On his radio show today, Glenn Beck praised the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate, hailing Ryan as a “progressive hunter” and “a good, good pick.” Beck said the selection was evidence of “political genius” by Romney.

Beck opened his show with the “tremendous news” of Ryan's selection, and said that by picking Ryan, Romney had “thrown us a bone.” Beck is the latest media conservative who appears to have influenced the selection of Romney's running mate. Beck's sidekick Stu Burguiere said Ryan is “what we hope Mitt Romney is,” and Beck agreed.

Beck explained that Ryan is “one of the number one progressive hunters in the nation” who understand “the disease that [progressivism] is.” During a 2010 radio interview Ryan agreed with Beck that progressivism is “a cancer,” and called it “the intellectual source for the big-government problems that are plaguing us today. ”Progressive hunter" is a phrase Beck has used in the past to promote attacks on the progressive movement. He once declared that “to the day I die, I am going to be a progressive hunter,” comparing himself to “Israeli Nazi hunters.”

In 2011, Beck proclaimed that he had “man-on-man love” for Ryan, and welcomed Ryan to his radio show by telling him, “I love you.” Ryan responded, “I love you too.” In a television appearance Beck described Ryan as “one of the only serious people in Washington” based on the contents of his tax proposal. Beck has also termed Ryan “a god among conservatives” and said of the Wisconsin congressman, “Thank God for Paul Ryan.”