Dick Armey: Glenn Beck Is Spreading MLK's Message of Unity

Former House Republican leader and conservative activist Dick Armey said it was "unfortunate" that some are offended that Fox News personality Glenn Beck is hosting a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech (also delivered from the Lincoln Memorial).

King was spreading the message, "Let's have a nation in unity... Let's talk about the character of the nation," Armey told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer on CBSNews.com's Washington Unplugged. "This is exactly what Glenn Beck's doing."

Armey said King would disapprove of the notion that people with differing opinions should have to go to a different spot to express themselves.

Schieffer pointed out that some people are upset because of Beck's past, racially divisive comments, such as saying that President Obama "has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."

"I've never heard him say these things," Armey said.

Nevertheless, he said, the message of Saturday's "Restoring Honor" rally is "not about a single person or a quarrel between two people."

Armey's organization FreedomWorks has helped mobilize Tea Party activists from around the country, a number of whom are expected to gather on the National Mall for Saturday's event.

Armey said his organization has a complementary relationship with Beck. While the television host serves as the "instructional arm of the grassroots movment," Armey said, "We are the activist arm."

The rally on Saturday, he said, will give people the opportunity to "immerse yourself in the heritage of the nation."

The Tea Party, Armey said, will be a "big problem for establishment Republicans" in this election cycle. Republican insurgent candidate Joe Miller, who appears to be on the verge of defeating Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is just the latest example, Armey said.

However, the Tea Party will prove to be a bigger problem for Democrats, he added.

While Democrats are trying to portray Tea Party-backed candidates like Miller as too extreme, Armey said that line of attack doesn't hold water. Positions like being in favor of privatizing Social Security are not extreme, he said.

"What you're seeing with Democrats today... are the acts of, frankly, a panicked political party," he said. "They don't know how to stem the tide."

Watch Friday's Washington Unplugged above also featuring CBS News' Kaylee Hartung on the opening of the Newseum's "Covering Katrina" exhibit, marking the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 2 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.

[edeltraud-2009]

lets send all this idiots to Afganistan Limbach .Beck . Palin an the hole far right .i love to see them suffer .lets not forget Busch & Cheney .you dam Bastard started this Mess .you go an finish the war .an lets send MC Cain ,he loves War s so you all send the rest of Soldiers home an you take there Place .put your Money where your Mouth is

[edeltraud-2009]

Dick you got no looks, no Brain ,an for sure no dignity

[edeltraud-2009]

Dick Army is nothing but a fat ASS srew Ball .he looks like an acht s like a Comunist.

[100Truth]

Dick used to represent us in Texas Congressional District 26. Dr Who's his face, his replacement is not much better.

These Teabaggers are racists to the extreme pure and simple. Their goal is to make the Whitehouse white again.

[newsbarn]

"I've never heard him say these things," Armey said.

Are you kidding me?????? hahahaha yea right dick

Beck has done more to instill hatred and bigotry than anyone....I imagine he and palin are smiling about the mosque that was burned down in tennessee....It probably makes them happy.....cause they love america!

[010sonny]

Origin of funding will give us all an understanding of who is paying for these proper ganders and their pitiful followers. How easily the weak minded is manipulated to such an extent that they would choose their own destruction when told so to do. Perhaps this will show people why Tea party and republicans do not want disclosures of the origins of funds as Obama has been trying to bring to the floor. Who are pulling your strings;
The other major sponsor of the Tea Party movement is Dick Armey?s FreedomWorks, which, like Americans for Prosperity, is promoting events in Washington this weekend. Under its original name, Citizens for a Sound Economy, FreedomWorks received $12 million of its own from Koch family foundations. Using tax records, Mayer found that Koch-controlled foundations gave out $196 million from 1998 to 2008, much of it to conservative causes and institutions. That figure doesn?t include $50 million in Koch Industries lobbying and $4.8 million in campaign contributions by its political action committee, putting it first among energy company peers like Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Since tax law permits anonymous personal donations to nonprofit political groups, these figures may understate the case. The Kochs surely match the in-kind donations the Tea Party receives in free promotion 24/7 from Murdoch?s Fox News, where both Beck and Palin are on the payroll.
The New Yorker article stirred up the right, too. Some of Mayer?s blogging detractors unwittingly upheld the premise of her article (titled ?Covert Operations?) by conceding that they have been Koch grantees. None of them found any factual errors in her 10,000 words.
By Fra nk Price N.Y.T.
Beck claims civil right support? These funding?s come from an elitist group that goes back to 1934 and from that time to the present have exploitive agendas for the demise of civil liberties. ?? Any one for a spot of TEA??

[stn_sage]

Beck is making money for Beck, and 'conning' the public at the same time!

[AnnieDanny]

Well, I don't think the Civil Rights Movement is doing a good job of promoting unity. I think they kinda got off-track with that one, and they can't even see it, or they don't want to. I do think it's good that they champion those who need it. But I'm afraid the overall attitude is that ALL whites are racist, and that's what is really getting OLD. I also think the news media does more harm than good, IMO they like to stir up racial tensions.

[jackpatzer]

Very funny story about Glenn Beck at http://newspile.weebly.com/

[cubscout09]

Unity? At a Tea Party Rally? Then where are the brown faces?

[trosendal]

Just rich white guys directing the thoughts and actions of a bunch of people too stupid to know any better. People that think that ever dime in increased taxes is a crime and lowering taxes will be the universal answer to freedom for all. Ya right.