'Glenn Beck': Restoring Honor Rally Dashes Progressive Expectations

This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," August 31, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GLENN BECK, HOST: Hello, America.

Something happened on Saturday and I told you that it would. I told you expect miracles. And what is happening is miraculous.

It wasn't the speeches. It was you. It was the people there. I said on my radio program earlier today, I don't think you know it yet, but you have won.

The truth is like a fire. I told you, you've got to stand in the blaze of truth and everything else will burn around you.

When you are — when you are living your life in lies, eventually, they all come undone. Trust me, as a guy who lived half my life in lies, I know. And it ain't pretty when it comes undone.

I've said for a long time, there's no need to hate. There's no need to get angry. And sometimes you do. Sometimes I do.

The people who are trying to destroy our country through lies and force are not enemies of yours or mine. They are enemies of the freedom of man. The ultimate truth that man is meant to be free and govern himself; that all those rights come from God, not from government.

But that truth is being buried and distorted again today. But don't worry: You've already won.

On Saturday, a fire was started. And they now are so busy on the left trying to put themselves out that there's not enough dirt to cover the fire. There's not enough water to put this fire out.

They actually want you to believe that this nation was not built on faith by men of good character. They want you to believe a nation can survive without faith, character and integrity. They want you to believe that the power of one, the power of the individual, the power of you saying, "Wait a minute, I — I'm going to give it a shot," is just not enough.

They want you to believe, somehow or another, they want to convince you that you are a racist. That your neighbors are racist. That the majority of Americans are bad or evil, or somehow or another, angry and disgruntled.

I've told you the opposite: You're the key. You are the answer.

My theme song on my radio show says that. You are the key. You just have to remember that.

You need to educate yourself, which you are. Have you seen the number of books sold this year on the founding principles?

You just have to use common sense. It's pretty easy to do. Everybody has it. That's why it's called "common."

And you have to realize that what the Founders said is right and that is, Thomas Jefferson said, trust the people. They'll make mistakes but they'll correct it. Trust the people.

This Saturday, America was presented with a choice. And that choice is becoming clearer and clearer and clearer. I think you've delivered a knock-out punch. I do. It may take a while, but this is it.

You could have been everything they said you were. And, quite honestly, I think in some cases, you would have had reason to be, because you're a little hacked off, you should be, the things that have been said about you. But you weren't, because that's not who you are.

Instead of embracing the hatred that they expected you to embrace, you just instead were the person you were on 9/12, because you know we're really all in this together. Because of that, The Wall Street Journal wrote an amazing article today about you. It is in their opinion section: "Glenn Beck's Happy Warriors," where they say, you have been — you — there is no way you could have found a kinder group of people.

You see, you were the star.

When I started my speech at the Lincoln Memorial, I quoted the Gettysburg Address. And the line that came to me over and over and over again during my speech in my head while I was delivering it was: "Little will note nor long remember what we said here."

I pointed that out in my speech. And I said, it's what we do here. You did plenty.

Let me tell you something that I've been working on and I think I've told you this before, but it was — to me, there's a couple of themes that we've been working on since January: faith, hope, charity. We've been going down this road. I've told you that we were going change at the beginning of the year and we did. And then I told you what we were doing, we're restoring history, we're restoring honor, restoring our faith.

And one thing that I learned from Alveda King was Martin Luther King's belief in the American people. He trusted you. He trusted you. He knew that if you put two things side-by-side, you'd spot the truth.

I mean, he put them side-by-side. He knew all he had to do was stand long enough, just stand long enough and then put — let the people see these images next to images like this. And eventually, America would say, no, we're not like that. We're more like this. That's what happened. And that is what's happening now because of the way you were on August 28.

I shouldn't say that. You have always been that way. We just made sure everybody saw it. I made sure we had eight cameras, all around that Mall, capturing every bit of it.

Now, here's what they said would happen and then the tape of what did happen because I want you to make a choice. Just like Martin Luther King said, just look at the two pictures side-by-side and you make a choice. Not which one is right, but which one is more like you.

Let's start now with the comments that you may have been hearing about the Restoring Honor event. Here is Ben Jealous. He is the president of the NAACP who has said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN JEALOUS, NAACP PRESIDENT: I have a feeling that if somebody stood up and read Dr. King's speech to that crowd, they would not get applause. And it's disturbing that he felt compelled to do something that Dr. King never had to do, which is to tell his followers to leave their signs and their guns at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: No, Dr. King just told everybody not to be violent. He made everybody sign those pledges. He told everybody to pray all the time. So, yes, Dr. Martin Luther King did a lot of things. And we're doing the same things that Dr. King did because he knew what he was doing.

So, here is a man who believes that you're so racist, so hateful, that he really truly believed — it's sad — but he really truly believed that if someone got up and said and quoted Martin Luther King on the stage, when they started speaking, they would be booed. They would disapprove.

That is quite a claim. That's quite an image and quite a lack of faith or understanding in the American people.

There were quite a few words about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the event. But I just want to play two of them for you and you listen how the crowd responded yourself:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERRNOR: On these grounds where we are so honored to stand today, we feel the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)

BECK: The man who stood on the stairs and give his life for everyone's right to have a dream, Martin Luther King. That is what the reflection is all about.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BECK: I didn't hear the boos.

So you tell me: Are we so cynical that we think America can't handle the words of Martin Luther King without booing? Or do we know who we are and we have no fear of saying it in front of 500,000 people with cameras rolling and the world watching, because we know that Americans don't do that.

Now, NPR said the fear was that the crowd would be a "pit of hatred." OK. I want to show you something here. Pit of hatred. Do you really believe that that's who we are?

Let me show you the closing prayer. This is the only time the president was mentioned the entire day. We mentioned the president and the Congress in the closing prayer.

Now, you would think if it was a pit of hatred, that mentioning those names — mentioning Congress and the president — well, with a racist audience, you'd get cat calls. Listen to the cat calls and the boos, and, of course, the hatred:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE ROEVER, ROEVERFOUNDATION.ORG: God bless this nation. We thank you for our president. We thank you for our Congress. We thank you for our land. But God, we thank you that you rule in the hearts of these people. And all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose on 8/28 of the Book of Romans and on this glorious day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK, help me out here, because I didn't hear the cat calls.

Pit of hatred. Do you really believe 500,000 Americans could come to the Mall and it would be a pit of hatred? Or do you have no fear in mentioning the president in a non-political way in a prayer and know that people will not boo or cat call?

Now, here's Howard Dean speaking on MSNBC about the Restoring Honor event. Here he is:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN, FMR. DNC CHAIRMAN: I think this guy is basically a hatemonger. What I see is these folks are kind of — and I don't mean this in a mean way — but they're little like lost souls in the sense that they're really do — they're at sea. The country has changed a lot. They don't — they're in the middle of a horrible economic downturn, which has probably affected a lot of them personally. So, they follow this guy who is like Father Coughlin from the 1930s.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: He's a racist. He's a hatemonger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. So, I'm a racist and a hatemonger. And you're just a lost little puppy dog. You're a lost hatemongering soul.

Is that true? Or are you more like the people at the rally? I — I don't think they look like little lost souls, do you? Look, there's a cute little puppy dog.

Now, Christopher Hitchens surveyed the crowd and the message of the event and he titled his article "White Fright." He went on to describe, quote, "The Waterworld of white self-pity."

"The Waterworld of white self-pity." So, in other words, we just — pity the fool. That's what we are. We're just going to wallow in our pity.

OK. Let me show you two men on stage at the event. One of the men has no hands. This one over here, has no hands. They blew off in battle. You know what he did? He came home and he's now teaching, and I'm not kidding, hand-to-hand combat. Doesn't sound like pity.

This guy over here, he was completely scarred. You know why? He was throwing a grenade in Vietnam as a phosphorous bomb and it went off and burned his face and his body at 5,000 degrees — that's half the temperature of the sun. He doesn't look like he's wallowing in pity. In fact, he'll be here on Friday's show. You don't want to miss it. He's an amazing man. Not self-pity at all.

Maybe — maybe Hitchens missed this message from stage:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Are we so jaded as a nation, are we so pessimist that we no longer believe in the individual and the power of the individual? Do we no longer believe in dreams and the power of one person making a difference? I testify to you here and now: One man can change the world.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)

BECK: And I share with you an equal testimony: That man or woman is you. You make the difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. So self-pity. Maybe he missed this part from the stage:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: This country has spent far too long worried about scars and thinking about the scars and concentrating on the scars. Today, we're going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished and the things that we can do tomorrow.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: See, there are — there are those on the left that really believe the self-pity. They believe in the theology of oppressor and victim. And so, they believe that. I don't think you do. I think you just want to move on with your life. You want to be unleashed. You have a dream. You want to pursue it. You also care and want to help other people. You don't have self-pity.

Now, Chris Matthews previewed the rally by predicting Martin Luther King would be disgraced. Here's what he said:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Can we imagine if King were physically here tomorrow, today, where he to reappear tomorrow on the very steps of the Lincoln Memorial? I have a nightmare that one day a right-wing talk show host will come to the spot, these people's lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, little right-wing boys and little right-wing girls joining hands and singing their praise for Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. I have a nightmare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: It sounds like a nightmare. But I think the premise on that was that MLK would be disgraced. Do you think Martin Luther King would be disgraced by this man?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely want people to be filled with real hope, you know, and conviction that anything is possible in America, that we just know who we are and believe in each other. You know, it's the people and really is not the government that's what has made us exceptional. Just remembering what brought us here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: America, make a choice. Which one is more like you — this guy or this guy?

The Huffington Post ran a slide show of the most, quoting, "ridiculous images" from Saturday's event. This is what they thought was hilarious or bad or were the crazies in the crowd. Here's what they selected. I showed some of these to you last night.

For some reason, that's crazy. "Restoring Honor."

This is a quote from George Washington.

September 11th, of course, that's crazy.

"Restoring Honor," that's nuts.

She's ridiculous for some unknown reason. And so are they. I mean, look at them.

Oh, and a pocket Constitution with George Washington on it.

So that's the standard for ridiculous. OK. You know what I think is ridiculous? I think those people are more like me and more like the average person. Sure, the old lady, maybe she is wearing a red, white and blue shirt. And she doesn't look like she does on TV or on your Park Avenue address. But, gosh, I'd take her every day, 24 hours a day over the leftist rallies.

Wouldn't you — wouldn't you really much rather take the lady or the guy with the pocket Constitution? He's nuts. Which one is more like you, America?

Here's MSNBC host Ed Schultz. He said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: His crowd was filled with thousands of old, white, angry McCain-Palin leftovers from the election who just can't seem to stomach the fact that we have a black man in the White House. They're old, they're white, they're angry. They can't believe Obama won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. They're old, they're white, and they're angry racists that can't believe that Obama won. There you have it. This or this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd like that — that there was going to be a 9-year-old in the audience today. And it would touch their heart and that — that might be the child one day that grows up and does what needs to be done in this country, thought about my 9-year-old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a former Air Force military guy. But first and foremost, I believe that our country should be putting God first once more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully, this will be a call to restore the historical values in our nation of hard work, personal responsibility, families taking care of families, churching getting reengaged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. So there they are. They're old, they're white, and they're angry. Back to Ed Schultz, what he said, I believe, on Friday on his radio program:

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: In my bones, in my very soul, in my heart I want to kick Fox's (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I want to drive them into the ground. I want to spike the ball. I want to kick them in the teeth on the way back to the huddle. Then I want to turn around and lift my leg on them because that's all they're worth.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: It's kind of sad, isn't it? You tell me, America, which one is the angry one?

Here's another one. You can see viewed as a hatemonger. You know what's happening, because you hate the Earth, global warming. You know, you don't — you pollute. You'll pollute as much as you want.

After 500,000 people left the Mall area, here's what it looked like hours after you left, 500,000 people. Look at the green space. Do you see any — I don't see an awful lot of, hmm, garbage.

Now, let's compare that with how the crowd looked and what they left after the inauguration — last, what, a year-and-a-half ago in D.C. Do you notice any difference?

America, which are you?

You see, right now, the left is scrambling. They're doing anything they can, throwing everything at the wall. They just don't know what to do. They don't know who you are. They are confused.

But here's the thing: Ding-dong, the witch is dead. You've won. You've won. It's only a matter of time, you just keep being yourself. You've won.

— Watch "Glenn Beck" weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel

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