Conservative commentator Glenn Beck addressed a tea party rally Wednesday on Capitol Hill, finding common ground with the conservative attendees by voicing disapproval at the prospect of the United States entering a war in Syria.
Beck was preaching to the choir much of the time, tossing red meat to the gathering with his criticism of the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups and the supposedly porous U.S.-Mexico border.
And when Beck touched on the possibility of military intervention in the Syrian civil war, the crowd made it clear that they backed the former Fox News pundit and not the hawkish faction the Republican Party.
“And now they are plotting a new war with Syria,” Beck said, drawing loud boos from the tea partiers in attendance. “This again will bring nothing but death and destruction the world over. And the price that we will pay will be too high.”
Echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin, Beck expressed concerns with the decision to arm Syrian rebels.
A poll from Pew Research Center earlier this week found that a huge majority of Americans are opposed to arming the rebels. As evidence by Beck’s rhetoric, the debate over Syria could divide the right in much the same way that the use of drones has splintered the GOP.
