In a move that will surprise absolutely no one, several mainstream media outlets published stories on Glenn's 'We Will Not Conform' event that didn't exactly represent the event in the best light. But perhaps the absolute worst offender was Lyndsey Layton at The Washington Post, who managed to insult not just Glenn but the people in the audience in her report. Thankfully, one of the people quoted in the article called into the radio show to make some corrections and give the other side of Layton's story, including the clear agenda the reporter had going into the show.
Here's a portion of Layton's story:
“This one is being won,” Beck said from a soundstage in Texas, his image broadcast to audience members who paid $20 a ticket. “It’s being won and these are your allies in the fight.You’ve felt alone, but we have lots of allies.”The 17 people gathered at the Regal 13 Cinema in Rockville, Md., might be forgiven for feeling alone. The audience was sprinkled throughout the rows of the darkened theater, and when Beck implored his viewers to turn to their neighbors and introduce themselves, most people faced empty seats.
Ryan Miner, 28, traveled to Rockville from Hagerstown and sat in the middle of the theater with his girlfriend, Kim Euler, who was eating popcorn.
Miner is running for the board of education in Washington County, Md., on an anti-Common Core platform. “I wanted to be able to talk more intelligently about it,” he said, explaining why he came.
"They're so predictable," Glenn said. "It's hysterical."
"I said, because I knew the press particularly and the Post, they would not travel anywhere except in their own little elite circles. So they would only go to someplace in New York and someplace in the Beltway," he continued."And I said if you happen to be someplace in suburban Beltway around the capital you're probably there by yourself, but don't worry you're not alone the NSA is watching you. I should have said The Washington Post was watching you."
Glenn took particular issue with lines like "Kim Euler, who was eating popcorn" and "his image broadcast to audience members who paid $20 a ticket", which were clearly intended to paint the audience as "fatties" and "dopes" and Glenn as an egomaniac only out for money.
Does that narrative sound familiar?
Thankfully, Ryan Miner, mentioned in Layton's story, called in to share the details on what really happened.
According to Miner, who Layton dedicated one line to, talked to the reporter long enough for her to take several pages of notes. But the one line she used from the conversation made it sound like he didn't know what he was talking about when it came to Common Core, when in reality they spoke about their concerns at length.
Miner explained, "The reporter thought I had absolutely no comprehension of Common Core before I came in there. That was one of my quotes that I offered in a copious probably six to seven page spread of notes that she took. And she extrapolated one quote and made this to make me sound like I was a doofus and that I've come here from the far right wing because, you know, I'm running for the board of education."
Miner said it was clear from the start that she had an agenda to discredit Glenn and the event, and she used the people in that theater as pawns to fit that story.
"We were really, really furious when this article came out yesterday," he said. "It was an exploitation. She had a defined narrative going into this. We were pawns that fit into that narrative."
