Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), appearing Thursday night at a town hall in his deeply conservative upstate district, was greeted with boos and prompted constituents to walk out when he told an angry crowd to turn off Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck.

Now, the YouTube link claims Inglis said, "Turn Glenn Beck off," but that's not easy to pick up over the din.

Price Atkinson, a spokesman for Inglis, said his boss never mentioned the talk show host's name.

"In response to an audience question regarding fear mongering by people like Glenn Beck, [Inglis] said, 'What I would suggest is turn that television off when he comes on,'" Atkinson said.

Whether the congressman said Beck's name or not, that's still a pretty bold rebuke of an increasingly popular conservative figure.

And it says something about the swat Beck and, more broadly, Fox News have in red America that a conservative congressman could be shouted down by his own base for suggesting they tune out a talk show host. It also may say something more broadly about the state of our political system that such citizens would side with a cable news personality over their elected representative.

But seeing this sort of scene illuminates why Republican officials earlier this year were so quick to walk back their criticism of Rush Limbaugh — they'd just as soon avoid the hassle of ticking off constituents who won't tolerate any badmouthing of conservative talkers.

(Yes, South Carolina readers, I know Inglis has moved some to the middle in recent years — but he's hardly a moderate.)

UPDATE: I've got another video of the same event that clearly has Inglis saying Beck's name in repeating a suggestion that he watch the Fox talk show host. This clip also picks up the congressman accusing Beck of "trading on fear."

Pretty brassy stuff for a South Carolina Republican.

http://tinyurl.com/nafvm8