Cracks On the Right as the Birthers Amp up Their Feud with Glenn Beck

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Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:04 pm

Not many people have noticed, but something very interesting has happened within the right wing of American politics. It seems that not everyone likes the poster child for winger rage, Glenn Beck. World Net Daily and Beck have been trading shots and jabs for months now, because Beck has been mocking the birthers, who have in turn labeled Beck a left winger.

For months, Beck has been tearing apart the birthers. In January, Beck called the birther conspiracy the dumbest thing that he is ever heard. Here is the audio:

Beck said that birtherism relies on the idea that Obama, “Didn’t preemptively plant as a story as a newborn that maybe he was born in the United States of America.” Beck said, “As the guy who the media says is the king of conspiracy theories, all I do are forward conspiracy theories. Let me forward this conspiracy, he was born here because it seems a little unlikely that somebody planted the birth records in the news papers. Now you would say why doesn’t he just produce? Good question that one kept me up for minutes.”

Of course this has led the folks over at World Net Daily aka Birther Central to attack Beck. The top story on their website today makes the case that Glenn Beck is a liberal because in a recent interview he said, “You’d be an idiot not to notice the temperature change,” and he pointed out that he uses energy efficient products in his home.”

However, that is not the only reason that Beck is a liberal according to WND. There is also the fact that he likes George Clooney, who is a liberal, “Beck also has lots of friends on the other side of the political spectrum, he reveals in the USA Weekend piece. He calls George Clooney “a good, honest man.” Beck says the two of them had an extended conversation about the genocide in Darfur.”

WND wants its readers to believe that Beck is not a real winger because he uses certain products and he knows some liberals, which is a ridiculous cover argument for the true source of their anger. Glenn Beck has not only rejected the birthers. He treats them like they are a total joke. Glenn Beck will take a ride with almost any conspiracy theory, but not the birthers.

What this spat illustrates is the split between the tea baggers and the birthers. As the tea party movement has been co-opted and mainstreamed by the GOP, many of the fringe right wingers that make up the party’s base are growing increasingly disgruntled. A birther and tea bagger are not always one in the same, and they both appear ready to do battle over the future ideology of the GOP.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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