Beck smeared ABC colleague Rosie, claimed "I never said that Hillary Clinton was a bitch"

On the March 16 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, in reference to comments documented by Media Matters for America in which he called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "the stereotypical bitch," Glenn Beck said: "Hillary Clinton sounds like the biggest nag on the planet ... I never said that Hillary Clinton -- excuse the language -- I never said that Hillary Clinton was a bitch. I said she sounded like one." He went on to say, "It has nothing to do with her policies, it has nothing to do with her personality, it has nothing to do with what she's actually saying."

On his March 15 show, Beck had said: "Hillary Clinton cannot be elected president because ... there's something about her vocal range," and went on to say, "There's something about her voice that just drives me -- it's not what she says, it's how she says it," adding, "She is like the stereotypical -- excuse the expression, but this is the way to -- she's the stereotypical bitch, you know what I mean?"

In the March 16 broadcast, Beck also compared Clinton to Rosie O'Donnell, co-host of ABC's The View, claiming, "Now, here's somebody who I don't think sounds like a nag, but is one, and that's Rosie O'Donnell." He then played an audio clip in which O'Donnell said that alleged 9-11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed "has been in the custody of the American government in secret CIA torture prisons and Guantánamo Bay, where torture is accepted and allowed, and he finally is the guy who admits to doing everything," to which Beck replied: "She has more contempt for the United States of America than the guy who is the number-two guy of Al Qaeda." Later in the program, Steve Burguiere, the executive producer of Beck's radio show who is known on-air as "Stu," stated, "Rosie O'Donnell's just stupid. She's out there blabbing her mouth at 100 million miles per hour, and she has no idea what she's talking about," adding, "I mean, Rosie O'Donnell's just crazy. I don't think -- that's why they have ratings on that show, because she's nuts."

As Media Matters for America has noted, ABC News recently hired Beck as a "regular commentator" for Good Morning America. The View, featuring O'Donnell, also appears on ABC. Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates Beck's radio show, says the program is heard on more than 230 radio stations nationwide. According to Talkers Magazine, the program reaches more than 3 million listeners each week.

From the March 16 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:

BECK: Hello and welcome to the program. So glad that you have tuned in today. Golly! Oh, golly! We've got an awful lot to talk about today. You know what, I'm going to let you do a lot of the talking. I've got emails that -- people are very upset with me about what I said about Hillary Clinton yesterday. As soon as I get some audio, I'm going to play it and make my point. But I've gotta make it with audio, and I want you to, I want you to -- you tell me where I'm wrong when I said yesterday Hillary Clinton sounds like the biggest nag on the planet. Sounds like the biggest nag on the planet. I never said that Hillary Clinton -- excuse the language -- I never said that Hillary Clinton was a bitch. I said she sounded like one. It has nothing to do with her policies, it has nothing to do with her personality, it has nothing to do with what she's actually saying. And I have a piece of audio that I'm going to share with you in a few minutes where it is -- I agree with what she's saying. I believe I've actually said the things that she's saying. And yet I can't take it. Blood shoots out of my eyes. There's something about her voice that just grates on me.

And I believe -- Stu, I would like an expert on Monday. I want a vocal expert on Monday, somebody that can tell me the vocal range that she's in, somebody that can do the voice pattern stuff. Tell me what it is because it is -- it is her voice, and I believe she could be trained to not use it. Me personally, I would just say, "Shut up." But she can be trained to bring her voice down.

STU: Yeah, I know, it's kind of like that high -- it's like that crunching glass sort of, like, combined with a female voice.

BECK: Horrible.

STU: It just has that grating sort of sound.

BECK: Horrible.

STU: But you're an evil hatemonger, so you know --

BECK: I know I am. Now, here's somebody who I don't think sounds like a nag, but is one, and that's Rosie O'Donnell. Do we have the audio of Rosie O'Donnell? Listen to this. This is yesterday. Listen to this.

[begin audio clip]

O'DONNELL: This man right here whose name is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. There's his picture. And this man --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's attractive, isn't he?

O'DONNELL: -- well, yeah -- he has apparently admitted to over 29 things that he says that he was solely responsible for. He did this confession while he's at Guantánamo. He was arrested and put in the care of the United States in March 2003. He was then in a secret CIA prison. And then he was brought to Guantánamo. And then he confessed without reporters being present, and without being privy to a lawyer --

[...]

O'DONNELL: I think the man has been in the custody of the American government in secret CIA torture prisons and Guantánamo Bay, where torture is accepted and allowed, and he finally is the guy who admits to doing everything.

[end audio clip]

BECK: Stop. Stop. Do you hear this? Do you hear this, America? I just want to make this very, very clear. This is ABC television. This is The View with Barbara Walters. Every day you get a dose of this, this woman's opinion of the United States. Do you notice that it's "in the custody of the American government" -- not our government, the "American government," with contempt. She has more contempt for the United States of America than the guy who is the number-two guy of Al Qaeda. And look, if you want to have that opinion, you can have that opinion in America. Have that opinion. You're wrong. You're stupid. You are uninformed. But you can have that opinion. But God forbid, God forbid, you have the opinion that is opposite of that. God forbid in this country, ABC, NBC, CBS, anyone allows someone with the opposite point of view and a big enough mouth to make that every day, God forbid they allow them to have an hour of television nationwide, mainstream television. God forbid that ever happens. But you'll put Rosie O'Donnell on ABC. You'll put Keith Olbermann, now with specials, on NBC. You've got Katie Couric and her embedded news on CBS. Where is the other side? Where is the mainstream other side? It doesn't exist. Why? Because it's not politically correct.

[...]

STU: The tactic is noted in that when these shows come out -- I mean, and she's not out there -- I don't think of her as someone who's hiding the fact that she's liberal.

BECK: No, she's not.

STU: She doesn't say it, but that's how it --

BECK: Katie Couric is. Katie Couric is.

STU: Yeah, I mean, I can -- that -- like, it's a -- it's a different rule. She's out there -- I mean, Rosie O'Donnell's just stupid. She's out there blabbing her mouth at 100 million miles per hour, and she has no idea what she's talking about, where Katie Couric probably really does look into this stuff and believes it. And there's a difference there. I mean, Rosie O'Donnell's just crazy. I don't think -- that's why they have ratings on that show, because she's nuts.

—M.B.B.