Glenn Beck and stagecraft wizardry: Why his NRA talk trumped all
Here's one thing you can say about Republicans: They sure like their props.
First there was Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair at the Republican National Convention. Then there was Sarah Palin chugging down a Big Gulp at the Conservative Political Action Conference in March, and a couple months later, waving a tin of chewing tobacco聽at the National Rifle Association鈥檚 annual convention in Houston this past weekend.
But in the prop-toting antics category, Glenn Beck may take the cake. He used not one but five props at 聽at the NRA鈥檚 鈥淪tand and Fight鈥� convention Saturday, a rousing almost-two-hour talk during which he paced, mocked, pontificated, and of course, referred to props in classic Beck fashion.
He presented a series of firearms: the gun owned by serial killer Charles Manson before police confiscated it and Manson had nine victims slaughtered 鈥� with knives, not guns; a 9/11 first responder鈥檚 handgun, which Mr. Beck called a 鈥渟mall token of liberty;鈥� and an antique rifle used by an American 鈥渢he first time we fought against Muslim extremists鈥� 鈥� the Barbary pirates.
A parade of arms? A firepower fashion show? A gun pageant?聽No, Beck was hammering home his point.
鈥淪o, what is this gun, good or evil?鈥� he asked. 鈥淚t is nothing! A gun is only the reflection of the people that use it.鈥�
In other words, the classic gun rights supporters鈥� argument 鈥� guns don鈥檛 kill people, people kill people.
But Glenn was just getting started. His next prop? A pressure cooker.
鈥淲hat was my grandmother鈥檚 summer pastime has now been defined as a weapon of mass destruction,鈥� he said, gingerly carrying out a pressure cooker and placing it on a stool.
(A reference, of course, to the Boston Marathon bombings in which the suspects allegedly used pressure cookers as explosives.)
鈥淗ave we gone insane? Have we gone insane?鈥� he shouted. 鈥淕uns save lives, guns protect homes, businesses 鈥� they feel they must regulate us until we comply. I will not comply.鈥�
Just when we thought we鈥檇 seen it all, a strange segue to Beck鈥檚 final, bizarre, 鈥減rop鈥� of sorts.
Taking aim at New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Beck mocked the mayor鈥檚 鈥渟oda ban, popcorn ban, salt ban,鈥� then unveiled his off-color twist on the 鈥淚 Heart New York鈥� motto: a giant image of Mayor Bloomberg (who is Jewish) as Adolf Hitler, delivering a Nazi salute, with the words 鈥淵ou will鈥� love New York printed below.
We can鈥檛 explain that one.
The only thing missing from Beck鈥檚 wide-ranging talk 鈥� which, in addition to pirates, Nazis, and Charles Manson, encompassed Michael Moore, the Ku Klux Klan, and Winston Churchill?
His rambling chalkboard flowcharts.
