February 11, 2010

Glenn Beck Outs Truther Candidate

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kolleggerium/50745355/" target="_blank">Andreas Kolleger</a> (Creative Commons)

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Texas gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina, a state-sovereignty advocate, may have expected her interview today on Glenn Beck’s radio program to be a big break. Instead she put on a show that at the very least should make Sarah Palin feel a better about her disastrous Katie Couric interview. Medina plodded along for a few minutes—perhaps a little too eagerly—until Beck asked whether she was was a 9/11 Truther. And that’s when Medina’s campaign blew up like a frozen can of Cola:

Beck: Do you believe the government was in any way involved with the bringing down of the World Trade Centers on 9/11?

Medina: I don’t have all the evidence there, Glenn. So I am not in a place, I am not out there publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There are some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there, so I’ve not taken a position on that.

Finally, Beck cut her off, saying, “Debra, you’ve answered the question.” Then he ended the interview and poured on the mockery:

“I…. [makes crashing sound] while I don’t endorse anyone, I think I can write her off the list! [Laughs.] Let me take another look at Kay Bailey Hutchison if I have to! [More laughter.] Rick [Perry], I think you and I could French kiss right now!…. WOW! WOW! The fastest way back to 4%! [Yet more laughter.] Phoo! Ho-ly Cow!”

You can listen to the interview here.

Medina almost immediately put out a statement asserting that “Muslim Terrorists” were responsible for 9/11, but it might be too late for her. An un-dorsement from Beck isn’t likely to bolster her fundraising or win over undecideds—two things she sorely needed to do to have a chance on March 2. As Texas Monthly‘s Eileen Smith spun it, “If you can make Glenn Beck look like a perfectly rational human being, you need serious help.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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