WASHINGTON - May 4 - Right-wing radio host Glenn Beck is set to host a one-hour talk show as part of CNN Headline News' prime-time programming, beginning May 8. Media Matters for America has previously condemned CNN's decision to hire Beck and now offers a compilation of recent outrageous statements made by Beck:

-- On antiwar protestor Cindy Sheehan: "That's a pretty big prostitute."

-- Also on Cindy Sheehan: She is "pimping out the tragedy of her own son's death for her own agenda."

-- On former President Jimmy Carter: "Is there a bigger waste of skin than Jimmy Carter?"

-- On a Nigerian public information campaign to fight bird flu: "They've actually resorted to radio jingles. ... Are we as dumb as Nigeria?"

-- To the 7-year old African-American author of a controversial poem: "You want to go to Africa? I will personally purchase your airfare."

-- On immigration protests: Mexico "is a country that has been overtaken by lawbreakers from the bottom to the top. And now, what you're protesting for is to have lawbreakers come here."

-- Responding to criticism of his remarks on immigration protests: "(I) pretty much stand by" the assertion that "Mexico is run by nothing but criminals."

-- On American Indians in South Dakota considering skirting a state ban on abortion: They "will have found something that can be more profitable than casinos, and that's abortion clinics."

-- Suggesting "politically correct" names for bunker- buster nuclear weapons: "(B)utterfly bomb," "climate- control device," "(b)omb de tropical. ... We could use that one in Venezuela."

-- On immigrants entering illegally from Mexico: Either "they're terrorists," "they're escaping the law," or "(t)hey can't make a living in their own dirtbag country.

"CNN's decision to hire an unapologetic preacher of hate signals a desperate and misguided ploy for ratings without regard for the thousands of Americans Beck has offended with his malicious commentary," said David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters for America.

For Media Matters in-depth coverage of Glenn Beck, please visit: http://mediamatters.org/items/200605030014.

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