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Glenn Beck

Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe?; The Truth Behind Consumer Spending; L.A. Group Offers Tips on Crossing Border Illegally

Aired November 27, 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, Saudi Arabia, friend or foe? The kingdom releases 1,500 al Qaeda members from prison as long as they -- wait for it -- promise not to conduct jihad in the hood. Yes. That should work.

Plus, an immigration rights group here in America releases a how-to for illegals trying to avoid deportation. Illegal immigration for dummies? Pretty much.

And conservative powerhouse Pat Buchanan`s new book, where he says America faces a perfect storm. Gee, where have I heard that one? Is our nation on a suicidal path?

All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America. How did you spend the last couple of days? If you`re anything like me, you were eating left-over turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry sauce in the microwave oven. That is one way to go.

The other option is how the kingdom of Saudi Arabia spent the past few days: releasing 1,500 members of al Qaeda from prison.

Now, I don`t want to give you the wrong idea here. They didn`t just release them. They did make them promise that they wouldn`t wage jihad on the Arabian Peninsula. And I bet they, you know, did the whole cross your heart and hope not to die, I guess.

By the way, I`m not a geographer, but I am a thinker. And I`m pretty sure I remember reading someplace that the United States is not part of the Arabian Peninsula, which leads me to "The Point" tonight.

Saudi Arabia and their government is not our friend. And here`s how I got there. Basically, I just paid attention. Yes. That`s how you get there. You just pay attention. When you pay attention, it`s pretty obvious.

Let`s start in Iraq, where "The New York Times" reports that military officials are saying that 41 percent of all foreign fighters in Iraq killing our troops, from Saudi Arabia. That`s more than twice the next country in line, Libya, at 18 percent. It`s also five times the percentage of Syria.

If your friends are supplying five times more militants killing your soldiers than Syria, gosh, I`d hate to see our enemies.

By the way, one quick side note. We could do an entire segment every day on the new statistics in Iraq showing the troop surge is working. For example, buried in this same story about Saudi Arabia is the fact that somewhere between 50 and 64 percent, there is a drop -- that large -- of foreign fighters coming into Iraq since the first half of the year. I`m just saying.

Now, let`s take Saudi Arabia, a little closer to home. Let`s got to Fairfax County, Virginia. In Fairfax County, Virginia, you will find the Islamic Saudi Academy, which is a government -- which is a place that a government commission wants to shut down unless the school can show it isn`t promoting hate.

A couple of weeks ago, 12 senators, including such hate-mongering conservatives as Chuck Schumer, wrote a letter urging the government to shut it down. Surprisingly enough -- surprisingly -- it receives funding from the Saudi government.

They have already removed some of the passages from the teachers` versions of textbooks instructing them to teach, quote, "that all religions other than Islam are false, including that of the Jews, Christians and all others." That little ditty was -- was prepared in the textbooks for first- graders.

Then there`s the whole thing about one of the school`s valedictorians that is serving 30 years in prison for joining al Qaeda. But, you know, I`m sure he`ll be back out in time for the alumni bake sale.

The school isn`t without its defenders. A soccer coach from a nearby school said that the soccer field that they play on, hey, they`ve never had one altercation with anybody from the school. So I guess we could thank God that David Beckham is safe.

Here`s what you need to know tonight, America. I truly believe the enemies of our enemies are not our friends. Therefore, you cannot be sure that Saudi Arabia, who spends most of their time acting like the friends of our enemies, probably aren`t our friends.

Michael Cromartie, he is with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a congressionally funded commission investigating this school.

Michael, you`ve got a real problem with this school because of the textbooks. We`re experiencing the same thing here in Manhattan, in New York City, where they start these Islamic schools, but God forbid they show anybody a textbook. What is in these textbooks?

MICHAEL CROMARTIE, U.S. COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: Well, that`s what we want to find out. We have it on good authority that the textbooks they use are the textbooks that are similar to the ones that are used in Saudi Arabia.

BECK: And you`ve -- you`ve gone over to Saudi Arabia to look at the textbooks, right?

CROMARTIE: We were there in June. But interestingly, Glenn, they wouldn`t let us see the textbooks. We asked for them at every meeting that we went to. We were there for over a week, and we were in dozens of meetings.

But the situation here with the school is simply we`ve asked to see copies of the textbooks.

BECK: Is there any other school in America that isn`t a Saudi-run school or a Saudi-moneyed school that will not show you their textbooks?

CROMARTIE: Well, we haven`t asked all of the schools in the country for their textbooks. So...

BECK: I mean, is there anybody else that you are asking for their textbooks? Is there anybody else that you`d like to see their textbooks and they haven`t provided them?

CROMARTIE: Well, not currently. Right now, what we`re doing is simply asking the Saudi school in the northern Virginia area to turn over their textbooks.

Now, interestingly, they have turned them over. They turned them over to the Saudi embassy, which has, in turn, turned them over to the State Department, which is reviewing them.

BECK: Why would they turn them over to the Saudi embassy? I mean, I...

CROMARTIE: Beats me. They could have just sent them directly to us. Clearly, what they`ve done is given them to the Saudi embassy and said, "Do what you will with these." And they gave them to the State Department. And we`re now -- we`ve got a request into the State Department to see the textbooks.

BECK: OK. Do you think Condoleezza Rice is going to say yes to that? Or do you think the State Department is going to be its own, you know, American weaseley self and back off from Saudi Arabia?

CROMARTIE: The State Department right now says what it`s doing is reviewing the textbooks. We`re eagerly waiting to see -- to have our own review. And so we`re waiting to hear from the State Department as to when we might be able to see them.

BECK: In 2005, there was a valedictorian that was arrested on terror charges, is now in prison. The school and the school supporters will say that`s just an isolated incident.

CROMARTIE: Well, it -- if it`s an isolated incident, it`s a very important isolated incident to say the least.

You know, earlier on the show you said something about the soccer coach in the county who thought that their -- their kids were good sports. Of course, this issue is not about being good sports. And we`re not attacking the students that school. We just simply want to see what are in the textbooks so we can examine them, and we`re having a hard time seeing them.

BECK: Yes, all right. Michael, thanks a lot. We`ll follow up with you.

I want to paint a broader picture here for you of exactly what we`re dealing with when it comes to Saudi Arabia. And Simon Henderson is with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Simon, I have a feeling that you and I don`t exactly agree. I think Saudi Arabia, at best, is passive-aggressive, but I think they are dumping money into this country and all over the world to promote hatred. Do you say they`re friend or foe?

SIMON HENDERSON, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Such a question as you pose it like that lacks any nuance. And I`d like to add a little bit of nuance to your answer.

The question is justifiable. You know, there are a lot of Saudi suicide bombers. Saudi record on al Qaeda has been poor. Said to be improving. We haven`t always seen the evidence that it`s improving. And the newspaper report you quoted about the Saudis providing the largest contingents of suicide bombers was appalling. So many years after 9/11, is that progress?

BECK: I have to ask you, Simon. I mean, I love -- I love, you know, the idea of let`s look for the nuance, but I don`t see a lot of nuance in giant machetes coming down on people`s necks.

I mean, you`ve got -- you`ve got a story just last week where you`ve got a woman who was gang-raped, and Saudi Arabia gave her 200 lashes and put her in jail for six months. This is not a real nuanced society when it comes to evil.

HENDERSON: Yes. I am not an apologist for Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia has called me many things, but it`s never called be an apologist for the kingdom.

Let us for the moment be grateful that in the case of that woman, I don`t think she`s been lashed yet, and I don`t think she`s started any prison sentence. Maybe foreign pressure and United States pressure can make sure that that doesn`t happen.

But the one word which you haven`t used so far, which is the big word when it comes to Saudi Arabia, isn`t terror. In fact, it`s oil. The fact of the matter is that oil in Saudi Arabia is more plentiful there than anywhere else in the world. And Saudi Arabia is the world`s largest oil exporter.

BECK: But you know what, Simon? You`ve got to ask yourself. You know, Mike Huckabee just came out this week, and he said we`ve slaves to oil. And, damn it, we are.

I mean, read the words of Thomas Jefferson. Once you start selling debt, once you start enslaving yourself to other countries, you`ve lost everything. Do we not have anything that we stand for?

You know what? I hate Priuses. I hate them. I`ll drive a Prius if you get us out of foreign oil. I don`t want to be enslaved to these people. I think they are damn near evil, all of them that are running Saudi Arabia.

HENDERSON: Well, I suggest you do drive the Prius. I don`t actually have a car, but I`m tempted to buy a Prius if I do have a car.

And frankly, if we`re able to get developments like the Prius or electric cars and things like that, then we`re way out ahead of diminishing our -- the world`s economic dependence on oil and on Saudi Arabia.

BECK: Yes.

HENDERSON: But it`s not as if, you know, frankly they spend all their oil revenues, promoting either what we would regard as an extremist form of Islam or encouraging terror. You have to remember that they also buy passenger aircraft from us and weapons from us. And a load of other stuff.

BECK: When it comes -- when it comes to passenger aircraft, I don`t think we should bring that image up when we`re talking about Saudi Arabia.

Simon, I`ve got to run, but I appreciate your point of view. We`d love to have you back.

I have to tell you, you need to do your homework on Saudi Arabia and Islamic extremism. Please, pick up a copy of my new book, "An Inconvenient Book." I`ve got a chapter on radical Islam. It ain`t pretty, gang. And it`s stuff that you`ve never heard before.

I mean, they`re just little piece like how our prisons here in America are breeding grounds for these extremists. It`s "An Inconvenient Book." You can order your copy right now at GlennBeck.com. It`s available in book stores everywhere.

Now, coming up, people are out buying holiday gifts like they`re millionaires, and they`re turning a blind eye towards a dismal economy. Yes, I said it, and I`ll say it again. I`ll explain in just a second.

And Pat Buchanan is outlining a day of reckoning. He says America is facing a perfect storm. We`ll get all the answers from Pat Buchanan, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, you know it and I know it. Americans are fed up with our government, from the inability to secure our borders, illegal immigration gone wild, and our economy. Something is not right. It`s something that I labeled the perfect storm over a year ago. And now Pat Buchanan has a new book out that says the same thing.

We`ll sit down with Pat Buchanan for a full 30 minutes, coming up at the bottom of the hour.

First, I want you to think about our economy for a second and think of it in the terms of a long chain of dominos, each one representing a different issue. You`ve got one domino for the housing market. Another one for the stock market. Another for our dollar. Another for the unemployment rate.

But the last domino is the most important one, and that is consumer spending. It now makes up at least 70 percent of our entire economy. And once that falls, well, let`s just say you want that one to stay upright.

The good news is that since these dominos are all in a row, we can clearly see when the last one is in trouble, because the other ones before it start to fall first. Unfortunately, that is exactly what I believe is starting to happen right now.

Let me give you a couple of the headlines. Forty-thousand people recently applied for jobs at two Wal-Marts in the Chicago area. Forty thousand. Six thousand people just applied for 300 jobs at a Wal-Mart in Cleveland. Home prices collapsed in the third quarter, falling 4.5 percent from last year. That is the largest drop since Standard & Poor`s began their index over 20 years ago.

The Dow`s decline became an official correction yesterday. That`s the first correction since 2003, and just today, an Arab company, Abu Dubai, has used $7.5 billion in oil money to bail out Citigroup. That shows you not only how much trouble Citigroup is in but also how the fallen dollar is allowing foreigners to buy up our assets and our real estate.

Gang, the dominos are lined up, and I believe they are beginning to fall.

Peter Schiff is the president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of "Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse." Peter, the first thing that people will say is, "Glenn, Black Friday. It was great." People were out spending money, despite the fact that oil prices -- or gas prices are over $3 a barrel. Despite the fact everybody on television seems to want to talk the economy down. They went out and spent a lot of money.

PETER SCHIFF, PRESIDENT, EUROPAC: Unfortunately, they borrowed it. You know, there was an article that was in the "Wall Street Journal" over the weekend. Looking at some of the mortgages that Citibank holds.

And one of them was a $625,000 adjustable rate mortgage that belonged to a woman who bought her home 20 years ago but paid $105,000 for it. She had refinanced five times over the past six years, borrowed half a million dollars and spent every penny of it.

And so when Americans are going to the mall spending borrowed money, this is how we get into trouble. This is not how we grow an economy; this is how we destroy an economy.

BECK: OK. But you say -- one of our things that you`re high on, and I am, too, that is get out of debt. Stop spending money. Start saving money.

However, the flip side of that is if you`ve got an economy that is 70 percent built on people spending money, what happens when people stop spending money?

SCHIFF: Well, that`s the problem that we`re in. We`ve built our phony economy on the consumption, financed with borrowed money. We have to stop.

The fact that we`re going to have a recession, well, that`s just like a drug addict. You know, if he wants to get healthy, he`s going to have to go through withdrawal. That`s the price you pay for being an addict in the first place.

We`ve got to get a healthy economy that is -- that is basically driven by savings and investment. And we can`t get back to a healthy economy from this phony economy without going through a very painful recession.

BECK: You know, Peter, I believe, you know -- I believe this domino thing is real. I think we`re in deep, deep trouble.

2012, people start retiring, the Baby Boomers. This -- this Social Security and Medicare crunch is coming our way. If we went door-to-door and said, "Give us all of your possessions. Give us everything you own," you still would be trillions of dollars short from paying this stuff off.

How do you possibly get out of this situation without a collapse?

SCHIFF: We can`t. That`s the problem. We can`t get out of the situation.

And unfortunately, most Americans are not going to be able to retire. The dollars that they saved, they`re not going to be able to buy the things they need.

We`re destroying our currency. Unfortunately, we`re trying to prop this whole mess up, you know, with the Federal Reserve. And we`re just seeing the beginning of this.

When you see Abu Dubai come in -- Abu Dhabi, rather, and buy -- and buy part of Citibank, this is just the beginning. This is foreigners buying up our assets. And they`re going to buy up a lot more, because our assets are going to get a lot cheaper.

BECK: You know, the rest of America doesn`t see this because, you know, fortunately for you, you don`t -- you don`t live in New York. But I`m here on the weekends. And there`s not a soul that speaks English, unless they have an English accent. People come here literally on the weekends from Europe with empty suitcases, and they`re buying everything.

SCHIFF: Yes, they`re actually organizing these shopping tours, where Europeans are coming here. And the crazy thing about it is they`re coming here, and they`re buying products that we imported from them in the first place.

BECK: Right.

SCHIFF: So it makes no sense.

BECK: Here`s what I want to know, and I`ve only got 30 seconds here for an answer. How is it that we can -- we don`t feel it, or the average person doesn`t feel this? The government says we have only 3 percent inflation, yet it`s 50 cents more, their euro, than our dollar?

SCHIFF: Well, first of all, the government is lying about inflation. It`s a lot worse than 3 percent. But one of the reasons we don`t even feel the full impact of it is because foreigners are absorbing it for us. They`re eating it. They`re suffering the inflation that we`re exporting.

But that`s all going to end. I mean, it doesn`t make any sense for an Italian shoe company to export shoes to American and then have Italian citizens fly here to buy them cheaper than they can buy them in Milan. They`re going to raise prices to us, and we`re going to see a tremendous increase in consumer prices over the next few years.

BECK: OK. Thanks, Peter.

Coming up, there is a DVD instructing illegal immigrants on what to do and what to say when they illegally enter the U.S. And it gives them pointers on how to stay here illegally.

I wish I was kidding, but I am not. And we have the video to prove it, next.

And Pat Buchanan swings by to talk about this nation in peril. This one, how do we stop this country from being torn apart from within? What can we do to save the planet`s last great hope, America? Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, when it comes to illegal immigration, I`ve got two points on it. One, stopping illegal immigration is key to the security of our country. And, two, illegal immigration is by definition illegal. It`s like -- it`s got it in the name.

But that hasn`t stopped the folks as an L.A.-based immigrant rights group from putting out a DVD that is designed to help illegal aliens with pesky little issues like dealing with the police and avoiding deportation.

Joining me now is Ira Mehlman, the media director of Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Ira, this is -- this is quite amazing that this -- this organization is actually -- I believe making our cops and our federal officials into the bad guys.

IRA MEHLMAN, MEDIA DIRECTOR, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: Yes. I mean, it`s irritating, and it indicates where CHIRLA is coming from. They don`t want the immigration laws of this country enforced.

But really what it comes down to is a political decision on the part of police departments, whether they`re going to cooperate enforcing U.S. immigration laws. Whether CHIRLA tells people what their rights are or not.

Look, we`ve had Miranda rights in this country for more than 40 years. It hasn`t stopped police from arresting criminals and prosecutors from prosecuting them. It really is a political decision whether local government officials want to be part of the solution.

And you know, in a lot of cities they don`t. But increasingly around the country, local governments are stepping up to the plate, and they are acting responsibly.

BECK: But you know -- but here`s the problem, Ira. I mean, if you`ve seen this DVD, it really does make the cops into the bad guys. So while you say, well, you know -- you know, the cities have to decide whether or not they`re going to be part of the problem or part of the solution, that`s true.

But what we have here is -- I mean, this is propaganda against law enforcement officials. Once you don`t trust the cops, once you think that the bad guys are the good guys, the whole world is upside down.

MEHLMAN: Yes. Look, I mean, the propaganda is protected by the First Amendment. They have a right to propagandize if they so choose.

The American public isn`t buying it, though. The American public recognizes that we have immigration laws in this country for a very good reason, that our immigration authorities have a right to go out there and enforce the law against people who violate the law.

You know, they have been trying this for a long, long time. The American public simply isn`t buying the idea that somehow the government is being mean to people.

The government is doing -- or at least now starting to do what it should have been doing all along, which is making it clear to people that, if you break our laws, there are going to be consequences.

BECK: OK. Again, but I -- I`m not worried about the average American, because I think the average American, while they may have been ten years ago -- in fact, I`ll talk to Pat Buchanan about this here in a second. Ten years ago they might have believed, "Oh, well, you`re just a racist." They don`t believe that anymore. They got it.

I`m worried about the illegal immigrants that are here that are being spoon-fed propaganda that our police and our law enforcement officials are not there to protect and serve. But they`re there as evil, racist hate- mongers that are going to come and scoop you off the street, as they should, and send you back home.

MEHLMAN: Well, that`s true. I mean, this has been the crux of the argument of groups like CHIRLA for a long time. And I think we saw some of that demonstrated in the street rallies that you had in 2006. You know, the sense that they are up against a political system here that is persecuting them.

And that`s going to be a long-term problem. When you have segments of our population that have been propagandized...

BECK: Yes.

MEHLMAN: ... and have come to believe that the system is stacked against them, even if they`re just disobeying the law, then you do have a long-term problem.

BECK: You`re exactly right. Ira, thank you very much.

Coming up, Pat Buchanan is going to join me. He`ll talk about America`s forthcoming day of reckoning. Spooky stuff, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: A quick programming note. This Thursday we`ll be bringing you "Exposed: The Extremist Agenda, One Year Later." It is a frightening look in what radical Islam says about America, the indoctrination of hate and, most importantly, why no one in the U.S. is really paying attention to this. That`s this Thursday, one year later. Don`t miss it.

But first, I admittedly say a lot of things on this program that people characterize as being everything from common sense to nonsense, depending on their politics. But through it all and no matter what anybody else says or what anyone else believes, my one unwavering principle is honesty. If I fear something, I`m going to tell you about it. If I think something and it makes blood shoot out of my eyes, I`m going to tell you, too.

Tonight, for the next few segments, I`m going to spend some time talking to a guy who I believe approaches the same things in the same way. You may not agree with everything he says, I don`t agree with everything he says, but in this age of hidden agendas, political correctness, double- speak, bull crap from coast to coast, his convictions and his honesty is refreshing. Pat Buchanan is the author of the "Day of Reckoning, How Hubris, Ideology and Greed are Tearing America Apart." It hits book stores everywhere today. Welcome to the program, Pat. How are you, sir?

PAT BUCHANAN, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Thank you very much, Glenn. Appreciate it.

BECK: You`ve been on this bandwagon for quite some time.

BUCHANAN: I have, indeed.

BECK: Let`s just start on the border.

BUCHANAN: Uh-huh.

BECK: What a nightmare mess this is. And I`m -- I believe everybody in Washington and corporations and everything else are involved and they`re lying to us. They have their own agenda.

BUCHANAN: Well, there`s no doubt about. The corporations, a lot of the big companies would prefer to have open borders to have goods and people move back and forth and to erase borders entirely. A lot of businesses in America -- that`s why the Chamber of Commerce fought for the amnesty bill. They want amnesty for themselves. They have thousands of members who have been hiring illegals. They want to be able to hire cheap labor. They want to be able to maximize profit and cut costs to the degree possible.

And the point is, though, they`re colluding, a lot of them, are colluding in the -- in the constant breaking of American laws. And, frankly, before President Bush began to act, which he did about last year or this year, they were getting away with it. There was very little enforcement of the laws against illegal immigrants or the laws against the hiring of them.

BECK: Do you -- I mean, let me go down the crazy train here. I just put out a book last week. And the last chapter is about what I believe is really happening on illegal immigration. And I got to tell you, Pat, I don`t want to believe it. I don`t want to believe that there is a group of business people and our politicians selling off our sovereignty because they think it`s the only way we`re going to be able to survive and this SPP bull crap. Tell me that I`m wrong on that.

BUCHANAN: You`re not wrong. You`re not wrong at all.

BECK: I want to be wrong. Please, tell me I`m wrong.

BUCHANAN: Look. There`s no doubt about it. There`s a tremendous large segment of the corporate community that wants open borders and it wants to be able to bring in labor from Mexico but from Asia to work against American labor. There are labor unions that want to take these service workers so they can get back the kind of workers they lost when the union jobs went to Asia. There are churches that want to fill up the pews. There are ideologues that like the idea that America in the 1950s looked atrocious to them. They want it to look like the UN.

There`s George W. Bush, a fundamentally good man who I think believes that basically we need free trade among all the Americas and free exchange of goods and people.

BECK: But we`re talking about losing our sovereignty.

BUCHANAN: You`re talking about losing your sovereignty, your independence, your country, the character of the nation you`ve got. Frankly, you`re talking about seeing the America you and I grew up in disappear forever.

BECK: OK. Well, this is a happy segment.

BUCHANAN: Right.

BECK: I said, oh, I don`t know, 18 months ago on this program -- and I remember the discussion. People said, Glenn, let`s not be crazy. And I said, look at what`s happening to us. We have Islamic extremists. We have out-of-control spending. We have an economy that is bogus. We -- we have enemies within our own country. We are destroying ourselves.

And I said any of these problems we could handle. I named it the perfect storm. You said the exact same thing in your book.

BUCHANAN: Exactly.

BECK: It`s the perfect storm.

BUCHANAN: When I went through it in this book y said, let`s take a look at the great difficulties I believe that confront our country. And -- not as a Republican or Democrat, conservative or independent. So you go down one after another. You`ve got a dollar that`s collapsing. You have jobs going overseas. Three million manufacturing jobs lost. You`ve got a Social Security/Medicare crisis. You`ve got a border that the government of the United States will not defend. You`ve got troops all over the world defending countries that same time that your armed forces have been cut in half in the last 15 years.

And you said, look. It`s all coming down now. This is a perfect storm, a political crisis. And social crisis in America.

BECK: How long do you think we have? First of all, two questions. How long do we have before Americans wake up to this, to the full, you know, realization of what we`re facing? Because it`s propaganda left and right against this. How long before they wake up to it? And how long do we have before it`s too late?

BUCHANAN: Well, the American people have woken up. I mean, when you saw that piece of legislation this year supported by Bush and Teddy Kennedy and McCain and Kyl and the "Washington Post" and "Wall Street Journal," Chamber of Commerce, labor unions, some of them. To grant amnesty to 12 to 20 million illegal aliens.

There was a firestorm of protest in this country that overthrew the establishment of both parties and the national establishment. First time in my life we`ve done it. We fought in NAFTA. We got to the point where the country was with us and it cut all the deals the insiders did and they beat us. This team, the country defeated the entire establishment. I couldn`t believe it.

Let me tell you the problem, Glenn. The problem is we won and what do we all do? Great. Let`s go home and watch the Redskins game. And the K Street boys and all the others, they go back up to the hill, okay, we got beat. Let`s get part of it and keep moving.

BECK: They bury it in.

BUCHANAN: That`s what makes you somewhat -- somewhat pessimistic. Not even somewhat in that book. I guess it`s even worse than that. But it makes you pessimistic.

BECK: OK. Hang on. We come back with Pat Buchanan. I want to talk to you about that. Pessimism. I think it`s much more than that. I think there is a growing disconnect between the American people and her government. We`ll talk to Pat about that in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: We`re back with Pat Buchanan, author of "The Day of Reckoning." I think, Pat, I`m happy to say I think you`re making me look like a man full of sunshine and lollipops. And that`s not easily done. We were just talking about the people`s pessimism.

I sense something when I went down to Texas. I lived in Texas for a while. You know it`s a different place.

BUCHANAN: Sure.

BECK: And I went down there and I sensed real disconnect. I talked to a woman today in Bangor, Maine, who said she was out in the shopping mall this weekend and somebody said to her, you tell me. When are we going to -- when are we going to lock and load? People are beyond pessimists. With their government. I believe there is a growing disconnect. How do we wake the government up to see people are not going to be treated like boobs for very long?

BUCHANAN: You know, I think what we`re getting to is what they call a crisis of the regime itself. A crisis of the democratic government of the United States. When you see the president at 30 percent, Cheney at 20 percent and the Congress at 10 percent, and all manner people saying we don`t like the choices we`re being offered. I do think the people are far ahead of the -- certainly of the government and the elites.

BECK: Oh, yeah.

BUCHANAN: When you see them trying to grant an amnesty to 12 to 20 million aliens in the face of this firestorm. And you see Republican conservative John McCain and Mike Pence and others going right into the teeth of this storm. What is the matter with you fellows? Don`t you see it coming? I think it`s already arrived on the immigration issue. I think the trade and lost jobs and manufacturing issue is coming. I think the sovereignty issue is here.

You talk about -- I mean, this -- the former president of Mexico came up here and he has made statements. He clearly wants a merger -- economic merger of the United States and Mexico and erasure of the borders between us, free flow of Mexicans into the United States.

I understand his motivation doing that. What I don`t understand is why there`s -- the government of the United States and patriotic men and women don`t understand. This means the end of the United States as a sovereign, independent, unique, separate nation and people.

BECK: Is it that we are just -- is it that we`ve been watching circuses and eating cakes? Why -- I don`t understand. I get so frustrated, Pat. It is so clear to some. And the rest are just not seeing it. Is it arrogance? What is it?

BUCHANAN: I think there`s two things. One is ideology. And ideology is really substitute religion that`s got this belief. One of the things I mentioned is free trade. The other is the -- I mean, the belief in the great good myth that we are a nation of immigrants. The more people that come in, the better. That all those who opposed it were entirely wrong.

And there`s no doubt that the American melting pot worked wonders with the folks that came from Europe from 1890 to 1920. But we had a 40 year time out and we had clashes in that period and it finally worked. So now we say that worked. Let`s let everybody in from the whole world, legal and illegal, and the whole thing will work. You`re risking the United States of America doing this.

And I`m asking why are you taking this risk when the people don`t want to take it? The country doesn`t want to take it. And the only thing they can explain to me is they`re addicted to this myth. They think it`s all going to follow through on that and I don`t think it is. I don`t think it`s working. And I think we`re going to wind up with what Teddy Roosevelt warned against. A tangle of squabbling of nationalities.

In a country, the Southwest of which is linguistically part of Mexico, I mean, the Anglos as we`re called now are moving out of California. Two million in the 1990s.

BECK: OK. Back with Pat Buchanan in just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Back with Pat Buchanan, author of the day of reckoning. Pat, I want to talk to you a little bit about the economy. And, again, I go back to I don`t want to believe this stuff. But for the life of me, I`m not an economist. I`m not a politician, but I am a thinker. I can`t figure out anything that makes more sense. You`ve got a falling dollar. You have crippling debt coming our way. You`ve got a huge portion of the population, baby boomers soon going to be retiring. So they`re not going to be generating income. It`s almost like as I hear all of these politicians talk about health care, adding prescription drugs, everything else, it`s almost like we`re intentionally sabotaging our economy.

BUCHANAN: Well, the last point you made, you had Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They`re about to eat up the entire budget. As 70 million baby boomers reach early retirement next year and full retirement by 2012 and they move into the retired population and begin consuming all that wealth. I`ve seen estimates of 57 trillion in unfunded mandates.

You`ve got this enormous thing. Then the president adds prescription drugs. And the Democrats are saying now we`re going to pay for everybody`s health care. The only way you can do this, take all of the wealth virtually out of the private, productive sector and use it for retirees, pensions and health care.

You will see what`s happening in Europe with massive general strikes. Transit strikes. They`re just making small cuts in the social welfare state. We`re going to have to confront this and it`s going to take pain and suffering and courage on the part of politicians. And I don`t see it.

BECK: But here`s the thing.

BUCHANAN: Thelma and Louise headed for the cliff.

BECK: Here is the problem, though. We`re not even talking about cuts. We`re talking about more. We`re talking about putting more on top of this table. Everybody who looks into anything, they know this will not work.

So explain to me, if you will, is it just a whoring out of themselves? Do anything to be elected for short-term gains? Or is it something more? How do you -- how does an intelligent person do this?

BUCHANAN: Well, first of all, the parties are so even, there`s an enormous amount of political cowardice. The third rail of American politics. If you say, look, we have to cap benefits here, cut benefits there, we`re going to have to increase the payroll tax or increase the base, you do that in a general election and you`re a dead man. And they say, well, we`ll put it off. We`re going to get a commission to deal with that. We`re going to get a commission to deal with this.

But the point is, it is upon us right now. As you mentioned, look the dollar -- I mean, the euro has gone from 83 cents to $1.50. The dollar looks like the Mexican peso in 1984. You lost 3,000 manufacturing jobs in five or six years. The border is undefended. You have got the fiscal crisis and you`ve got a trade deficit last year of $760 billion. Six percent of your gross national product. We save one percent of the GDP at most. The Chinese save 35 to 50 percent.

BECK: OK. When we come back I want to talk a little bit about solutions. And they`re pretty painful. More with Pat Buchanan in just a bit.

But first, I want to stop and tell you about the "Real America."

Brought to you this evening by CSX.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice-over): It`s the kind of homecoming that a soldier dreams about. For Private Leah Murray, it`s a homecoming that makes her want to go back to Iraq and continue serving her country.

PRIVATE FIRST CLASS LEAH MURRAY, U.S. ARMY: You`re able to protect somebody, have somebody look up to you, set a good example. It makes me want to fight harder to come back home.

BECK: Leah is back in Pennsylvania after receiving a purple heart for her service. She will deploy again soon. At home, Murray has the support of her family, her friends and her community. She exemplifies the true spirit of American values. Something I talk about all the time. Lucky for me, Sharon Keyser was listening.

SHARON HYLAND KEYSER, AHEROS-WELCOME.ORG: The day before my husband left to go back to Afghanistan, I heard Glenn talking on the radio about how our troops aren`t considered heroes anymore. He said what a shame. How did he get to this point? I was thinking to myself, Glenn, you couldn`t be talking more about what I`m doing here in Philadelphia.

BECK: A Hero`s Welcome is the brain child of Sharon Keyser. Her mission is simple. Welcome home our armed forces like the heroes they are. In July, she quit her six-figure job to start the foundation. At the time, Sharon was on the fast track. Racing up the corporate ladder. Yet inside, she felt like a failure.

KEYSER: I quit my job. I gave up a pretty nice paycheck. Part of this was my life savings. So that was very scary. I think that`s why it took me about month to do because I was really hesitating over that.

BECK: Now, just four months later, her dedication is paying off. Sharon is personalizing homecoming celebrations based on the passions of the individual soldiers. For some, it`s a ticker-tape parade. For Private Murray, it was more simple. Her passion is her car.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: : We`d like to install this GPS for you as well.

MURRAY: OK.

BECK: Families get in touch with Sharon through her Web site. From there, she gets local donors involved to help with the welcome home celebration. She also gets local schools involved, making sure all of the students get a chance to meet a real hero.

The only problem she has now, topping what she`s done for other soldiers. With a surprise welcome home for her own husband. When he has completed his tour of duty.

KEYSER: He loves the Philadelphia Eagles, so if that would be something where he got a chance to meet Donovan McNabb or any of the players, I think he`d pass out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (on camera): It is amazing the difference that one person can make in our country. It is the American dream. If you want to help out and learn more about a hero`s welcome, go to cnn.com/glenn for more information.

Tonight`s "Real America," sponsored by CSX. How tomorrow moves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Back with a final moment now with Pat Buchanan on "The Day of Reckoning." He says there`s a perfect storm coming in America. I`ve heard that one before. Thank goodness somebody else is now saying it. He`s been on this for a while.

I want to ask you, Pat, about one solution in particular. I think people feel so powerless. The founding fathers told us it`s about we, the people. What does the average schmoe do the fix the border, fix the economy, fix everything. What do we do?

BUCHANAN: You tell your congressman or senator, you`re in charge. Fix the problem. If they start a long winded answer why they can`t do it, go out and vote against them. Not until they`re defeated one after another. You saw what happened after McCain`s campaign sank like a stone. He got religion. They get religion when you threaten them with defeat. I don`t think much else works. Because otherwise, they respond to the people.

BECK: Have you see the epiphany yet? Have you seen the pivot point for Republicans? They spent us into oblivion. They betrayed us on the border. They haven`t changed. We voted them out.

BUCHANAN: Romney was not a hard-liner on the border. Rudy was for sanctuary city. McCain was for amnesty. They`re all moving. They`ve all got religion. Because they`re not going to get the nomination unless they get right. Where`s Hillary Rodham Clinton? Where` where`s Governor Spitzer now? He suddenly got religion when 70 percent of the people we`re against you. And Hillary Rodham Clinton realized it could cost her the presidency if she`s for drivers` licenses.

BECK: There`s one guy who is probably the closest to the founding fathers, but I just think he`s so wrong on so many things. Ron Paul. I`m more libertarian at heart, but good God almighty, he wants us to be Switzerland. You also talk about close down all of the bases. How do we do that in today`s world? How do you collapse that power system and destabilize by pulling out around the world?

BUCHANAN: I don`t collapse the power system. We have got to remain the first military power. Land, sea, air, space and technology. But there`s no reason why Europe, the richest continent on earth, after the Cold War is over and the Soviet Union doesn`t exist, cannot provide the troops for its own defense.

Why are we defending South Korea 50 years after the Korean War with 30,000 American troops on their border when they`ve got twice the population and 40 times the economy of North Korea? Take the 30,000 Americans off their border and put them on our border. What happens on our Southwest is far more important than what happens in South Korea.

BECK: Pat Buchanan, what a pleasure, sir.

BUCHANAN: A delight.

BECK: T hank you so much. I appreciate it. And you keep speaking out.

BUCHANAN: Thank you.

BECK: That`s it. We`ll see you tomorrow on the radio and back here tomorrow night. From New York, good night America.

END