During an appearance on Fox News’ The Kelly File earlier this week, Glenn admitted that he wished he would have done more to talk “about the uniting principles a little more instead of the problems” during his time on the network. His statements apparently took many in the media by surprise, but Glenn has found support from two very unlikely sources: CNN’s Piers Morgan and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough.
“Here's what I regret saying the other night with Megyn Kelly. I regret leaving out: Has anybody else in the media asked themselves this question? Because all of us are responsible,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “And it’s not only just those in the media. How about all of us across the country? What role have all of us played [in dividing the country]?”
Last night during a segment with Ann Coulter on his CNN show, Morgan actually paused to ask himself that very question. In rare moment of being “self-reflective,” Morgan admitted that when he gets “over angry” or “abusive” to pro-gun advocates during gun debates, it “actually doesn’t help the debate.”
MORGAN: ...Because Glenn Beck was quite brave, I thought, to say what he said. If I'm being self-reflective – it doesn't happen very often – I might as well throw it out there. We mentioned guns. When I've done the guns debate, I can tell when I get over-angry. I get a little bit abusive to the gun people that it actually doesn't help the debate.
“That is good. A very good step,” Glenn said. “How many people in the media are looking for silence to think and to say, ‘What role did I play? Have I played a role? Can I be better today or tomorrow?’ That's what we all should be doing. And apparently Piers Morgan did this.”
MSNBC’s Morning Joe also got in on the action with Scarborough finding Glenn’s comments to be sincere.
“Joe Scarborough is not a guy who's never been friendly to us,” Glenn said. “And I don't think we've ever been friendly to him…When I left Fox, he said, ‘You'll figure out that, without Roger Ales, he's nothing.’ I mean think of the vitriol that guy had for me.”
SCARBOROUGH: You know, he came out this past week and also said, ‘If you are anti-gay, if you don't like a person because they are gay, you have no place in this country, don't call yourself a fan of mine.
I think what's fascinating about this is that if Glenn Beck were saying all this from a position of weakness that would be one thing. Glenn Beck, from what I saw, made like $90 million dollar last year. He has done on the Internet what the largest corporations in America have tried to do on the Internet. I mean, he has, he has somehow brought together TV and Internet and he's had an extraordinary year financially. So I think that's what's even more telling about this is that he's making these admissions from a position of strength.
I mean what do you think about it, Mika? Let's toss it around the table… By the way, I don't think anybody is more harshly critical of Glenn Beck over the past several years than me. I take him at his worth. But Mika, even some reason he's being conical in these things he's saying – that's even better because that means that he recognizes that there is a market for this sort of inclusive talk… I commend him actually. Not that he needs my commending at all.
“He's giving you the benefit of the doubt either way,” Pat said. “He's taking you at his word. He said that you are sincere. But even if you're not sincere, even if you're doing it for profit that means there's a market for it and you've realize that. You're tapping into. Either way he likes it.”
As Glenn explained, the purpose of TheBlaze is not to play to people’s cynicism. Actually, it’s the complete opposite. TheBlaze’s mission is “[to] tell stories of love and courage where the good guys win.” That mission is so not in line with anything anyone else is doing, however, so it is difficult for people to really comprehend it all.
“It's time they understand. It's time that they see,” Glenn concluded. “Because if we can get just a couple of people on their networks that say: You know what? I don't agree with Glenn Beck on a lot of stuff. He's, he's pro life. I'm pro-abortion. Fine. But you know what? We're not enemies with each other. We're not enemies. We're going to be doing serious battle on that front. But we do believe in the community of man… Are we going to disagree on certain points? Yes… [But] I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. You don't tell me how to live my life. And we can get along.”