On Glenn Beck, Penn Jillette said recent Clinton statement "sounds like Charlie Manson"

On the November 2 edition of his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck claimed that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) supports "higher taxes" and "bigger government," while his guest, comedian Penn Jillette, asserted that a comment she made in a recent interview with the editorial board of The Boston Globe "sounds like Charlie Manson." But, according to a Boston Globe editorial, when she made the comment -- "I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all" -- Clinton was "saying she opposes big government spending, not the other way around."

Leading up to Jillette's comment, Beck stated that, during a commercial break, he and Jillette had been "talking about Hillary Clinton, and I said, 'How does somebody who comes out and says, "I want higher taxes. I want bigger government," how are they winning?' " Jillette replied, "I don't know that. ... [S]he said something. I won't get the quote exactly right: 'America can't afford all my ideas.' " Beck replied, "I've lots of ideas, and America can't afford all of them." Jillette continued, "Now, I don't know what that means, but I know it's bad."

In an October 11 article, the Globe summarized the context of Clinton's comment as follows:

Clinton recently floated the idea of issuing a $5,000 bond to each baby born in the United States to help pay for college and a first home, but it immediately inspired Republican ridicule and she quickly said she would not implement the proposal.

She defended that decision yesterday, saying she is focusing on proposals with more political support and she is not formally proposing anything she can't fund without increasing the deficit: "I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all."

In an October 28 editorial, the Globe stated that Clinton's remarks during the interview have been "so badly twisted by her opponents that we feel it necessary to reprint the interview transcript that contains the remark." The Globe noted that the "Republican National Committee sent out an e-mail alert claiming the remark showed how expensive a Clinton presidency would be for the taxpayers" and that, during the October 21 Republican presidential debate, Rudy Giuliani "played the remark for laughs, quoting her and adding the zinger: 'No kidding Hillary, America can't afford you!' " The Globe added, "All in good fun, perhaps, until you learn that Clinton was saying she opposes big government spending, not the other way around." The editorial went on:

Here is Clinton's full answer: "Well, I have a lot of good, new, bold ideas, and I have to make some choices among them." She explained that baby bonds didn't have the level of political support of other proposals she had to help people pay for college. "I have a million ideas. I can't do all of them. I happen to think in running a disciplined campaign -- especially when it comes to fiscal responsibility, which is what I'm trying to do -- everything I propose I have to pay for. You know, you go to my website, you'll see what I would use to pay for what I've proposed. So I've got a lot of ideas, I just obviously can't propose them all. I can't afford them all. The country can't afford them all."

Clinton has adopted a pay-as-you-go rule for new spending, much like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rules for the Democratic Congress. In order to avoid ballooning the deficit, the pay-go rules require a funding source be attached to any new spending. The 60-cent hike in the cigarette tax that would have paid for the expansion of children's healthcare is one example.

From the November 2 edition of CNN's Glenn Beck:

BECK: We were in the break. I wish you would have heard this. We were just talking about Hillary Clinton, and I said, "How does somebody who comes out and says, 'I want higher taxes. I want bigger government,' how are they winning?"

JILLETTE: Well, you know, I don't know that. I also don't know -- didn't -- she said something. I won't get the quote exactly right: "America can't afford all my ideas."

BECK: "I've lots of ideas, and America can't afford all of them."

JILLETTE: Now, I don't know what that means, but I know it's bad. I know that if I said that, if I went on Stern and said that --

BECK: Yeah.

JILLETTE: -- that afterwards I'd walk out and the PR guy would be going, "Don't say that thing about America not affording your ideas."

BECK: It's amazing.

JILLETTE: It sounds like Charlie Manson.

BECK: Right.

JILLETTE: It sounds like a crazy -- and I don't know -- but somebody should be able to explain to me what it means, because obviously people didn't just go, "Aarhh! She's out of the race." So people can't be hearing it the way I'm hearing it.

BECK: So, tell me --

JILLETTE: But she's our next president, and that's OK.

BECK: How is -- oh, the fix is in.

—R.C.