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Glenn Beck

Special of the Day: Bankruptcy; No Solution on Gas Prices from Congress; Putin Limits Religious Expression in Russia

Aired April 24, 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, restaurants feel the sting of the food crisis. Soon, you`ll feel it, too. Which could mean you`ll be paying more for that Kahlua cocoa coffee cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. No!

Plus, the Democratic candidates weigh in on Senator`s McCain`s proposed gas tax holiday. What`s their take? And can they get more mileage out of it than you can?

And a North Carolina GOP ad attacking Senator Obama, Senator McCain wants off the air. But he`s actually to blame for it, and I`ll explain.

All this and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

We`ve been talking here on this program not about politics. We`ve been talking about a food crisis all week. If it seems like food staples are more expensive every time you go to the grocery store, it`s because they are.

Take a dozen eggs, for instance. The price is up 35 percent. Of course, that cuts into your food budget. But imagine if you were buying, instead of just 12 eggs, you had to buy over a million eggs. That is the crippling increase that many restaurant chains are now facing, and it is forcing some of them -- what a surprise -- into bankruptcy. And others may not be far behind.

So, here`s "The Point" tonight. The American restaurant industry is in the biggest slump in decades. And who`s to blame? Our Congress is at it again. And here`s how I got there.

You want some extra barbecue sauce for your sandwich? Or did you ever sit there and say, "Can I get just a little bit more sour cream?" A lot of times now they`ll tell you, "Oh, no, 35 cents." Many restaurant chains now are cutting back on free extras as means of cutting costs. And even if the price of eggs went up only a penny a dozen, when you scramble a million a week, that`s an extra $84,000. And Congress, I hate to break it to you, it`s got to come from some place.

Analysts project chains like the Cheesecake Factory going to begin to feel the pain from the cost of dairy products, because you know, they make a lot of yummy cheesecake.

You know, by the way, just a side note, your honor. This is an upside to the food crisis, because I`m not going to have to wait a very long time to get one of the vibrating beepers to go off. You know what I`m saying?

So while it`s bad enough that food costs have spiked, the other big problem that restaurants have is the rising labor cost. Yes. Due to that big minimum wage starting this summer. In some states, that will increase company labor costs as much as 12 percent. Thank you, Congress.

You know, I told you on this program months ago, forcing a hike in the minimum wage actually hurts Americans more than it helps. Congress thinks it puts more money into the pockets of workers, but it`s wrong. These clowns don`t understand how business works. What it really does is overburden business owners and prices them and their minimum-wage-earning employees out of business. Yes.

Congress can make the minimum wage -- hey, make it $1,000 an hour. But if business owners can`t afford it, nobody`s going to -- everybody loses. Everybody`s out.

So, tonight, America, here`s what you need to know. Special of the day. Bankruptcy. And it`s being served up by our own government. They are driving up food prices due to insane biofuel programs. They`re not drilling in the ANWR. They`re doing nothing on that. And then they`re making matters worse by throwing us a monkey wrench right into the economy by raising the minimum wage.

Restaurants that are not closing their doors or firing people now, well, they will be. So while the Village Inn has to cut your slice of pie -- and I`m not kidding you. They are now cutting your slice of pie a little bit smaller, but tastier. And Chili`s is forced to hike -- hike the price of your baby back ribs.

Washington, meanwhile is spending billions on an invisible corn gas that none of us can buy. Who`s using this stuff? And they say I`m crazy.

Jeff McCracken is the business reporter for "The Wall Street Journal," and Josh Kern is the chief marketing officer for Vicorp. This is the company that was running the Village Inn and, well, actually still is. You guys declared bankruptcy, right, and -- and you`re just reorganizing.

JOSH KERN, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, VICORP: Exactly. On April 4 we declared, and it was a structured bankruptcy.

BECK: OK. And, you -- you really are -- you`re talking about cutting your pie slices a little smaller...

KERN: Well, you know, that`s true. I mean, we are testing that. We are looking at pie slices, and can you get an extra slice out of a true pie cut. It is something we`re testing and, you know, seeing if our customers notice, and if it`s something that`s going to work for us long-term. We haven`t done it chain-wide. But as you were mentioning, we were forced into really taking some sort of action.

BECK: OK. Explain to the American people how bad it is with you guys. You were up $9 million in food costs in the last year.

KERN: Absolutely. It`s -- I mean, it truly is perfect storm, when you have the economy where customers are just not coming through the door. And then you tack on what`s happening in commodities. We just aren`t able to survive. If we try and pass those prices on to our customers, they`re not going to come in. They`re going to stay home. They`re not going to go out for lunch or breakfast like they normally do.

BECK: OK.

KERN: And so, we really are feeling it from all sorts of different sides.

BECK: Josh, hang on a second.

Jeff, he just said, it`s the perfect storm. I`ve been saying for -- I don`t know how long, two years, what we have coming for us is the perfect storm. I`m reading your article today, and I`m like, perfect storm, here it. Agree or disagree?

JEFF MCCRACKEN, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Agree, of course. The perfect storm is a phrase we heard from, I think, Josh`s boss, as well as five or six other restaurant executives, people that study the restaurant industry. I mean, they`re getting pinched from all sides. As Josh is indicating, the commodities go up, and the consumer is not spending as much. It`s just a real squeeze.

BECK: OK. Now here`s the really scary part. And maybe you can help me with this, Jeff. A lot of these businesses, you know, these big hedge funds and everything else, they all came in. They bought up these companies, and they`re -- because money was, you know, hey, money was everywhere. Now, they`re feeling the pinch.

So, the circle can be complete. If people don`t go in and buy food, because they`re now, you know, higher gas prices, the restaurants can`t afford it because of minimum wage and higher gas and higher eggs. They go out of business. That puts pressure back on the mortgage, back onto the banks.

MCCRACKEN: Right. I mean, a good way of looking at it is a lot of these restaurants, or a lot of businesses, they`re a bit like a subprime consumer, who maybe should have only been getting a mortgage for $100,000 house but got extended credit for $150,000 house.

Well, in the case of these businesses, these businesses got more credit, more debt than probably they could handle. So they could barely cover the monthly payment or the quarterly payment in good times. And there wasn`t a lot of room for error.

Well, now, we`re in, you know, maybe a recession, or at least a downturn, and they can`t make the monthly payment. I know that that was the situation with Vicorp. They -- their CEO told us, the payment on the interest was a killer.

BECK: OK. So, Josh, I mean, you guys are not -- you know what surprised me, is, you know, Village Inn. I`ve eaten at the Village Inn, and I, you know, used to go and have breakfast and everything else. And you -- I mean, it`s -- I don`t mean this as a slam and all. It`s not French food. I mean, it`s just American food. It`s not -- you guys, for you guys to have trouble, that, to me is a troubling sign, because it`s not like you are wildly expensive. You`re just like normal people food.

KERN: Absolutely. You know, and we have, you know, our customers are watching the bottom line, and they`re on fixed incomes. And if we have to raise our prices to offset commodities, there`s only so high you can go before customers are just not going to come back in that door.

BECK: You have said that it actually hurts to sell toast.

KERN: Absolutely.

BECK: What do you mean -- what do you mean by that?

KERN: We have, you know, we serve many, many breakfast every day, and we have, you know, toast that`s served with all of our entrees. And so when we`re dealing with anywhere from a 15 to 20 percent increase in wheat costs, you know, and we have contracts, obviously, in place with our suppliers. But some of even cost is going above and beyond what`s structured within the contract. So, we really feel it.

And as you mentioned earlier about eggs, you know, 54 million eggs that we go through a year, and that really impacts us when we sell a skillet or an omelet. And we don`t want to skimp on quality. I mean, absolutely, that`s the No. 1 thing that we`re addressing is, while we may look at portion sizes, or other means to kind of -- to get by, quality is still job one. And we never want to interrupt and do anything in that front.

BECK: OK. Jeff, the minimum wage hits in July, it`s only going to make things -- make things worse. I mean, what`s coming our way?

KERN: Yes, it will be, it will be a hard thing for a lot of these chains. Especially if you are headquartered in the south or the southwest where the minimum wage was a little bit lower so the jump in terms of a percentage is going to be bigger.

BECK: Some places are 12 percent jump.

KERN: Right, right. There`s 21 states, if I remember correctly, where the jump will be about 12 percent. These are -- these are big states. These are states like Texas, I believe, Georgia, Virginia, the Carolinas. Those are states where they had a lower wage. So the wage hike is going to be higher.

And a lot of these chains are located, headquartered in states like Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, where they`re going to see the wage hike.

BECK: What`s the name of your article today in the "Wall Street Journal"?

KERN: I believe it`s "Hunger Pains" or "Hunger Pangs"?

BECK: If you can`t go online and find it, otherwise, grab the "Wall Street Journal." It`s a fantastic, fantastic article. Thanks, Jeff. And Josh, best of luck to you.

Now, coming up, it wasn`t too long ago that the Democratic minority claimed that they had a common sense plan to reduce gas prices. Well, now that they`re in the majority, where`s the plan? The GOP is calling their bluff. Gas prices are rising. So, of course, politicians are weighing in, looking for a quick fix. Is there a plan? Well, from the presidential candidates, they got one. Is it John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary? Find out in tonight`s "Real Story."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, how great would it be to have a little holiday from high-priced gas. Kind of a Festivus for fuel. Well, now, the gas prices are crippling people, and just trying to go get their groceries. Washington is now getting in on the act. They proposed a gas tax holiday. Would that work? I don`t think so. Can anyone say the word Band-Aid?

Drill through caribou`s heads to get oil if we have to. Fix the problem. Tonight`s "Real Story."

Now, you and I both know that politicians making empty campaign promises, nothing really new. But being held accountable for those promises is kind of refreshing.

That`s what some Republican congressmen are now trying to do with Nancy Pelosi, who two years ago promised the Democrats had a common-sense plan for lowering those gas prices. Of course, it`s really not working out real well, is it? Everything is common sense before you actually get the job in Congress or in the White House. But now that they have it, it`s almost like Nancy Pelosi is like, darn, that plan, where did I -- I know I left it some place. Where is it?

Gas prices have gone up $1.19 in that time, far more than it went up under the Republicans. Although, I don`t blame the Democrats -- I blame all the weasels. But some Republicans, eager to get their hands on that secret magic Democratic plan, have now taken to crashing a House debate over a bill about, get this, U.S. beaches. They are kind of wanting to a plan to be revealed.

Republican House energy action team put this little gem together. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when it hits $4, who are they going to call? They`re going to call us. And what are we going to say? We`re going to say, "Oh the Democrats promised a plan in 2006 to lower prices. They`re in the majority now. Let`s see their plan."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should be asking, what is it that the Democrat Congress is doing to address this problem? Well, the short answer is, nothing really helpful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at the energy bill we passed this year through this leadership. It produced nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt is one of the congressmen demanding answers from Pelosi.

Congressman, I -- I love this quote from Nancy Pelosi. She said, "With record gas prices, record CEO pay packages, record oil company profits, Speaker Hastert and the majority Congress continue to give the American people empty rhetoric, rather than join the Democrats who are working to lower gas prices now."

I know Nancy Pelosi came out with an answer today. What -- what exactly is her answer? She said that two years ago.

REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MO), HOUSE REPUBLICAN WHIP: Well, her answer today was really kind of a non-answer. It was like the answer to the letter that Leader Boehner and I sent her earlier this week. Really not much of an answer at all.

Two years ago today, she said, if you put the Democrats in charge, they`ve got a common-sense price to do something about gas prices. I don`t think when people heard that pledge, they thought it meant that they`d go up $1.25 a gallon during that two-year period of time.

BECK: But you know what? Congressman, I have to tell you, that is the plan of many people in Congress. The plan is to do nothing about it, to go back and forth and argue about it, not to find our own sources of oil. We are a suicidal nation. We`re sitting on the biggest reserves of coal; and we`ve got oil everywhere. We don`t -- we don`t get it.

BLUNT: Well, that`s exactly right, Glenn. And we ought to be moving toward energy independence. We`ve got resources we need to figure out the best and most effective way to use, from a more effective way to use wind and nuclear, to better use of the oil reserves we have, the gasification of coal, the other reserves that we have...

BECK: Congressman, will you -- will you...

BLUNT: We need to be moving there.

BECK: Will you really -- I mean, I`m sorry, Congressman, to doubt you, but I doubt almost everybody in Washington now, because common-sense people, the people in the middle of the country, the people who have, since 9/11, have gone, "Wait a minute, no, I`m not racist. I do care about the border."

BLUNT: Right.

BECK: People who have seen the gas prices coming and see us in bed with Saudi Arabia, who sent all the hijackers over here in the first place, we`ve been saying, "Wait a minute. Guys, we`ve got to do something about oil, not only for our security but also for the planet," et cetera, et cetera.

Are we really going to do anything in Washington? Or is this just more "Elect me, elect me, elect me"?

BLUNT: Well, Glenn, we really did pass a good House energy bill in 2001, 2003, and then finally in 2005, a bill that the Senate would also pass and the president signed.

Since then, we`ve got many more people on the track to do an exploration in public lands, which the Democrats now are sending signals. They won`t allow that to continue. And I think we`re now close to 20 nuclear facilities in one stage or another of getting the permit.

All of that`s because of the 2005 legislation we passed. We`d like to pass more legislation that actually produces energy and jobs in this country. And we`re ready to do that.

BECK: OK. But instead, last week, we were working on the beach bill? But...

BLUNT: Right. Last week, the beach bill. This week, they had a resolution on. This is going to be the year of the reef, R-E-E-F. If anything, the people of America want this to be the year of relief on their gas prices.

Next week, by the way, you`ll love this. We`re going to do our principle bill so far next week is a bill on combustible dust, which, I think it relates to that plant, that sugar plant that had the dust explosion. I`m sure that there have been OSHA rules against that for a long time.

BECK: OK. Congressman, honestly, with the price of food, with the price of gas, the people of America are not going to take this nonsense much longer. Is there a sense in Washington that we`ve had it up to here?

BLUNT: There is a sense of that. In fact, for the last two weeks, Glenn, we`ve been going to the floor and talking about gas prices, no matter how innocuous the bill that the majority brought to the floor was.

We`ve tried to talk about what the Congress should be talking about. And energy prices are built into the entire price structure. And the price of food is significantly reflective of the price of energy, and the Democrats are doing nothing about energy. There`s no -- there`s been no energy bill on the House floor in 17 months now that produced one ounce of energy.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, Congressman, we are -- you know, we`re a nation that is looking -- you know, looking at our future right square in the eyes, man.

BLUNT: I understand.

BECK: And we need some real leadership. Thank you very much, Congressman.

BLUNT: Thank you.

BECK: Coming up, Vladimir Putin wants the Russians to embrace one religion, his religion, while shutting the door on all western faiths. So what are the implications for the rest of the world? Find out next.

And we`ll examine a very large loophole left by the McCain-Feingold Act, with attack ads. They can sail right through. Could groups not connected to the presidential campaigns actually decide who the winner is in the White House? You bet. That`s in tonight`s "Real Story," coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Now that Russia`s Vladimir Putin has hand-picked the country`s very next president and decided he`d like to be prime minister. He`s turned from controlling politics to controlling religion. Oh that`s always good.

Instead of burdening Russians with all the trouble of picking a faith -- I don`t know, there are so many -- he says, no, no, no, really, just one. The Russian Orthodox Church, the country`s now official religion. This has implications in end-times prophesies, and my next guest can help us make sense of all of this. Oh, yes. We`re back in Crazytown, USA.

He`s been here all week. We`ll sit down with him tomorrow for a full hour. Joel Rosenberg, the founder of the Joshua Fund and author of a great new book. Please read it. It`s called "Dead Heat." If you liked -- what`s that book -- "Left Behind," you`re going to like this. This is so - - all of the things that are currently happening.

Gog and Magog. Gog is a guy who`s a really bad guy, who figures into Bible prophesy at the end of days. He`s from Russia. Is Putin possibly Gog? And what is he doing? What`s -- what`s happening with religion in Russia now?

JOEL ROSENBERG, AUTHOR, "DEAD HEAT": I think it`s too early to say that Vladimir Putin is the Gog dictator in Russia that the Bible speaks of.

BECK: He`s, like, Gog-ish.

ROSENBERG: Gog-esque, I think would be a good way to put it. Why do we know this? The Bible describes that leader as an international coalition builder, a military leader, a diplomat, but also one who is developing an evil scheme to develop alliances with Islamic countries to attack Israel in the last days.

BECK: And specifically, Libya and Iran...

ROSENBERG: They are the two that are clearest defined in that.

BECK: We know that last year he`s already made his alliance with Iran and then just recently he started making his alliance with Libya.

ROSENBERG: Libya. Absolutely.

BECK: Never, ever happened before with Russia.

ROSENBERG: Not with Iran. But Libya, yes, in the `70s and `80s. But now -- but that dissipated. Now it`s back with a vengeance.

BECK: I love it when it comes back. Now, what is he -- what did he do today, you know, what was it on the front page of "The New York Times" today. What`s the significance of this?

ROSENBERG: Well, I never thought I`d say this, but God bless "The New York Times" for making a front-page story...

BECK: Yes.

ROSENBERG: ... on how Vladimir Putin is basically stifling Christian expression in Russia. Meaning...

BECK: Specifically...

ROSENBERG: ... meaning they are harassing -- they`re sending the KGB successor, the FSB, to go harass pastors, churches, parishioners who want to celebrate their relationship with Jesus Christ in any church other than the Russian Orthodox church.

And the story in "The New York Times" I commend to people, it goes into tremendous detail on how they`re basically crushing religious expression and dissent, dissent away from the official line in Russia, the way they`ve done it with democratic dissent for the last few years.

BECK: Right. But he`s also, at the same time, isn`t he building hundreds of mosques?

ROSENBERG: Hundreds of mosques. Islam was not illegal under the Soviet era, but certainly suppressed.

BECK: Right.

ROSENBERG: Now, he is encouraging the building of hundreds and hundreds of mosques, as well as trying -- Russia is actually applying for membership in the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Russia`s trying to become a member, and in fact, the leader of, the Islamic alliance.

BECK: Wow. OK. Tomorrow, you`re going to join me.

Tomorrow, please. There`s a couple of things that you need to know. Check out my free daily e-mail newsletter. It`s featuring exclusive articles from Joel, and don`t forget, tomorrow, tune in. We`re going to sit down with Joel for a full hour. We`re going to dissect the recent onslaught of global crises, how it may all part -- be a part of that biblical end-times prophecy. We`re going to talk -- I mean, it`s crazy. Do not miss it tomorrow night, 7 and 9 eastern, only here on Headline Prime.

Joel, talk to you then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, the second best author I know. His name is -- I don`t remember. Brian Sack, yes, the public viewer.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story." I`m going to be honest with you. I have a massive -- I mean, gigantic -- SUV in my garage at home. And I`ve got another one in the garage here in this building. If I could put wheels on an aircraft carrier, I would, just to make Al Gore weep.

Now, I`m not telling you anything you don`t know when I tell you gas prices gone through the roof, and they`re basically like a new tax on all of us. The rich get hurt, the poor get hurt, and the middle class, which probably drive more than anybody, definitely gets hurt.

But if you`re looking for politicians to help, well, then, you`re looking in the wrong place.

Their latest pitch is that they want to abolish the federal gas tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Sounds great, right? Until you realize it`s going to save 18 cents a gallon -- again, don`t get me wrong. I`ll take the 18 cents a gallon. But it sends the completely wrong message to people.

We cannot get out of this crisis by putting Band-Aids on a gushing head wound. We have to fix the underlying problem, which is, we don`t control our own future because we don`t control our energy supply.

I hate to point it out again: we`re getting most of our oil from our enemies. Eighteen cents a gallon in tax savings may help the economy, but only until oil is $200 a barrel, and then it starts all over again.

Now, John McCain and Hillary Clinton both support the gas holiday idea. You know, take a holiday from the gas tax. But Barack Obama doesn`t. Why? This is probably the point that you probably will say, "Well, Glenn, you should stand up and applaud Barack for his willingness to take a stand against the typical Washington politics." Sorry, "The Real Story" is this is typical Washington politics.

I got nothing to back this up, but what the hell, it`s only national television. My gut tells me he doesn`t want the tax cut because it effectively would be a tax break for everybody. Now, he can`t stand for that. He didn`t want the upper class to benefit as much as the lower class. That goes against everything he stands for. Even though -- and this is why I say, because I can`t find another reason for doing it. Think of this. It actually is probably the most effective thing Washington can do.

Think about it. To get our stimulus checks out, how much time did we waste? How much money did we waste debating them in Congress? We wasted time at the IRS. We bought millions of dollars in stamps to send out stupid letters saying, "You`re going to get a tax rebate." Then, we spent more on stamps to mail those checks. We spent millions on printing the stupid checks. And now what do we -- we`re sitting here praying that people just don`t stick the money in their bank account.

A temporary gas tax cut, you know, despite all my previous caveats, wouldn`t require any of those things. Which brings me right back to the fact that our politicians don`t solve problems, they create them. After all, how many decades have we been begging them to get this foreign oil money key off our back?

John Tamny, he`s the senior economist at Wainwright and also the editor of Real Clear Markets. He has crunched some numbers for us on oil prices versus the stimulus checks. Where do we start here, John?

JOHN TAMNY, SENIOR ECONOMIST, WAINWRIGHT: Well, I think the best place to go is back to December first, when oil per barrel was trading at $89 per barrel. Since then, it`s risen to roughly $118, and say $29 a barrel it`s up.

And you look at our oil consumption. It`s 20 million barrels a day. Times 29, so that`s $580 million a day, and then multiply that by 145 days. And you work it out to roughly $84 billion.

Now, consider the stimulus package, which I say will actually slow down the economy, but they say that`s about -- I guess that`s roughly $100 billion. And the assumption is that roughly $25 billion will be spent.

Well, for this one oil problem alone, we`re going to realistically triple the amount we`re spending on the oil price, relative to this alleged stimulus that`s going to come from the government.

BECK: I have to tell you, John, the only stimulus here, the only economies being stimulated here are China, because we borrowed all of the money for these -- you know, these tax rebates, so, we`ve borrowed the money from China. Then, we`re spending a lot of it on Chinese goods. And if we`re not doing it on Chinese goods, we`re spending it on oil from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and places that hate our guts.

TAMNY: Yes -- no, it`s an interesting point. Now, what I always say is that oil is oil is oil. The problem with the oil price with us, we`re mostly buying oil from Canada, actually, and Mexico. So, it`s not even -- I wouldn`t even so much complain about where we get it from.

But if you look at the major dollar to basement that`s occurred that`s gotten us to this point, it`s a major, major unfortunate thing for the average American.

BECK: I have to tell you, I think that is the story, in fact -- I just said to one of our producers, I said this is -- this is a lead story for us next week, and that is, the dollars to euro. We`ve debased our money so much that we`re screwing almost everything up.

If you look at the dollar versus euro, on how much oil has risen over in Europe, if you`re buying it with euros, compared to how much you`re buying it with U.S. dollars, do you have those figures?

TAMNY: Yes. The latest that I found is that the -- the price per barrel on the dollar since 2001 has risen 319 percent.

BECK: Hang on, slow down. Three hundred -- remember this. Three hundred and nineteen percent increase in dollars. And against the euro?

TAMNY: Roughly 92 percent. So, there`s your big story, I think, right there.

BECK: Right. It is. And that`s the one that nobody is talking about. Three hundred nineteen percent in U.S. dollars. Don`t tell me the dollar is not being debased. Versus 92 percent in euros. Something`s not right here. And the Fed just keeping printing more money. That`s what`s really going on.

John -- John, thank you very much. We will talk to you again. Probably next week.

TAMNY: Thank you.

BECK: You bet.

Now, since we`ve been talking about the weasly politicians creating more problems than they solve, I want you to take a look again at a political ad that was created for North Carolina, by the GOP. I first showed it to you last night. Watch again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in his pew, listening to his pastor.

REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT, FORMER PASTOR, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: And then wants us to sing, God bless America. No, no, no. Not God bless America; God (EXPLETIVE DELETED) America. That`s in the...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now Beth Purdue and Richard Moore endorse Barack Obama. They should know better. He`s just too extreme for North Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The North Carolina Republican Party sponsored this ad, opposing Beth Purdue and Richard Moore for North Carolina governor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: OK. I`ve got to tell you, I don`t think there`s anything wrong with that ad, quite frankly. I think those are the kinds of ads that should run.

McCain has sent a letter to North Carolina GOP yesterday, asking them to stop the ad. Are you kidding me?

The little old woman that you saw there at the end of the ad flat-out said, "I don`t think so."

So, now the Democrats are trying to pressure John McCain, saying, "Come on, John. You know you could really stop this if you wanted to." But "The Real Story" is, sorry, no, he can`t. John McCain can`t stop it, because he`s the one who started it.

Remember that beautiful McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform? You remember, it was going to clean up the air of campaigning. Yes, that worked out real well, didn`t it?

"I`m John McCain, and I endorse this ad." Now it`s just simply, "I`m John McCain. Anything bad said, I didn`t have anything to do with that ad. No, not me."

That way, all these politicians can stand there, look at the camera, and say, "There is just no place for that kind of campaigning. Yes, it is; keep running it. And the American people don`t want it. Run it again, do you have it?"

Keep your hands clean. They stay above the fray. They let the 527s do all the dirty work for them. That is what campaigning has become in America. That is what we have to look forward to in the general election. And we can all blame it on the politicians who, once again, created a big problem trying to solve a little one.

Mike Duncan is the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Hello, Mike.

MIKE DUNCAN, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Glenn, how are you?

BECK: I`m very good. First of all, I have to say, congratulations for going onto Reverend Wright and taking him on. I think this guy says an awful lot about Barack Obama.

DUNCAN: Well, Glenn, we`re disappointed with the ad that the North Carolina party is running right now, because we think it`s counterproductive. Senator McCain and I both have made it clear to the state party and the state party chairman that we want to be talking about the issues.

You know, American people are hurting. Think if you`re a long- distance truck driver right now, and what it`s costing you for fuel. Think if you`re the average American has to get to work right now. And John McCain has proposed something for a three-month period that will give people tax relief and lower the cost of their fuel. This is important.

BECK: Yes, I got news for you. I think that is important, but I also think Barack Obama and his socialism and the, quote unquote, "spiritual leaders" that he surrounded him with, must be discussed, because it shows his judgment, and it also shows what kind of philosophy this man has.

DUNCAN: Well, I agree that we have to talk about his judgment. And we can do that with the tax cuts on gasoline prices.

BECK: Mike -- Mike...

DUNCAN: He voted as a legislator in Illinois for this, and now he`s against it. What kind of judgment is that?

BECK: Are you kidding me? Are you really -- are you really -- are we playing the 527 game that I was just talking about? Where it`s like, "Hey, me, I`m a -- I`m clean here. I don`t want to talk about any of that stuff." And then you`re letting the 527 do the business?

DUNCAN: Glenn, there`s no game going on here. Senator McCain and I had a conversation at the beginning of the campaign that he was going to run a respectful campaign and asked me to agree to that, and I did. And we`re doing that. Because this is the major leadership contest of the world.

We want to talk about ideas, not about personalities. And this gas tax is just the idea of the day. Yesterday, I was with him in Inez, Kentucky, in Appalachia, where we talked about poverty, where we talked about how we empower people to get them out of poverty. This is not about personalities.

BECK: So, the ad`s not going to be pulled.

DUNCAN: Glenn, there are other things that we need to be talking about.

BECK: No, I understand. But that`s not what this segment is about. This segment is about the ads. And the ads, sir, were created by John McCain`s, you know, McCain-Feingold. I mean, this was -- this was the plan to clean up politics, to be able to say, "I`m John McCain, and I approve this message."

All that dirty money went into -- into organizations like MoveOn.org or swift boats, where all that money can just be completely irresponsible.

DUNCAN: Glenn, we made it very clear where we stand on the position on the ad, and that`s where we are. We want to talk about the issues. And we`re moving forward with that.

BECK: OK. All right. I appreciate it, Mike, thank you very much.

That is "The Real Story" tonight. Back in just a minute with the public viewer. Stick around.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: There`s always like maybe three days a year that you`re like wow, it`s great. It`s beautiful, it`s sunny. You know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The weather influences things, Glenn.

BECK: It has nothing to do with the trees that are now in bloom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope.

BECK: Is it that the legs have come out of hibernation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The return of the skirt.

BECK: It is the return of the skirt. I`m not saying, boy, look at her, huh? Wouldn`t you like to bada-bing? I`m not saying that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

BECK: I`m saying you walk down the streets in Manhattan there`s just a lot of beautiful women.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the trash doesn`t smell yet. So...

BECK: Yes, it doesn`t. You just feel good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s why nothing can bring me down today, Glenn. Not the Rice-a-Roni shortage. Not the mashed potato shortage.

BECK: No, there`s none. And potatoes are doing well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: But tomorrow here in New York, it starts to smell like garage.

Anyway, this may be hard for some people to believe, but -- I`ve been told that not everybody likes me. I know, I know. It`s crazy. Some people watch this show, and they`re like, "I hate that guy." I personally have always felt that death threat is just a fan letter playing hard to get, you know?

Some of these folks now have started using the Interweb that I`ve heard so many people talk about as a way of sharing their loathing of me. That`s right. Once again, Glenn Beck, bringing people together through technology.

Joining me now on this phenomenon and mostly to rub salt in my wounds, I believe, is our own prematurely gray-haired public viewer, Brian Sack. And, author of "In the Event of My Untimely Demise," which I think, unless I can stop them from publishing it, comes out next week.

BRIAN SACK, AUTHOR, "IN THE EVENT OF MY UNTIMELY DEMISE": Tuesday, 29th.

BECK: It`s actually -- I hate to say this. It`s actually a really funny book. And go to a library. Don`t buy it.

SACK: No!

BECK: Don`t -- go to the library.

SACK: There goes my boat.

BECK: Little boat. Anyway.

SACK: Tiny little boat.

BECK: All right.

SACK: Glenn, the Internet.

BECK: Yes.

SACK: You`ve heard of it, the Internets, the Web.

BECK: Sure.

SACK: Glenn, normally it`s a time waster, but I actually put it to good use this past week by doing research on it.

BECK: You can do that, too?

SACK: Yes, you can. And what I did is I went to Google, a trusty research source, and I Googled "I love Glenn Beck."

BECK: Did you have anything come back?

SACK: I did. I had 1,050 hits...

BECK: Shut up.

SACK: ... for "I love Glenn Beck." And 291 for "I hate Glenn Beck." That`s 78 percent of the people on the Internet who have an opinion about you seem to love you.

But then I thought, people make mistakes. Maybe the people who spell Glenn`s name wrong have different opinions so, I Googled "I love Glen Beck" with one "N," the wrong way. I got 100 pages, "I love Glen Beck."

BECK: By the way, there`s no comma after the one in...

SACK: I didn`t make these slides.

And 66 pages, Glenn, "I hate Glen Beck." But I`m thinking, more people who don`t like you, and have Web presence don`t know how to spell your name.

BECK: Sure.

SACK: So I wouldn`t be too worried about that.

BECK: Sure.

SACK: Glenn, I also started looking for other things. I found lots of conspiracy theories about you, Glenn. The truth is out there, Glenn. One of the things I found, this is a quote from PrisonPlanet.com.

BECK: Yes.

SACK: "Beck is being directly bankrolled and protected by the government."

BECK: Yes.

SACK: Now, this stems from some people harassing you with a video camera at a book signing.

BECK: You`re onto me.

SACK: And you threw them out of the book store, and that`s because you have Secret Service...

BECK: I know. Not Secret Service. I believe they`re C.I. -- oops. I said too much.

SACK: That comes up later. That comes up later.

BECK: Oh, does it?

SACK: Now, you had Ron Paul on.

BECK: Yes.

SACK: Didn`t take me two seconds to find the new conspiracy after this one. You had Ron Paul. And during that Paul interview, down there at the bottom, you can see. It`s a Huckabee quote from the Beatles, "Paul is dead. Paul is dead. Paul is dead."

Well, there is a Web site that believes that that is no coincidence, Glenn, and NolanChart.com says -- this is a quote from there -- "I studied mind control methods used in advertising in college textbooks. This is no different, if it is deliberate or not."

So somebody -- whether you meant to or not, Glenn, you are trying to tell people subliminally that Ron Paul is dead.

BECK: Let me tell you something, this guy studied text books.

SACK: Yes.

BECK: He knows.

SACK: The truth`s out there, Glenn.

And also, Glenn, this is a good one. This is from the comments section of ThinkProgress.com: "Glenn Beck is a CIA operative with a specialty in propaganda." Glenn, are you a CIA operative?

BECK: Um, do I get to kill you, if I tell you?

SACK: Maybe.

BECK: Well, if I told you, I`d have to kill you. So, please, come into the studio, bring a knife, and let me tell you.

SACK: That`s actually why I`m three floors below you.

BECK: Can I tell you something? Now that I`ve said that, you watch. You have to come back next week and find out how many people are printing that. And using it dead serious, this portion, or what I just said as, see that`s exactly what a CIA agent would say.

Did you find -- by the way, did you find the part where they actually said I was one of the masterminds of 9/11?

SACK: I didn`t find that one yet. But it`s out there. I`m actually trying to -- I`m going to link you to World War I.

BECK: Really?

SACK: And I`m going to go back home after this and start Googling you.

BECK: There it is. There it is. Do not ask what happened to McKinley. I wasn`t there.

Thanks, Brian.

SACK: Where were you when Lincoln was shot?

BECK: I was sleeping. I really was. Back in just a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, as you know, Earth Day was this week. And in response, people have decided to do something about global warming.

Sure, a lot of people probably saw people, you know, doing important things like writing emotional poems or singing acoustic folk songs about flowers or painting pictures of the world eating oil executives. But rarely, do we see things that really make a difference. That`s where television comes in.

We`ve done something important this week. Our logo, there at the bottom of the screen, it`s now green. I know, global warming solved. Just doing our part. You can thank us later.

And if you think about it, there`s really no better place to talk down to you about your carbon footprint than in a business like ours. You know, one that uses energy to light the set. That energy-powered cameras tape, you know, which is written and produced on computers, using energy. Housed in a massive skyscraper that needs to be heated and cooled and lit 24 hours a day, night and day with energy, yes.

And then, they take the signal, and they send it to a massive control room filled with heavy duty electrical equipment, you know, and then beam it up to satellites orbiting the globe and then down to millions of households, where you have to individually turn on your personal television set which, I believe, may still be powered by energy.

But don`t think about all of that. Just focus on the color of our logo. Look at it. It`s pretty, isn`t it? Look at how green it is. Did you know that green is the color of the leaves on the trees? And green is the color of ferns. I do love a fern.

Green is also the color of every other network`s logo who just thinks your dumb enough to believe that they care, because of the color of their graphics.

Hey, by the way, I just thought of this. Green is the color of money. I`m sure there`s no relation there.

Does anybody think that this ridiculous level of hype is sustainable? Every time you turn on a TV, you see a product or a network complimenting themselves, "Look, we are so green. I mean, it`s" -- and it`s universally a bunch of empty gestures. Why doesn`t anybody ever call them on this?

Let me do something here that`s going to actually make a difference. I found out from "The New York Times," of all places, that it`s actually worse for the environment to walk than it is to drive. When you burn calories, you have to replace them. And food sources are worse for the environment than your car. But if walking is bad, running must be really, really bad.

So I`m going to make a promise to you, and my wife. Honey, sorry. No more exercise. No, no, it`s for the planet. I don`t want to murder the earth to be in shape.

We`ll see you tomorrow. In the meantime, good night, America.

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END