“I'm Good Friends With Glenn”: CPAC Attendees Weigh In On Beck/Kristol Feud

In the wake of Weekly Standard editor and Fox News contributor Bill Kristol calling out Glenn Beck for his “hysteria” over Egypt, prominent conservatives have been choosing sides.

Beck has responded by lashing out at critics -- including telling people that call him “crazy” because of his New World Order theory to “go to hell” -- and wrongly insisting that articles in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have proven him right.

This weekend was not a particularly good one for Team Beck - as we noted, Bill O'Reilly and several Fox News guests directly contradicted Beck's Egypt theories on Friday night.

During his regular “At Your Beck and Call” segment, O'Reilly challenged Beck, going so far as to say “I don't see it,” and adding that “there's no evidence that says I'm not right.”

But while prominent conservatives distanced themselves from Beck's incoherence, Beck found solid support from a couple attendees at CPAC.

WorldNetDaily's Jerome Corsi, whose love for conspiracy theories leads him to say things like Obama “has stolen the identity of a natural born citizen” and is “using someone else's Social Security number,” said that he and WND have “supported Glenn Beck” and that “Glenn Beck is right on it.” Corsi referenced a piece by fellow WND writer Aaron Klein, in which Klein wrote that he was “compelled to join Glenn Beck's side”:

NewsReal managing editor David Swindle echoed his boss David Horowitz's support for Beck , saying that they are “very much on the Glenn Beck side.” He also repeated Horowitz's calls for Kristol to apologize to Beck.

Swindle voiced support for Beck's theory that the unrest in Egypt could spill over to Western Europe, adding that “Western Europe is already going Islamist in certain parts”:

Capital Research Center senior editor Matthew Vadum came out in favor of Beck as well, saying that Beck's theory on the caliphate is accurate, and suggesting that Kristol may just be upset that he is not getting the same amount of attention as Beck lately:

Conservative activist Brigitte Gabriel said that she “absolutely” agrees with Beck (and plugged her latest book, which she said laid out the theory years before Beck started talking about it.)

Beck also found reflexive support from a couple attendees that were not familiar with the feud.

Former SNL castmember and amateur bumper sticker artist Victoria Jackson told Media Matters that she usually doesn't miss an episode of Beck, but hadn't been able to watch his show recently. Nonetheless, she agreed with Beck that the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to “take over” Egypt, and added, “that's why Obama is supporting it, because Obama likes to support Muslims.”

The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore was unfamiliar with the Kristol/Beck split, but explained that he is “good friends with Glenn,” and that he “think[s] Glenn's is great.” He added that “next to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck is the most important conservative”:

For his part, Fox News contributor and potential 2012 presidential candidate John Bolton refused to take sides in the debate, saying that he doesn't “believe in shooting ourselves.”