Glenn Beck let loose on Speaker John Boehner on Thursday after he was informed that the House Ethics Committee barred members of Congress from attending the radio host’s upcoming Restoring Courage rally in Israel.
“Speaker Boehner, you should be ashamed of yourself. The Republican Party should be ashamed of themselves. They don’t have to attend my event. Let them come to our biggest ally and only friend we still have in the Middle East in their hour of need,” Beck said after Rep. Joe Walsh (R.-Ill) told him the news on his show.
Walsh said he was told that Beck’s Aug. 24 rally in Jerusalem “had the appearance of a political event” and therefore Congress members “were rejected” from attending the rally, which is framed by Beck’s website as “an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that Israel does not stand alone.”
Several politicians had signaled support for the event, according to liberal media watchdog Media Matters, though earlier Thursday Beck did not provide information to POLITICO on which, if any, would attend.
“To me it surely is … an additional way to go over there and do some fact-finding and learn. That’s what we as members of Congress do. But for some reason, they shied away from what you are doing over there,” Walsh told Beck.
Beck was outraged and, after Walsh signed off the program, accused Boehner of “playing politics.”
“There are so many people, good people, that are in the Republican Partytrying to fight for common sense values, trying to hold some semblance of the line of America, trying to hold together what little credibility we have overseas. But the Republicans would much rather punish ‘bad Republicans.’ Good for you, Speaker Boehner. Good for you,” Beck said.
Beck’s website The Blaze tried to track down the specific reasoning behind the decision, but was told by Dan Schwager, staff director for the House Ethics Committee, that the committee is not “permitted to speak about individual matters.”