Beck on Iranian President Ahmadinejad: “This guy is Howard frickin' Dean”

On his radio show, Beck repeatedly compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Howard Dean, at one point exclaiming, “This guy is Howard frickin' Dean.” On his CNN show, Beck previously said that Ahmadinejad “sounded ... a lot like Michael Moore” in a letter Ahmadinejad wrote to President Bush.

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On the August 14 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Glenn Beck repeatedly compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, at one point exclaiming, “This guy is Howard frickin' Dean.” Responding to Ahmadinejad's criticism of the Bush administration during an August 13 interview with Mike Wallace on CBS' 60 Minutes, Beck declared that Ahmadinejad “sounded like Howard Dean. ... You listen to this thing; the only word he didn't use was Halliburton.” After airing an audio clip of Ahmadinejad stating through a translator that “45 million people don't have health care cover” in the United States, Beck stated: “That is the Howard Dean message. ... [T]his is the Democratic platform.”

Beck is also the host of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck. As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck previously declared on that program that Ahmadinejad “sounded ... a lot like [filmmaker] Michael Moore” in a letter Ahmadinejad wrote to President Bush.

From the August 14 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:

BECK: Stop, stop, stop this. There were two places where Ahmadinejad, President -- Tom as you and I know him -- actually sounded like -- well, there was a moment where I expected him to say: “And then, we'll go on to Wisconsin, then to Michigan, and to Ohio. Yowwww!” I -- he sounded like Howard Dean. Here's one of those places: “George Bush and his cronies want to control oil.” You listen to this thing; the only word he didn't use was Halliburton.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator) [clip]: -- and 45 million people don't have a health care cover.

BECK: Stop! He's saddened that the American people, 45 million people, don't have health care coverage. Got it?

AHMADINEJAD [clip]: That is very sad.

BECK: Very sad.

WALLACE [clip]: And he was sad also not to hear any answer from President -

BECK: Stop! This guy is Howard frickin' Dean. That is the Howard Dean message. Why are you spending so much money in Iraq? It's meaningless, it's worthless, when you don't have health care. Your economy -- you're distracting people. You're going over and killing people as a distraction because the economy is so bad. I mean, this is the Democratic platform.