Glenn Beck admits to regrets at helping "tear the country apart" instead of offering thoughts on our uniting principles, and Ed Morrissey reacts:
This is the choice that all of those who enter the public debate have to make, though — whether to use hyperbole to exacerbate and inflame tensions or offer ways for people to come together and find solutions. That is not a binary choice, though, but a spectrum over which we all move over the long haul. Some days and on some topics, even the best of us get overly passionate, while other days perhaps a little too dry and analytical.
The best anyone can do is to know who they are, know who they want to be, know what they believe to be right and moral and ethical, and hope that our decisions eventually reflect the best of us. When we fall short, recognize it and make the proper adjustments.
As someone who has entered that public debate, I think that's right about it being a spectrum and not a binary choice. Different issues, different days, different approaches. And some of it has to do with platform. I tend to be a little more bombastic here at the blog, a little more sarcastic, a little more intentionally provocative; that's the nature of the online experience. On the editorial page, I'm a little more laid back, a little less preaching-to-the-choirish and, frankly, a little more boring; that's the nature of the editorial page. In person, of course, I'm a pussycat.
I also agree with him that "Beck shows once again that even with the antics, he’s an intriguing and thoughtful player on the political media stage, capable of surprises and insight." I heard him on the radio today going on about how there are going to be four "blood moons" from April 15 through next year sometime and how this means "something significant" for Israrel, like, oh, war with Iran with Russia stepping in. Way far-out stuff. I've also heard him be incredibly funny and self-deprecating. He can sound like an ultra-consrvative one day, then like the libertarian who hangs out with Penn Gillette the next. Just about everybody else in the talk show business, from the most liberal to the most consrvative, is completely predictable. Beck remains a mystery, which is why his show is never boring, whatever else it might be.
