Not a typo or a joke. He thinks if you’re a conservative and you see even the slightest difference between Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama then you must be opposing Obama because he’s black.

Here’s what he said:

I issued a challenge to the Tea Party members. The challenge is this: You read [Newt's] record, you read his words. Not just the happy parts like you read about Theodore Roosevelt. Look into his record. See what he believes. This man is a progressive. He knows he’s a progressive. He doesn’t have a problem with being a progressive.

So if you’ve got a big government progressive [in Newt] or a big government progressive in Obama, one in Newt Gingrich, one in Obama, ask yourself this Tea Party. Is it about Obama’s race, because that’s what it appears to be to me. If you’re against him [Obama] but you’re for this guy [Newt], it must be about race. I mean, what else is it about Judge?

It’s the policies that matter, it’s the policies that matter.

How about the fact Gingrich is pro-life and Obama pro-choice? The fact Gingrich reformed welfare in 1996 and Obama has never met a new welfare program he opposed? The fact Gingrich is pro-gun and Obama anti-gun? The fact Gingrich is anti-tax-and-spend and Obama is tax-and-spend?

Doesn’t matter. Beck sees Gingrich and Obama as the same person, and if you disagree, well, you must be racist. Even if you’re just supporting Gingrich because the other option is Mitt Romney, who’s blatantly and condescendingly lying about his past positions.

One commenter at The Right Scoop floats a theory with which I think I agree. Beck wants Santorum or Bachmann and both are trailing far behind with little chance of moving up. He’s frustrated that the people he supports aren’t being rubber-stamped by conservatives. So he’s resorting to the race card.

It’s the act of a desperate man and one who should be ignored from here on out. He’s willing to bolster the left’s narrative about racist Tea Partiers because he’s not getting what he wants at the moment. Despicable.