Beck and Byron Williams.

I've spoken before of Glenn Beck's influence on California highway shooter Byron Williams, the man who into a gun battle with the California Highway Patrol.

Well, now Williams has spoken, and it's very hard not to come to the conclusion that Glenn Beck validated a lot of this man's insane conspiracy theories.

Williams: I would've never started watching Fox News if it wasn't for the fact Beck was on there. And it was the things he did, the things which he exposed, which blew my mind. I said, well nobody does this.

Williams: So now they've got Beck labelled as... trying to incite violence... If the truth incites violence, it means that we've been living too long in the lies.

Indeed, the link between Beck's insane rhetoric and William's is so hard to deny that even fellow radio hosts are now turning on Beck.

Mike Malloy:

"Glenn Beck is a co-conspirator in the case," Malloy told his listeners on Monday. "He should be in jail."

Malloy went on to say that FOX News personality is "pathologically nuts," a "paranoid schizophrenic" and "a dry drunk and a dry drug user."

I think Malloy goes too far, but it is clear that Beck's insane rantings do appear to validate some of the most insane beliefs of the conspiracy theorists.

Many people have noted before how dangerous the rhetoric Beck employs is, but this is the first time that someone accused of a violent crime has been so specific in naming Beck as an influence.

Williams: You need to go back to June, June of this year, 2010, and look at all his programs from June. And you'll see he has been breaking open some of the most hideous corruption. I would say, like a year ago I was watching him, and it was okay. He was all right you know. A little young, but now he's getting it. He really, really is a lot better. He's getting used to it. I don't think he's a natural newscaster, you know what I mean? I look at it more like a schoolteacher on TV, you know?

As I say, Beck doesn't give people like Williams their insane theories, but it's impossible to deny that he validates them.

He's been sailing too close to the wind for a long, long, time. It was inevitable that someone like Williams would come along quoting Beck as an influence.

You can't talk crazy to the crazies for as long as Beck has done without one of them doing something crazy.

Tags: Glenn Beck, Byron Williams