Scenes from the Beck Rally

From the Washington Post, two people who sum up the incoherent sense of loss that energizes Glenn Beck's supporters:

John Sawyers and Linda Adams said they flew in from Colorado because they are frustrated at what they call the "ruling class," at the health-care bill they say few supported, at schools that no longer require that students say the Pledge of Allegiance, and at elected officials who run on one platform and govern on another.

"We want our country to get back to its original roots," said Adams, 52, a university administrator who said her ancestors were on the Mayflower and fought in the American Revolution.

"It's not anger," said Sawyers, 47, an engineer who grew up on a farm in Virginia. "It's more, 'Guys, why are we going this way?' It's time for the silent majority to say it's wrong."

Sawyers, a registered Republican, and Adams, an independent, said they were moved to attend by Beck's theme of honor.

"Both of us are unhappy with the perception Obama is apologizing for everything we ever did," said Adams wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Does the Constitution say we the sheeple?"

"We feel the United States is the greatest country," Adams added. "And we felt we had to do something."

I wonder if either one could name anything that Obama has apologized for. And then Sarah Palin with more bizarre rhetoric about impending doom:

"But here today, at the crossroads of our history, may this day be the change point," Palin said.

The crossroads between roads leading where? I suppose some of the attendees would say between honor, patriotism, God, and individual initiative on the one hand, and, on the other, socialism, atheism, and embarrassment about America. Since, as I keep pointing, neither Obama nor anyone else in the Democratic party supports socialism or atheism, and only a few fringe types really want the President to go around apologizing, the whole thing remains mysterious.