Glenn Beck and Jay Severin: friends deserving of each other

Over the past couple of weeks, Glenn Beck has repeatedly hosted fellow radio talk show host Jay Severin. This booking seemed to make sense, as Beck was frequently chatting with him about the Massachusetts special election, and, after all, Severin broadcasts from Boston.

However, a quick search of Media Matters' archives turns up a few Severin phrases that would not be out of place on your garden variety edition of Beck's show, like saying of then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that "[w]ith Hillary Clinton you've got Hugo Chavez in a dress," and calling her “the devil.” How about Severin channeling Beck's response to torture allegations, stating that the abuse of detainees by at Abu Ghraib was equivalent to “treat[ing] them essentially to a week in Las Vegas,” adding, “I have to pay good money to have that done to me.” Indeed, Media Matters has documented a long history of Jay Severin's offensive comments.

Like Beck, whose history of racially-charged remarks includes the statement that Obama is a “racist”, Severin himself has a checkered history discussing minorities. In fact his comments that Mexican immigrants are “criminaliens,” “primitives,” and “leeches” -- in addition to calling Mexico an exporter of “women with mustaches and VD” -- was enough to get him suspended from his station for a month.

Yes, Severin and Beck even share the bond of losing advertisers after their racially-charged comments.

Thus, it only seemed fitting when, on January 20, Beck introduced Severin onto his show by calling him “a friend of mine from Boston.”