Yesterday Michelle Goldberg reported on the Glenn Beck event in Israel. Well, reporting is probably too strong a word. It’s a rambling post which states a great many liberal verities about Beck without even offering proof for them. I immediately found myself wondering if Goldberg was on vacation or if NewsBeast had actually send her overseas to “report” on Beck? It’s not clear. In any case, toward the end of her article she inserts this telling little vignette, bold my emphasis:
On Tuesday I stood with a mixed group of Americans and Israelis, most of us Jewish, looking at the site of Beck’s final rally…Looking at the site, my colleagues traded wry quips about Beck’s messianic metamorphosis. As they did, a white-haired American woman admonished us. “If you want war, continue to listen to this,” she said. “But he”–Beck–“is only for peace. And we don’t follow him–we follow Jesus.”
So Goldberg’s “mixed group” of like-minded liberals were standing around trash-talking Beck loudly enough that strangers passing by noted it and responded. The response is brief but to the point, i.e. Beck is not a messiah to us, just someone we admire. This completely undercuts the thesis of Goldberg’s article, but rather than report that her thesis may not sit with the facts, she and her group proceed to argue with the white haired lady and her friends.
She was with three other people, and soon we were having an animated argument. The Israelis were particularly impassioned, and the Americans didn’t quite believe that they were actually Jewish.
Goldberg is literally arguing with those she is there to write about. What’s wrong with this picture? The Israelis (who were with Goldberg) become “particularly impassioned” which sounds like a nice way of saying they yelled at the old ladies. About what exactly? Goldberg doesn’t say. At some point the noise attracts a tour guide of sorts:
Suddenly, a publicist named Ari Morgenstern appeared. He’s a spokesman for Christians United for Israel, but is helping Beck with the rally. After determining there were reporters among us, he whisked the foursome away, saying, “We’re asking all journalists not to bother people on the Glenn Beck tour.”
So someone who saw what was happening politely asked Goldberg’s group not to start fights with any more of the people on the Beck tour. From this utterly reasonable request Goldberg discerns that Beck’s fans are being protected from harsh realities of the Palestinian conflict. Yes, that’s it Michelle, that, or he wants to protect them from the harsh reality of progressive harpies bitching at complete strangers. It’s got to be one of those.
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