David Corn at Mother Jones has uncovered another video that should have serious repercussions for Mitt Romney. It shows Romney giving an introduction to his “friend” Glenn Beck at a fundraising event for a dubious college.
Romney begins his introduction of Beck by describing it as a “special treat” and “an honor.” He then describes Beck, who was eventually driven off the air due to his racist and deranged conspiracy rants, as one of the most popular hosts on TV with a “fresh” approach. And, finally, Romney gushes that Beck, a notoriously hyperbolic and divisive hate monger, is a “statesman.”
If Romney regards Beck as a statesman, it shines a light (or should I say casts a pall) on the sort of appointments he would make to the state department were he president. Perhaps he’d nominate John Bolton for Secretary of State, or Ted Nugent for arms control negotiator.
David Corn goes into some detail about the fringe university that is the beneficiary of the fundraiser. It was founded by followers of a Mormon author and professor, W. Cleon Skousen. After demonstrating that he was a fanatic who lacked any credibility (and a Nazi sympathizer), even the Mormon Church rejected him. But that didn’t stop Beck, also a Mormon, from incessantly hyping his book, “The 5,000 Year Leap,” which Beck effusively praised saying, “I beg you to read this book filled with words of wisdom which I can only describe as divinely inspired.”
Unlike the videos that the right splashes around the InterTubes proclaiming falsely that they contain bombshell revelations about Obama, this video of Romney is not a twenty year old relic that has no relevance to the current campaign. Romney made this video during the current campaign in 2009, while sucking up to right-wing demagogues in pursuit of the GOP nomination. And it is precisely because of the absurd allegiances he has that he is unfit for the presidency of the United States.