The Penance of Glenn Beck

Charles M. Blow, NYT
JAN. 24, 2014

This week Glenn Beck said something I agree with. (Now, there’s a line I never thought I’d write.) During an interview on Tuesday with Megyn Kelly of Fox News, Beck reflected on his time at Fox this way:

“I remember it as an awful lot of fun, and that I made an awful lot of mistakes, and I wish I could go back and be more uniting in my language. Because I think I played a role unfortunately in helping tear the country apart. And it’s not who we are. I didn’t realize how really fragile the people were. I thought we were kind of a little more in it together. And now I look back and I realize if we could have talked about the uniting principles a little more, instead of just the problems, I think I would look back on it a little more fondly. But that’s only my role.”

That’s not exactly a Damascus Road conversion, but it is a meaningful confession.

And I applaud Beck for his candid assessment. That doesn’t undo the damage — Beck’s list of sins is long, and some of those sins are beyond absolution — but admitting a mistake is always an admirable act.

I hope Beck’s confession shines a light on the underbelly of punditry.

(More here.)