaving her baby daddy K-Fed to be seen as the more fit parent.

I wish we could end the summer on a high note, but it doesn`t seem likely, because Brian Sack, our Public Viewer, is back from vacation, which, oh, there he is. Look at you. There with the...

BRIAN SACK, PUBLIC VIEWER: Are we on? I`m sorry.

BECK: Yes. Yes.

SACK: I was captivated by this article I read. It`s in "Gentleman`s Quarterly." It`s the magazine for straight men. And I was on a plane yesterday and had eight hours to read this thick, thick magazine and saw there was an article back on page 700, something called, "Is Glenn Beck the Most Annoying Man On TV?" by Benjamin Wallace.

BECK: Sure, right.

SACK: So I thought that was great. And so...

BECK: What did you learn from it?

SACK: Well, I was very impressed, number one, that you made "GQ," because that`s one of the magazines I subscribe to. But I did notice in the article right beforehand, they talk about how the media has nothing to offer and nothing to say. And they equate it with a person called megaphone guy who just kind of walks into a party with a megaphone.

BECK: Right.

SACK: And, then, of course, your article that follows, there you are standing with a megaphone. I don`t know if they were trying to say something.

BECK: I don`t think they`re saying anything. Nobody reads that magazines for the articles. You just look at the pictures.

SACK: And for the free perfume samples. But I am very impressed. I mean, "GQ" is a pretty serious magazine.

BECK: You could use "GQ," because what are you wearing, Castro`s outfit?

SACK: Oh, no, sir, this is Polish infantry. I picked this up. I was in Poland.

BECK: Those are all the rage.

SACK: Do you like it? It was pretty darn cheap.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: No. What kind of weird communist freak are you?

SACK: Communism is over.

BECK: Oh, sure it is.

SACK: It`s over. So, anyway, they didn`t like it. They didn`t like this...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: No, Poland didn`t.

SACK: They`re still angry. They`re still complaining. Every time you get them drunk, they`re like, "Oh, commies."

BECK: Why are you on the show?

SACK: Oh, I wanted to talk to you.

BECK: Uh-huh.

SACK: I wanted to congratulate you, first of all, for getting the article in "GQ." And it`s the one with Hillary Clinton`s running mate on the cover.

BECK: Yes.

SACK: You know, "GQ" is a serious magazine. They know two or three buttons for your jacket. Do you do a half-Windsor knot? Boxers or briefs? Do I shave my shoulders? When do I wear a sombrero? And am I a good Mexican lover?

BECK: Those things, yes.

SACK: But I thought you being in this magazine might kind of make you a diva maybe. I was worried that you might become a diva from being in this magazine. Oh, boy.

BECK: That`s me? That`s me?

SACK: That`s you.

BECK: Where did you get those? I`ve never done that. I`ve never done that. Yes. OK.

SACK: We have computers. We have computers.

BECK: All right.

SACK: Oh, boy, hey, that`s a good one. Curly. That`s a nice t- shirt. Armageddon fever. Technicolor. Joseph.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: Technicolor.

SACK: Nice, no pants on. Lovely.

BECK: Yes.

SACK: All right.

BECK: We collect wigs for some reason.

SACK: Maybe you`re not going to be a diva anytime soon.

BECK: How did you make that?

SACK: We have computers. We put it on the Macintosh and, you know, you press buttons.

BECK: Great. Get a life.

SACK: Anyhoo, speaking of, I was in Poland, and I went to the Bearnaise military festival (ph). It`s in the middle of nowhere. You drive tanks. I drove on a tank.

BECK: I always wanted to do that, you and Michael Dukakis.

SACK: And I thought -- but I was there, I`m thinking, why when I`m in Poland, why not ask people if Glenn Beck has maybe made it overseas, if his audience has expanded?

BECK: What did you find?

SACK: Well, I talked to some folks at the festival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SACK: (speaking Polish)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SACK: I asked him -- I`m asking him if he knows who you are.

BECK: What is he saying?

SACK: He said, "Absolutely, we love Glenn Beck. We totally know who he is. We watch him every night at 7:00 and 9:00 and midnight and sometimes at 5:00 a.m."

BECK: If more than your wife spoke Polish...

SACK: I speak some Polish.

BECK: ... we`d know...

(CROSSTALK)

SACK: OK, so anyway...

BECK: Brian, I`m sorry, we`re all out of time.

SACK: No.

BECK: Let me leave you with this. I hope you have a safe weekend until you get out on the boat.

SACK: All right, thanks so much.

BECK: Now, let me introduce you to another of "CNN`s Heroes."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re rolling.

JESUS AGUAIS, "MEDICAL MARVEL": The simplest idea could make the biggest impact, recycling HIV medicine. How many people out there are looking for medicine? And how many people with HIV in the United States have no idea that they could save lives with something that is just a leftover for them?

My name is Jesus Aguais. I`m the founder of Aid for AIDS International. I`m dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with HIV in developing countries.

Early in 1993, I got a job as a counselor in one of the Latino AIDS organizations here in New York. In terms of helping people abroad, there was very little that you could do. There was no medicine at all. Only people with lots of money could come to the United States. The rest, the common people, have to die.

In 1996, the first two protease inhibitors got approved, but some people couldn`t tolerate it, a treatment that cost $1,200 was being thrown away. I just knew it was wrong, purely wrong. I was telling people, why don`t you bring it to me?

We started using the concept of recycling the HIV medicine. All the medicine comes from people with HIV around the U.S. and goes abroad. People can send it directly to us or, if they live in the New York City area, we can pick it up, and we send it on a monthly basis straight to the patient.

This is a matter of saving life. People need this medicine. We need to get it to them. It`s our responsibility. I see it as what I`m here to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, if you flip around the channels during the 33rd rerun of this show every night -- I think it`s about 3:35 a.m. -- you`re likely to see one of those infomercials for "Girls Gone Wild." I like to call them "Girls Who Later in Life Can`t Understand Why They`re Not Being Taken Seriously at Work." But those movies bring in a lot of cash for and from dirt bags. But I`m not really sure if there`s an audience for world`s most naked robberies, but apparently there`s at least one dope willing to test the market.

Vicky Gaines is a clerk at a Quick Stop convenience store in Missouri who was exposed to this idiot while working her shift on August 18th. You can see Vicky down at the bottom of the screen and the man dancing naked for no apparent reason at the top of the screen, dancing and letting it all hang out.

It only last a few seconds, but I hear that`s nothing new for him. And then the party moved outside. The security cameras catch the naked guy and his friend running to the car. There they are. And followed close behind, if you will, is a customer in the store who ran out to get the license plate, or perhaps a closer view. I`m not sure. Hey, you know, whatever, to each his own.

The one thing that was interesting, though, is that the naked dance was supposed to distract the clerk. But on the video, you can see how incredibly disinterested she really is. I mean, she could not care less. I mean, not only are both thieves facing charges of shoplifting, being a minor in possession of alcohol and indecent exposure, but the naked guy has to admit to himself that his nude body wasn`t interesting enough to even get a passing glance from this woman.

So I hope all of his friends carefully consider this information and taunt him constantly for the rest of his life. That would be fun. The clerk said, quote, "He was just standing there, asking if -- would you like some of this?" Apparently the answer is, no, no, thank you.

Finally, in the least surprising detail of the story, what do you think these two morons were trying to steal? Yes, shockingly enough, beer.

Don`t forget, if you want to know what`s on tomorrow`s program, for the full hour, Richard Branson will be here, or if you`d like a little more in-depth commentary on the news of the day, from a moron like me, well, you can sign up for my free daily e-mail newsletter. It`s at glennbeck.com.

From New York, good night, America. And I mean that. I do.

END