Glenn Beck deserves criticism today for Medina Interview

I've had a few days of not being motivated to write. Yep, I know Iran is nuclear, president Clinton and Alec Baldwin were rushed to area hospitals today—I wish them both well BUT Glenn Beck (and I cannot believe I am writing this) was completely and totally OUT OF LINE today on a radio interview with the third (and relatively unknown) third party republican candidate for governor of Texas, Debra Medina.

I had written to both Sarah Palin's facebook and on my blog in earlier posts last week asking why Sarah Palin was not supporting Medina (who was said to be an 'independent minded" "Scott Brown" "tea party" type of candidate.) It was a sincere question—it was not posed because I am a supporter of Medina. I, as a new Texas voter in this primary, am eagerly trying to discern WHO would be the best choice for Texas going forward. I have ruled out Hutchison because I can SEE she is "big" Washington government and I don't want anyone tainted by an association there in the past 10-12 years bringing their big spending to Texas. I heard 10 minutes of the democrat governor's debate and after they refused to answer "yes or no" to vouchers, I became so infuriated at the double speak, I turned the debate off—more spending, more money into the failing schools. The democrats are done. I already LIKE Rick Perry. In fact, if I was "not" engaged in seeking out more info, I would vote for him without even looking into Medina. Why? Because I am a Nuevo Texan.

Rick Perry's governorship of this state is precisely why people like me are fleeing California for the lone star state. We moved her just 3 years ago. In many ways, I find that my husband and I appreciate living here and see the wonderful differences in Texas culture so clearly because of what we saw happen to our state. Rick Perry has been governor for the past 10 years, since George W. Bush (another VERY popular governor) ran this state. Austin, Texas is simply a GREAT place to live. There are no potholes in the streets. There is no litter. Wonderful zoning rules keep restaurants and businesses next to the highways, where you can easily see (and frequent) them and puts the homes in the beautiful hillsides of Austin. The air is clean and beautiful here. We have 5 world class universities and colleges within driving distance of the capitol. There are oak trees for miles, longhorns, farms, wineries, antique stores, parks, lakes and trails galore. Connected to all of this natural beauty is the city—yes, a growing city, with the local hippies resisting the new high-rise condos and the poor folks east of the 35 highway, where a regentrification is under way posting cardboard signs that read "rich yuppies' moving here. Here, we have the usual problems with saving some form of wildlife (like a blind salamander) so the roads don't go through to accommodate the growth—thereby releasing exhaust fumes into the "clean" air instead—as motorists and families bringing more business to all of these hippies and tree huggers protest. You know—they want to live here but they don't want YOU to live here. Texas is a LOT like California in this regard and that is NOT a good thing.

However, with a fiercely independent streak and a desire to be responsible in growth, both sides seem to be working together (most of the time) to keep Texas from turning into California while welcoming the growth that is bringing jobs, an entrepreneurial spirit and college students from all over the country to study here. Rick Perry's proposal to lower "out of state" tuition to encourage that people come get educated and STAY here is a SMART one. He also supports the military, scouting, and in fact wrote a great book called On My Honor in praise of the organization, is married to his "starter" and only wife, Anita (don't think there are any former interns or mistresses anywhere), is and has also raised an Eagle Scout son and supports ALL forms of education, including vouchers and home school programs. Now where have you seen a public official support both public and private education before?

I admire him for all of these things. Tea party patriots like myself understand that we cannot have a PERFECT candidate—he, like G.W. isn't really pursuing the border as far as I can tell, he supports toll roads, which I can't stand and there was a question on an improper execution that came up prior to this latest race—I'm guessing this is just pure politics. From what I have read, the guy was indeed guilty of murdering his family. Just another red herring for the left's usual tactic of painting conservatives as bloodthirsty, heartless killers of the innocent. As I had mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, I had watched the first republican governor's debate—Perry appeared unengaged, and like the smug "good old boy" he is portrayed to be by the liberal folks. He just didn't seem to really care about giving specifics on policy. He gave little substantive answers and just touted repeatedly how great it was to be in Texas. Debra Medina, on the other hand, who I had NEVER seen and knew nothing about, was awesome in that debate. She directly and concisely answered each question and I have already mentioned that when she said to eliminate property taxes, I becames intrigued. Our property taxes here are outrageous! Even though I LIKED Perry, I began to wonder about Medina. I searched Google but could not find any real history on her. I found no controversy, just that she was a home schooling mom, raised in Texas and carried a gun. Basically, she looked like a "Mrs. Smith" going to Washington—straight forward, direct, honest???

I missed the 2nd debate. I, to this day, haven't been able to find it on U-Tube to review. However, I understand Perry did rather well at the second debate. However, this brings me to Glenn Beck's most bizarre interview today.

I am a regular viewer of Glenn Beck's television show. I dvr it daily and if I could have the entire air-check of his television show, I would. I consider him to be the best history teacher I never had in college. MOST of his daily shows are AWESOME, a few are corny, and only rarely are they boring. He puts on a substantive show literally filled with facts, statistics, history lessons and is just an amazing broadcaster. His radio show, which I only found recently here in Austin on 98.9 has a distinctly different flavor. I don't really enjoy the two sidekicks who chime in and sometimes find the exchange between guests and him to border on "shock jock" in that he can go "off" on guests and take what people say and then rail on them without giving them a chance to complete their point of view—you know, talk radio. All hosts do this to some extent. But that opening song—I keep trying to find it! I love it. "Just Remember Who We Are, We Will Be The Key!"—Can't find it, don't know if it is a custom recording. It is awesome bumper music!

Okay, I digress—ADHD moment! Today, I was REALLY REALLY excited because Glenn Beck was going to have Debra Medina on his show—originally I thought it was going to be his TELEVISION show but it was his radio show instead. Finally, I was going to hear him ask "Why do you think Sarah Palin is supporting Governor Perry over you?" That question was never asked.

Instead, the interview with Medina barely lasted one segment. He asked her "who she was" and when she gave the 30 second commerical on "wife, mother, nurse..." as all politicians do when you ask them that question, he insulted her right off the bat and said "that wasn't what I asked you," as though she was evading the question. She was not. And so she repeated it and tried to expand more into her positions. I was immediately surprised by his confrontational nature upon beginning the interview. His tone was adversarial. They had a few more exchanges and then he stated that there were rumors swirling around that she was a 9/11 "truther" (the crazy folks who believe George Bush collapsed the twin towers and killed our fellow Americans). She said she had heard that and didn't know where it was coming from. She then went on to say that she did not know all of the evidence and that she wasn't going to take a position. After she said this, he went completely off on her, began laughing with his co-horts and essentially dismissed her off the air after going back and forth on the question. And the interview abruptly ended. Now if she is indeed a truther, I get it! She's got a serious screw loose, a hidden agenda—game over.

Here's where I believe Beck deserves criticism though. And let me be clear so everyone knows where I stand—people who believe that our former president and/or our government melted the steel on the twin towers to go to war in Iraq are CRAZY. Willie Nelson (Austin's favorite son) is crazy! I went to a concert at The Backyard because he is an Austin institution and I had to tell my friend that it was against my better judgment to go because of how I feel about his hatred of America. If Debra Medina is a truther, she's not getting my vote, now or ever. BUT, after Beck essentially "hung up" on her, he said this. "I never liked her anyway." This bothered me very much. He did not extend to Medina a chance to express her views so we, the audience could make the call, in exactly the same way that Sarah Palin was ambushed and made to look stupid by Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson.

I'm taking Ms. Medina at face value here. If indeed, she is a "grass roots" politician, then I can imagine how intimidating it would be to talk to someone like Glenn Beck—I would be intimidated and I agree with him. If he treated me that way because I was so nervous, I said something stupid or inarticulate, it would be like a punch in the stomach to have him treat me that way and dismiss me in just the first few sentences of an interview. I would feel betrayed, blindsided and flustered. He said he didn't like her because she said she was "just like him, a grass roots organizer..." and he dismissed her as someone who didn't have a clue who he was. In essence, Glenn Beck, the one who always seems to be on the side of the people, wrote off this person before she could make any other points, clarify why she couldn't emphatically say "the truther's are crazy" and instead, just cut her off and ended the interview. I suspect he muted her so she couldn't hear what they were saying before he calmly said "nice to talk with you" and then let her go.

I don't find Glenn Beck to be a rude or insensitive person. When a legitimately infuriating guest calls his radio show, he gives them a lot of rope before going off. But this appeared completely pre-meditated today. I saw him at The Alamo last year. He seemed very down to earth at the first tea party. People at his book signings have said "he is who he claims to be" when they shake his hand and have a few words with him. I have read all of his books and they are BRILLIANT. But today, he was out of line. His only interest was in discrediting Medina. The question I am left with is this. If Rick Perry or Kay Hutchison knew that Medina was a "truther," then why wasn't this question asked at the first debate? Surely someone would want to bring this up for political advantage, wouldn't they? Rick Perry was given a moment in which he could ask Debra Medina anything. I can't remember what that question was but I know it wasn't about this. So, where did Glenn Beck find this out? Why didn't anyone else discover it until now and why didn't Sarah Palin, in supporting Rick Perry, mention it so that people who follow her on Facebook would know definitively that Debra Medina had this view? This is a HUGE political advantage to Perry and/or Hutchison.

Something just doesn't seem right. If it is indeed true, then I'm glad it was revealed today. However, if it isn't true, then Glenn Beck may have seriously influenced a Texas election with false information that could hurt this candidate. I watch Fox because the "talent" there has class and never gets in the ditch with CNN and/or MSNBC in demeaning people. Glenn demeaned Medina. I think those of us in the 2nd largest state in the nation would have preferred a "we report, you decide" approach to this interview today. I know Beck's radio show is separate from Fox, but when you are now working with Palin, who supports Perry, it makes me wonder if an agenda was put forth to help Rick Perry remain the frontrunner—and the reason I can't believe I'm saying this is because I SUPPORT Rick Perry! But I want a fair and balanced presentation of all candidates so I can be sure I am making an informed decision.

Glenn, I still love you but you owe Ms. Medina and all of us listening today in anticipation of a great Beck interview, an apology. Yes, we hold you to a high standard. At 23 million a year, you are in a position of tremendous influence and even I couldn't defend you today against all of my "friends" (I use that term VERY loosely) on the left who want to pummel you. I have to say, for the first time, I wanted to pummel you too! Okay, back to making dinner for the brood! And dad? If you're feeling sick from the chemo, maybe reading the above will make you mad enough to forget the nausea.