Glenn Beck and the Tea Party plan Lincoln Memorial rally on MLK speech anniversary

Saturday, August 28 marks the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historical “I Have A Dream” speech, but if you show up on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow you may be in for a big surprise!

Glenn Beck will be holding his “Restoring Honor” rally with speeches by Sarah Palin, Dr. Alveda King and Marcus Luttrell as well as a musical performance by Jo Dee Messina.

From Politics Daily:

Beck, asserting that whites “do not own” the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and, by this logic, “blacks don’t own Martin Luther King,” said on his own radio program in June that he initially chose the day by default. Originally planned for Sunday, Sept. 12, Beck changed the date because he was not “going to ask anyone to work on the Sabbath.” When one of his staff members informed him of the significance of Aug. 28, Beck says he thought the coincidence was “divine providence.”

Needless to say, one man’s “divine providence” is another man’s blasphemy. Civil rights leaders and groups including the Reverend Al Sharpton, the NAACP, the Urban League and Martin Luther King III have their own “Reclaim the Dream” march also planned for Saturday as a reaction to the Tea Party rally. A press release issued by Sharpton’s National Action Network addresses the Tea Party/MLK controversy:

While across town at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial the conservative tea party members and TV host Glenn Beck will attempt to hijack the dream, at the same time civil rights activists will convene at Dunbar High School to shed light upon key issues that have diminished the dream.
As we prepare to mark the 47th anniversary of his “I Have a Dream” speech on this date, Glenn Beck and others are expected to push for the expansion of states’ rights – the exact antithesis of the civil rights movement and Dr. King’s legacy.

…

Today, the Tea Party and allied conservatives are trying to break that national stance on justice and, in turn, break the crux of what the civil rights movement symbolized and what Dr. King fought and literally died for.

So why is Glenn Beck and the Tea Party rallying at the Lincoln Memorial? It’s so that Beck can deliver his 100-year plan for America. From GlennBeck.com:

I’m coming to you next year with a plan, and it’s multilayered. The first is ‑‑ and I started working on this in August. A 100‑year plan for America. This country was destroyed, and it began 100 years ago with the progressive movement. We weren’t destroyed overnight. We were destroyed piece by piece. So how do we get it back?

…

I’m going to teach you how to be a community organizer next year, oh, because two can play at that game. I’m going to teach you how to be self‑reliant next year. We’ve divided the country up into seven regions. I don’t know how many of these we’re going to be able to do, but we’re going to do these, what would you even call them? Day‑long education seminars, and the first one we announce is going to happen in March in Orlando, Florida, where we’re going to teach you everything you need to know.

And I’m going to try to bring in some experts. How do you build a lifeboat? What do we do right now to be able to save our country, to be able to get them to wake up before an election? Can we get them to wake up before the election? Can we get them ‑‑ I’ve had enough of calling these clowns; they don’t listen to us.

Well, the next time we go to Washington, the next time, you know, Michele Bachmann says, hey, you’ve got to come to Washington, well, thousands of people did go to Washington and they still passed the damn thing. Because we don’t have teeth. Well, it’s time to find our teeth and sharpen our teeth, and we’re going to do it. And then on August 28th ‑‑ write this down in your calendar because this will be most likely the last large gathering on the mall in Washington, D.C. August 28th, I ask you to meet me. Take your family.

We move ‑‑ we had something planned. We moved it to August 28th because I wanted your family to be able to be there and your family not in school, et cetera, et cetera. So come to the feet of Abraham Lincoln on August 28th. By that time I hope to have enough things out there that you will at least have some teeth to the ‑‑ so the politicians will see you and hear you and fear you!

The reason why I say I think it’s going to be the last large gathering on the mall is because our government has decided that there will be no more gatherings, large gatherings on the mall with Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln Memorial as of 2011. This will be historic.

In the meantime piece by piece, little by little I’m developing this plan, and I will explain more to you a little later. It’s not something I take lightly. It is not something that is something I can whip out. But two can play at this game, and I’ll give you more details as things continue. But I want you to know we are all stewards of this country, and I take my stewardship of my part of the republic seriously, and I take your faith in me extraordinarily seriously. We’re in it together.