“This is not a joke.” Perhaps not, but you are.

Greg Gutfeld circa 2003:

In 2003 [while serving as the Editor in Chief of Stuff], Gutfeld hired several dwarves to attend a magazine conference, on the topic of “buzz,” in his place. During one of the lectures, they chatted loudly on cell phones and munched potato chips. “The midget thing got me in trouble” he said. “And the reason I didn’t tell anybody about it in advance is because then it wouldn’t have happened. I thought it made perfect sense: There’s a conference on ‘buzz’ by a bunch of self-congratulating idiots—I’ll show you buzz.”

Greg Gutfeld circa 2010:

I’m announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space. This is not a joke. I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

Clearly, the man has grown more dignified these past seven years: whereas he previously used minorities as props to create “buzz” for Stuff, now he’s using them as props in a “bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance” of a lifestyle he thinks so highly of he wants to use those who practice it as props.

Just in case you thought—I know you didn’t—that this proposal amounted to anything more than a puerile prank, Gutfeld elaborated on Glenn Beck:

GUTFELD: Well, you know, I was thinking—I went on to their Web site, the Cordoba House website. It’s a lovely website, and they talk about preaching tolerance and communication. And I thought how interesting is it that they are preaching tolerance and communication to Americans? I thought, wouldn’t it be great to test their tolerance? … I’m not a good businessman and I’m a terrible activist, but this might be the greatest idea I’ve ever had.

Emphasis mine, because apparently it doesn’t go without saying that tolerance is an ideal to aspire to, not a virtue to be tested by someone whose “comedy” largely consists of dialogue-building dick jokes. To wit:

GUTFELD: Or Ji-Hunk. How about Infidelicious? Or Turban Cowboy?

BECK: Yes.

GUTFELD: You like Turban Cowboy?

BECK: My favorite?

GUTFELD: What?

BECK: Suspicious Packages.

GUTFELD: Yes. That’s a nice one.

(LAUGHTER)

Glenn Beck, on the other hand, prefers to crack wise about 9/11:

GUTFELD: But I have a lot of people that are interested in backing me for this. And I’m telling you, this is the greatest thing ever, because right now, I contacted the Cordoba House. I wrote them. I e-mailed them. They didn’t respond. But I tweeted them and they tweeted me back.

BECK: And what did they say?

GUTFELD: They said, “You are free to open whatever you like. If you won’t consider the sensibilities of Muslims, you are not going to build dialogue.”

BECK: Oh.

GUTFELD: Yes. And you know I love to build dialogue.

BECK: Sure. Especially—you do that at Grind Zeros.

I’m sure Sarah Palin will be condemning Beck any minute now.