By: Matt Hadro
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 4:03 PM EST

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien would not brand Saul Alinsky as a leftist radical, and neither would she say President Obama was influenced by his writings – but she had no problem tying Alinsky’s controversial beliefs to the Tea Party movement on Monday’s Starting Line.

As a community organizer in Chicago, Barack Obama mirrored the tactics Alinsky laid out in his book “Rules for Radicals” – which featured a tribute to the devil Lucifer, “the very first radical.” GOP candidate Newt Gingrich has recently connected Obama’s beliefs with Alinsky’s, sparking a media debate over the matter.

O’Brien wanted to set the story straight on Monday, and delivered a neutral take on the controversial community organizer. “He spent his life helping minorities in poor neighborhoods exert their political force by organizing them to get to the polls,” she stated.

Then she hastily dismissed a connection between Obama and Alinsky. “President Obama has never said that he was influenced by Alinsky. In fact, he was 10 years old when Alinsky passed away.” It was a rather brief dismissal of evidence that Obama’s Chicago mentors learned at a school founded by Alinsky.

However, O’Brien was more than willing to connect Alinsky with the Tea Party, quoting FreedomWorks leader Dick Armey as admiring the effectiveness of Alinsky’s tactics while condemning his ends and goals.

A transcript of the segment, which aired on January 23 at 8:53 a.m. EST, is as follows:
Read more: http://www.mrc.org/biasalert/2012/20120124051438.aspx