Posted on 03/28/2008 1:01:36 PM PDT by Pyro7480
Eric Alterman’s new book on Why We're Liberals isn’t just plagued with errors, it makes wild charges, like attacking conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, suggesting she was anti-Semitic for cheering on the movie The Passion of the Christ. In a chapter about how conservatives mock the elites, when they themselves are rich and pampered, Alterman wrote about conservatives: "In Ingraham’s case, as in many others, one detects a strain of anti-Semitism in her insistent elite-bashing." From pages 173-74:
In observing the members of the conservative elite denouncing "elitists, it can be difficult to tell your players without the proverbial scorecard. For instance, the radio talk-show host and former conservative cable host Laura Ingraham has written an entire book about the dangers posed by liberal elites, entitled Shut Up & Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the Media Are Subverting America. In it, this daughter of a Connecticut lawyer, and graduate of Dartmouth and the University of Virginia Law School, who now lives in an expensive home in Washington D.C., distinguishes between liberal elitists and those whom she terms "true Americans."
She begins her treatise by explaining who these "elite Americans" are and what they think: "They think we’re stupid. They think our patriotism is stupid. They think our churchgoing is stupid. They think having more than two children is stupid. They think where we live – anywhere but near or in a few major cities – is stupid. They think our SUVs are stupid. They think owning a gun is stupid. They think our abiding belief in the goodness of America and its founding principles is stupid."
In Ingraham’s case, as in many others, one detects a strain of anti-Semitism in her insistent elite-bashing. During the flap over Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ – more about which below – Ingraham announced: "I want to see any more that drives the anti-Christian entertainment elite crazy." Presumably Ingraham did not mean to imply that this "anti-Christian elite" was mostly made up of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, or Scientologists.
Alterman is doing here what his Media Matters colleague Paul Waldman constantly accuses conservative media critics of doing: reading someone's mind. Conservatives can quickly suggest that Hollywood's elite has a few Scientologists (from Tom Cruise on down) pagan goddess-worshippers (Susan Sarandon), and lots and lots of Christian-bashing comedy writers, like the Comedy Central clique.
Oddly enough, on page 175, Alterman turns to bashing John Podhoretz, Michael Ledeen, and Bernard Goldberg, who allegedly "wrote a book comparing his former friend Dan Rather to a ‘prison bitch.’"
Once again, Alterman is wildly exaggerating. In one sentence in his book Bias, Goldberg suggested Dan Rather ran most of CBS: "If CBS News were a prison instead of a journalistic enterprise, three-quarters of the producers and 100 percent of the vice presidents would be Dan’s bitches."
Alterman’s footnote for Ingraham’s quote on the Passion is a Reason article by Cathy Young at the time of the movie’s release, which doesn’t quote Ingraham directly:
Few people worry about an outburst of violent anti-Semitism in the United States. But in its own way, the attitude of some champions of "The Passion" is troubling. A few seem positively gleeful about the distress caused by the movie -- and quite in-your-face about it. "I want to see any movie that drives the anti-Christian entertainment elite crazy," conservative commentator Laura Ingraham has been quoted as saying.
That’s a slimy charge by Cathy Young, too, suggesting Ingraham seems gleeful about "distress," as if she wouldn’t mind an "outburst of violent anti-Semitism," something that never happened as fans of The Passion emerged silently from the theaters.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
Alterman bashes three Jews! He must be an anti-semite!
Well at least one person read his book!
I have listened to L.I. for some time now and do not see her as being a Jew-hater. She is a strong defender of Christianity and strikes me as perhaps being a Catholic (as she defends the Pope at every opportunity) but I don’t ever remember her trashing Jews or Israel.
NOT GUIL...well you guys know the rest
Alterman’s ridiculous charge of anti-semitism against L.I. is based on her positive remarks on the movie “The Passion of the Christ”. For Liberal JINOs that is reason enough.
Here it comes.
You’re right. She’s a convert to Catholicism.
Show the ODIOUS Eric Alterman!! He’s the reason I stopped watching C-Span!!! He is VILE!
I wonder what this “male’ thinks about Rev. Wright and BO
and their anti-semitism.
Could anything smell sweeter than that of the self-destructing Leftists crashing and burning?
Look at a picture of a weasel’s face and compare that to Eric’s. Uncanny!
Lieberals don’t need a reason to make charges. They do it everyday.
This idiot author, proves himself another example of a Leftist Liberal with severe mental illness.....
In Ingraham’s case, as in many others, one detects a strain of anti-Semitism in her insistent elite-bashing.
It looks to me like this hyper sensitive putz does not like the searchlight layed upon him . Go crawl back into your cesspool and call your mommy . Jackass .
And as a typical liberal, he continues down the road of total delusion and thus proving once again.....liberalism is a disease!
What a surprise. I didn't know all the elites were Jewish.
Luara Ingraham is a devout Catholic and has not a shred of antisemitism in her. These lies from Alterman are the twisted ramblings of a morally diseased leftwing crackpot.
Ingraham announced: "I want to see any more that drives the anti-Christian entertainment elite crazy." Presumably Ingraham did not mean to imply that this "anti-Christian elite" was mostly made up of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, or Scientologists.
No, I think she meant to imply that this anti-Christian elite was made up of anti-Christians.
Jesus was Jewish. King of the Jews.
How is it anti-Semitic to follow the King of the Jews?
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