Glenn Beck is supposed to be a demagogue. A fear monger. A racist. But those who have been around him lately are having a hard time coming to those conclusions.

Enter Paul Mason. Writing for the BBC, he recounts a recent demagogue-less Beck speech. “Once Glenn Beck starts speaking the language becomes restrained, moderate, not even a hint of euphemism or innuendo,” he writes, “indeed an insistence that the audience must reach out and persuade their political enemies, not hate them.”

“[T]here was no hate in the speech I heard,” Mason adds later. “And there was very little politics. In the process of becoming the figurehead for the American right, Beck has found new depths within his own personality and ‘got religion’ even more than he had it before.”

Mason isn’t alone in his observations. Tim Kraulidis was assigned as Beck’s escort at another recent speaking engagement. Kraulidis describes the events he saw as intriguing. “I was impressed with the politeness, sincerity, and friendliness of this man,” he writes. “He is a very conscientious man.” He goes on to explain that Beck fulfilled every picture request, went out of his way to greet volunteers and production staff, and noted that Beck’s attitude was such that “it was not all about him.” No hate speech. No fear mongering.