Glenn Beck’s New Conspiracy Theory About A Conspiracy Theory

Any right wing lunatic can come up with a conspiracy theory which will be believed by many right wingers, but only Glenn Beck has managed to come up with a conspiracy theory about a conspiracy theory. Beck, who ” is often at the forefront of right-wing conspiracy theories” (per Think Progress) has a novel reason for opposing the conspiracy theories spread by the Birthers. Beck doesn’t settle for just pointing out how ridiculous this conspiracy theory is. He argued on his radio show that the whole Birther movement is being used by liberals to discredit conservatives:

So there are apparently, apparently there is and I’m just going to there’s always games being played behind the scenes at a talk radio show and on television and everything else. It is really, it’s very, I don’t know, it’s disappointing. Rush has called them on the games in radio behind the scenes, Rush has always called them seminar callers. But instead of being coy with the seminar callers or with you, I’m just going to expose the game that is going on. Today there is a concerted effort on all radio stations to get Birthers on the air. I have to tell you, are you working for the Barack Obama administration? I mean, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard….

May I go out onto this conspiratorial limb, please. If I’m Barack Obama which I want you to know I’m not, but if I yes, you haven’t seen us at parties together, I know. But let’s say I were Barack Obama and I had somebody who was forwarding a conspiracy like this…

GLENN: May I go out onto this conspiratorial limb, please. If I’m Barack Obama which I want you to know I’m not, but if I yes, you haven’t seen us at parties together, I know. But let’s say I were Barack Obama and I had somebody who was forwarding a conspiracy like this.

PAT: And looking stupid doing it?

GLENN: Yeah. And then my advisors would come in and go, let’s just make this go away. Here’s an idea: Just call the doctor, just get the nurse. Just, here, let’s just have, you know, three really credible people examine the birth certificate because really let’s just make this go away so we can get on the work with the American people. If I were Barack Obama, I would say, no, now, wait a minute; why do that when these people are so discrediting themselves because if I can get them to discredit themselves and they’ll use the argument, “Well, you think it’s nonsense to have him answer that question when it’s in the Constitution? He would be the first unconstitutional president!” Yes. But I believe he already is, seeing that healthcare is against the Constitution. The fundamental transformation of the country is a little unconstitutional.

STU: Right. When you’ve lost 40 points off your approval rating, the only thing you have left is the people who are coming out and yelling about your birth certificate. The only positive this guy has left.

If you follow Beck’s logic, the problem isn’t really that conservatives are so crazy that they believe the Birther nonsense, but that there is a conspiracy to make conservatives look crazy by making it look like conservatives think like the Birthers do.

There’s one problem with Beck’s idea to try to make the right wing look less crazy. Many right wingers will have nothing to do with separating themselves from the Birthers, with sites such as WorldNetDaily now attacking Beck and defending the views of the Birthers.

Beck’s moment of sanity in attacking the Birthers, even if part of an insane conspiracy of his own, was also destroyed when Beck came up with arguments about as absurd as those made by Birthers as to why the Obama administration is unconstitutional:

Do you want to argue the Constitution? Good. Let’s show the number of people in congress and in the Senate that don’t even read the Constitution. Can’t tell you right now if healthcare is even in the Constitution. Let’s talk to the scholars. Let’s talk to the average Joe that understands this isn’t in the Constitution. Let’s argue the Constitution on the laws and the systems that they are building today. Instead of arguing the Constitution and whether or not he was born in America, why don’t we argue the constitutionality of a little known thing called czars. And the power that these people have.

I already noted the fallacies in Beck’s arguments about czars back in September, and Beck will have a tough time finding a true Constitutional scholar to lend any credibility to his argument on health care. Media Matters also debunked Beck’s views on health care, along with many other errors  promoted on his show, when they named him Misinformer of the Year.  Perhaps the best response to the convoluted logic and disregard for the facts used by Beck in devising his  conspiracy theories was provided in a video by Jon Stewart.