It was more a conversation between friends than any hard-hitting interview, and Brown wasn't mounting any great defense of Cochran. He just pointed out that Howie, and a lot of other Bay State Republicans have registered as "unenrolled" and voted in Democrat primaries when there wasn't a real race on the Republican side, so Howie might not want to come down hard on Cochran. That's a valid point in a conversation between friends.
It was a response to a caller’s question. Howie Carr is Brown’s bodyguard. So he always takes the question and then spoon feeds it to Brown. Brown screwed up twice in the interview on the same question and almost taunted conservatives.
Thank you for the clarification. One never knows.