Dennis Prager calls liberals "Barbarians"

[Eric J in MN]

From www.speakspeak.org



Dennis Prager


Conservative radio host Dennis Prager rants against "the Left" in his latest column.

He uses terms to describe liberals such as "barbarians inside the gates."

Prager objects to people on "the Left" who want torture exposed. Also, those who criticized conservative William Bennett.

Photos of US Torture of Iraqis

Prager writes in this column against "a federal judge appointed by former President Bill Clinton ordering the Defense Department to release all remaining photos of prisoner abuse by Americans at Abu Ghraib prison. Though it is certain that the only effect of the photos will be to further endanger Americans at home and abroad and increase the danger to American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and though there is absolutely no need for the public to see these photos, the judge ordered their release."

Nothing to see here, move along.

But wait, the photos could have an effect on public policy. The Senate recently voted 90-9 for an amendment prohibitting torture.

The House leadership will try to undermine the anti-torture amendment in Conference Committee ("'We're not going to be delivering a bill to the president's desk that is veto bait,' said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee") and George W. Bush has threatened a veto.

An informed public is important after all.

George W. Bush, promoted to US Attorney General the author of a torture memo, Alberto Gonzales. Yet Prager's condemnation is for people who want to expose and end torture, not for Bush.

Conservative William Bennet

Another group of people Prager writes against is those who criticized William Bennett recently.

Broadly speaking, that would include myself and SpeakSpeak director Amanda Toering.

But we aren't named (Prager doesn't visit SpeakSpeak as far as I know) nor is any other person who criticized William Bennett.

Prager calls criticism of Bennett "a libel as far from truth as is the infamous 'blood libel' that claims that Jews slaughter Gentile children to use their blood for baking matzo."

Gee, could Prager be a little bit more over-the-top? There is a difference between a lie which caused the murder of poor Jews in Eastern Europe and criticism of a rich pundit which causes him inconvenience.


More on Dennis Prager's column by Pangdagon's Amanda Marcotte.

[noahmijo]

1. Bat-Shit crazy doesn't even begin to cover it

[jobycom]

2. Oh, poor baby! Is he upset by our righteous outrage? Bad Squishy!

(You have to imagine the Dorie stern-face) Bad Squishy!

(He kind of looks like Squishy... I know, that's way too obscure unless you have kids).

[Fenris]

3. Is he going for the John Major lookalike award?

[msongs]

4. he thinks JESUS is a barbarian? my my! nt

[Eric J in MN]

21. Didn't Jesus preach in the New Testament that we should

cover-up torture?

No, wait, he didn't.

[orwell]

5. Hmmm...

...a gray haired angry white guy who hates liberty.

What are the odds...

[madrchsod]

6. actually i`m one of those viking raiders i guess

i`m not a vandal ,a goth, nor a hun..my great grandfather came from sweden..opp`s i forgot the visigoths

[rpannier]

7. If being a barbarian means being opposed to torture and racism

Then I'm buying myself an ax and a horse and changing my name to Attila.

[Pepperbelly]

8. Who actually gives a shit what this mutant thinks?

Just wondering. I would guess that perhaps his mother loves him.

[Eric J in MN]

9. He has a radio show and he's on the website "Townhall"

nt

[Pepperbelly]

24. no doubt his listeners, too,

are mutants.

[Arkana]

10. Yawn.

More name calling from a member of a party who's sinking fast into the quicksand of irrelevancy.

[Eric J in MN]

11. I found it bizzarre that Prager wrote that people who criticize

William Bennet are similar to anti-semites who say "that Jews slaughter Gentile children to use their blood for baking matzo."

[bemildred]

12. Prager is a pompous cretin.

He even drags in the "Blood Libel".

[Eric J in MN]

13. Spreading anti-semitic rumors which get people killed is

just like criticizing William Bennett for his rhetoric.

Wait, actually it's not.

[bemildred]

14. I have read Prager a number of times, and listened on radio.

I have never heard him put together a coherent argument.
It all name calling, start to finish. This little essay
is a perfect example. Not a fact in it.

[Eric J in MN]

15. I think this essay is better than average for Prager, because

he does refer to a judge who said torture photos have to be released (though not by name.)

In his some of Prager's columns, there is blather against "the Left" which doesn't even come that close to naming someone specific.

[Eric J in MN]

19. Actually, the "blood libel' part is worse than calling liberals

"barbarians."

Perhaps I should have made that the title.

[Zero Division]

16. Project much, Dennis?

I don't see too many liberals espousing the belief that we need to "become as savage as our enemies in order to defeat them".

[Eric J in MN]

17. Dennis Prager is the one who wants to cover-up torture,

and he calls us "barbarians."

[NoPasaran]

18. BarbarIans: Destroying Empires Since 476!

Behold our steel and die, butter boy!

[AntiCoup2K4]

20. I guess the New Barbarians might have been liberals....

That other band they're in just released that song "Sweet NeoCon" anyway.

[Eric J in MN]

22. kick

kick

[bemildred]

23. Challenging Prager on campus anti-Semitism (LA Times)

My anti-Zionism is not, as Dennis Prager would have it, "a form of anti-Semitism" based on the idea "that only one country in the world is unworthy of existence."

I believe a number of governments throughout the world are illegitimate, including Sudan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Israel. Yet I remain hopeful. I believe in the words of Psalm 27, frequently heard in synagogues: "I believe I shall enjoy the Lord's goodness in the land of the living."

---

Prager misses the obvious point about the appearance of anti-Semitism in universities. Israel is run by a right-wing government supported by religious conservatives. University faculties are overwhelmingly left-wing and secular.

It's a simple clash of values, not racism. If Israel had a leftist government, the "anti-Semitism" Prager worries about would largely disappear.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-satur...