GMA hire Glenn Beck: “Ted [Kennedy] is lying to you”


On the January 11 edition of his CNN Headline News program, host Glenn Beck -- recently hired by ABC's Good Morning America -- told viewers that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) “is lying to you” because Kennedy “doesn't want his [Iraq] strategy implemented.” Beck cited no evidence for this allegation. Kennedy has introduced a Senate bill that would “prohibit the use of funds for an escalation of United States military forces in Iraq above the numbers existing as of January 9, 2007.” Beck asserted that if Kennedy's plan were approved, "[Kennedy] and the Democrats would own the disaster in Iraq, not just President Bush," and, “It'll be the Democrats who would be on the hook in 2008, if and when things didn't go well.” Media Matters for America has noted that recent polls show that most Americans want troops reduced or withdrawn from Iraq.

Beck also falsely claimed that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), for political reasons, “didn't say anything about” Bush's proposed troop increase. In reality, as the Associated Press reported January 11, Clinton “said Wednesday that Bush is offering the wrong plan and called for pressure to change that approach.”

From the January 11 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: Now, Ted Kennedy, on the other hand, he has a different strategy for Iraq.

KENNEDY [video clip]: An escalation, whether it is called a surge or any other name, is still an escalation. And I believe it would be an immense new mistake. [...] We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq. We must act to prevent it.

BECK: Oh, that guy drives me out of my mind. Oh, I'm sorry. Is my mic on? Listen, Ted is lying to you. All right? He doesn't want his strategy implemented. And you know why? Because then he and the Democrats would own the disaster in Iraq, not just President Bush. It'll be the Democrats who would be on the hook in 2008, if and when things didn't go well. The reason I believe the Democrats want absolutely nothing to do with this is check out what the smart one in the Democratic Party has said.

What has Hillary Clinton had to say about the president's speech last night? Watch.

Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot. She didn't say anything about it. You can't get this woman on camera talking about the president's speech or any of this stuff. Why? She doesn't want to be the one leading the charge on this. Why? Because sending more troops is the right thing to do. If we don't, it will lead to much more bloodshed in Iran -- in Iraq, and Iraq will become Darfur.