Thousands Gather for Beck Rally
The New York Times reports on Glenn Beck's Washington rally:
Tens of thousands of people rallied at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Saturday at an event organized by the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck, who called for a religious rebirth in America at the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech 47 years ago to the day.
“Something that is beyond man is happening,” Mr. Beck in opening the event as the overwhelmingly white crowd thronged near the memorial grounds. “America today begins to turn back to God.”
Mr. Beck, a Fox News broadcaster who has been harshly critical of President Obama and Congressional Democrats, has come under attack for dishonoring the memory of Dr. King by staging the event on the anniversary of his speech, which was part of the civil rights movement’s March on Washington. Critics suggested Mr. Beck was trying to energize conservatives in advance of the coming midterm elections. Civil rights activists intended to march to the site of a King memorial being constructed nearby.
But while Tea Party activists and other conservatives have generally focused on fiscal issues and steered clear of social themes this year, Mr. Beck, in speeches Friday and Saturday, imbued his remarks with references to God and a need for a religious revival.
“For too long, this country has wandered in darkness,” said Mr. Beck, dressed in a shirt and tie on a sunny late-summer day. “This country has spent far too long worrying about scars and thinking about scars and concentrating on scars.”
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