Soledad O'Brien Challenges Tea Party's Christine O'Donnell for Calling Obama a Marxist

CNN's Soledad O'Brien just isn't comfortable with anyone criticizing Barack Obama.

On Monday's Starting Point, the host seriously challenged her Tea Party guest, former Republican senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, when she had the nerve to say the President's policies were Marxist (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CHRISTINE O’DONNELL: Throughout, you know, my campaign and the years following I've been around so many young people who are genuine troublemakers who are challenging the establishment. However, the ironic thing is the roles have reversed. These young people are the ones who are actively championing the principles of a free market, and it's the government who's championing Marxism. So in that same spirit of troublemaking, we're leading and mobilizing young people who have the most at stake in this election to stand up and let their voices be heard and to educate their peers.

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN, HOST: As you well know, there are lots of people who are going to disagree with you on the Marxism comment, but let's talk a little bit more about the young people that you are talking about.

A few moments later:

O’DONNELL: And the other thing, you're right, a lot of people would disagree with me to say that when they hear these I believe Marxist soundbites coming from our own president.

O’BRIEN: Why do you think they’re Marxist? Why do you say that? I mean, you kind of throw the words socialist and Marxist around that are not necessarily, I think, anchored in definitions of socialism and Marxism. So give me the definition.

O’DONNELL: Well, they absolutely are.

O’BRIEN: Okay.

O’DONNELL: They absolutely are. But let me, I'll get to that, but let me say what we're trying to do at this troublemaker fest is we’re kicking it off the whole week with the first ever Tea Party versus Occupy Wall Street debate where people from that side of the movement get to pick their own panelists, pick their own questions, and we are jointly working together to present both sides of the movement to address things like that.

And I would say that they're Marxist because of the things that you hear coming from him about share the wealth, economic equality. And these soundbites might sound good and noble on the surface, but the problem is there's quantifiable data that prove that they simply don't work, and we're a free market economy that's supposed to empower the individual, let each person use their gifts, use the rewards to create a better life for themselves instead of what Barack Obama is posing - a tax code that punishes hard work, a tax code that reduces everybody to exactly the same.

Unfortunately, O'Brien never responded to O'Donnell's definition.

I guess the Tea Partier hit the nail on the head.