On the January 9 edition of his CNN Headline News show, host Glenn Beck said of presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC): “I listened to him last night give a speech, and, I mean, why not just start wearing the Soviet star on your head and the Workers World Party?” Beck added: “Good Lord in heaven. Was it a mistake for him to go after her [Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)] for crying and then also to join this great Soviet state?”
This is not the first time a media figure has associated Edwards with communism. On the December 10 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly noted that entertainer Harry Belafonte had endorsed Edwards and commented: “Oh, I guess that means Edwards has a lock on the Fidel Castro vote.” Similarly, on the February 25 edition of the NBC-syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money, said of Edwards: “He's a tort lawyer for heaven's sake. He's a -- that's the equivalent on Wall Street of -- he's [former Russian communist leader Leon] Trotsky."
BECK: Let me -- let me ask you this, 'cause you're in such a unique position to answer this. I think Mitt Romney has a lot in common with your dad in 1976. Do you feel that way at all, that he's --
MICHAEL REAGAN (radio talk-show host): No, I don't. No, I don't. Because let me tell you -- I told a bunch of college kids back in August, that any one of them could be a surrogate speaker for Ronald Reagan. Because Ronald Reagan was so consistent over the years --
BECK: Oh yeah, no, no -- I don't mean ideology. I just, it's the same kind of -- but it's the same kind of --
REAGAN: Whoa. My dad never looked that good 24 hours a day.
BECK: All right. Peter. John Edwards, I listened to him last night give a speech, and, I mean, why not just start wearing the Soviet star on your head and the Workers World Party? Good Lord in heaven. Was it a mistake for him to go after her for crying and then also to join this great Soviet state?
PETER FENN (Democratic strategist): I'll tell you, I think he is about -- he's a parody on himself. He's so over the top, this guy, when he criticized Hillary and said, “Well, you know, you have to be tough to be president,” I thought to myself, “Buddy, what is your problem? I mean, what are you thinking?”
First of all, it's not going to help you. But, you know, I think Edwards is -- you know, he'll go on, he'll be around. We'll have to deal with -- and I'll tell you, if they cover every one of his speeches where he says the exact same thing every single time --
BECK: Thank you. Thank you. Guys, thanks a lot.
