During his cruise speech, Sammon said that while he found his own socialism speculation "far-fetched" in October 2008, it was actually proven correct during the first months of Obama's presidency.
"Now imagine my surprise when this year, I witness President Barack Obama standing in the cross hall of the White House and having taken over the American car industry, look into the camera, and announce to the nation essentially, that he would personally vouch for the warranty on your car's muffler," Sammon said on the cruise. "All of a sudden, the debate over whether America was heading for socialism seemed anything but far-fetched."
In a later portion of his speech, Sammon said:
Better yet, people are now surprised that we suddenly gotten serious about the debate over whether America is headed for socialism? I mean, come on. Americans were well aware all throughout the campaign that Barack Obama had chosen to spend 20 years of his adult life at a church that required its congregants to embrace economic parity and disavow the pursuit of middle-classness. OK? Barack Obama admitted that for much of his life he has been drawn to Marxists. I mean for crying out loud, he stood on that sidewalk in Toledo and said to Joe the Plumber, on camera, that he wanted to spread the wealth around. So there shouldn't be a lot of surprise here.
Media Matters obtained audio of Sammon's remarks by purchasing it through Hillsdale College.
Update: The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz has a response from Sammon about his 2009 remarks:
In an interview, Sammon says his reference to "mischevious speculation" was "my probably inartful way of saying, 'Can you believe how far this thing has come?'" The socialism question indeed "struck me as a far-fetched idea" in 2008. "I considered it kind of a remarkable notion that we would even be having the conversation." He doesn't regret repeatedly raising it on the air because, Sammon says, "it was a main point of discussion on all the channels, in all the media"--and by 2009 he was "astonished by how the needle had moved."
Sammon notes that in the same talk on the cruise, he pointed out that George W. Bush had his own stimulus package and had spent half the TARP bailout money: "I was talking about both sides being big spenders." (True; he also told the cruise guests that "when it comes to spending money, Obama makes Bush look like a piker.")
From Sammon's August 2, 2009, Hillsdale College cruise speech:
SAMMON: It is so nice to be back with my Hillsdale friends again, although I have to say that when I arrived last week, the very first person I encountered was James Carville, my old friend James Carville -- made me wonder whether I had boarded the wrong boat. James assured me that he had not known in advance that this was going to be the Hillsdale cruise, which then made me wonder, I wonder if his lovely and talented wife Mary Matalin, who by the way published one of my books, and who affectionately refers to her husband as Serpenthead, I wondered whether Mary had mischievously arranged for James to come on this ship, maybe mingle with some of you Hillsdale people in hopes of saving his ideological soul. Mary, if you're out there, good luck with that one.
You know, speaking of mischief, last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, "spread the wealth around." At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.
Now imagine my surprise when this year, I witness President Barack Obama standing in the cross hall of the White House and having taken over the American car industry, look into the camera, and announce to the nation essentially, that he would personally vouch for the warranty on your car's muffler. All of a sudden, the debate over whether America was heading for socialism seemed anything but far-fetched. In fact, when you consider the massive expenditures of your tax dollars on such programs as TARP, and stimulus, and in fairness, our pres -- our former president George W. Bush had his own stimulus package towards the end of his administration -- nobody remembers that -- and he also spent the first half of the TARP money.
So we went from a big government conservative to a big government liberal. Although I will say that when it comes to spending money, Obama makes Bush look like a piker. When you consider that those expenditures of money by this administration, which by the way will quadruple the deficit from this year to next year, for the next fiscal year, starts October 1, the deficit will quadruple and when you consider the sweeping expansion of government regulation over such sectors as the finance industry including caps on executive compensation. When you consider the Obama administration's concerted effort to nationalize health care, which of course accounts for a sixth of our economy, and when you consider the Obama administration's concerted effort to impose a cap and trade regime which will profoundly reorder the rest of our economy and mandate massive transfers of wealth. When you consider all of those things and more like them, the debate over whether America is headed for socialism seems all too real, especially to those who still believe in capitalism.
And consider this final thought. When it comes to government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product, the United States has now surpassed Sweden.
[...]
SAMMON: In 2008, obviously, he was elected the nation's first black president, a historic achievement. But did so in part by presenting himself as a moderate. In 2009, at least during the first six months of his term, he has instead demonstrated that he is actually quite liberal, quite an ideologue, and quite an ambitious leftist.
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