Today, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson writes that Glenn Beck's 8-28 rally -- set to take place on the anniversary and at the location of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech -- is "an exercise in self-aggrandizement on a Napoleonic scale" and that "no puffed-up blabbermouth could ever diminish the importance of the 1963 March on Washington or the impact of King's unforgettable words." Robinson further notes that "Beck's version of history is flat-out wrong":

The most offensive thing about the rally is Beck's in-your-face boast that the event will "reclaim the civil rights movement." But this is just a bunch of nonsense -- too incoherent to really offend. Beck makes the false assertion that the struggle for civil rights was about winning "equal justice," not "social justice" -- in other words, that there was no economic component to the movement. He claims that today's liberals, through such initiatives as health-care reform, are somehow "perverting" King's dream.

But Beck's version of history is flat-out wrong. The full name of the event at which King spoke 47 years ago was the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." Among its organizers was labor leader A. Philip Randolph, the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a vice president of the AFL-CIO, who gave a speech describing the injustice of "a society in which 6 million black and white people are unemployed and millions more live in poverty."

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), then an official of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was the youngest speaker at the march. "We march today for jobs and freedom, but we have nothing to be proud of, for hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here -- for they have no money for their transportation, for they are receiving starvation wages," he told the crowd. Referring to proposed civil rights legislation, Lewis said: "We need a bill that will provide for the homeless and starving people of this nation. We need a bill that will ensure the equality of a maid who earns five dollars a week in the home of a family whose total income is $100,000 a year."

Related:

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WATCH: Glenn Beck's egomania reaching comical proportions

From Robinson's March 30 Washington Post column:

The episode highlights the obvious: For decades now, the most serious threat of domestic terrorism has come from the growing ranks of paranoid, anti-government hate groups that draw their inspiration, vocabulary and anger from the far right.

It is disingenuous for mainstream purveyors of incendiary far-right rhetoric to dismiss groups such as the Hutaree by saying that there are "crazies on both sides." This simply is not true.

[...]

It is dishonest for right-wing commentators to insist on an equivalence that does not exist. The danger of political violence in this country comes overwhelmingly from one direction -- the right, not the left. The vitriolic, anti-government hate speech that is spewed on talk radio every day -- and, quite regularly, at Tea Party rallies -- is calibrated not to inform but to incite.

Demagogues scream at people that their government is illegitimate, that their country has been "taken away," that their elected officials are "traitors" and that their freedom is at risk. They have a right to free speech, which I will always defend. But they shouldn't be surprised if some listeners take them literally.

From Robinson's August 4 Washington Post column:

There are probably people out there who think the world is flat, and they're not worth writing about. The "birthers" wouldn't be either unless you believe a poll released last week by Research 2000 revealing that an astounding 28 percent of Republicans actually think that Obama was not born in the United States and another 30 percent are "not sure." GOP officials need to order more tinfoil.

The survey, commissioned by the liberal Web site Daily Kos, found that 93 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of independents have no doubt - duh - that Obama was born in the United States. That only 42 percent of Republicans are similarly convinced is a fascinating indicator of just how far the Republican Party has drifted from the mainstream.

Also beyond the outer limits of sanity is CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, who has been giving prime-time exposure to the "birther" lunacy - even while denying that he believes in it. Dobbs' obsession with the "story" has become an embarrassment to the network, which has tried to position itself as untainted by political bias. CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein has pronounced the story "dead," but insists that it's legitimate for Dobbs to examine the alleged controversy, though in fact no controversy exists.

The "birther" thing is only Dobbs' latest detour from objective reality. For years, he has crusaded against illegal immigration by citing facts and figures that often turn out to be wrong. Television can confer a kind of pseudo-reality on any manner of nonsense.

Is this an orchestrated campaign to somehow delegitimize Obama's presidency? Is the fact that he is the first African American president a factor? Is it that some people can't or won't accept that he won the election and serves as commander in chief?

Maybe, maybe not. Trying to analyze the "birther" phenomenon would mean taking it seriously, and taking it seriously would be like arguing about the color of unicorns. About all that can be said is that a bunch of lost, confused and frightened people have decided to seek refuge in conspiratorial make-believe. I hope they're harmless. And I hope they seek help.

Previously:

New sea ice data further bury George Will's global warming credibility

George Will continues to misuse WMO climate data despite criticism from WMO sec. general

County Fair: Ombudsman Alexander faults Wash. Post editors, Will in global warming column controversy

Lashing out at critics, George Will spreads more falsehoods in new global warming column

In reported response to Will controversy, Wash. Post ombudsman compounds global warming misinformation