Forgive me, I should have been more careful with the wording of my thesis.

Either Glenn Beck is actually unbalanced, or he is doing a fairly good job of pretending to be mad for ratings, in which case the character he plays is a crazy person. Either way, the "Glenn Beck" persona is still a beacon of the Tea Party and I think that is good evidence that the Tea Party is irrational.

What's wrong with being "radical"?

Nothing's wrong with being radical. I'm radical myself on many issues. But his policy is radical and I do disagree with it, so it appears to me to be radically wrong. I am making the case that readers should agree with me on this point.

What exactly is so "lunatic" about this quote? Yes, the reasoning isn't up to LW standards, but that's true of nearly all reasoning outside LW.

I think the suggestion that the President has a deep-seated hatred for white people is ludicrous. If you have any serious evidence that Obama is concealing a burning emnity towards people of European descent then I am willing to weigh it against the evidence I have already seen to the contrary, but at the moment it seems so unlikely to be true that I struggle to imagine how a person could seriously believe it without suffering from some severe cognitive handicap. Thus: it seems like the sort of thing only a lunatic could believe.

He is by no means the only public personality to fantasize about killing a prominent member of the opposing political faction.

Sure, I'm certain plenty of people fantasize about killing their political opponents, but how many of them actually suggest on television that they would like to do so? I've seen Chuck Norris do it, I've seen Glenn Beck do it. I'm sure there are others, but again, I think that telling the nation about how you would enjoy staring into a man's eyes as you choked the life out of him is not the sort of thing a sane, rational person would do with sincerely.

I disagree with him, but you may want to read this before deciding that this is obviously "lunatic".

I agree that not believing in evolution doesn't make him insane, just radically incorrect. Perhaps that particular quote was poor evidence for the "lunatic" thesis.

His Caliphate theory predicts that hardcore socialists and communists will work together with Muslims to overthrow Israel, capitalism, The West, and any other stable countries. He posits a conspiracy.

Let me guess, this is the first time you've been in a discussion with someone whose political views are vastly different from your own.

No, I often engage in political debate. I enjoy it! I am an active member of a minority political party, I attend a University full of intelligent people with varied opinions, I have a wide circle of friends from a range of backgrounds, many of whom disagree with me quite strongly. I have had this exact conversation dozens of times. The fact that you consider it a possibility that I have never encountered someone who disagreed with me is bizarre to me. My assumption was that you are in the same position. I asked if you were joking because I was surprised to find a Glenn Beck apologist in one of the most rational forums on the internet, and I didn't want to look silly if it turned out you were being sarcastic.