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Glenn Beck

Is Obama Making a Resurgence?; How Relatable is Obama?; Senator Discusses Proposed Gas Tax Break; Author Discusses Impact of Video Games

Aired May 05, 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, a new poll shows a majority of likely voters believe Barack Obama cut ties with his controversial pastor for political reasons. You think? I guess change is just too much to hope for.

Plus, as the presidential candidates waste more time fighting over a possible suspension of the gas tax, others are having a real conversation. Breaking our addiction to foreign oil by drilling here.

And to follow up on our video game nightmare, Grand Theft Auto 4: why your kids are able to purchase a game that features sex, drugs and hookers. And why it`s just a small part of a very large problem that will affect you and your family.

All that and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

I -- I just want to spend a few minutes with you. I`ve got to run home, because we`re decorating our Cinco De Mayo tree at home later. So we`ll get to that in a second.

First, politicians may lie, but numbers don`t. According to a new Rasmussen report, 58 percent of likely voters think the only reason that Barack Obama finally denounced Reverend Jeremiah Wright because it was politically convenient. No!

Same poll shows 56 percent think that it`s somewhat likely that he shares some of Reverend Wright`s controversial views about the United States. Twenty-six percent say it`s very likely. So here`s "The Point" tonight. Barack Obama has just invalidated his entire campaign. And here`s how I got there.

From day one of the Barack Obama candidacy, he wanted us to think that he was different. He`s a Washington outsider. He`s not going to play politics as usual. "I`m a fresh face that we can trust." Yes, right, really. Now it`s clear he`s part of the problem, not the solution.

For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in Reverend Wright`s church. He listened to his sermons. He had Wright perform his marriage ceremony, baptize his children blah-dy, blah-dy, blah-dy. You`ve heard all of this. Obama even appointed this guy as an official spiritual adviser to his campaign, a sounding board, as he called it.

It only took you and me a couple of weeks to uncover the angry content that was in all of those sermons that Obama sat there like a sponge soaking in. Two decades of radical black liberation theology and anti-American rants. All along, Obama kept saying, "That`s not the guy I know." What? Last week, Reverend Wright went out of his way to prove that he is the man he`s always been, yesterday and today.

When it was obvious that nobody was really buying into Obama`s story anymore, he decided that it was best for him to denounce Wright. It`s unreasonable for any of us to believe that Barack Obama didn`t know exactly who this guy was the whole time and what he believed. So tonight, America, here is what you need to know.

Barack Obama -- I hate to break the news to you -- is a politician. And politicians have one goal in life: get elected. The truth is a last resort. Now that we know this, you know, we can, you know, finally admit the election really is about race: the race for the presidency and doing whatever it takes to stay in it.

Many Democrats have said all along there`s really not that much difference between Hillary and Barack Obama. And now that Obama has finally showed us the true content of his character, you know what? I couldn`t agree more, really, with the possible exception of actual experience.

Scott Rasmussen is the president of Rasmussen Reports.

Scott, I`ve been reading all kinds of stories today that Barack Obama is -- has survived this. I think it was "The New York times" that said he`s rebounding in the polls. What`s the truth?

SCOTT RASMUSSEN, RASMUSSEN REPORTS: Well, you know, the -- I haven`t really paid a lot of attention to that CBS poll, but what we`re seeing is Barack Obama a week ago had an eight-point lead nationally over Hillary Clinton. It`s down to a one-point lead today.

A week ago he was doing better than Hillary Clinton against John McCain. Guess what? Now McCain leads Obama by 4, Clinton leads McCain by 4 points. This has definitely had an impact.

I don`t think it`s going to change the expected results in North Carolina and Indiana. And you know why? Clinton supporters tend to say all these terrible things about Pastor Wright must be true. Obama supporters say, "No, it couldn`t be. Our man was not surprised -- our man was surprised" and all of that.

BECK: Oh, please.

RASMUSSEN: But where it has an impact is in the general election.

BECK: OK. First of all, America, if you think any of that bull crap is true, watch "The Real Story" tonight. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, this guy has got a clear pattern that, really, you need to pay attention to.

Fifty-six percent say that it`s at least somewhat likely that Obama shares Wright`s anti-American views. Scott, when does this guy implode? Does he implode in the general election?

RASMUSSEN: It will not happen in the primaries. The only argument -- the only danger he has in the nomination process is if Hillary Clinton can convince super delegates that he will implode.

But this is having a huge impact among those working-class white voters. It`s having an impact among unaffiliated voters. And whether he implodes or not, it is a very dangerous path for the Democrats to nominate someone who has these problems. There`s a lot of baggage here.

Ultimately -- ultimately, Glenn, this comes -- this is the result of Barack Obama having never won a competitive campaign against a Republican. If he`d had a real challenger in 2004, this would have come out in a Senate race, and he would have dealt with it by now.

BECK: Yes. Now, is there any chance that, you know, stuff like this -- is it deep enough scar that it never goes away? Or is this the stuff that you go, "Oh, that was old news. That was -- that was back in the spring. It`s the fall now."

RASMUSSEN: You know, I don`t think we`re going to be talking about Jeremiah Wright the same way come October that we are now unless, you know, the pastor has another press conference.

But what it`s doing is it`s shaping opinions about Barack Obama himself. People now see him as further to the left politically.

BECK: Sure.

RASMUSSEN: They have more doubts about him. His favorability ratings are down. Those things are lasting.

BECK: Yes, OK. Thanks, Scott.

You know, I told you I don`t know how many months ago that the only thing -- once Barack Obama starts telling lies, that thing is going to shimmy apart. Because that`s what he had in spades: people believed him. Now that we know he`ll play politics as usual, you know what? It`s time to look at all of the other signs that Barack Obama has, that he`s been sending to us. He`s not like us.

He`s far from the average working American. When his wife complains, it`s so hard to pay for our two 4y League educations. Come on. It`s like -- it`s like she`s crying that they had to stop eating Kobe beef and settle for filet mignon. She`s starting to make John Kerry look relatable.

Here with more is nationally syndicated columnist, author of "The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race for the White House," Earl Ofari Hutchinson.

I mean, he is -- I mean, put him on a wind-surfing board, and he`s -- he`s John Kerry.

EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, AUTHOR, "THE ETHNIC PRESIDENCY": And you know, Glenn, when you really think about it is, should you really be surprised? You may ask the question about politics and politicians, saying whatever they have to say to get elected. We know that`s the name of the game.

Why would anybody for one minute, even long before Jeremiah Wright came along, why would anybody for one minute think that Barack Obama is any different? He`s running the race of his life for the nomination and the big prize. You`re going to say what you have to say; you`re going to do what you have to do; you`re going to change the script when you want to, depending on what audience you`re talking to. That comes with the turf.

Now, what Barack has done is he has got a lot of momentum at least early on by selling himself, generally to Democrats by this: "I am the man that`s different. Expect things different from me. I am the great unifier, hope and change. I`m a politician -- no, excuse me. I am an elected official, a man of principle on a high horse that`s different."

Well, guess what? We`re seeing he`s no different than anyone else. But again, should we really be surprised? Only if we ever bought into it.

BECK: I have to tell you, first of all, I mean, how long before "The New York Times" starts to print, "You know what? He`s just too good. He`s just to smart for the average American to understand."

Where I think he`s -- where he really doesn`t get it is things like the gas tax. You know, it`s fine to be against the gas tax if you`re proposing solutions, but instead, what he offered this weekend was a $1,000 cut to working-class families for payroll deduction, which goes to directly hurt Social Security. This guy doesn`t get it at all.

HUTCHINSON: Well, and also something else, too, you know. You raised the question about John Kerry, wishy-washy. Remember that was the tag there: say and do anything, talk out of different sides of their mouths at different times, depending on whoever they`re talking to, changing the script.

When Barack Obama, interestingly enough, when he was in the Illinois state legislature, guess what? Three times as a senator and legislator he voted for gas tax holiday, as a senator and legislator. Now all of a sudden when McCain and Hillary talk about it, this is the greatest evil on the planet.

BECK: I know.

HUTCHINSON: Changing the script.

BECK: Earl, what are the odds this becomes 1972 and McGovern? I mean...

HUTCHINSON: Let me say -- let me say this, Glenn. One of the great flaws of Barack Obama`s whole candidacy -- let`s look at demographics and numbers for a minute.

And by the way, I disagree with Mr. Rasmussen. I think that there`s going to be a big hit against Barack in Indiana, and I think he`s going to take a big hit in North Carolina. He may win it but not big.

But when you look at the demographics, 1972, George McGovern, one of the great debacles for the Democratic Party, what was his constituency based on? Students, young people, always on the left, and black voters. And guess what? It took 30 years for the Democratic Party to get over the shambles that was made of that. That`s no constituency that`s going to win elections.

BECK: I have to tell you, I don`t think I have ever seen a party destroy itself like the Democrats are doing. They had everything going for them.

HUTCHINSON: I`m just as amazed as you.

BECK: You`re looking at it going, "Oh, wow, look, the house is on fire and nobody is putting it out."

Earl, thanks a lot.

Coming up, we`re going to talk about gas prices. They continue to climb. Our politicians, as usual, they just want to slap a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. I mean, the patient is hemorrhaging to death. The solution? Start drilling for the oil right underneath our noses.

We`ll find out what some in our government want to do, which may include looking at a little state I like to call Alaska.

And the fight to keep violent video games out of children`s hands continues. We`ll look at the politics behind not giving Grand Theft Auto 4 an "Adult" rating.

And for more perspective, more commentary, more heart, and most importantly, more me, head on over to GlennBeck.com and order the latest issue of my magazine, "Fusion" magazine, comedy and so much more. Do it today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, if you`ve been paying any attention to the news over the last week, you probably heard something about a gas tax holiday. But in some cases, the gift of lifting that gas tax comes along with something they like to call a windfall profits tax, a tax on excess profits made by the greedy oil companies. Oh, they`re twisting their moustaches in their office right now.

Sounds pretty good, doesn`t it? Not so much. Everything you ever wanted to know about windfall profits -- I don`t happen to know all that much -- but we`ll make it interesting in tonight`s "Real Story," coming up.

All three presidential candidates now continue to weigh in on the idea of the gas tax holiday for the summer. John McCain is in favor of it. Hillary Clinton has jumped on board, calling it a "real and immediate solution." Barack Obama disagrees, saying it would only save the average American a few bucks a week and what`s that, really?

You know, maybe an elitist like Barack Obama doesn`t really care about a few extra bucks in his pocket, but I`ll take it. I mean, people who live in the real America, you know, we`ll take anything we can get.

What none of the candidates, however, will say is that the gas tax holiday is a red herring. Why are we arguing about this? It might feel like relief in the short term, but it doesn`t address any of the real problems. And that problem is, we need more oil. Supply is low, demand is high. And that`s why prices are up. And it ain`t going away, Jack.

That`s why we also need to find whatever oil we can in this country. We have tons of it. No area should be off limits: not ANWR, not any place. It`s as though America is a cancer patient. And we`ve got three doctors standing there. And one says, "You know what? We need to give him Tylenol." "No, no, Extra Strength Tylenol." And the third wants to do nothing.

When will someone in the room say, "Maybe we should try chemo, not pain management but a cure."

Senator Pete Domenici is the Republican senator from New Mexico.

How are you, Senator?

SEN. PETE DOMENICI (R), NEW MEXICO: I`m very fine. Glad to be on, so we can talk a little bit about reality. Have a little reality check.

BECK: Thank you.

When is someone going to address the actual problem that -- I`m sorry -- but we need to go for the coal that we have in the mountains. We need to go coal liquefaction. Is that a right -- is that the right word?

DOMENICI: Yes, it is.

BECK: We need to go -- we need to go into ANWR. We need to go on our shores.

DOMENICI: Look, I`m so glad to hear somebody on the public airwaves that understands the problem. We have an excellent energy bill that we passed three years ago. But we couldn`t get production items in it, because we wanted to do it by bipartisan.

And let`s be honest about it, the production items are disapproved and disavowed by Democrats because of -- I don`t know. It`s environmental reasons and/or of late, you`re talking about global warming. But the interesting thing is if you don`t produce your own, you`re still causing those kind of problems, and it`s just dependence on moneys going overseas to somebody else.

BECK: Senator, I can`t thank you enough. You know, Bill Clinton he - - he was the one who signed into law rendition. And we won`t torture anybody, but we have no problem flying, you know, a G-4 over to some other country, grab somebody, and then drop him off to Saudi Arabia.

DOMENICI: Right.

BECK: It`s the same stuff we`re doing with oil. We say, "Oh, we want to get off of oil." Well, we`re not getting off of oil.

DOMENICI: No, sir.

BECK: We are the slave to countries that want to kill us.

DOMENICI: Well, I want to -- I want to tell you so you`ll get it from somebody who`s been working on it. I want to tell you six things right off that are on the production side that this great country ought to do. And actually I don`t believe those who supply us with oil, they must just look at us and say what kind of idiots are they?

BECK: We`re suicidal. Give me the -- give me the six things. We`ve got about a minute and a half.

DOMENICI: One, coal. We ought to use coal where we can. And in South Africa, they are producing, they`re turning coal to liquid. And that means they`ve got diesel fuel and other kind of fuels. And we could do that.

The environmental argument is ludicrous, because at least you get neutral results, and you might get better results.

BECK: Right. OK. Two.

DOMENICI: Two, 2,000 acres out of 19 million acres in the Arctic wilderness is the only size of the footprint that you would use with modern technology to produce at least 1 million barrels a day from Alaska. I think it would end up being more like two, but right now we`ll take their one million barrels a day.

BECK: We wouldn`t be in this situation if Bill Clinton had...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: ... 1995. We would have it today.

DOMENICI: We`d have it today. And then they could say whether it makes any sense.

It would send a kind of signal, even though it`s only a million barrels a day, that America wants to do something. That`s two.

There are tons of both natural gas and crude oil on the coastal plains of the United States, on all the offshore lands around us. We now know how to drill deep. We know how to deep diagonally. And we know how to build platforms that won`t leak.

BECK: Senator...

DOMENICI: So you could do that, and you could have billions in the treasury from the royalty payments. And you would send more than a signal. You`d be producing oil within four to five years from America`s own offshore oil that`s there that belongs to us.

BECK: Senator, I have to run. I`m up against a break.

DOMENICI: OK.

BECK: But I sure appreciate it. You keep fighting the fight, sir.

DOMENICI: You got it.

BECK: Somebody in Washington has got to stop with the red herrings and actually work on the problem. Thank you very much.

DOMENICI: Thank you. Nice to be with you.

BECK: You bet.

Now, where am I wrong, America? Tax breaks and alternative fuels, they`re great. But we need energy now until we find those things. It`s time to tap American soil anywhere we can. Tap our own resources. Agree or disagree? Go to CNN.com/Glenn right now and cast your vote.

Coming up, we`re going to take a look at why violent, sexually explicit games like Grand Theft Auto, just not getting the regulation and ratings they should.

And why taxing oil companies and their excessive profits is the exact opposite of what we need to do. And I`ll explain in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, the newest version of the video game Grand Theft Auto is on pace to shatter all kinds of records. By Christmas it`s expected to sell 9 million copies and bring in $450 million. The perfect gift to celebrate the birth of our Lord.

With that kind of cash, the gaming industry can`t afford the Grand Theft Auto to receive an adults-only rating, even though it features nudity, prostitution, cop killing, murder. The adult rating would keep the game out of stores like family friendly Wal-Mart and, God forbid that happens.

Instead the ratings board has given Grand Theft Auto a safer rating for "M" for "mature." I think that`s what "M" -- I think "M" stands for "money," but they say it stands for "mature."

Carol -- I mean, Cheryl Kay Olson is the co-author of "Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games."

Cheryl, is the surprising truth about video games that we should all relax?

CHERYL KAY OLSON, CO-AUTHOR, "GRAND THEFT CHILDHOOD": I wouldn`t say we should all relax, but I think some of the big fears like school shootings and, you know, terrifying stuff, there just isn`t evidence for that. The FBI and Secret Service have done reports that have pretty much laid that to rest.

And as a parent, there are some things to worry about. We did some research surveying seventh and eighth grade kids in two states. And we did find that the more "M"-rated games they played the more likely they were to be involved in common childhood problems like getting in fights, having poor grades, trouble with a teacher. But most of the kids did not have those problems.

One thing that is a concern that really worried me a little bit was that almost half of the boys, 12- and 13-year-old boys, are playing a Grand Theft Auto game a lot. So if you don`t allow your child to have it at your house, he probably will play it somewhere. So you need to have a talk with him about your values.

BECK: Right, right. So I mean, you don`t think that there`s a problem with our kids -- I mean, it doesn`t do anything for the kids, the way they view women if they`re -- you know, they`re allowed to play a game where you can get a hooker and then, you know, have sex with her, and then beat her to death with a baseball bat?

OLSON: Sounds great. What`s interesting, we did focus groups with boys who played the violent games. And a lot didn`t even know you could find prostitutes or do those things in the game, because you don`t need to do those to win the game.

And some kids just drive around or they -- sometime they work for the police or deliver pizzas. It`s almost like a big sandbox in a way. And it`s interesting to watch how your child plays it if you choose to let them do it under supervision, because it might tell you some things about them.

BECK: I will tell you that all these video gamers who are writing blogger -- you know, they`re bloggers as well as video gamers, they`re writing all kinds of stuff about me, saying, you know, that I`m just the -- I`m the enemy now of video games. I could care -- I could care less about video games. Video game bloggers, they`re losers. But video gamers, I don`t really care. Although I did hear that this game gives you leprosy. I don`t know if that`s true.

Everybody -- the problem is, everybody just misses this game. And I`m not even saying this game is -- you know, this is what`s destroying society. It`s magazines. It`s movies. It`s television. It`s even talk radio. It`s everything that is leading us to a more coarse society. And yet everyone dismisses their favorite little part of it. Isn`t that a problem?

OLSON: There have been worries about the latest media ever since the 1890s when the paperback novel came out and was going to corrupt our young women.

In the 1930s, they thought that showing gangster film would teach kids how to commit crimes like how to blow up trains. But there is one difference here with the video games. I think it`s that parents don`t know how to operate the controls. So you don`t know what`s in there. That`s scary as a parent. You can`t flip through it or fast forward to see what`s there.

BECK: OK, Cheryl, thanks a lot.

Coming up, Democrats want to use the windfall profits tax to fund their socialist programs. We have the "Real Story" on the damage the tax will have on our economy, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Oh, I`ve been up late last night celebrating Cinco de Mayo. I am so hammered out of my mind right now.

Coming up, more on the hookup culture that is taking our kids by storm. The latest example, co-ed dorm rooms at colleges and universities across America.

You know, last week, we were, oh, Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus. Wait. What were we thinking? It`s so much worse than that.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story."

If you listened to Clinton and Obama lately, the only issue that the next president apparently has to deal with for the next four years is the price of gas. But instead of using the campaign to talk about the serious and painful steps we need to take to be able to get our country back on track, they`re pandering for votes.

Sometimes it`s hard to see when you don`t live in a state where they`re campaigning or advertising, so we dug through some of their speeches and ads about oil and gas prices. See if you can detect a trend in who they blame and how they want to fix it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We`ve got to go after the oil companies and look at their price gouging.

Our energy policy is essentially written by the oil and gas companies.

Except now Exxon`s making $40 billion a year and we`re paying $3.50 for gas.

They`ll pay a penalty on windfall profits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Energy traders are manipulating the price of oil right now, ripping off the entire country. I would close that Enron loophole, I would regulate them.

This is a big deal. You need a president tough enough to take on these energy traders and these oil companies and these oil countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Exxon Mobil made $11 billion last quarter in profits.

I do believe that we can go after some of these windfall profits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I think we should go after the oil companies.

The other day the oil companies reported the highest profits in the history of the world. I want to take those profits, and I want to put them into a strategic energy fund.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I want to take those profits? What country am I living in?

"The Real Story" is our politicians are not just following the same- old time-tested political strategy of blaming everybody but ourselves for the mess we`re in, but they`re also adding a healthy dash of socialism right in the mix.

Has anybody read "Atlas Shrugged"?

You heard them say over and over again windfall profits, excessive profits. "I want to take those profits." But what does that really mean?

Well, first, it`s the redistribution of wealth for starters, but what`s worse is that it sets a precedent that our government gets to decide what constitutes excessive earnings. One bill that has been proposed now in Congress by a Democrat actually calls -- I have a hard time saying this with a straight face -- for the establishment of a reasonable profits board to figure out where that line is.

Now, I mean, if that doesn`t sound like the first big step towards Stalin`s Russia or communist China, I don`t know what does. But put all that aside for a second and just take the leap on that train that a government board -- you know, the same people who are buying $700 toilet seats and building bridges to nowhere -- can somehow or another fairly define "excessive."

Let`s even assume that once they take all of these profits away, the price of oil and gas will magically, and against all known rules of economics, begin to decrease. What happens then?

Cheaper gas means more people buying it and less incentive to find real long-term solutions, all of which means we just rely on foreign oil more than ever before. And that`s not hope and that`s not a change. That`s typical Washington politics. You solve a problem by creating an even bigger one.

Brian Carney is the editorial writer of "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board.

Brian, taking away the windfall profits and having a windfall profits tax on oil, didn`t we try this in the `80s?

BRIAN CARNEY, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": We did try this in the `80s. And what happened is exactly what you would expect, Glenn. Domestic production and exploration went down. Imports went up. And prices did not go down either.

BECK: Oh boy.

CARNEY: And we can expect more of the same if we try it again.

BECK: Brian, how much are you taking from big oil? You`re clearly in bed with them. I mean, that`s what they`ll say.

CARNEY: I take nothing. No, it`s true. But we can look back at the experience of the `80s.

We actually tried this. And exactly what you would expect would happen happened. You tax something, you get less of it. And the countries that are taxing it less will import more of it to us.

So, those who are concerned about, you know, importing foreign oil or OPEC`s influence over us, a windfall profits tax is the last thing they should be arguing for.

BECK: OK. Here is the thing. Everybody trying to make these guys as robber barons. They`re not robber barons.

I saw -- the Cato Institute said that their profits are in line with the rest of American industry. The robber barons, the ones that are destroying us and robbing us blind, are these politicians.

CARNEY: That`s right. Their return on investment is only marginally higher right now than it is for American industry as a whole.

BECK: I have the stats if you don`t -- 7.8 is the average for the all American industry. They`re at 8.3. Oh, my gosh, they`re just worthless pigs just robbing us blind.

CARNEY: They also pay a lot of taxes already. Exxon paid $9.3 billion in corporate income taxes on those profits that they made in the first quarter. And they paid even more than that when you take into account the royalties and other taxes that they paid -- $29.3 billion in total taxes paid in the first three months of this year.

And they want to say that there ought to be a higher tax? I mean...

BECK: Yes, they`re already paying 35 percent tax.

Brian, I mean, I`d love to get into the, you know, what happens to the stock of Exxon Mobil if you start to say that, I`m sorry, your 8 percent profit is just too high. I mean, people start pulling their money. But let me go down this road instead.

If you start to go down the road of, well, we need oil, and that`s just an unreasonable profit, well, what about housing? What about the profit on credit cards? What about the profit on food and that evil big grain?

I mean, where do you draw the line and say, no, you don`t have a right to say reasonable profits?

CARNEY: Yes, I think once you have a reasonable profits board, a lot of people are going to be lined up against the law. I think once you accept the idea that there is some government body or bureaucrat who can decide what a reasonable profit is and to basically confiscate everything above that level, we`re in a lot of trouble.

BECK: Yes.

Brian, thank you very much.

America, please read "Atlas Shrugged." I know it`s like 4,000 pages but, I mean, everything is happening that she talked about.

Now, we`re going to have, you know, a lot more on the reasonable profit board tomorrow, just as soon -- we didn`t do it today because I want to consult with the government to find out how many minutes of air time would be reasonable to spend talking about it.

I just wish that we would treat the presidential election more like a court trial. You know? You`re going to hear all the evidence about each candidate, and then we get to decide beyond a reasonable doubt if they have the right character and the right judgment to be president.

Unfortunately, for Barack Obama, "The Real Story" is that if we use that standard, the jury would have brought back their guilty verdict a long time ago.

The Reverend Wright controversy getting all the headlines, rightfully so, but Obama`s questionable associations go far beyond one America-hating pastor. This has been my point in covering Reverend Wright for a while now.

I`m going to be honest with you, if attending Reverend Wright`s church for 20 years was Obama`s only error in judgment, it would be a lot easier to persuade me that he just made a mistake. I still wouldn`t think he had the judgment to be president, but the fact is there is a pattern here to the type of people that Obama chooses to align himself with, from his wife, to his fund-raisers, to, yes, even his pastor.

Just like in a court trial, seeing a pattern makes you start to look at everything in a different light. I mean, what did Obama`s wife really mean when she said she was proud of her country for the first time? They`ve dismissed that. But now I don`t think you can.

What about the flag lapel pin? You notice I don`t wear one. I believed Obama`s excuse for that. I don`t anymore. Now I feel it`s worth at least a second or third look here.

What about his association with the founder of the Weather Underground, somebody who actually bombed the Pentagon and on 9/11 said, you know, my only regret is we didn`t bomb it enough?

How about the real estate developer, Tony Rezko, who is on trial in Chicago right now, or Rashid Khalidi (ph), the alleged Israel-hating university professor and founder of the Arab-American Action Network?

Again, taken individually, none of these, with the exception of the Reverend Wright relationship, are enough to overcome reasonable doubt about Obama`s judgment to become president. But taken as a whole, the evidence is becoming overwhelming.

Show me your friends and I will show you the future of our country.

Andrew McCarthy is a former top federal prosecutor and the author of a new book, "Willful Blindness: A Memoir of Jihad."

Andrew, let`s just take these one by one.

First, the Weather Ground, William Ayers and his wife, show me the connection here.

ANDREW MCCARTHY, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Well, William Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn were members of the Weather Underground. And they are basically left wing royalty in Chicago.

And when Obama had his sort of coming out party in the mid-1990s, the site that they had it in was the home of Dohrn and William Ayers, who, you know, are not -- I think we should underscore what you said before. We`re not talking about terror apologists here. These are actual terrorists.

BECK: Yes, these are people who bombed the Pentagon in the 1970s and on 9/11 said, "My only regret is we didn`t do enough."

MCCARTHY: Yes. I actually think, Glenn, that people should really read that New York Times" interview that Ayers gave which was published on 9/11, interestingly, because the question I`d ask is, read what this guy says, and then ask yourself if anyone, especially someone as sophisticated as Obama, could talk to this guy for 30 seconds and not know where he was coming from.

BECK: OK. You know what? I`m going to try to find that and post it on glennbeck.com. We`ll try to do it by this evening.

Rashid Khalidi, here`s the next one. And there`s connections with this guy to Ayers and Obama.

Lay this out. Who is this guy?

MCCARTHY: Right. Ayers is the guy Obama barely knows, except they sat on a board together for two years in -- I guess it was into 2000 and beyond, but they were in charge of a lot of largesse. This Wood Foundation is a left wing charitable foundation, and they gave about 70,000 or $75,000 over time to Rashid Khalidi, or to an organization that he co-founded.

Khalidi has been alleged -- he denies it, to have be officially a member of the PLO. But whether he was one or he wasn`t one, he can`t deny, and I don`t think would deny, that he was a Yasser Arafat apologist who thinks that, at least in certain circumstances, suicide bombing is an appropriate form of politics.

BECK: You know, Andrea, I am up against -- I`m up against the clock here. And I`ve got to cut and run here, but maybe we`ll have you on the radio program tomorrow to kind of flesh these out, because the connections to his wife are incredible. And I`d like to have you back on the television show as well.

MCCARTHY: It will be my pleasure, Glenn.

BECK: Great. Thanks, Andrew.

That`s "The Real Story" tonight.

Starting today, tickets for my summer political comedy stage show. Yes, believe it or not, I used to do comedy before I did this. Sad, isn`t it?

Beck `08, Unelectable, go on sale to everyone today. Head on over to glennbeck.com, order your tickets and you`ll have a great time. It`s our summer comedy tour.

Coming up, something college guys will love -- co-ed dorm rooms on campus. Yes -- no, I won`t watch your daughter undress. No, really, I won`t. I`ll be over here studying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: You know, last week we told you about those pictures on "Vanity Fair," and everybody was like, oh, well, she didn`t know and everything else. There was a new picture of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus. I want to show it to you.

This is from her MySpace page. This one she took herself.

She`s seemingly showing and revealing her bra. This surfaced over the weekend in "The New York Post."

And I have to tell you as a dad, I was -- I mean, I thought this was a cry for help. I talked to Miley`s dad, Billy Ray Cyrus. He was on the program last year. And I asked the guys to dig up -- because I know I talked about this particular kind of situation, the difference between his daughter and somebody like Lindsay Lohan, and here is what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY RAY CYRUS, MUSICIAN: They`ve really never done anything tragically bad, you know.

BECK: Good.

CYRUS: They`ve made their mistakes, and we`ve been able to, you know, just kind of adjust and go our way.

If that was Miley, I wouldn`t be over here in New York doing interviews. I`d be catching a flight to L.A. and getting in there and just sitting down with them and saying, "Honey, let me just sit here. I don`t care if it takes a day, a week or a year, but let`s just sit here until we figure this out."

BECK: Good for you.

CYRUS: I`ll order a pizza. You know? Whatever it takes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I hope he`s ordering pizzas for his daughter. His daughter is his concern, but we all need to be concerned about a culture that`s excusing inexcusable behavior.

Look at this one from China. This is another picture. This one is really disturbing.

This is an advertisement, a billboard in China, of a little girl in pigtails. I mean, she`s got cleavage. It`s for underwear for. What is happening?

How about this one? We used to have separate dorms for men and women, then it was co-ed dorms in the `70s. And now in some cases it`s actually co-ed rooms.

I actually read this. Guys claim -- this was in the paper today -- they want you to know they avert their eyes when your daughter is changing.

Right. It`s all on the up and up. It`s very respectful.

I`m not blaming all of society ills on billboards or, you know, 20- year-old guys or violent video games, rap music, revealing photos of 15- year-olds, X-rated promos for a show about high-schoolers. You know what? It`s just like the Obama story we did just the break before.

There`s a pattern here. America has cut its tether to values and good taste, and we`re a ship adrift in a sea of garbage.

Charmaine Yoest is vice president for communications at the Family Research Council.

Charmaine, where do I have this wrong?

CHARMAINE YOEST, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Man -- no, you`ve got it exactly right, Glenn, and I am so glad you`re doing this show. Because for years it has really troubled me, this whole idea of having kids living together in the dorms.

I used to teach at the University of Virginia. It`s crazy to put guys and girls in the same dorm together. And yet we`ve kind of just gotten so used to the idea, it`s almost like that, you know, drip, drip, drip of cultural erosion.

BECK: Yes.

YOEST: And so now, of course, they`re pushing it to the logical extreme. Well, if they can live in the same building, if they can live on the same floor, why not in the same room?

BECK: You know...

YOEST: It`s a logical extension.

BECK: ... I have to tell you, Charmaine, I`m a guy. I keep telling my daughters -- you know, they`re teenagers and they`re dating.

YOEST: Exactly.

BECK: And they`ll say, "Dad, he`s not like that."

YOEST: Oh yes.

BECK: I`m like, uh-huh. I`m a guy.

YOEST: Oh yes.

BECK: They are like that. All of them are like that. No guy is going to sit there and go, oh, you know what? I respect you so much, I`m going to turn my back. Unless there`s a mirror, I`m going to turn my back so I don`t see you undress.

Come on.

YOEST: Well, you know what? Glenn, you`re making a larger point that we really need to drive home, which is that traditionally throughout the ages, dads told their daughters exactly what you`re saying right now.

You know, my husband tells my 14-year-old she`s going to college in a burka. I mean, the idea is transmitting from generation to generation the reality of what the interaction between sexes is really all about. And what troubles me about this whole idea is there`s this pseudo sophistication that somehow the kids are supposed to handle it all with just kind of a shrug of the shoulders.

BECK: Oh yes.

YOEST: Then they get in the situation, they`re in over their heads, and they don`t understand why they can`t be as cool about it as their next door neighbor.

BECK: I have to tell you, I`ve been reading a great book, "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters." I don`t know if you...

YOEST: Oh.

BECK: It`s great, isn`t it?

YOEST: I`m going to go order it.

BECK: It`s fantastic. But let me tell you something. The main point -- and I asked this on the radio show today. Are there any real men left?

Is there any man out there that will tell your daughter, excuse me, no. That`s just not the way it happens. We`ve got to start telling our daughters there`s a difference between men and women.

YOEST: Well, exactly. And you know what, Glenn? There`s a lot of men like you and my husband left out there.

The problem is, is that we`ve got collective action issues here. Is that we really do have to individually find a way to start standing up against this kind of thing.

I have a friend whose son had to go to battle with the dean of students because he was required to live in a co-ed dorm his freshman year. And they really had to stand up to that and said, no, he`s not going to do it.

BECK: Charmaine, thanks a lot.

YOEST: Thank you, Glenn.

BECK: We`ll be back -- you bet. We`ll be back in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, that sex kitten Barbara Walters is in the news. She`s now telling her story in a new book called "Audition."

You know what, actually? I`m starting to believe I liked her better when she was making other people cry.

In this biography, Walters shares details of one of her many relationships. This one was with a senator, Edward Brooke, back in the 1970s.

He`s best known as the first African-American senator that was elected by popular vote in our nation`s history. She remembers him as exciting and brilliant.

A lot of people like to remember him as married. He was a moderate Republican from Massachusetts, which I think usually means incredibly liberal anyplace else in the country, who took office in 1967.

Now, both he and Walters were reportedly worried that they could ruin each other`s career if they continued on with their relationship. I guess that was the big issue to consider there. How about ruining, you know, his marriage or the family, his wife, the kids, you know? Some of these little details.

By the way, she said after the relationship ended, he went home and asked for a divorce. Gosh, I wonder why that marriage didn`t work out? That`s so weird, isn`t it?

But hey, I mean, what can you do? It`s about excitement and careers and love. Well, not exactly love, per se.

When asked by Oprah if she was in love, Walters said, I was certainly -- well, I don`t know. I was infatuated. Cue the audience on the Oprah Winfrey show to applaud.

He was exciting, he was brilliant. It was a very exciting time in Washington.

Oh, I get it. So you were ripping apart a family because times were exciting? Damn those times.

It makes me think back to my wedding day when I took the vow, till death do you part, unless it`s an exciting city and an exciting time. And then there`s the bond that, you know, lasts as long as you both shall live, assuming you live someplace boring.

You know, I have to tell you, we`ve all made mistakes. I mean, we`ve all made mistakes. And believe me, I can put Barbara Walters to shame with all the crap that I`ve done in my life. But we used to call the actions of a home wrecker, male or female. You know, now we look at it like it`s a nice memory we can put in a book and make money off of.

Can we please not celebrate things we should be ashamed of? I`m just saying.

Cue the audience. They won`t applaud on Oprah for that.

Don`t forget, if you want to know what`s on tomorrow`s show -- I mean, I`ve got to tell you, honestly, it is not like she`s going to hell. I mean, who am I to judge? But she is going to hell.

No, I`m kidding.

If you`d like a little more in-depth commentary -- no, I`m really not -- the news of the day, sign up for my free newsletter at glennbeck.com.

Yes, I really am.

We`ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, America.

END