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Glenn Beck

Good Day on Wall Street for Econo-Coaster; Candidates Flip-Flop on Energy; Author: Russian on the Rise

Aired August 06, 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, the stock market rallies, gas prices drop, and we forget about all our problems. But before you buy an SUV, I`ve got a reality check for you. I`ll tell you why America`s short- term memory is only going to lead to more trouble.

Plus, normally flip-flops are only worn at the beach. But it`s an election year. Oh, the candidates wearing their flip-flops, especially on energy.

And cue the mariachi band. Rapist, murderer Jose Medellin finally executed. Why, exactly, however, did it take 15 years to see justice served?

All this and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Hello, America.

It is finally over. The market has rallied. Oil and gas prices are down. Thank goodness, all of our problems have been solved. Happy days are here again. Hey, you know what we should do? Let`s all go to the bank and get a giant, jumbo mortgage, then even more expensive houses. Right? I mean, we`ll be too big to fail.

You know, most news shows, have you noticed? They`re like throwing confetti and singing, "Happy days are here again. You should go and invest in the stock market." And that is the problem. Here`s "The Point" tonight.

There are too many short-term thinkers in this country. Can somebody step back and take a long view of the big picture and find some real lasting solutions? Here`s how I got there.

I mean, I think we`re smart enough to realize that the worst is far from over. All the problems that, you know -- that had the stock market sinking like a stone and oil prices up over $140 a barrel, they`re still in place. The Middle East is still a mess.

Congress is still standing in the way of new offshore drilling. Nuclear power, wind, solar energy, yes. Still fantasies of the future. I think we might get the flying car before we get any of those.

Just because it`s sunny today doesn`t mean we should all throw out our umbrellas. Before you call me the conservative party pooper -- "Oh, look at him. He`s a party pooper" -- think about this.

If you do want to go on vacation, you want to go to Disney World or you want to save for your kid`s college education or plan for your own retirement, what do you do? How do you do it? You plan way in advance. Here`s an idea Washington should think about. You work toward a goal a little bit at a time. A healthy economy is exactly the same thing.

We`ve got a long way to go before the end. You know, if the fate of our economy rested on one good or one bad day in the financial markets, we`d all be selling pencils and standing in bread lines one day and eating caviar and filet mignon the next.

America, here is what you need to know tonight. Sound -- sound financial planning is always in the long view. And it`s about time we find a single leader who can see a day beyond election day.

We`re going to go over their energy policies. You want to know why they`re flip-flopping? Because nobody saw this was coming. You did. Just like you can`t have the media freak out on the crying the sky is falling when something is bad on one day. They also can`t say it`s all sunshine and lollipops just because we had one good day out of the last 100.

John Tamny is the editor of "Real Markets" and senior economist at H.C. Wainwright economics. And Stephen Moore writes editorials on economics for the "Wall Street Journal."

Let me -- let me show you a couple of headlines here. This one is "The Oil Pit and the Pendulum: As Crude Falls, Stocks Rise."

How about this one? "Oil Retreat Spurs Stock Rally as Dow Climbs 130 Points;" "Blue Chips Gain While Crude Oil Hits Record." All of these stories were from three months ago when things were in the crap can and everybody said, "Oh, look, it`s great." Either one of you, have the fundamentals changed in our economy or with energy?

STEPHEN MOORE, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Glenn, it`s not surprising that when the gas prices fall, the stock market rallies. Higher oil prices is bad for America.

But here`s the point. You know, just a year ago, our oil was at only $60 a barrel. It went up to $135. Now we`re celebrating that it`s all the way down to $117. It would be like if your boss said, "I`m going to give you a 20 percent pay cut" and then the next day, said, "OK, you know, I`ll give you a 5 percent pay increase." And after the 20 percent cut, and then you celebrate it.

I mean, we`re way above where we were. I don`t think we`re -- I don`t think we`re out of the woods yet.

BECK: OK. And John, correct me if I`m wrong, but the thing that I`ve been warning my radio listeners about is, you know, the price of oil is going to come down.

Unfortunately, that may be a bad sign, because it will be due to less usage, which means people aren`t driving as much. They don`t have the money. It`s a sign of a recession. Is it not, true or false?

JOHN TAMNY, EDITOR, "REAL MARKETS": Well, actually, I would say the opposite, because so much of the oil price over the past several years has just been the function of a weak dollar. So in fact, we see the oil price fall from here, this is hopefully a signal that the dollar is finally strengthening.

BECK: How is the -- how is the dollar strengthening? Stephen, you and I have been talking about this for a while. Now, gold did go down. I mean, gold was -- what was up to...

MOORE: Right up to almost $1,000, I think.

BECK: Now it`s down...

TAMNY: It`s down below 900.

BECK: Below $900, which is a good sign for the dollar. How did we strengthen the dollar, Stephen, without really doing anything?

MOORE: That`s a mystery, because we have -- in fact, the Fed announced yesterday that it was not going to raise interest rates, something I think it actually should do to get less dollars out in the economy.

So you know, there`s inflation out there, Glenn. If you would go to the grocery store, of you go to the gas pump, every American can feel it. This is one of the reasons I think Americans are angry. So I`m not exactly clear why the dollar is strengthening, except that maybe people think that the Obama mystique is off and that those tax increases next year may not be coming.

BECK: John, what about this. There is very strong speculation that one of the big three auto makers will be out by the end of the year. I mean, it used to be said as goes GM so goes America. That`s not really true anymore. GM, the big three auto makers. Too big to fail. Should we bail them out?

TAMNY: Well, it`s a funny thing. I think if GM went under, it actually would be great for the economy long-term, because GM, I think, has been a long-term weight on the economy, but it probably would be bad for the dollar, just because while GM is irrelevant to the U.S. economy, it`s very a relevant lobby in Washington.

And you can rest assured if one of the big three goes under, that there will be huge pressure from the politicians from the manufacturing states to punish Japan, which would be a big dollar negative, I think.

MOORE: You know, Glenn, could I just mention one thing on this?

BECK: Yes.

MOORE: I got some more bad news for you. I know you`re having a bad day, so I hate to tell you this. But, you know, there was an article in the paper today. Guess what Washington wants to do with the big three?

BECK: Bail them out.

MOORE: Bail out. I mean, what is this? We`re bailing out every entity in America. We`re bailing out Fannie Mae and the oil companies, the airlines. I mean, we can`t keep bailing everybody out, Glenn.

BECK: I know. I mean, that`s what I said. I think I said a couple months ago, what happens when one of the three goes, what happens when the airlines start to go? Too big to fail. We are socializing absolutely everything.

But let me play devil`s advocate. We no longer make steel. We`ll no longer make cars. We don`t have any industry in this country. I mean, we`re going to -- you know, jeez, what are we going to be, the people who make the little bamboo umbrellas for drinks? I mean, how do you build yourself back up if you don`t have that big industry?

TAMNY: This is a very positive thing though. Lest we forget, we used to be a manufacturing economy. We moved away from that, and that was not an economic negative for the country.

We then moved to manufacturing. And this is just part of the evolution of economies. If we`re moving toward a service economy that markets value more, this would be very good. The fact is that it doesn`t matter if we don`t make cars because other people can do it better, which allows us time to create the Googles and Microsofts of the world.

BECK: Stephen, do you believe that?

MOORE: I think John is right about that, actually, Glenn. I do think we`re moving into the kind of information age, knowledge economy. And that`s where America has competitive advantage, in microchips, in computers, in the pharmaceuticals.

And so John`s right. You know, when you think about the auto industry it`s a bit of a 20th century industry, but what concerns me is just that when any company starts to have losses, the attitude of Washington is, you know, just to open up the taxpayer wallet and write them a check.

BECK: Yes. I have to tell you, first of all, I mean, it sounds a little like the arrogance that, you know, took us off the gold standard and everybody said, "Oh, don`t worry about it. They`ll always have to buy washing machines. We`ll always make washing machines in cars." And then when that -- when that failed, you know, and everybody didn`t need to make washing machines -- buy our washing machines and cars. They were like, well, don`t worry about it. They`ll always need us as a consumer. Well, that`s about to change, as well.

I mean, it seems to me like we lie to ourselves over and over and over again. And what`s going to happen is the American standard of living, I think we`re on the edge of seeing it change, possibly forever.

MOORE: I think there`s a lot of truth to that, especially when you look at the decline in the dollar, which makes Americans poorer. Inflation, and we`ve got to turn things around. And that starts with getting Washington to spend less money, not more money.

BECK: Yes. It doesn`t -- it doesn`t start with a big bail-out, no matter who it is.

MOORE: You know, and Washington is now talking about another fiscal stimulus, another $30 million for roads and public transportation and all these projects. Where is this money coming from?

BECK: I need some duct tape, because my head is going to explode. Thanks, guys.

All right. Coming up, is a candidate with a consistent energy policy, I don`t know, too much to ask for? McCain and Obama have changed their positions so often, I don`t even think they even know what they stand for anymore. We`re sort out all the flip-flopping next.

And it`s time for confetti and streamers. Convicted rapist and murderer Jose Medellin finally executed last night in Texas. Well, why did it take so long for this monster to get what he deserved? We`ll find out in tonight`s "Real Story."

Plus, did Paris Hilton just jump into the presidential race? I mean, I`d vote for her. I mean, why -- why not? Don`t miss it. It`s coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Death Row inmate scheduled for execution says he`s too fat to be put to death. "I`m too fat. Are those Cheetos?"

He says that his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs. "Executioners are going to have trouble finding my veins." Five foot seven, 267 pounds, has poor veins when he faced execution five years ago, and the problem is worsened now by weight gain.

Just a side note: weight gain? How is he gaining weight in prison? "We`ve got some nice duc l`orange for you tonight."

Put him on a diet so we can kill him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Can`t find his vein. I bet I can find his head and put a bullet in it.

I told you just a few minutes ago that we can`t get distracted from the big job of trying to solve our country`s problems with short-term thinking. Right?

So now Barack Obama is saying that the key to solving our energy crisis lies in proper tire pressure. I mean, is that the best you got, tire pressure? And if that`s not bad enough, Obama has taken the whole flip-flopping thing to a whole new level when it comes to energy policy. He`s now for offshore drilling and capping the Strategic Oil Reserve. Wow, that`s a change of heart, huh?

And John McCain, oh, he`s so much better. He was staunchly against offshore drilling, but now he`s had an evolution of thought. So while these two guys have traded in their spines for votes, there`s one candidate who had all of the good ideas on energy from the very beginning and wouldn`t have to flip-flop. It`s Mitt Romney. I`m glad we got that evil Mormon out of this thing. I guess consistency is just a little too much for people in Washington to handle.

Here with more on the energy plans and the flip-flops of these two nominees is Kenneth Vogel, a senior reporter for The Politico.

Ken, where do I even begin on this one? Let`s start with the reserve. Obama was against tapping the Strategic Oil Reserve unless it`s an emergency, but now he`s for it because we`re at a tipping point. What is - - is that the new definition of an emergency, a tipping point? Or what happened here?

KENNETH VOGEL, SENIOR REPORTER, THE POLITICO: I think it`s definitely the definition of a flip-flop. You`re right. He said that he would only tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the case of an emergency, and he cited a terrorist attack on a major Middle Eastern oil refinery, oil facility. So now he`s saying...

BECK: Has that happened, and maybe the evil Bush administration is trying to keep that quiet?

VOGEL: No. He`s saying that we have reached a tipping point, that soaring gas prices have now necessitated this. So clearly, tipping point versus, you know, a terrorist attack on a Middle Eastern oil facility.

BECK: It`s the difference between yellow and red on that chart thing.

He`s also now for offshore drilling, but not really. This is after the little red herring of "These oil companies, they`ve got to use every square inch of those lands that they already have leased," which is the biggest -- is the biggest joke on the planet.

VOGEL: Yes. This is a little more of a nuance position, which of course, Barack Obama has specialized in staking out these nuances.

He was, in fact, against and expressed opposition to drilling off the shore of Florida. And now he`s saying that he would support a package of reforms that is now before Congress that would include drilling off Florida`s coast, but that he`s still skeptical about the results. So not quite as clear of a flip-flop.

BECK: Yes. Yes, I know. That whole drilling thing has only been done for 100 years. I`m sure that`s not going to work.

And then you go to McCain. A little more nuanced, but still in the same category. Against offshore drilling, at least dictated by the government, but now he`s for it.

VOGEL: Yes, McCain, previously, though, if you look back at his statements during his 2000 campaign and between then and now, he`s presented this more as a state`s rights issue. He said, you know, if California wants to drill, go for it. If Florida doesn`t want to drill, they can do that, too.

Now, however, he is clearly a cheerleader. He is advocating for offshore drilling. So that`s certainly a shift in emphasis, if nothing else.

BECK: Yes, but he still doesn`t want ANWR or anything -- I don`t know.

You know, Ken, here`s what I find amazing. I went back today, and I looked back at Romney`s proposals, because I said at the time he was running, when it comes to energy, when it comes to the economy, this guy is the guy to have.

If you look at what he said April 2007, we have to end our strategic vulnerability to an oil shut-off by nations like Iran, Russia and Venezuela. Now all of a sudden Barack Obama has jumped on the bandwagon this week. He called for an accelerated construction of new nuclear power facilities. John McCain has done that now. He expressed support, drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, and the Outer Continental Shelf. Now John McCain is on that.

I mean, if you look at his policies, he was possibly just too far ahead. Like Reagan, Reagan was ahead. When are we going to find a candidate that is ahead, and not following the news of the day, but can see over the horizon and say, "Here`s what`s coming"? And then the world will catch up to them?

VOGEL: Romney had wide appeal, if you remember, among economic conservatives for policies like the ones that you just articulated on drilling, on nuclear power.

However, where he had a problem was with sort of social conservatives, religious conservatives who distrusted him for his evolution on things like abortion rights and gay rights. So that`s where he had a problem. I don`t think anyone questioned his economic bone fides.

BECK: Does anybody -- does anybody actually believe that if gas goes down to, let`s say, $3.60 a gallon, that America just doesn`t go back to sleep? That America is like, "Whew, $3.60 a gallon. We dodged that bullet. We`ll never get worse again."

Is anybody thinking -- is anybody think that the American people are not going to go to sleep on this?

VOGEL: Well, clearly, that`s what happened, is that once it got past that point to the tipping point, as Obama put it, it really did become a front and center political issue. And you`re probably right that if it recedes a little bit, if gas drops, then it probably will fall somewhere back down the agenda.

BECK: You know, I`d just like somebody to be able to see over the horizon and say, "Focus, America."

Ken, thanks.

Now, the debate over the energy crisis is not going away. It`s really not. You need to be prepared. "Arguments Against Idiots" is what I call this thing that we`ve now done in our free e-mail newsletter.

It has all the information you need to set your idiot friends straight, you know, when they say, "Yes, let me tell you something. I don`t know what you have against Al Gore. He`s just trying to save the planet. He`s a real superhero."

But you can only get the answer to dumb things like that by signing up now at GlennBeck.com. It`s absolutely free. "Arguments Against the Idiots."

Coming up, while our leaders in Washington fight with each other over the oil crisis, our pals in Russia, they`re busy buying up the entire planet, locking in all of the resources. I`ll tell you how Putin and company are positioning themselves to put a strangle-hold on the entire planet when it comes to energy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, what a difference a decade makes. It`s been a while since we`ve spent the Soviet Union right out of business. Now it seems like the tables have turned on us.

Since then, Russia has been quietly rebuilding and getting out of debt. Now they are filthy rich. And they`re sitting on some of the world`s richest deposits of oil and natural gas.

Plus, they`re buying all of the energy that they can get their hands on from everywhere else, and having play-dates with psychotic leaders in Iran and Venezuela. And just in case, you know, you`re freaking out just a bit, don`t worry. It gets much, much worse.

Marshall Goldman is the author of "Petrostate," senior scholar at Harvard University.

I just started reading your book last night, Marshall. It is -- it`s quite heavy reading, because it starts with the early, early history of Russia and oil. But it is an important book, because I don`t think most people understand they have changed -- they have -- they have traded out their weapons, if you will, for money and dollars and holdings and oil. And they are going to be very powerful very soon.

MARSHALL GOLDMAN, AUTHOR, "PETROSTATE": Well, they`ve become a superpower with the emphasis on the power. The energy sector. And what I try to argue is that, in many ways, they`re more powerful. Russia is more powerful now, certainly relative to Europe, than it`s ever been in its history. It`s an incredible transformation.

BECK: It`s -- you know, I don`t know if you`ll agree with this, Marshall. I think that we`ve -- we`ve reversed places with the Soviet Union in a way. And, you know, Osama bin Laden said, because he takes credit for the destruction of the Soviet Union, he says, "I`m going to do to America what I did to the Soviet Union." Whether he`s orchestrating or not -- we may be doing much of it ourselves.

We are really in the opposite position that we were at the end of the Soviet Union, true or false?

GOLDMAN: Well, very close to being true. I mean, there are some differences, of course. You know, we`re not on our knees just yet, but we seem to be heading that way at a very rapid -- at a rapid pace.

What we`re actually importing now, Russian oil, about $10 billion a year. They`re talking about selling us natural gas, too, for LMG, in that form. And with the money they`ve been earning, they have a trade surplus of about $130 billion a year. They`re now beginning to buy up some American corporations, including Getty Oil and some of our steel industries. So it`s an incredible transformation.

BECK: Really, everything -- and I was so glad to see that your book covered all the history of it, because a lot of people don`t understand with gas problems and with the pipeline that they`re putting across Europe, this is what Reagan -- I mean, Reagan fought against this and said, "You can`t do this, Europe, because you`ll be a slave to Russia." And yet it`s happening now.

GOLDMAN: Well, I think -- you know, I wasn`t all that thrilled with Reagan at the time. But looking back, he -- he saw this. He understood, and he tried to convince the Germans not to build this pipeline. And the Germans reluctantly agreed, but said, "We`re going to go ahead and do it, and what we`ll do is we`ll limit our consumption of natural gas..."

BECK: Right.

GOLDMAN: "... from Russia to 25 percent." It`s now up to over 40 percent. So you can see how crucial that is.

BECK: I don`t think people really understand. Oh, jeez, we only have 30 seconds. I`d love to have you back. I don`t think people really understand that the -- the money has come from one play, and it`s coupled now with the old KGB people. And they are a -- this is a powerful, powerful state that has the ability to strangle the whole world and hold the world down underneath its thumb very soon, true or false?

GOLDMAN: More true. More true than false. Certainly, I mean, for the United States, we`re still rather doubly immune, but the Europeans are really under Russia`s thumb in a way that`s incredible.

BECK: Marshall, love to have you back. Thank you very much. It`s a great book.

Coming up, energy crisis. America`s energy crisis. Obama says we should inflate our tires. "Real Story," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) * BECK: Well, coming up, I call it gun control, Virginia style. Our friends down in Richmond have actually found a way, this is going to surprise you, how to fight gun crime and still keep the second amendment intact, and it works. More in just a bit.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story."

I have an important, exclusive announcement to make tonight. I, Glenn Beck, an uneducated, recovering alcoholic, former morning show DJ rodeo clown have come up with a solution to America`s energy crisis. And here it is, right here.

See this, a hat and then the clothes. See? And even look at this. This is like a socialist, communist shirt. It`s great. It looks like a pile of clothes, right? Actually, it`s so much more.

Right now, everybody wears clothes while they drive; pants, shirts, undershirts, underwear, shoes socks, jewelry, maybe even that hat. Do you have any idea how much that stuff weighs? I don`t really either, but I bet it`s a lot. And I bet that if everybody would just strip down and drive buck-naked, we could increase our gas mileage enough to save as much oil as we`d get from new offshore drilling.

You`re welcome, America. Don`t think about that solution too long.

"The Real Story" is my idea has just as much chance of making a difference in the energy crisis as Barack Obama`s suggestion that we should all keep our tires inflated properly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Making sure your tires are properly inflated. Simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they`re talking about getting of drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires? And getting regular tune-ups? You could actually save just as much. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I think this is the story of the loaves and fishes that Jesus was just telling us. Really? That`s wild. Especially when Mr. Jesus`s campaign was phoned up and we said, can you give us the figures to back up the claim that tires and tune-ups are equal to offshore drilling?

They couldn`t produce any of those facts or figures, but evidence or not Republicans have found the idea to be pretty funny. And that has left King Obama stunned. How could anyone dare ridicule an idea as revolutionary as checking your tire pressure?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: They`re making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3 percent to 4 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Really? First of all, they`re not making fun of that fact. They`re making fun of you, Mr. Gimmicks. The American -- the American people need to be told the truth. You`re now embracing what is nothing more than a short-term gimmick.

I know we have short-term memories in America, but didn`t anybody remember less two months ago, when Obama couldn`t stand the idea of a gas tax holiday?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: When John McCain says we`re going to drill our way out of the problem, or we`re going to give tax cut -- suspend the gas tax for 60 days, which would save you 30 cents a day for 90 days for a grand total of $28, then I say, that`s a gimmick. You`re not being serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: So help me out here. A tax holiday is a gimmick, but tire gauge, that`s serious strategy.

I`m sure that if all one billion tires in America were properly inflated, we would save oil, but I`m also pretty sure that if all 300 million people in America each sent me a dollar, I would never have to work again.

The point is that neither of these things are going to happen, which is why America still needs to drill. And I still need to host this stupid, stupid TV show.

And by the way, two-thirds of Americans are doing what Obama suggests. So that only leads a third. Maybe we should create a big government agency to force those people to fill their air with tires, or tires with air. Whatever.

Tire gauges and tune ups; nothing more than updated version of Jimmy Carter`s "wear a sweater" idea. That`s not a solution. It`s the same diversion and stall tactics that have gotten this country nowhere for 30 years.

And by the way, a recent proposal by a senator of driving 55 miles on the highway will help save gas is just another indication that there are a lot more crazy ideas still to come.

Stephen Moore is a senior economics editorial writer in "The Wall Street Journal." Steven, help me out on this one.

Why is it that driving 55 miles an hour, going to save some gas? That`s not what a leader does. They don`t say, we`re going to eat all the food. They say, shouldn`t we plant more food, shouldn`t we grow more food and expand?

STEPHEN MOORE, SENIOR ECONOMICS EDITORIAL WRITER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": When I heard that idea from Senator Warner of going back to the 55 mile per hour federal speed limit, I didn`t know whether to laugh or cry. You remember Glenn, in the 1970s and `80s, we had that policy. It was the most disobeyed law perhaps in American history either than prohibition.

Americans will drive the speed that they want to. And the idea that the way out of our energy crisis is for everybody to go slower, it`s about as crazy as the idea of inflating your tires more.

BECK: Yes, it`s not what America does. Now he came up with a three- point plan today for energy. The first one is 150 million plug-in hybrids. Where are we getting that energy?

MOORE: Yes, look, I think if these kinds of technologies like hybrid cars can work and could be economical, I`m all for it. What I object to here, Glenn, is the idea that we have to have the government direct the investment.

If you listen to the plan that Barack Obama came out today, you know what it reminded me of? The Hillary health care plan. Government is going to direct where the energy money goes. Why can`t the free market do that? Why do we need all these new government programs?

BECK: The other thing is that he came out and said 150 million new plug-in hybrids, in four years he wants them on the road. He wants to double our alternative energy, also in four years.

But what alternative energy? You`re not going to do nukes. They won`t do that. Definitely not in four years. Are you going to put the wind farms up? Oh, no. Ted Kennedy doesn`t want it off the coast of Massachusetts or Long Island Sound.

If you wanted to be able to do it there --

MOORE: You want to know an amazing statistic? If you wanted to provide electricity for Manhattan, which I think is where you are right now, you would have to build wind turbines to cover the entire state of Connecticut to produce enough electricity.

I mean this is a pipe dream, Glenn. Even if we do what Obama is talking about and double our use of alternative energy, we only get 3 percent of it now from those. So now we`re up at six percent. Where are we going to get the other 94 percent of our energy from?

BECK: I don`t know why -- it was Paris Hilton`s idea. I don`t know why it would -- it`s so crazy to say let`s get all of the oil and the shale and everything else while we`re producing new alternative energy. We`ve got to do all of it, but they won`t do it.

MOORE: Because Glenn --

BECK: Go ahead.

MOORE: Barack Obama, his energy plan sounds like it was developed by the people at the Sierra Club. Truth it, Glenn, they don`t want the oil. That`s what you don`t get. They don`t want any more oil. They don`t want any more gas. They want $10 gasoline. That`s what they want.

BECK: They don`t want the energy either. They don`t want the energy. That`s why every solution you have has a problem.

The last idea he has is cut electricity usage by 15 percent. Besides wearing a sweater, and keeping -- this is one of the proposals. Every building now needs to be 79 degrees air-conditioned; 79 degrees inside some of these buildings. That is not a forward-thinking policy. That is sacrifice all the time with these guys.

MOORE: It`s sacrifice and also kind of fascistic, isn`t it, that the government is going to tell you -- I mean in California, as you know, they`re talking about a plan where the government would actually regulate the thermostat in your house. This is all crazy.

BECK: In Spain, they`re putting this in. Which kind of government is it in Spain? I know, a socialist government is already putting all of these -- these proposals, look it up. These are the same proposals that Spain is now implementing in their socialist government.

Stephen thanks a lot.

MOORE: Thank you.

BECK: Finally, about 15 years ago, it was a hot Texas night. Two teenage girls ages 16 and 14 -- they were walking home from their friend`s house and running late. They decided to take a short cut.

They made their way across the train tracks near the apartment complex. That`s where they ran into six members of a gang called the "Black and White." The men had been drinking and looking for trouble. Now they had found some.

One of the men stopped the 16-year-old girl, a girl by the name of Elizabeth Pena. She tried to run, but the man caught her, threw her to the ground. The 14-year-old girl did something amazing. Her name is Jenny Ertman. She could have gotten free.

In fact, she was free and she could have run away. But instead, she decided to come back and help her friend. Her friend was crying out for help.

Jenny was tossed to the pavement as well, and then both girls were then gang-raped and tortured for an hour. They begged for their lives and the beatings only got worse, teeth were knocked out, their ribs were broken.

Finally, the girls were dragged into the nearby woods where the gang wrapped a belt around Jenny`s neck and strangled her so hard that the fabric of the belt was snapped in half. Elizabeth was strangled with her own shoe laces. Then this man stomped on their necks and broke them "to make sure they were dead."

Police found the girls` bodies four days later. Many of the life-long officers there in the Houston area had their eyes fill with tears a year later as they tried to describe to the jury what they had seen.

I tell you this story with all of its gruesome details for two good reasons. One, because the press always seems to want to gloss over the brutality of what really happened on that night. And two, one of the members of that gang was a Mexican national, an illegal alien by the name of Jose Medellin.

The good news is, if there is any, after years and years of trials and appeals in international courts and the United Nations, he was finally put to death last night. That went against all of the wishes of everyone from the President of the United States to the United Nations to the International Court of Justice, whoever the hell they think they are, to the Mexican Government.

But I have a feeling it was very much in line with someone else, Jenny`s father, Randy Ertman. He witnessed the execution last night and he joins me now by phone. Randy?

RANDY ERTMAN, JENNY ERTMAN`S FATHER: How are you doing, sir?

BECK: What did you expect to feel today or last night and what do you feel?

ERTMAN: I feel wore out today. I expected it to go a lot better than it did last night. We had to wait four hours for it to happen because they had it on hold. And that was pretty hard. That was real hard, probably the hardest four hours of my life.

BECK: I bet it was. Much of the time spent thinking, are they actually going to go through with it?

ERTMAN: Oh, yes. You`re worrying, are they, won`t they, will they? And then when they finally do, and he apologized half-heartedly. He didn`t mean it. So I`m glad he`s gone.

BECK: What is it like to watch the man who killed your daughter die?

ERTMAN: I don`t know. For me, it was just the right thing to do because I wanted him to look in my eyes and see me with his last breath. And he did. That`s what he`s seen, with me and Adolf Pena looking at him, looking him right in the eyes as he died.

The last thing he`d seen on this earth was us. And it wasn`t a pretty thing to be looking at, I wouldn`t think.

BECK: Randy, thank you very much. And by the way, your daughter was remarkable to go back and run for her friend and try to help her friend. That`s a remarkable, remarkable thing to do. Thanks.

We`ll be praying for your and your family.

And last night, when I heard finally that the execution went through, my first thought was, wow. You know, moment of silence or something. That`s what Jesus would do. Then I realized I`m not Jesus.

So when he was executed, it didn`t really put me in the mood for silence. It actually put me in the mood for a little mariachi music. Hit it, boys.

I mean, why it took 15 years is beyond me. And there are still more of these scum bags involved in this crime to go. We`ll watch them go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Back in 1996, Richmond, Virginia, had the third highest murder rate in the entire country. The people were sick and tired of the violent crime. Authorities there decided to do something revolutionary. They began to target illegal guns. I know, it`s crazy.

They called it Project Exile. The idea was to hand down unbelievably long sentences to anyone using an illegal hand gun in a crime, whether it was murder or a drug dealer on a street corner.

In the first year, Project Exile helped remove 31 percent of illegal guns from Richmond`s streets. Now, 12 years later, the murder rate has been cut, armed robberies had been dropped by third.

You don`t need to ban guns. Hello, Chicago. You don`t need to turn in to New York City to be safe. You just need to bring both sides together then use just a little bit of common sense and then find a leader who is honest and determines like Doug Wilder, he`s the mayor of Richmond and the former governor of Virginia.

Hello, Mayor. How are you, sir?

DOUGLAS WILDER, MAYOR OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: Fine, Glenn. Always good to be with you.

BECK: I like your new goatee. Works on you.

WILDER: I haven`t shaved.

BECK: Mayor, first of all, how come nobody decided to ban guns altogether? That`s the popular thing. Who was it that said, let`s try something different?

WILDER: Well, you put your hand right on it. You have to bring sensible, reasonable people together. You have to bring Republicans and Democrats and Independents. You have to bring law enforcement. You had to bring the NRA.

You had to bring people who will say let`s sit down and see what we can do. And I tell in the absence of that, you`re not going to not only have any control of it. You`re not going to have the cooperation that you need.

BECK: Here is the great thing because I`m a lifetime member of the NRA. They`re very proud of this program and they`re very proud that everybody was working together.

And the idea was don`t take the guns away from the good citizens. If you catch someone with an illegal gun, the feds, the state, and the local authorities are were working together on this. Right? And they all have to nail them.

WILDER: Absolutely. You absolutely have to do that. What we call it, as you know, the cooperative violence reduction partnership. And in that, the first thing you do, you want to have prevention. Then you have deterrence, investigation, and then intervention, and then prosecution.

The thing that is so important is to have the people in the community wanting to be a part; the federal agencies wanting to be a part. It`s a task force that is all working together to bring about a reduction. This was, as you pointed out, the murder capital. People get out of Richmond.

BECK: This is a huge, huge, huge success, which leads me to two questions. Why isn`t this the model for the rest of the country? Why isn`t New York doing this? Why isn`t Washington doing this? Why isn`t Chicago doing this?

And the second question is, you`re a big supporter of Barack Obama; the biggest nanny state. Here we go, the biggest nanny state in the country is Chicago. How come he`s not a big advocate of this?

WILDER: Well, one of the things I did hear him say at the mayor`s conference in Miami that he was going to have put into place in his cabinet what is called an urban affairs program; an urban policy program. And I can tell you, guns are part of the urban life.

BECK: Wait a minute, mayor, mayor. The whole point of this is you don`t need new laws. You just have to get everybody on the same page. Arrest them and put them in jail.

WILDER: Well, I don`t disagree with you. You put your hand right on it. Our clearance rate in Richmond now is at 82 percent. The national clearance rate is in the 60s.

BECK: What does that mean?

WILDER: That means that something is working right. People are coming together. They`re testifying against witnesses. I mean, they`re being witnesses that testify against these criminals.

And once they find out that the feds are working, ATF, DEA, alcohol, tobacco, and the drug people are working; it`s an amazing turnaround in our city. People are now wanting to live here and they know that if you do the time, you do the crime in Richmond, you`re going to get caught.

BECK: Mayor, it`s always a pleasure to have you on. You`re one guy I can se eye to eye on, on a lot of things.

WILDER: Thanks a lot, Glenn.

BECK: I wish, sir, you just spread this goodness all around the country because more cities need this.

WILDER: Well, thank you a lot. And let`s encourage more people to work together and to cooperate in reducing crime.

BECK: Thanks a lot. Appreciate it, mayor.

WILDER: Thank you sir. My pleasure.

BECK: Coming up, Paris Hilton, believe it or not, has a better energy plan than both candidates. Who knew, huh? Vote Hilton. Details are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, whether you like him or not, for a lot of people, Barack Obama is more celebrity now than substance. So you can understand John McCain wanting to point that out in one of his ads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead? With gas prices soaring, Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling and says he`ll raise taxes on electricity.

Higher taxes, more foreign oil. That`s the real Obama.

I`m John McCain and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Ok. I mean, I think you can argue, it`s not necessarily a good idea to show your opponent in front of 200,000 screaming people out of context, but the ad became controversial for other reasons.

It was too negative, too petty. One of history`s most incoherent uses of the English language said that the commercial was racist.

The ad also annoyed Paris Hilton`s parents, who are big McCain donors. I would think the McCain staff would have checked the donors list and maybe used Lindsay Lohan instead, but who am I to say.

All of this inspired a response from Paris herself with this clip from funnyordie.com.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PARIS HILTON: Hey, America. I`m Paris Hilton and I`m a celebrity too. Only, I`m not from the olden days and I`m not promising change like that other guy. I`m just hot.

But then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I`m running for president. So thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude. And I want America to know that I`m, like, totally ready to lead.

And now I want to present my energy policy for America. Just as soon as I finish reading this article on where I fly to, to get the best tan. Oh, Maui, love set.

Ok, so here`s my energy policy. Barack wants to focus on new technology to cut foreign oil dependency and McCain wants offshore drilling. Well, why don`t we do a hybrid of both candidates` ideas?

We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars. That way the offshore drilling carries us until the new technologies kick in, which will then create new jobs and energy independence. Energy crisis solved.

I`ll see you at the debates, bitches.

I`m Paris Hilton and approved this message because I think it`s totally hot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I mean, how sad is it that she makes more sense than the other two guys? She looked hot while she`s raising our taxes and say got to have more money to buy more dogs. Can you imagine the State of the Union in night vision?

From New York, good night America.

END