In yet another unexpected comment this week, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck said the “good” in Ferguson, Missouri, outweighs the bad in the wake of Michael Brown’s shooting death.
Beck, who is infamous for making dozens of controversial remarks about Democrats, on Thursday praised teachers in Ferguson for removing trash, religious leaders for urging people to act peacefully and residents for donating to local food pantries and welcoming strangers into their homes as the community experienced unrest.
“Yes, there were looters. Yes, there were vandals. Yes, there were bad cops. Yes, there were good cops. The good, the good has far out-shadowed the bad,” he said during his TV show, which airs on TheBlaze.
He blamed the media for “stirring the pot” by focusing on the “bad” emerging from Ferguson, and consequently leaving the world with a bitter, angry taste of the St. Louis suburb.
“We have let the pressure in our society build, and that’s what you were seeing on the streets in Ferguson, that’s what you’re seeing happen,” Beck said. “We have to take the pressure off. We are bound to stand with each other and point out when we agree, when we’re right.”
“We all have much more in common and we better start finding those things,” he added.
The Department of Justice soon will open a civil rights investigation into policing practices in the suburb, where Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot 18-year-old Brown on Aug. 9. Residents and law enforcement officials clashed in the weeks after his death, and the unrest exposed stark racial divisions. Related: Ferguson welcomes federal civil rights police investigation In another unlikely move earlier this week, Beck predicted that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be elected president in 2016. While conservatives focus on Benghazi and the IRS, he said, the former first lady will draw on the positive attitudes the public still has about her husband’s tenure in office. Clinton hasn’t declared her intent to run for president yet, but has said she will decide by the end of the year. Beck, who left Fox News three years ago to start his own media empire, also recently called on Americans to be more communicative, and asked lawmakers to tone down the political environment. In a surprising move, he sided with liberals earlier this year on the war in Iraq, as President Barack Obama deployed American troops to defend the U.S. Embassy.
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