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Glenn Beck

New Black Panthers Backing Obama; Former White House Press Secretary Weighs in on Pastor Controversy; Author Andrew Gross Discusses New Book

Aired March 20, 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): Tonight, double standards in America. How is it Obama`s pastor`s comments aren`t creating more outrage? I`ll explain why somebody like John McCain would be finished if the roles were reversed.

Plus Osama bin Laden blasts Western Europe and the pope over the Mohammed cartoons published in Denmark. I`ll have the details of his latest call for action and whether this threat is serious.

And how damaging would a brokered convention be for the Democratic Party in the country? I`ll talk to the former White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer.

All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

There is no shortage of things that I have trouble believing in, you know, in this country, but sometimes I start to think that I`m the crazy one, you know? But not this time. I`ve noodled this one for days now, and tonight I am positive that I`m on the right side of this issue.

As disturbing details continue to come out about Barack Obama`s spiritual adviser, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and black liberation theology, I can`t believe there`s not more outrage on the liberal end of things.

A possible future president has spent the last 20 years in a church where radical black nationalism is being preached, and it seems like only half the country cares right now. The line is being drawn along political lines, which I`ve never understood that. It`s never about left and right. It`s always about right and wrong. So here`s "The Point" tonight.

There is a huge double standard happening her, and I need you to understand one simple thing: questioning the belief of a black preacher or black theology or a black candidate does not make you a racist. And here`s how I got there.

First, let me talk about the double standard here, in my opinion. Obama`s Reverend Wright has said unforgivable things about white people in America. Remember, racism is a human flaw, not a white one. You wouldn`t excuse a racist or anti-American comments from a friend or a co-worker or - - dare I say it -- Don Imus. Why should we be expected to accept it from a man who is advising a presidential candidate?

If John McCain`s priest had said that poor blacks are the problem in America, the media, including me, would be calling for his head. He wouldn`t have had time to make an important speech.

Now let`s look at the second part of this issue: black liberation theology. Remember Mitt Romney and the media`s demand that he explain and justify his faith`s beliefs? Not his politics or his policies, but his faith. Fine print from a hundred years ago. Well, where are you now "Today Show"? How about equal time on this issue?

Obama has spent decades listening to a true believer in black liberation theology. This is an extremist belief system that wants to kill a god who isn`t against white people, calls for God`s destruction of the white enemy. This isn`t, "Hey, you`ve got more than one wife" in 1881. This is religious extremism that we`ve come to associate with the Middle East.

Those radical thoughts belong to James Cone, the author the Reverend Wright himself cites as responsible for the foundation of his faith, and he says it on his church`s Web site.

Barack Obama says that Reverend Wright is responsible for his foundation of faith. Well, if that doesn`t fill you with rage, it should, at least fill you with a few questions. And if it doesn`t fill you with rage, I don`t know what will. No, wait, I do.

Tonight, America, here`s what you need to know. Reverend Wright and radical black theology are one thing, but now we`ve got an endorsement by the New Black Panther Party. That`s quite another thing.

The New Black Panthers posted an endorsement on Barack Obama`s Web site. It remained until yesterday, two days after Barack`s big speech on tolerance and race. For the record, Obama didn`t post that. It looks like the Black Panthers did.

And the other part, the New Black Panther Party, just as bad as the KKK. They are identified as an extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In addition to the widely-held belief that they advocate violence, they demand slavery reparations, the release of all black prisoners, and a separate country for African-Americans.

Granted, anyone can endorse a candidate, and Barack Obama says he is not connected to the New Black Panther Party, but what I want to know is how far is the philosophy of the New Black Panthers from the theology of black liberation theology?

Malik Shabazz is the president of Black Lawyers for Justice and legal counsel for the New Black Panther Party.

Malik, how -- what is the difference between black liberation theology and Black Panther philosophy?

MALIK SHABAZZ, PRESIDENT, BLACK LAWYERS FOR JUSTICE: I would say not much.

Imagine, Glenn, if you and your white children and your family were subject to a black god, a black Christ and a black religion for hundreds of years that taught you that white was nothing. You would need a white liberation theology. You would want your white Jesus back, your white God back, your white angels back.

So black liberation theology comes out of us being force-fed a white supremacist religion that had degraded us and destroyed us.

BECK: Yes.

SHABAZZ: And it`s just an effort to say Jesus loves us, too.

BECK: Yes. I find that hard to accept, that I would want my god to kill blacks, but that`s a different story.

SHABAZZ: I don`t know where you get that from.

BECK: Well, black liberation theology, sir.

SHABAZZ: Well, what you have to understand, sir, if Mr. Obama is a man who really does love America -- and he is a man that can unite America, and I believe he`s the best hope for America -- his church, the United Church of Christ, strongly, which is a white-dominated church, backs Trinity United Church of Christ. So what this has, this has been distorted.

Reverend Wright is not a racist, and Obama is not a product of a racist church. I think this has all been misunderstood.

BECK: OK. Do you believe, like Reverend Wright, that the white government of the United States of America created AIDS?

SHABAZZ: I would say that, if you study the Tuskegee experiment and the syphilis that was injected into black men, if you study the research that my legal organization, Black Lawyers for Justice, and others have shown that in Fort Dietrich, Maryland, and under Henry Kissinger, that biological weapons programs targeted at depopulation of key areas, including Africa and other darker areas, that this took place in America, it has not been disproven that AIDS does not come from a manmade source or the United States government. It`s still a debate around that. It`s not a product of paranoia.

Imagine, Glenn...

BECK: It hasn`t been proven that, you know, there aren`t orange groves on the sun either. But yet...

SHABAZZ: How would you feel -- the reason why -- how would you feel, Glenn, if you had to understand that your ancestors had been in slavery and bondage for 300 years, that your ancestors had been denied the right to become policemen, firemen, attend schools and get mortgages, how would you feel if...

BECK: I`ll tell you -- I would feel -- I`ll tell you, I would feel -- I would feel so unbelievably proud that that country has made so much progress that the richest woman in America is Oprah Winfrey and possibly the next president is also an African-American. I`d feel pretty darn good that we`ve made an awful lot of progress.

Obama`s message is to come together, yet your message, according to your Web site, is the trials of blacks only, by all black juries, end of all black cooperation with police departments, and a separate country for African-Americans. How is Obama your man?

SHABAZZ: Obama is my man, because I believe he can change America, and I pray to almighty God that America will listen to and follow Barack Obama, black or white or whoever you are.

I say that Barack Obama is the true salvation for America and to bring us beyond the negative and the nasty and injustices that have caused persons like Reverend Wright or myself to speak out.

Barack Obama, I pray, Glenn, that you will support him, because he`s the best hope to end terrorism. He`s the best hope that foreign nations will ease their hostility...

BECK: Is he going give you a separate nation? Is he going give you a separate police force, do you think?

SHABAZZ: I think you`re distracted from the issues.

BECK: That`s what you stand for. I know what I stand for.

SHABAZZ: That`s only if -- that`s only if we cannot receive justice. My mothers and fathers, my ancestors labored to build this. I desire to be free of police brutality and other injustices.

BECK: So do I. Malik, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

SHABAZZ: Listen to that speech.

BECK: I have.

So where is the -- where is the line? How come Don Imus gets fired for saying things in a comedy routine, but a guy like Obama`s Reverend Wright only gets away with, you know, saying what he`s said so far and it`s far worse. You know, he`s saying it to a man who could be president.

Ken Blackwell, senior fellow for family empowerment of the Family Research Council.

I have to tell you, Ken, that last interview was just a little spooky for me. How -- how...

KEN BLACKWELL, SENIOR FELLOW FOR EMPOWERMENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: I congratulate you, Glenn, for being in the conversation.

BECK: Yes, well...

BLACKWELL: But if you take -- if you take the Latin term e pluribus unum, from many one, you begin to understand that the beauty of America is that we are one nation.

Now, if you -- if you buy into a doctrine that says -- that is a separatist doctrine that actually is color conscious, not colorblind, it becomes very difficult for you to lead the march to unity.

And that`s -- I think that`s what we have to ask Senator Obama. You know, either you believe the doctrine and, if you don`t believe the doctrine, but you are in the church, then you`re fooling yourself or you are fooling the people of the church.

BECK: I -- I have to tell you, I don`t know who`s fooling who anymore.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BECK: I don`t know what to believe anymore. Here`s what I`m afraid of, 1968. I`m afraid that, if Obama doesn`t win the nomination or Obama doesn`t win the presidency, how do you have people like the Black Panthers not riot in the streets? How do you have people not say that it`s the big, bad white man once again keeping Barack Obama down?

BLACKWELL: Well, Glenn, I want to take this opportunity to just say, you know -- you know, we have some challenges in this country, but within the black community there has always been this tension between which approach we take, whether it`s Martin Luther King`s approach or whether it is Elijah Muhammad`s approach. One is a separatist. One actually fought for social justice within the American framework.

And I`m saying that, if you use the words of King, you cannot adopt the doctrine of Elijah Muhammad.

BECK: The hate speech that I -- I think that I -- you know, that I heard coming from Reverend Wright is not just -- it`s not theology. This is politics, right or wrong?

BLACKWELL: It comes -- it comes right out of the liberation theology that ran across Africa, ran across Latin America. It found its origin in Marxism.

BECK: OK. Thank you very much, Ken. We`ll talk again.

Coming up, Barack Obama`s campaign has lost its luster. As we get closer to the convention will the Democratic super delegates make Hillary the nominee or not? We could be looking at 1968 all over again. Possible? Ari Fleischer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, Wall Street is still in the money-making business. In the meantime, it`s you on Main Street feeling the crunch, from the falling dollar to that sinking feeling you get every time you fill your tank. We`ll talk about it in tonight`s "Real Story."

But first, Barack Obama`s candidacy has suddenly morphed into a discussion of black nationalism in America. You just heard it. Spooky, isn`t it? This whole discussion could be just a little foreplay before the Democratic convention this August.

Unlike politicians, the numbers don`t lie. There is no clear way that either Clinton or Obama are going to win the nomination. And even though some would like to have the Florida and Michigan delegates to be counted, I don`t think it`s going to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every voice should have the chance to be heard and every vote counted. This goes way beyond this election, and it goes way beyond who`s running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I wish she only believed that, you know, before they voted. It`s not going to happen. Even, you know, with those delegates, the math is still at a place where the race is likely to go to the convention floor. What is that going to mean?

There`s the ultimate fighting match that we`re going through now is going to make it look like a square dance. What if Barack does end up on the losing end of that war? How extensive will the collateral damage be if the perception is that a rich and powerful white woman stole the nomination from a poor black man?

Ari Fleischer is the former press secretary for George W. Bush.

How are you, Ari?

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Glenn, how do you do?

BECK: Very good. It is -- well, first of all, any way for Hillary to actually win this? Do you think she can win this?

FLEISCHER: The only way Hillary can win this is if the polls show that she`s running so far ahead of John McCain and Barack Obama is losing to John McCain that the super delegates say we have to win our jobs, our livelihoods and they flip. That`s the only scenario I can write. Otherwise, this is Barack Obama`s.

BECK: If this goes to the convention floor, how does this not turn into 1968?

FLEISCHER: Well, here`s what I think happens, is you`ve got ten races to go, including the grand prize of Pennsylvania, that ends on June 3 in Puerto Rico. Hillary on her best day might be able to win five of those remaining ten, perhaps six, including Pennsylvania, on a great day.

More likely it`s not going to be a 5-5 split. So she has some momentum going in after the June 3, but then you`ve got to see where the super delegates go.

I think if Barack Obama still has the lead he has, which I think he likely will, and if the polls continue to show relatively evenly against McCain, super delegates say, "Let`s figure this out before the convention," and they just start declaring for Obama, declaring for Obama, declaring for Obama. So the writing is on the wall before all the busses and the cars and the airplanes arrive in Denver.

BECK: Do you think it`s fair -- explain it this way. I don`t understand. I watched FOX today, and I watched CNN, on the coverage of Jeremiah Wright.

FLEISCHER: Right.

BECK: I don`t get it. Half the country sees it one way. The other half sees it another way. And I don`t understand how it always breaks down to Republican and Democrat.

FLEISCHER: Yes, frankly, I don`t think it`s that easy. I don`t think it is half and half. I think what you`ve got is Barack Obama very successfully was able to change the subject from his vulnerabilities with his association with someone who was just reprehensible to the broader issue of race.

He was able to take along with him, college-educated, white liberals, people who really vote in Democrat primaries. I think he still has a huge problem in the middle of the country, and this is what used to be called the silent majority.

BECK: Right.

FLEISCHER: I don`t think Barack Obama has moved beyond this crisis. He has for the primary. This is not something he`s adequately addressed.

BECK: I don`t see how -- I mean, you`ve got a guy who is going to church for 20 years at a place where they are preaching black liberation. This goes into socialism. This goes into all of his policies.

What does -- what does America look like if you sit there and accept that kind of teaching for 20 years? What are your policies? Isn`t this a fair question? And why isn`t the media asking it?

FLEISCHER: And why didn`t Barack Obama speak out previously? Why did he wait until he was a presidential candidate to condemn those remarks? Why when he now -- he contradicted himself. He said he was not in the pews, he didn`t hear any of these remarks. Then, of course, he acknowledged in his speech in Philadelphia that he was in the pews and did hear controversial things.

BECK: Yes.

FLEISCHER: Why didn`t he challenge it then? And why does he still to this day, Glenn, draw inspiration from this man?

BECK: I don`t know.

FLEISCHER: This man has not -- just forget if he was a pastor.

BECK: Right.

FLEISCHER: He`s his friend. He finds him inspiring.

The last point I`ll make on it, which just deeply troubles me, why I think Barack Obama is just a typical politician. When it was revealed that his pastor had said that America was to blame for 911, he was supposed to deliver his invocation when Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president.

A little controversy broke out. Barack Obama said to him we can`t bring you out onto the stage. We can`t have you because of what you said about 9/11. He prayed privately with Reverend Wright before he declared his candidacy. That`s what a typical politician does. I can`t take the heat, but therefore, I`m not going change who I am or what I believe. I`m still comfortable with you.

He should not be comfortable with him. Nobody should. And that`s what troubles me.

BECK: I don`t know why America is. Ari, we`ll talk to you again.

Coming up, author of the new book, "The Dark Tide." The co-author of six No. 1 thrillers, Andrew Gross, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, considering what`s going on in the world, you might ask yourself who needs a fiction book when -- when real life is this insane? I have to tell you, I do.

I stopped reading fiction -- I don`t know, a few years back, started reading it again because I can only read so much real news. Sometimes I need a good old-fashioned thriller, you know, where the good guys win in the end?

The next guest has written that. It`s a mix of murder, suspense, romance -- you know, kind of like this program -- entitled "The Dark Tide," author and -- author Andrew Gross.

How are you, sir?

ANDREW GROSS, AUTHOR, "THE DARK TIDE": How are you, Glenn?

BECK: Good. So tell me -- first of all, I recognize your name, obviously, because I`ve seen it under James Paterson for a long time. You wrote books with James Paterson for a long time.

GROSS: I wrote six books with Jim.

BECK: Right.

GROSS: And all of them went to No. 1, and it gave me a great platform to do my own thing.

BECK: Right.

GROSS: I learned a lot from him and now able to transfer it to my own.

BECK: And now you have "The Dark Tide" out. And this is actually -- the germ of it is because you lost a friend from -- in 9/11?

GROSS: Well, actually, we did lose a friend in Cantor Fitzgerald on 9/11, and I don`t know that the germ of it is necessarily that, but it began to intrigue me what I would read in the press about how people could eventually -- people could use this sort of tragedy to their own end and, in some ways, make themselves disappear and create a new life. So that was sort of the germ of the book.

BECK: Right. So this -- this actually starts out, again, another tragedy in New York. There`s an explosion in Grand Central and then...

GROSS: Well, there is. But it`s not really a book about terrorism.

BECK: Right.

GROSS: It`s really just the opening chapter or two that deals with it and not particularly graphically. It`s more about a wife who loses her husband and then has to fit together the pieces of her husband`s life, and what she finds is not at all what she thought she knew over the 20 years of their marriage.

BECK: The other -- the other part I find intriguing about the book is the fact that it is the meek against the mighty. It is the little guy, the blue-collar guy that`s going after the titans here.

GROSS: Yes. The book takes place in Greenwich, Connecticut. And the reasons for that is I like to write about recognizable suburban people, but in the sake of -- in the case of Greenwich, it operates within the arc of New York and all the power and wealth of New York.

And it`s very much the story of a head of detectives there, who is a blue collar guy, other than he went to a little ivy school, but basically on a scholarship. And he at many points in there has to look at himself and say, "Am I large enough to take on the kinds of forces that I`m coming up against now."

BECK: OK. The name of the book is "The Dark Tide," and it`s you on out now. But you also wrote one of the chapters for a series that we run in my magazine, "Seven Days," and you actually got the assignment, the one chapter. We have a different author write a different chapter, and you got one where it -- it was the torture scene.

GROSS: Lucky me.

BECK: I know. And you had to write about water boarding. And from what I understand, it tore you apart because you didn`t...

GROSS: Well, I`m a person that likes to -- that really deals in the world of fathers who betray their daughters.

BECK: Right.

GROSS: And wives that have to sort of piece together the mystery of their husband`s life. This was a bit of a stretch for me.

But it`s -- you know, I chose to take it in a way that showed the humanity of the character in there, because when you write a serial novel, and you`re sort of getting what someone tees you up for, you`re not necessarily able, each individual person isn`t necessarily to view their character with a lot of humanity. And this is a case where someone is does something that he knows is horrible.

BECK: Yes.

GROSS: Yet he has to decide whether he does this or whether he...

BECK: Yes. And it`s fascinating to see the chapter. And also, please, grab the book. "The Dark Tide" is out now.

Back in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, Osama bin Laden has released yet another one of his infamous audiotapes. I`ve been waiting for it. His extremism aimed at Denmark, Europe and the pope.

A little later on in the program I`m going to tell you about a new film about the Koran that this tape is really all about. They say it`s about the cartoons, but they are priming the pump for something that could be coming that`s going to be very bad in Europe very soon.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story."

Wall Street just can`t get enough of Ben Bernanke and the Fed these days. He`s gone from being a pariah to a hero literally overnight because of his Bear Stearns bailout, his constant slashing of interest rates, and his relentless pumping of billions of dollars into the financial system. But "The Real Story" is what`s good for Wall Street may not be so good for your street.

For example, earlier this week the Fed again cut interest rates. This time by another three-quarters of a point. The stock market couldn`t be happier. The Dow was up over 440 points that day, the biggest gain in over five years. But look a little deeper into what happened on Tuesday and you`re going to find a couple of things that should concern you.

First, two of the 10 Fed governors actually voted against this rate cut. They wanted "less aggressive action." Why? Listen to a few quotes from the Fed`s statement that day, a statement that virtually nobody paid attention to because nobody was distracted by the free government money that was falling from the sky.

Here it is: "Recent information indicates that the outlook for economic activity has weakened further. Growth in consumer spending has slowed and labor markets have softened. Inflation has been elevated, and uncertainty about the inflation outlook has increased."

So let me see if I have this one right. Consumer spending, rising employment and higher prices are all we have to worry about. Good. I thought we were headed for troubled times. Silly me.

The difference between the Fed`s statement and the rate cut is the statement was made for us. It was meant to warn average Americans like you and me about what is coming.

The massive rate cut that came along with that statement was not for us. That was for Wall Street.

Think about it. Wall Street doesn`t -- they don`t care if the markets are up or down. They make money off your celebrating or your misery. But what they do care about is whether those markets continue to function, and that happens to be exactly what the Fed cares about as well.

Their number one job is to avoid financial meltdown. Everything else takes a back seat. That used to include inflation. That used to be the priority.

That includes the value of our dollar. That includes you keeping your job. Three things that impact you, your family, your future, a hell of a lot more in the long run than whether or not some Wall Street security firm survives.

John Tamny is the editor of Real Clear Markets and senior economist at H.C. Waynewright. John Authors is the global financial editor at "The Financial Times." And Doug Flynn is a certified financial planner at Flynn Zito Capital Management.

John Tamny, let me start with you.

If I can -- if I can put this in street terms to try to understand it -- and correct me where I`m wrong -- the Fed cutting rates the way they are right now shows how much trouble we really are in because it`s kind of like chemotherapy. When you have cancer, the doctors are going give you chemotherapy, which is basically killing you, in hopes that it will kill the cancer before it kills the patient. These Fed cuts, they`re hoping it will stabilize the market before the dollar spirals out of control and kills us all.

JOHN TAMNY, EDITOR, REALCLEARMARKETS.COM: Well, I think the dollar already has spiraled out of control. It`s been weakening since 2001.

The problem with the Fed is the Fed should not be targeting the Fed Funds Rate. We don`t have the government fixing the price of Xboxes or TVs. Why does the Federal Reserve get to control the price of access to credit?

The Fed should be doing one thing, and that`s stabilizing the value of the dollar. When the Fed does that, you`ll see that markets will go skyward in a way that`s good for everyone. When the dollar is inflating, this is always bad for stocks.

BECK: John Authers, it`s almost like we`re on a sugar high if you look at the Dow. I mean, I don`t know, I`m not an economist, I don`t follow this stuff. I haven`t followed it my whole life like you guys probably have, but it seems like, you know, the Fed does something and the stock market gets on a sugar high, and then it comes crashing down again, and then it`s a sugar high and it comes crashing down again.

We`re in a unique position right now, are we not?

JOHN AUTHERS, INVESTMENT EDITOR, "FINANCIAL TIMES": I`m not sure about unique, but you need to go back a very long way. I mean, if we`re going to continue with medical analogies, I actually think heroin might be a good one. You need to give ever bigger doses of the same medicine to get the same response.

That being said, I think you may be being a little harsh, dare I say, on Ben Bernanke. What they`re trying to do, they don`t want to bail out the bankers. They do want to bail out the financial system, because if the financial system crashes, you need to look back to the 1930s for what that would mean. That would be bad for main street, as well as for Wall Street.

BECK: Right, but that`s what I was saying earlier to my -- in my question to John Tamny, which is, it shows how significant the problem is that the system, if you will, has cancer. That`s the only reason why you`d be giving this chemotherapy to the system. It`s bad.

AUTHERS: Absolutely right. There`s no question, this is very, very serious. And in terms of the way in which they`ve recently relied on setting the Fed Funds Rate, you`ve noticed that in the last few weeks they`ve started inventing completely new ways of funding banks.

They`ve started funding brokerages directly. These are all, you know, very, very desperate measures to try to keep the system going.

The one defense I`ll give you for that is that if Wall Street truly crashes, if the basic mechanism for financing businesses and consumers goes south, then that would be very much of a problem for main street, as well as Wall Street.

BECK: Doug -- hang on just a second.

Doug, let me go to you for a second.

Why -- I had several calls on my radio show today. Why did gold crash? If we`re concerned about too many dollars in the system, if we`re concerned about inflation, how come gold came down, I don`t even know, $56 yesterday?

DOUG FLYNN, CFP, FLYNN ZITO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, it`s more than just gold at issue here. The jury is definitely still out on Bernanke. And you have to -- coming up to interest rates for just a moment, the further we lower them, the more we`re going to have to raise them later on.

So a lot of that is being baked into the current price and the speculation, and the pure valuation. Everything that hits its high is eventually going to come off. Now, it may come very well back up over where it was before, before it settles down in the long term.

BECK: OK. And John Tamny, the rest of the world is suffering inflation. And they`re suffering from our lower value of the dollar.

And I saw that Vietnam is thinking about unpegging from the dollar. I think there are five or six countries in the Gulf region that want to unpeg from the dollar.

The rest of the world is affected by this. How long are they going to put up with us? As the president of France has just said recently, we`re trashing our own -- value of our own money.

TAMNY: I think it`s tragic what we`re doing to the rest of the world, because if you look at historically, when we devalue the dollar, what happens is other countries have to weaken alongside with us. They don`t weaken as much, but you`re seeing inflation at 18-year highs in Australia, a CPI of 13 percent in Qatar. You`re seeing inflation at -- I think it`s 14-year highs in Euroland.

When we devalue the rest of the world has to, and it`s a total shame.

BECK: John Auther, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this is -- you know, the government is saying we need more regulation, we need more regulation, but at the same time, what they`ve created in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which holds a lot of the mortgages now in the country, what they`ve created is yet another Bear Stearns. They are -- they are reducing the obligation on these -- on these two organizations.

Right or wrong?

AUTHERS: Yes. It`s a crisis measure. I think there are ways you can defend it as a crisis measure, but in the long term, going back to the history of why these organizations are the way they are, it`s close to indefensible.

You know, there`s a case for if you have a true government entity -- for having a government entity, but then you need to be honest about it and keep it in the government`s hands. If it`s not a government entity, then it needs to be truly in the private sector, it needs to compete.

What you have at the moment is a system which obviously is regarded as having an implicit government guarantee which goes out there and competes with that huge government guarantee with people in the private sector. There`s a very good argument that part of the subprime problem is that everybody had to start taking bigger risks in parts of the market where Fannie and Freddie didn`t go because there was no way to compete with Fannie and Freddie.

BECK: OK.

And Doug, the average guy -- and I`m not talking about somebody who has a portfolio. I`m talking about the average guy, the average person that is -- you know, that remembers growing up and saying -- you know, their mom saying, don`t order milk. You can have milk at home.

What are they supposed to do now? What is the best thing that they should do? What are we preparing for?

FLYNN: Well, the thing we have to know is none of this is really going to right itself until they stop lowering interest rates. They need to at least say that we`ve halted that, and the only way to get the dollar stronger and to fix a lot of these is to start raising interest rates, because inflation is there.

So what that -- you know, the way to fix inflation is to raise interest rates. So what that means is this probably is going to be with us for a little while. And the average guy, if he`s making ends meet, that`s about all you can do.

When we get back to from the very beginning when you start out, that you probably should not be spending 100 percent, or in some cases, 105 percent, as a lot of people do. If you always live on 80 percent of what you make, then you have a little bit of room, a little bit of a buffer for times like this.

And it might be a little while before we get back to that. And that`s sort of the lessons here. We`re getting back to those old adages of, you know, actually putting 20 percent down on a mortgage. You know, those kinds of things that we should do.

BECK: Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your time.

America, I was shocked by a poll today that says 30 percent of American people are cutting back on food and medicinal already. Fifty- seven percent say that they`re going do it soon. And 53 percent of us now in America say they`re thinking about cutting back on their heat.

Coming up, bin Laden goes after Europe and those Danish cartoons. We`ll tell you about the movies that is coming out that is going to make Osama bin Laden blow a gasket. What we`re being set up for in Europe, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: I tell you, you have to hand it to Osama bin Laden, or whoever is playing him these days. He knows how the American media works.

Yesterday, five-year anniversary of the Iraq war. Media fixated on death and violence, and that`s why he released a new audiotape.

This time, his main complaint was over the Muhammad cartoon that caused all those riots. What was it, a year or so ago?

I think they`re slow to get the newspaper in the caves. I`m just guessing.

To put it mildly, he`s extremely insulted, but bin Laden didn`t mention something that may be even more controversial than that cartoon. It`s a new movie that`s being made by a Dutch politician.

The movie is supposed to be released later this month. Reportedly, it lays out why this politician believes -- are you sitting down? -- why the Koran is incompatible with western civilization.

I know.

If you`re wondering, yes, the death threats and the protests against this filmmaker has already started.

Ezra Levant, he is the former publisher of "The Western Standard," has some firsthand experience with the Muhammad cartoon controversy.

Correct me if I`m wrong. I think this whole cartoon thing, because it`s starting up again, I think it`s priming the pump to get everybody ready for the real outrage, which is this movie coming out.

EZRA LEVANT, FMR. PUBLISHER, "THE WESTERN STANDARD": Absolutely. Two years ago, when the Danish cartoons were published, reaction in the Muslim world was actually quite tepid until Iran and Syria fomented some riots.

This time it`s not just Osama bin Laden. A bunch of Muslim governments recently met in Senegal and talked about a coordinated fight- back strategy to hit western liberal media hard if they dare "defame Islam." They`re talking about a united strategy, including taking us to court in our own western lawsuits. So they`re trying to use our own liberal values against us.

BECK: OK. Wait a minute. Hang on just a second. So what they`ll do is they`ll sue us if we play this video or that we play this movie?

LEVANT: Well, that`s what they`re talking about, but that`s part of it. I mean, the last time we saw some riots in the streets. We`re already seeing some of that happen in Denmark again.

I think you`re going to see riots. You might even see another assassination.

I hate to say it, but Geert Wilders in Holland, his days are numbered...

BECK: Oh yes.

LEVANT: ... just like (INAUDIBLE) or Theo van Gogh are. So you`re going to see violence. You`re going to see boycotts. You`re going to see the recalling of ambassadors. And you`re going to see lawsuits -- libel tourism, as it`s called.

You`re going to see a coordinated strategy this time that we didn`t see two years ago.

BECK: Yes. I will tell you that the government officials have all come and begged this politician, please don`t make this.

I wonder, did they beg anyone that was -- did they call up Tom Hanks at any time and say, please don`t make "The Da Vinci Code," it`s going to upset a lot of people?

LEVANT: Well, that`s a good way to look at it. Imagine if instead of Osama bin Laden threatening us over cartoons, over movies, if the pope did, or if Tom Cruise did over Scientology, or if someone was mad at Woody Allen because he poked fun at Jews, and Jerry Seinfeld.

I mean, we believe in the separation of church and state. We should believe of the separation of mosque in state.

We don`t believe in censorship when it`s a priest or a pope. We shouldn`t believe in censorship when it`s Osama bin Laden.

The difference is, Osama bin Laden and people like him believe in violence, the kind of violence that killed Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. I wish they`d talk about that on Oscar night instead of Joe McCarthy.

BECK: Yes. What do you think -- what do you think is in this film? I know I`ve only heard the opening scene is it starts with the Koran opening up, and then it shows scenes of brutality that has been done in the name of Allah in Muslim countries.

That`s all I heard. That`s the opening few seconds.

What do you know is in the film?

LEVANT: I don`t know anything more than you do, and if it weren`t for the Internet I don`t think any of us would know, because Dutch TV stations are so terrified of riots, and the government is so terrified, I don`t think any one official would broadcast it. Thank goodness for YouTube and the Internet.

I think this film, because of the riots and the protests that are threatened, will instantly become a YouTube classic. I think it will be watched by millions of people, precisely because Osama bin Laden tells us we can`t watch it. That`s freedom for you. We can do what we want, and that`s the West.

BECK: How long before it comes out? Any idea? I assume they`re not going announce it. It`s just going to appear one day.

LEVANT: I think you`re right. And I think Geert Wilders will probably be in hiding just like that Danish cartoonist, Westergard (ph). He`s in different safehouses all the time.

I think what`s happening in Europe with these politicians being assassinated, with cartoonists being threatened and going into police protection, is a snapshot of what could happen here in North America in five or 10 years. I think Europe is ahead of us in terms of being Islamified, and we have to watch out that we don`t fall prey to Sharia law also.

BECK: You know, I have to tell you, I don`t know, America, if you know this, but the guy who made that original cartoon tried to sell it. He said at least -- I mean, I`m in hiding now, at least I can make a few bucks off it. Anybody want to buy it?

They won`t even auction it because they`re afraid of just having an auction for that cartoon, what it will cause.

Ezra, thank you very much for your time.

We have to turn from terror and move to something a little more uplifting. Tomorrow we have a full hour special with Jeff Foxworthy. Here is a sneak peek.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Oh, yeah.

JEFF FOXWORTHY, COMEDIAN: Oh, yeah, baby, just like that.

This is the most fun thing I`ve ever done.

BECK: Do you not have enough money?

Last night I brought it home. Last night it was my wife.

FOXWORTHY: On the phone.

BECK: It was great.

FOXWORTHY: Make it silly. Make it fun.

BECK: Beef jerky and barbecue sauce?

I think every woman has a cold butt.

FOXWORTHY: And then they get -- and they`ll want to put it on you.

(LAUGHTER)

BECK: They sent me split sheets. Have you ever seen this?

FOXWORTHY: No.

BECK: The best. Half of it flannel sheets, the other half cotton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, the Eliot Spitzer saga continues today. Oh, goody. I`ve been waiting.

The woman he was renting, currently named Ashley Dupre, has spent the last week getting offered millions of dollars to appear naked by every dirty old man with a decent line of credit. The one person to offer her a million dollars was Joe Francis.

He`s that guy that runs that really classy outfit known as "Girls Gone Wild." If you`re female, you probably know "Girls Gone Wild" as that Web site that mysteriously keeps turning up in the history folder of your husband or teenage son`s computer. If you have a daughter, you know it as the Web site that may eventually cause your suicide.

Well, "Girls Gone Wild" decided to withdraw the million-dollar offer when they found nude videos of Dupre in their archives. She apparently was celebrating her 18th birthday.

So, "Gone Girls Wild" had a decision to make. What to do? What to do?

They had footage of a naked girl who essentially ran away from home at 17, drunk out of her mind, desperate after being thrown out of her hotel room by her friend, and who eventually turned to prostitution. Should we rent it or not?

Well, Joe Francis` initial reaction -- he said it -- was, "Like finding a winning lottery ticket in the cushions of your couch," and that it would "save me a million bucks."

He said they`d have it available for download on the Web site within a few days. Only one little problem.

Ashley`s lawyers say that she was born on April 30, 1985, meaning she was only 17 in the video. So is this the end of the story? No.

Apparently, Francis isn`t the smartest guy in the world. Despite the fact that he just walked out of jail for putting underage girls in his videos, he says he`s going put the nude 17-year-old Dupre on his Web site anyway. His legal argument is that there was no sexual contact involved.

He says she`s naked, and other times making out with other girls, which, of course, doesn`t sound like sexual content to me, either. The bottom line is that Dupre was rented by "Girls Gone Wild" for just a bus ticket a few years ago.

She was then getting a few thousand dollars to be rented last month by Eliot Spitzer. Today, it might cost someone, maybe you, millions to rent her.

Now, and really only now, I think you understand what I`ve been saying about the falling value of the dollar.

From New York, goodnight America.

END