Beck Falsely Claims Olbermann Will ‘Never Admit He’s A Liberal’

Last month, CNN’s Glenn Beck attacked MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, calling him an “intolerant ideologue” whose ideas “smack of the same McCarthyism [Edward R.] Murrow fought so valiantly against.”

Yesterday on CNN’s Reliable Sources, Beck once again went after Olbermann: “I’m in the hot seat almost constantly because I’m doing an opinion show — but I am telling you I’m doing an opinion show. I am in the hot seat because I’m a conservative — but I’m telling you that I’m a conservative. It’s people like Keith Olbermann doing news shows, never will ever admit that he’s a liberal. He is a liberal and he’s also blending news and comment together. That is the great danger.” Watch it:

Beck is wrong. From a 6/9/05 Houston Chronicle profile:

A lot of my personal worldview is unmistakably sympathetic to things in a liberal playbook, but honest to God, I have been called a reactionary by some on the far left, a liberal by some on the far right and I’m insulted by both terms. My point of view is about delivering information and context. It has nothing to do with a political point of view.

While Olbermann admits that personally, he is liberal, he maintains that he focuses on criticizing those in power, which included President Clinton in 1998. I try to be “fair and honest and as accurate and as informed as possible, and allow my viewer to be the same way,” Olbermann told CSPAN last year.

On the other hand, Beck’s comments are more than just “conservative.” They are also, at times, racist, anti-gay, and sexist.

Transcript:

KURTZ: All right. Well, let me read you some comments from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. We’re going to play part of your on-air response and we’ll talk about it on the other side. Olbermann told “Rolling Stone” this month, he called you a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a very dangerously bigoted guy who’s selling himself as a pragmatic philosopher. I don’t think he sees his own bigotry. There’s something about him that suggests one night he will say something that costs him his career in television. And you addressed this question of making a career ending move on your show. Let’s watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: If I’m going to be shut down for that, well, it will likely be because of an intolerant ideologue like Keith Olbermann. The very idea smacks of the same McCarthyism Murrow fought so valiantly against.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Now he wasn’t calling for you to be shut down. He said you might shut yourself down by saying something.

BECK: There’s a difference. There’s a difference here and I think this is what it is. We are in a very politically correct world and you can — if you’re honest about it, you can see that there is a different standard. I mean here I am. I’m in the hot seat almost constantly because I’m doing an opinion show but I am telling you I’m doing an opinion show. I am in the hot seat because I’m conservative, but I’m telling you that I’m a conservative. It’s people like Keith Olbermann doing news shows never will ever admit that he’s a liberal. He is a liberal and he’s also blending news and comment together. That is a great danger. But I would think that…

KURTZ: When he does his commentary, it says on the screen ‘special comment.’

BECK: You’re only finding his commentary there in the special commentary? I mean come on.