FOX News host Glenn Beck is a practiced hand at whipping up controversy, but critics are calling his latest tactic a new low. After Obama mentioned his daughter at a press conference on the BP oil spill, Beck — who's previously made it clear he considers public figures' children off-limits — gleefully pilloried the 11-year-old Malia Obama on his radio show, mocking her education and impersonating her asking Obama why he hates black people. Though Beck has apologized, the incident triggered debate. "This happens when a president drags his kids into a political controversy," says Don Surber at the Charleston Daily Mail. Still, says Jon Bershad at Mediaite, even if Obama deserved to be mocked for the "trashy" move of "using [his] kids as a political ploy," going after his daughter was "obnoxious and unfunny." Beck "clearly stepped over the line." Listen to the recording here:
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