BECK, BULLETPROOF VESTS, BODYGUARDS, AND BALONEY…. Before his still-pointless rally in D.C., Fox News’ Glenn Beck suggested to his viewers that he was worried about being assassinated: “I’m not suicidal; I’m not depressed; I don’t like to swim with the fishes; I don’t like concrete boots. I’m a very good driver; I just had my brakes checked. So, if something happens [looking at his chalkboard], I think you might know who did it.”
But this week, as Chris Bodenner noted, Beck went even further, showing viewers a picture of himself wearing a bulletproof vest in an anticipation of his event last weekend.
Yes, in case Beck’s delusions didn’t seem quite silly enough before, take a moment o realize that this guy thinks people might be out to kill him. Bodenner noted, “I know Beck is a melodramatic showman, but the fact that he thought he might be assassinated like a civil rights leader on the National Mall is such a perfect illustration of what Hitchens calls ‘white fright.’”
Similarly, Kyle at Right Wing Watch noted that one of Beck’s closest allies and most frequent guests, pseudo-historian David Barton, explained that Beck travels with a massive security detail — traveling with Beck, Barton said, is “much like being with the Secret Service and the President” — and “typically” wears a bulletproof vest when out in public.
There’s an ongoing debate, for which there is probably no resolution, about whether Beck is actually crazy, or pretending to be crazy in order to be a successful media personality. Consider Beck’s paranoia about his personal safety another piece of evidence for the argument.
