Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post had an interesting take on Glenn Beck’s gathering of lunatics in Washington D.C. last week. My name is Glenn Beck, and I need help:

Beck’s “Restoring Honor” gathering on the Mall was right out of the Alcoholics Anonymous playbook. It was a 12-step program distilled to a few key words, all lifted from a prayer delivered from the Lincoln Memorial: healing, recovery and restoration.

Saturday’s Beckapalooza was yet another step in Beck’s own personal journey of recovery. He may as well have greeted the crowd of his fellow disaffected with:

“Hi. My name is Glenn, and I’m messed up.”

My tolerance for delusion has been fairly low lately, so I did not catch any coverage of Beck’s wingnut gathering, but I’ve seen enough of Glenn Beck (a few minutes is enough, really), to have thought of this comparison myself. I don’t blame Alcoholics Anonymous for Beck’s delusion, as I am sure he was like this before he ever entered the program, but he is the perfect fit an outfit like AA.

She goes on:

These may be random quotes, but they can’t be considered isolated or out of context. For Beck, addiction has been a defining part of his life, and recovery is a process inseparable from the Glenn Beck Program. His emotional, public breakdowns are replicated in AA meetings in towns and cities every day.

Taking others along for the ride, a.k.a. evangelism, is also part of the cure. The healed often cannot remain healed without helping others find their way. Beck, who vaulted from radio host to political-televangelist, now has taken another step in his ascendancy — to national crusader for faith, hope and charity.

Of course, one cannot write an editorial like this one without the AA brethren coming out in force to cry ‘foul’, and whether they were supportive of Beck, or wanting to disassociate themselves from this serenity loon, the comments were right out of the AA playbook. Here, Doug Feaver highlights a few, including these gems:

“Kathleen – was the content of Beck’s message upsetting? Where would the addict be without the 12 steps and adherence to a higher power? America might try it – We couldn’t do any worse in our self centeredness.”

and

“Astute and accurate. Beck is a “dry drunk” pontificating on the barroom stool of national TV. Parker is perhaps the most reliable journalist observer whose Republican credentials verify her ability to see reality, beyond mere partisan stridency.”

and

“He violates virtually every tenet of AA and he is a dry drunk. We prefer our anonymity. If you can’t improve on silence, be quiet. A Friend of Bill W.”