I’m glad to see that my reply to Patterico’s incredibly dishonest post has gotten more than 650 retweets since I wrote it yesterday. Thanks to everyone who helped get it out there; these kinds of lies shouldn’t be allowed to stand, especially when the intent is to defend something like this — Glenn Beck’s insane rant from his June 9, 2010 show on Fox News.

Patterico and the echo chamber of wingnut blogs that linked to him are trying to make excuses for Glenn Beck, by setting up an obvious straw man — that I claimed Beck was telling his audience to go out and shoot people in the head — and then knocking the straw man down. But the simple truth is that I didn’t say or imply this at any time, and neither did the writer of the LGF Page that contained the video.

Since Patterico refuses to scrape together the integrity to correct his false claims (par for the course in the right wing blogosphere), let’s look at a longer clip (courtesy of LGF reader “simoom”) of this Glenn Beck rant, so no one can accuse anyone of taking things out of context. The context, in this case, does not exonerate Beck of anything.

It’s a disturbing, deeply paranoid, wild-eyed tirade about people being shot in the head, Marxist revolution, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and more people being shot in the head, including Glenn Beck himself. And it’s delivered in front of a chalkboard with a Nazi swastika prominently displayed the whole time.

Youtube Video

The official transcript from FOXNews.com:

I never thought I’d say we better learn something from the Ayatollah Khomeini, but here it is.

The media and the politician have all of this wrong. In every single walk of life — you want to know why TV doesn’t reflect you? You want to know why Washington doesn’t reflect you? Because they don’t understand, from the radical revolutionaries to the Islamic extremists — and yes, DOJ, they do exist — to the Tea Party movements.

Just because you in Washington and you who are so out of touch with life in the media, just because you don’t believe in anything doesn’t mean nobody else does. We do. You know why you’re confused by this show? It’s because I believe in something. You don’t.

Tea parties believe in small government. We believe in returning to the principles of our Founding Fathers. We respect them. We revere them. Shoot me in the head before I stop talking about the Founders. Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government.

I will stand against you and so will millions of others. We believe in something. You in the media and most in Washington don’t. The radicals that you and Washington have co-opted and brought in wearing sheep’s clothing — change the pose. You will get the ends.

You’ve been using them? They believe in communism. They believe and have called for a revolution. You’re going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you.

They are dangerous because they believe. Karl Marx is their George Washington. You will never change their mind. And if they feel you have lied to them — they’re revolutionaries. Nancy Pelosi, those are the people you should be worried about.

Here is my advice when you’re dealing with people who believe in something that strongly — you take them seriously. You listen to their words and you believe that they will follow up with what they say.

Didn’t we learn that lesson from Usama bin Laden? I heard his warning in 1998. I said on the air at the time, listen to him. We didn’t listen. We didn’t listen to the revolutionaries in Germany, the revolutionaries in Russia or Venezuela or Cuba — no, no, no. They all have one thing in common. They have all called for revolution.

They want to overthrow our entire system of government, and their words say it. Why won’t you believe it?

Meanwhile, Beck himself is now using the same diversionary excuse for this deranged fantasy of revolution and murder: