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Glenn Beck

Greens Resist Compromising for Renewable Fuels; Megachurch Pastor Breaks Down McCain, Obama Views; Life on Campus Rough for Conservatives

Aired August 18, 2008 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight Obama and McCain visit megapastor Rick Warren`s megachurch. But it was politics as usual when the issue of abortion came up. I`ll tell you how the two candidates handled -- or confused -- the issue.
Plus we begin our series of life on campus. Today, we`ll see what it`s like to be a conservative professor on a liberal campus.

And are you ever going to need a roll of duct tape to wrap your head with. An alarming new documentary from the former head of the GAO on our addiction to debt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to act and act soon, because time is working against us.

BECK: All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Hello, America.

I know, I know, "The world`s on fire. Pakistan`s President Musharraf resigned." Yes, yes. Russia says they`re leaving Georgia. Missile launchers have been moved to the south of Georgia. You know, Poland, "Hey, we`re going to take some of those missiles on ourselves." I mean, it`s crazy. But it`s Monday. So I`m not going to focus on the world ending. I thought I`d just focus on something a little closer to home here, starring our familiar old friend, hypocrisy.

Let me tell you a story about the green moment. They say that they want easy-breezy solutions to energy, wind power. Wouldn`t that be great if we could get all of our power from wind? Yes, they love it. They just don`t like any of the transmission lines. That`s what they have a problem with now.

Nancy Pelosi is finally saying she`s for more offshore drilling. Great. But she also wants to roll back the tax breaks for oil companies on a long list of things that are never going to get done.

So here`s "The Point" tonight. You can`t have it both ways. OK? Nothing ever is going to get done if the politicians and the lobbyists keep saying one thing and doing another. And here`s how I got there.

It turns out the best place for a wind farm is out in the middle of nowhere. Who would have thunk it? To get energy, you know, these wind mills are making, they`ve got to get it to you, using those big, huge transmission lines, you know, that nobody wants to live under. "Oh, my gosh. I`ll have radiation poison." Right?

If you`re a tree hugger, you don`t want these things. You`re protesting right now, these transmission lines, because they`re going to cut through some of our precious forests. It`s not just one place. It`s all over the country that they`re protesting now. They might endanger in Oregon the precious sage grass. I can`t make this stuff up.

In Washington, House Speaker Pelosi says that she has now expanded offshore drilling as part of her new energy proposal. Well, that`s great. Yes. Would be if the same plan didn`t list, like, 100 other things that are never going to get passed, including the tax breaks being taken away for the oil companies, who have to invest the millions to do the drilling.

Here`s "The Point" tonight, America. Here`s what you need to know. In the grown-up world, real solutions do require compromise. Alternative energy is of no use if we can`t get it from the desert to our house. You want to have more offshore drilling, it`s an empty gesture if you make it so oil companies who can do it can`t afford to. Remember, I know you right now: "Oh, I can`t afford" -- forget about the dollar amount of the oil company profits and look instead at their profit margin. It`s a huge difference. It`s about 7.6 percent. That is less than most companies: less than casinos, steel, agricultural chemicals and way less than Google. Microsoft, I think, is about 20, 25 percent, as well. And hedge funds are in the 80 percent range.

Examples like these are so absurd if it wasn`t so tragic, it would actually be funny. The stakes are too high. The greens, the Democrats, all these clowns in Washington have got to stop screwing around. And remember, there`s no such thing as a free lunch, especially in Washington.

Kevin Kerr is an analyst and editor for a Global Commodities Alert. And Max Schultz is a senior fellow at Manhattan Institute`s Center for Energy Policy and the Environment.

Kevin, let me start in -- let me start in Oregon and Indiana and California. All kinds of protests now because the precious forests are going to be wrecked by transmission lines from solar panels. Right?

KEVIN KERR, ANALYST/EDITOR, GLOBAL COMMODITIES ALERT: Yes. You know, Glenn, bottom line: in Indiana, for example, they`re trying to get -- they have though go through just miles of red tape to get the regulatory clearance, even try to build these transmission lines. And then, of course, there will be the endless lawsuits from different environmental groups and other special-interest groups. This could go on forever, just to get transmission lines built in Indiana.

BECK: OK. Max, that`s just why I don`t trust anybody in Washington, and nobody does. When Nancy Pelosi says, "You know what? I`ve had a change of heart. We should drill." I don`t believe that she actually wants to drill. She`s loaded this thing up in a way that she knows this will never pass. She`s making a company commercial. Yes or no?

MAX SCHULTZ, SENIOR FELLOW, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE`S CENTER FOR ENERGY POLICY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: I think so. I mean, this proposal from Speaker Pelosi is a smoke screen. She said a couple weeks ago that she thinks offshore drilling is a hoax. She said that she opposes it because she wants to save the planet.

And what she`s offering now is she`s bound to the political reality. She`s trying to give a little bit of cover to fellow Democrats who are running this fall...

BECK: Right.

SCHULTZ: ... by offering a proposal that she says is offshore drilling. But it`s not. I mean, just on the drilling aspects of the proposal, it hardly goes far enough. It doesn`t open up offshore drilling in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of California, places where we need to do it. And then she loads up the bill with all sorts of things like a renewable portfolio standard and taking away these supposed tax cuts for the big oil companies. And a host of other things that will make this bill unpalatable.

BECK: OK.

SCHULTZ: And I think Congress would be wise to reject it.

BECK: OK, wait. Real quick on the tax cuts, these are the same -- the same things, Max, that all companies get. Right? All companies get these tax cuts.

SCHULTZ: Sure the manufacturing tax deductions is something which is open to every manufacturing industry in the United States, with -- I believe the one exception is the pornography industry. And I mean, this tells you a little bit about the mindset of folks like Speaker Pelosi, that they`ve lumped the oil companies in with pornographers.

BECK: All right. And Max, just to show the hypocrisy of these people, you have Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania. And he was a big proponent: we`ve got to have wind energy. We`ve got to go into wind energy.

But now that they have the wind energy that they`re trying to do, now he`s trying to repeal the law that would make the transmission lines being built easier. He`s trying to take that out and repeal that law.

SCHULTZ: It really is amazing. I mean, I think the environmentalists and the Democratic Party, which is -- answers to the environmental lobby, has to realize that if you really want the precious windmills and you want the solar panels, and you want to get that energy to the marketplace, you`re going to need transmission lines, and they`re going to have to budge on that.

BECK: OK. Kevin, Strategic Oil Reserve. This is also in there. This drives me crazy. What part of "strategic" in the Strategic Oil Reserve do the Democrats not seem to understand?

KERR: Yes, and clearly, they do not understand what the purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is, what it was created for. This is not a emergency situation. We need to, you know, help bring down prices temporarily We need a long-term solution, and clearly they`re just trying appease voters, say, "Look, we can fix this quickly." There is no quick fix here. As you said at the top of the show, we all are going to need to make sacrifices, and quick fixes just aren`t going to do it.

BECK: Do you guys -- do either of you guys think we actually have a way to move forward? I mean, either party gets in. Is anyone going to move forward on this?

SCHULTZ: Well, I hope so, and we`ll see what happens in November at the polls. I think that the public really wants to open up things like the OCS and ANWR, and we`ll see if Congress acts.

KERR: I think the Democrats are underestimating the average America`s understanding of the situation. They`re not buying into the idea that you can have clean, safe energy that`s not going to be in your backyard. We`re all going have to make sacrifices. And I think as the voters go to the polls, I agree they will make themselves heard.

BECK: You know, I`ll tell you. I`m driving one of these GM hydrogen cars, and I was talking to the guy from GM. It`s something that`s supposed to come out in 2013. And I said to him, "You are going to -- they`re going to yell at you for killing fish, because you get the hydrogen from the water. Look out. It`s coming."

Guys, thanks a lot.

Now, John McCain and Barack Obama. They hit the stage over the weekend at Rick Warren`s megachurch to make their pitch to evangelicals. I have to tell you, I don`t know if we learned anything here. We`ll have Rick Warren on with us in just a second.

And Wal-Mart warns its employees about the dangers of a Barack Obama victory in November. The world`s largest private employer trying to protect its bottom line, but some say they stepped over another line in the process. That`s tonight`s "Real Story."

And we kick off our weeklong series, "Life on Campus." You`ve got a kid going to college? Do not miss this series, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, ten governors from the U.S. and Mexico have finally come together to put an end to the war that we fight on the border every day. The plan of attack, go green. Yes, coming up in tonight`s "Real Story."

But first, pastor and "Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren invited the presidential candidates to his Saddleback Valley Community Church for an evening of personal and political policy questions. Not only was it a preview of the fall`s coming debate season -- please kill me now -- but it was also a rare opportunity to see the candidates in front of a religious audience that people say now, you know, it`s a voting bloc more vocal and more influential than ever before.

Here`s what bothered me about this. I mean, you know what? Say what you mean and mean what you say. Grow a set, honestly. Grow a set, politicians. Just tell me what you truly believe. That`s what I want to hear.

But you know what? These guys go any way the wind blows: "Well, wait a minute. I think everybody`s going this way." It`s that spineless flip- flopping and sitting on the fence that we don`t deserve, quite honestly. And it`s not what will turn the country around.

Now let`s talk to the man himself, the man who made the invitation and hosted it, Pastor Rick Warren.

Rick, were you -- did you all regret at all the fact that you said no follow -p questions?

PASTOR RICK WARREN, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: Yes, actually I had to make the decision: was I going to go broad or deep, and every bone in my body wanted to say "yes, but" to a lot of the questions and do follow up. I can now sympathize with journalists in their inability to get politicians sometimes to get off their -- the stump speech and actually answer some questions, that I wanted to go deeper.

But I decided if I did ask follow-ups, I`d only get two or three questions answered, and I felt like I would sacrifice that for getting more subjects covered.

BECK: OK. Let me do a follow-up here on a couple things and see if you can help sort it out. It was the -- the topic was abortion. Here is what happened with John McCain. Let`s start there first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: What point is a baby entitled to human rights?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At the moment of conception.

WARREN: Would you favor or oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, since we have this other breakthrough?

MCCAIN: For those of us in the pro-life area, this has been a great struggle, and a terrible dilemma, because we`re also taught other obligations that we have, as well. I`ve come down on the side of stem-cell research.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Excuse me? A baby deserves protection at the moment of conception, but then we can harvest them for their cells? It doesn`t make any sense.

WARREN: Well, you know, the whole goal was to just to let guys say their position, and if as position is not consistent, well, it`s not consistent. That`s why I wanted to ask both questions.

BECK: Was this is "yes, but" moment for you?

WARREN: Yes, but.

BECK: Yes, OK.

WARREN: I definitely wanted to cover that.

BECK: All right. Then here`s the -- here on the other side, they both did the same thing. Here`s the other side with Barack Obama. Listen to this "yes, but."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: Have you ever voted to limit or reduce abortions?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, the -- I am in favor, for example, of limits on late-term abortions, if there is an exception for the mother`s health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. A, he didn`t answer your question.

WARREN: He did not answer the question.

BECK: Right. But what kind of limit would a guy that -- that stood against, spoke out twice and then voted against it twice in the Illinois senate, the Induced Infant Liability Act, which basically is the let the baby die in the sink act. Where they -- where if it`s a partial birth abortion, and the baby doesn`t -- or the doctor doesn`t kill the baby, they have to let the baby die there.

WARREN: Right.

BECK: He said, yes, you got to do that. Four times he spoke out and voted against it. What -- I mean, that`s as extreme as you could possibly get. Was this a "yes, but" moment?

WARREN: Well, certainly it was. All I can do is hope. Obviously, I`m pro-life. All I can do is hope that he changed his mind on that. Because...

BECK: Well, that is the -- hope and change. I guess.

I mean, do you -- did you have any feeling, Rick, one way or another, when you walked away? I don`t want you for -- I don`t want an endorsement from you. But did you -- not necessarily getting into specifics, unless you want to. Did you walk away with a feeling from one or the other?

WARREN: Well, you know, Glenn, I`ve known both these guys for some time and I really -- I didn`t get any new answer that I personally didn`t already know they were going to say, because I know the positions they`re coming from.

But for America, I -- one of the benefits of the forum was they saw not just the start political differences, but they also saw the stark personality differences. These guys are opposite in every single bone of their body, except I do believe they love America. I just -- they have starkly different visions...

BECK: Yes.

WARREN: ... for what that America should be.

BECK: OK.

WARREN: And Obama is kind of the, I could call him the thoughtful consensus builder. He loves nuances. And you know, he`s a constitutional attorney, and he likes to talk about the nuances. McCain is the straight- forward, happy commander. Yes, yes, tell them to leave.

BECK: OK. Here`s -- here`s the thing that I -- because you knew -- you said you needed to talk to them about the Constitution and ask. Is it cut in stone, because that brings us back to our Founding Fathers, or not?

WARREN: Right.

BECK: Listen to this response when you ask is there anybody that you wouldn`t nominated that`s currently sitting on the Supreme Court? Here`s Obama`s answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don`t think that he -- I didn`t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinking for that elevation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. Here`s a guy, Clarence Thomas, was Missouri attorney general, assistant secretary of education. He ran the EEOC. He was district court of appeals in the District of Columbia, which is one of the most prominent court of appeals in the country, and he wasn`t experienced? This coming from a guy who was a community organizer?

WARREN: Well, the very reason I asked the question that way was to try to pin both candidates down. The original question was going to be what kind of jurist would you nominate to the Supreme Court, knowing that we may have two or even three in the next presidential administration vacancies. And so then I thought, you know what? They could just go all over the place and never really get specific. So I turned it into a question, what -- who would you not -- not nominate? And both men showed their political -- their base, their views.

BECK: Right. But not really. Scalia would be the one that you would go after. I find that -- Clarence Thomas I find -- I mean, quite honestly, if it were reversed, people would be asking why did you pick the black man? At least I think.

And John McCain was going after all of the liberals. All of the liberals I wouldn`t nominate. I don`t know if we learned -- do you think we learned anything here, Rick?

WARREN: Well, you know, I have been getting thousands of e-mails in, and by the way, one of the interesting things that I got is I got a request from the president of Georgia, who evidently watched the debate -- watched the forum and he -- almost in tears said, "Thank you for mentioning Georgia. Would you send out a note to all the people on your mailing list, asking them to pray for Georgia? Because we were so happy that we even got mentioned in the forum." And I thought that was an interesting thing.

BECK: I have to tell you, Pastor, I don`t know if you know him, but you should get to know him. He`s an amazing man.

Pastor, we`ve got to run, but thank you very much.

WARREN: Thank you.

BECK: Now, next, we kick off our series on "Life on Campus." If you`ve got a kid that`s going to college, you need to watch this week. An entire week of conservatives in the classroom and how to survive. It begins next.

And remember the days when people actually lived, you know, within their means? Yes. Government doesn`t. Former comptroller general of the United States, David Walker, is going to stop by to tell us just how bad America`s balance sheet really is. There`s a new movie coming out. We`ll tell you about it, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: When we talk about minorities on campus, usually we`re referring to, you know, race, creed or gender. But these days I think there`s a bigger minority at our institutions of higher learning. It`s an alternative view to the liberal agenda. Too many professors are passing off their leftist beliefs as facts and denying our kids a diversity of opinion. Well, all this week, we`re going to bring you a series called "Life on Campus." Buckle up, America. This is going to get ugly.

Looking at educational issues and sex on campus and everything else, we`re going to try to look at the issues from all sides. Yes, just in time for you to pack your kids off to school.

Joining me is now one of the many professors making sure that there is a balance, at least at one American university. His name is Robert George. He`s a McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

Professor, I have to tell you, this next year I will have two girls in school. And one of my daughters has said to me just recently, "Dad, what do I do?"

And I said, "You deny that you`re my daughter every step of the way."

What -- what advice do you give to a conservative student? Should they shut up and take it? Should they write the papers that the professor wants? How do they get -- how do they learn and grow?

ROBERT GEORGE, PROFESSOR: Glenn, that`s the reverse of the right advice. Conservative students do best when they try their best to learn everything that they can from professors, whether those professors agree with them or not, when they passionately but civilly defend their own positions, when they make arguments for conservative positions and engage those who argue on the liberal side, whether it`s the fellow students or professors.

This is not a time to hide. This is not a time to mask one`s own true views. This is the time to engage, to argue.

BECK: But Professor, I have talked to student after student after student who has done that. And you know what? The thing I like about you is you have told conservative students on campus, "Look, you come to me, and you`re not well-reasoned, well-thought-out, if you`ve got holes in your argument, I ain`t helping you at all. You have to have a good argument for me to stand up for you." And I appreciate that.

But I`ve heard from students who say, "I`ll flunk the class if I don`t give him the paper that he wants."

GEORGE: There are professors who do grade unfairly based on ideology. In some cases, it`s conscious, but in other cases, it`s not even conscious. Professors just lack the ability in some cases to distinguish work that is -- work that disagrees with their position and work that`s bad. And have good work -- but since it doesn`t ring true to the professor`s own views, the professor grades the work down.

But that`s the minority, Glenn. That`s the minority. Most professors are liberal, but most professors really make an effort to grade fairly. Students have to demand that, though. Students have to demand it, and conservative professors -- and I try to do this myself -- have to be prepared to stand up for students who are graded unfairly by...

BECK: Right. Do you agree that it is harder the higher the education level? If you go into graduate student -- as a graduate student and you`re a conservative, you`ve got -- you`ve got a real rough road ahead of you.

GEORGE: You have some challenges. But I`ll tell you what: you`ll sharpen your wits. You have to defend your positions all the time. You can`t just slide by. You can`t just get along.

The conservative students that I have, both the undergraduates and the graduate students, are really sharp kids. And I think part of reason they`re so sharp is they`re constantly having to sharpen their wits against arguments on the other side.

BECK: OK, Professor, you`ll be back with us later again this week, and we`re going be out in Princeton later this week. It`s a week, if you`ve got kids going to college, you don`t want to miss. We`ll be back in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, welcome to the real story.

Let me give awe quick update on our border with Mexico. There have been 330 assaults on our border agents so far this year; that is more than one per day.

Victims of drug violence are coming across the board to be treated in U.S. hospitals. The violence itself is spilling over as Mexican cartels now are actually physically growing the drugs here in our country. And I did I mention the whole little illegal immigration problem?

But have no fear. The Border Governors` Conference is here. Last week, ten governors from the U.S. and Mexico met to discuss all of this and here is where they started solving problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Air pollution. Violence. Drug running and human trafficking. The Border Governors` Conference recognizes the need to work together to address these issues, understanding that a state or nation`s problems do not end with a line drawn on a map.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: That`s right. That`s pretty dramatic. First of all, they put air pollution. That`s the first -- I mean, isn`t it like Sesame Street? You, know, one of these things is not like the other. And, of course, our problems don`t end with a line on the map?

If there was a fence on that map instead of a line, it probably would help, but I`m just saying.

That was just the introduction. Surely, Governor Schwarzenegger would discuss the nitty-gritty and the border security and the drugs and everything. After all, California has been one of hardest hit states by Mexican drug violence and illegal immigration.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, (R) CALIFORNIA: No border or line on the map can divide us because there is no divide to the air we breathe or the clean water that we all depend on. There is no divide when it comes to the healthy environment and the respect for the planet that we all share.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Really?

Here`s the real story. This conference had nothing to do with border security and everything to do with special interest. The theme was "Building Green Economies."

Guess where it was held, Universal City in Hollywood, California. Universal, owned by GE and GE has invested billions in green energy. They have a lot to gain if you start buying their compact fluorescent light bulbs and noticing their nice little green NBC logo.

This has nothing to do with immigration and our border. But hey, GE can`t pass up this opportunity. Are you kidding me?

Even environment valiant, environment warrior Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was given a chance to preach about -- well, I`m not really sure what he was preaching about. But here`s a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER: The archaic AC grid, the electrons will dissipate before they cross the Mississippi River. The Midwest is the Saudi Arabia of wind. Iceland is an example, in 1970, Iceland was the poorest country in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: That is fantastic. I guess, he is discussing Iceland because they have this great border security issue called the ocean.

Why solve the border crisis when you can just peddle green energy and help GE sell a few more light bulbs?

By the way, have you seen NBC`s Olympic coverage? This is the coolest thing ever. They have an air conditioner for their out door set. Not really environmentally friendly but do as they say, not as they do.

Congressman Duncan Hunter is a Republican from California. Congressman, really? Green? That was the theme of this?

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER, (R) CALIFORNIA: Glenn, I think this was appropriately at the Universal Studios because it`s a lot of myth and a lot of fabrication.

And obviously, the border governors, all of whom have been either lukewarm or adamantly opposed to the border fence wanted to talk about things that aren`t really important when the things that are really important -- and the most important endangered species we should because considering right now are the American children who are being poisoned by massive loads of cocaine coming over the border because we don`t have that fence up yet.

And, you know, I don`t know if you`ve seen the pictures, the before and after pictures, with respect to the environment that when we put the fence up, the double fence in San Diego...

BECK: Hang on, hang on, there`s the before.

HUNTER: Yes, you saw loads of trash being dumped over the border, terrible environmental situation. When we put that double fence in, we absolutely cleaned it up. You tell me which is most environmentally sensitive.

But this is an off-limit subject for the border governors. They didn`t want to talk about crime. They didn`t want to talk about the massive number of murders that have been conducted now; almost all of them drug related in the border cities. And the fact that the cartels are fighting for the American market, the one thing we can do is make sure we get that double fence up across the southern border -- Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California -- just like the one I put up in San Diego.

Let`s get that up. That is the most important thing that those governors could do.

BECK: Congressman, you have been fighting this for a very long time and you`re the only one that has gotten a fence to be built anywhere in America, it`s my understanding. But it`s also my understanding that San Diego is really starting to see problems because the drugs and the kidnappings have become so bad.

We`re going to do a story later this week. Are you up on the fact that we think now that the border guards in Mexico are actually having an open lane where people are coming in, they`re kidnapping Americans and then just bringing them through almost like an easy pass through the Mexican border?

HUNTER: Well, listen, you`ve always got official corruption which is strongly integrated with the drug cartels. As you know, we`ve had about 60 incursions by the Mexican army over the border during the last 12 to 14 months. A lot of those are folks who are escorting the drug dealers, providing a security apparatus for them.

And that`s a fact of life. That`s why you need the fence. That double fence incidentally insulates our border patrol agents from being rocked at shot at by people from the other side.

BECK: Congressman, thank you very much for your time. I will tell, I just hope the drug cartels are using solar panels in their meth labs. But maybe that`s just me.

HUNTER: Keep fighting, Glenn.

BECK: You bet.

Now, I want you to imagine the scenario for a second. Your boss gathers you together and all your co-workers and says, "Hey, you know what I`m thinking about doing? Something really stupid. I want to promote Bob, the guy in the office that nobody can stand because he`s always leaving his lunch in the refrigerator until it starts to look like that Chinese girl that they wouldn`t let sing at the Olympics.

Your boss tells everybody, "I`m going to promote Bob but only if a majority of you guys vote for him using an anonymous secret ballot. Once everybody`s done voting, their boss reads the tally; 32 people say Bob is ready for the right job and one person, most likely Bob, says, are you kidding me? He should been the president.

Now, assume for a second, that instead of using secret ballots, your boss said that the vote would be done by a public show of hands with bob watching. Are you still going to vote the same way. And if you did, would you be a little worried that once brown-nosing Bob is in the corner office he might remember the way you voted?

"THE REAL STORY" is elections are not truly fair or free unless they are anonymous. I know, crazy idea our founding fathers figured out years ago. What were they thinking?

That is why we are all free to tell pollsters one thing on the telephone and then do the exact opposite in the voting booth. It`s also why there is a curtain on that voting booth.

But when it comes to organizing unions, the whole concept of free and fair may be a thing of the past if the Democrats have their way. The Employee Free Choice Act is the most ridiculously mistitled bill in history. If it passes, free choice is going to go the way of the pension and the Christmas bonus and the gold watch.

Instead of mandating employees vote with secret ballots whether or not they want a union, this bill would allow unions to be organized just by getting a majority of the workers to sign their names to a piece of paper. It`s called "Card check."

It would not only be a disaster for American businesses, I mean big and small, it will be a disaster for the American workers. No longer would a worker be able to express their will in private. Instead, you have a union leader coming up to you and you have to say, I`m not really for this.

Something, you know, a worker who keeps values keeping their job and their kneecaps, you might think, I got to say no to this one. After all, organized labor and intimidation, I`ve never heard those two used in the same sentence. Have you?

If "Card Check" passes, the obvious winners are the union bosses. The losers should be pretty obvious as well. After all, history is pretty clear on the fact that whenever special interests and politicians get together it`s usually you and I that get screwed in the end.

James Sherk is a Bradley fellow of the Labor Policy and Heritage Foundation. James, did I miss anything on this?

JAMES SHERK, LABOR POLICY AND HERITAGE FOUNDATION: No, you didn`t miss anything at all. Organized labor wants more members. Their membership is falling and they need more union dues. And what is the easiest way of getting more members? Well, take away their ability to choose not to join.

BECK: Ok, but what part -- I mean, I`m trying to think of the argument that would convince me that this is a good idea. At Wal-mart they make all these propaganda and they run these ads and tell all their people everything. Then we go in but then we don`t know what they say afterwards.

I mean, so then if you want to do it, have a meeting where both sides get to speak and you can vote. How can you possibly make, in America, a case that secret ballots are not good?

SHERK: Well, it`s tough to do which is why they will do anything but describe what this legislation does. They call it the Employee Free Choice Act, not the "Take away your right to vote in privacy" act. What they are trying to argue is that it`s just so unfair if the company can come in and make its case.

BECK: This is something, if I`m not mistaken, that I can just walk up to you -- in a small business, right -- and I can say and there`s three employees or four employees or whatever and say, hey you guys want to unionize, just sign this. And then the small business has a union, right?

SHERK: That`s exactly it. You never get to hear the other side of the story if you sign then and there, but it`s a binding legal commitment.

BECK: Ok, this is something, by the way, that -- if I understand right -- Barack Obama, not only says he is for; he co-sponsored this bill.

SHERK: That`s right.

BECK: What does America look like in two years if this bill goes through?

SHERK: You have Jimmy Hoffa boasting that he can double his union`s membership if this happens. Are there really another million Americans who want Jimmy Hoffa and the teamsters to represent them? Probably not.

But you have a senior unit organizers` boasting that the great thing about "Card Check" is you don`t need a majority support among employees. You don`t even need 30 percent support, too to win the election. What`s going to happen is a lot of Americans are going to be forced into unions even if they don`t want to join.

BECK: George McGovern is even coming out and saying what are you, Democrats are you crazy? There is not even support with the slightly insane left.

SHERK: Most union members are opposed to this; two-thirds of union members think that "Card Check" should be illegal. But the union bosses want more dues coming in and the way they`re going to do that is take away profit votes.

BECK: Time to wake up, America. That`s "The Real Story" tonight.

Now, coming up next, our national debt out of control and if we don`t correct it soon, there is a bigger price to pay. A new message of a documentary; I.O.U.S.A., I have seen it. It`s amazing. Its creator stops by to share all the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Recent clash between Russia and Georgia is a great example of how America cannot make independent decisions as long as we`re beholden to other countries for energy or debt, it`s what our founding fathers talked about, that we`ve been screaming about forever.

You know we spent a lot of time talking about oil and gas on this program, but it`s our reliance on countries like China to fund our massive debt that also may prove to be one of our biggest challenges

And here`s why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our country would need $53 trillion invested today, which is about $175,000 per person, to deliver on the government`s obligations and promises. How much of this $53 trillion do we have?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: That clip is from a new fun-filled documentary, I.O.U.S.A., which I have seen and it is truly eye opening. It stars my next guest, David Walker, former Comptroller-General of the United States of America, president and CEO of the Petergee-Peterson Foundation.

Always good to see you. I tell, I watched this thing and I was like, holy cow. Because have you made it so simple to understand. I want to show three clips from the movie. First one is what?

DAVID WALKER, FORMER COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF THE USA: It`s going to be talking about deficits for the last four years; what the government says they are and what the real deficits are.

BECK: Watch this, America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: In the last four years, we`ve had 35 budget deficits and only five budget surpluses, but remember, we`ve been running large annual surplus in our social security programs for years. These surpluses are spent every year to help pay other bills in the federal government.

Without the social security surpluses, our real track record on deficits looks a lot worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: So we really only had one year, one year where we actually had a little surplus.

WALKER: One year we had an operating surplus and it didn`t last long.

BECK: The next cut, now we`re going to talk about what all this means. The next cut is what?

WALKER: It`s looking to the future, which is the real problem about the deficits that we face in social security and Medicare. They`re right on our shores.

BECK: This will make you go white.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: In less than ten years social security will be paying out more than it takes in and will only get worse as baby boomers retire in larger and larger numbers. By 2017, social security will not be helping to reduce our overall deficit, it will be adding to it. Our enormous Medicare deficits will only make this situation worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: That is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.

For anybody who doesn`t understand how much a trillion dollars is, it is --

WALKER: A thousand billion.

BECK: A thousand billion and if you would count a one at one digit every second, it would take you like 32,000 years to count to a trillion. It is a staggering amount.

What happens to us at 2040?

WALKER: Well, we won`t make it at 2040. The fact is, as this film shows, we are in a lot worse shape than people tell you. We need to start making tough choice now. Our foreign lenders won`t give us until 2040.

We will be lucky if they give us another 10 years. We need to get our act together and the next president of United States has got to show leadership.

BECK: They are not going to. Neither of them is going to solve this.

WALKER: For the sake of our country, our children and grandchildren, they better.

BECK: But they`re not going to, David. I mean, I just heard Barack Obama say he was going to do social security tax, which I`m against. I know you`re for, I`m against. And then he came back and said not this term, it will be next term. Neither one of these guys actually want to face this.

WALKER: They may not have a choice because I believe that we have a super sub-prime crisis building. That`s the federal government`s finances, much greater than mortgage-based sub-prime crisis.

And our foreign lenders lost patience with us with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And one of the reasons they were bailed out and that was fundamentally flawed is because foreign investors pressured Treasury to bail them out.

BECK: Every single step of the way, here we go. They`re saying bail Fannie and Freddie out. Every step of the way people are saying, give me more, I want more.

You can`t cut this. I was thinking about this. I was watching the movie. If I were president of the United States I would come out -- I don`t know what the numbers are. I would call you up but I would say I`m sorry, 20 percent cut across the board. All across the board, period.

I know everybody is going to scream and yell and say you can`t do that because old people and children, whatever it is. I`m sorry but everything has to be cut. Instead we`ve got people just piling more free stuff on.

WALKER: Well, we used to be a country that based upon opportunity. Now we`re a country where too many people believe they`re entitled. We have a lot of middle and upper class welfare going on through Medicare, through our tax system. We`ve way over-promised. Now we need to restructure.

BECK: This movie opens up Thursday. There`s a special performance in about 400 cities. It`s really amazing. Please see it; opens for select cities on Friday. Make sure you check it out at iousathemovie.com.

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: If you`re really, really sharp, you may have noticed the media`s affinity for the savior of the universe, Barack Obama. "Washington Post" just completed its look at their coverage of Obama and McCain and concluded, quote, "the disparity is so wide, it doesn`t really look good."

Obama has had about a 3-1 advantage over McCain in front page stories since both have become nominees. And it`s not just stories. It`s also pictures where Obama has a significant advantage as well. But as "The Post" points out it`s not just "The Post."

The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism has been monitoring the coverage candidates are receiving and surprisingly Obama has blown out McCain in total coverage in eight of the last nine weeks. The only exception was a week where McCain still lost. It was just a lot closer. Why? Who could possibly figure this one out?

In a completely unrelated story investors business daily last months the number of journalists donating to Democrats outnumbered the number donating to Republicans outnumbered by 10-1 ratio; that`s between Republicans and Democrats. Between Obama and McCain it was 20-1. And since most of the Republican money went to anti-Iraq war Ron Paul and pro choice Rudy Giuliani, when you take them out of the mix, the ratio is 100- 1.

Gee, I wonder how the coverage seems to be a little unbalanced.

Another place you might have noticed a little bit of bias is on our college campuses. Studies have shown the same sort of lack of balance in their political philosophy in voting habits and have even shown that Conservative professors have to be published more often to get promoted than their liberal counterparts. Not really a surprise when liberal professors in some departments outnumber Conservatives by a ratio of 20-1.

So what does this mean if your kid, like my kids, they are going to college this year? What does that mean? That`s what I wanted to find out.

What is life on campus really like today? You`re going to hear some of the most brilliant Conservative professors speak out and these amazing students who will tell their stories all this week.

See it for yourself and read about it in my free e-mail newsletter. It`s "Life on Campus in the New Century." We start with what it`s like to be a religious conservative at an elite Ivy League school. And you can sign up right now at glennbeck.com.

From New York, good night, America.

END