For the last several months, Fox host Glenn Beck has been promoting what he calls "the Plan," described as a hundred-year scheme for the "Refounding" of America.
But as MSNBC's Keith Olbermann pointed out on Tuesday, there is more -- or perhaps less -- to "the Plan" that meets the eye.
Beck recently told his audience about a conversation he had with his co-host, Pat Gray. "I said, 'I can feel it coming," Beck began. "It's darkness, and I can just feel it coming.' And I al-- I started to say -- I said, 'The problem is, is that--' and I stopped, because I don't want to utter something like this without really thinking it through. But I was about to say, 'the problem is, is that God is giving a plan, I think, to me that is not really a plan.'"
"Okay, so the plan isn't really a plan," Olbermann remarked after showing this clip. "Does it at least tell us where to go and who to follow?'
"The plan that He would have me articulate, I think, to you," Beck continued, "is get behind Me -- and I don't mean 'me,' I mean Him. Get behind Me. Stand behind Me."
"I'm confused," Olbermann commented cheerfully. "Behind you? Behind Him? You're left behind? ... Oh, wait, here's the big payoff in which the plan is accidentally revealed."
"Pat and I both went home and prayed," Beck went on portentously. "We both opened our Bibles, and we found something the next day that I think is important for you today to understand. He found one thing. He found the first piece, I found the second piece. The message was the same, but I think the message is for you today."
But instead of actually revealing his message from God, Beck glanced to one side and quickly switched gears, saying, "I'll give that to you in one second. First I have to break for our sponsor, Goldline."
Goldline International is a precious metals vendor that Beck has previously gotten into trouble for promoting on-air.
"That's the plan!" Olbermann laughed. "Buy more gold over the Internet. Hallelujah! We're saved!"
This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast April 20, 2010.
