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Tuesday, Sep 22, 2009 6:05 PM UTC

Scarborough: Glenn Beck is bad for conservatism

The morning show host and former congressman says Fox News' talker is playing with fire

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Topics: Fox News, Glenn Beck, MSNBC, War Room, Joe Scarborough,

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has professional reasons to be going after Glenn Beck. Beck is, after all, employed by Fox News, which has never had friendly relations with rival MSNBC. But there’s a more personal, political thing involved in Scarborough’s beef with Beck. The morning show host is a former Republican congressman, a conservative — albeit one more moderate than the men who would be his colleagues if he were still in the House. And he believes Beck can drag the whole movement down with him.

“When you preach this type of hatred and say that an African-American president hates all white people, you are playing with fire, and bad things can happen. And if they do happen, not only is Glenn Beck responsible, but conservatives who don’t call him out are responsible,” Scarborough said on his show Tuesday. “You can not preach hatred, you can not say the president’s a racist, you can not stir up things that could have very deadly consequences. I was in Congress in 1995. I know where this can end. You can’t do it and then say, ‘I’m a rodeo clown.’”

Video is below.

 

 

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

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