McCain appeared on Beck's radio show shortly after Beck called Clinton a “stereotypical bitch”

Written by Matthew Biedlingmaier

Published

Less than two weeks after Glenn Beck called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) a “stereotypical bitch,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on the March 27 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show. Discussing the emergency supplemental funding bill for the Iraq war recently passed by the House, McCain called it “shameful” and “disgraceful,” and said of the Democratic troop withdrawal plan included in the bill: “I think we should call this legislation the Date Certain for Surrender Act.” At the end of the interview, McCain said: “I look forward to coming back with you, Glenn. I thank you, and I look forward to coming back on.”

As Media Matters has documented, Beck -- who hosts an evening program on CNN Headline News and was recently hired as a commentator for ABC's Good Morning America -- has a long history of extreme, hate-filled speech targeting a number of individuals and groups. He has an extended history of attacks on Arabs and Muslims:

  • Beck said to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever elected to Congress: “I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' ” Beck added: “I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.” Beck later apologized for what he said was a “poorly worded question.”
  • He has declared that “Muslims who have sat on your frickin' hands the whole time” rather than “lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head” will face dire consequences.
  • He said that "[t]he Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians" and "[i]f they take over ... we're going to have to nuke the whole place."
  • Beck aired a segment mocking the names of several missing Egyptian students in which the announcer said that one “may or may not be accompanied by his camel.” The segment showed pictures of crowds and pointed to random, unidentifiable people as the missing Egyptians. It ended with a reading of the students' names in quick succession followed by the announcer pretending to gag as he struggled to pronounce them.

Beck has smeared numerous other groups as well:

  • Beck claimed that there are three reasons that an illegal immigrant “comes across the border in the middle of the night”: “One, they're terrorists; two, they're escaping the law; or three, they're hungry. They can't make a living in their own dirtbag country.”
  • Beck referred to “those who were left in New Orleans [during Hurricane Katrina], or who decided to stay” as “scumbags” and said he “hate[s]” the families of 9-11 victims.
  • Beck called anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan “a pretty big prostitute.” He later described her as a “tragedy pimp.”
  • During a discussion of the “politically correct world we live in,” Beck claimed that Braille on walls (used to identify rooms for blind people) “drives me out of my mind.” He then said, “Just to piss them [blind people] off, I'm going to put in Braille on the coffee pot ... 'Pot is hot.' ”
  • After airing a clip from the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth in which former Vice President Al Gore states that global warming could cause many highly populated coastal areas to be submerged by seawater -- including the entire city of Shanghai -- Beck responded: “This is what would happen to Shanghai. Does anybody really care? I mean, come on. Shanghai is under water. Oh, no! Who's gonna make those little umbrellas for those tropical drinks?”

Most recently, he has taken to smearing Rosie O'Donnell, who also appears on ABC:

  • On March 16, Beck claimed that O'Donnell “has more contempt for the United States than the guy who is the number-two guy of Al Qaeda” -- a reference to alleged 9-11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
  • On March 20, Beck called O'Donnell “a fat witch” and continued to repeatedly mock her weight.
  • On March 23, Beck claimed to be “a little ashamed” that he had called O'Donnell a “witch,” but quickly added, “But she's so fat.”

From the March 27 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:

BECK: So, Senator, you know, you and I disagree on a few things. But we do agree on the war. And what is happening in Congress right now, I honestly think is morally reprehensible.

McCAIN: Well I do, too. I do, too. And I think we should call this legislation the Date Certain for Surrender Act. If you believe -- and I've watched you, and I know you agree with me that -- if you believe we ought to get out of Iraq, if you don't think that another penny or life should be put in danger or wasted, then, by golly, then vote to cut off the funding.

BECK: Thank you.

McCAIN: Vote to cut off the funding and stop it now. Instead -- but they won't do that, Glenn, because then they have responsibility for what happens.

[...]

McCAIN: Listen, I'm looking forward to coming back with you. I thank you, Glenn, and I look forward to coming back on.