Patrick McConnell Blog

Conservative media figures jumping to Mel Gibson’s defense

Since newsbroke that director, actor, and producer Mel Gibson made a series of anti-Semitic remarkswhen he was arrested on July 28 fordriving under the influence in Malibu, CA, several conservative mediafigures have jumped to Gibson’s defense. Right-wing activist David Horowitz evensuggested that the anger over Gibson’s comments is rooted in a”hatred of Christians,” while other commentators suggested thatcriticism of Gibson was an extension of criticism of Gibson’s role inproducing and directing the February 2004 film The Passion of the Christ (New Market Films).

Amongthe defenses mounted on behalf of Gibson:

• On the August 2 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, radio host and regular Fox & Friends guest Erich “Mancow” Muller said,”I can’t believe he is anti-Semitic. I can’t believe The Passion of the Christ, they thoughtwas anti-Semitic, because our hero was Jewish.” Muller — whosenationally syndicated, Chicago-based radio show was recently dropped from its homestation in Chicago, but who has reportedly been hired to offer nightlycommentaries on a Chicago TV station — then stated: “I hope it’snot so.” Fox & Friends co-hostSteve Doocy noted that Gibson has “apologized twice already.”
• In his August 2 column on NationalReview Online, John Derbyshire excused Gibson’s comments because”[t]he guy was drunk,for heaven’s sake. We all say and do dumb things when we aredrunk.” Derbyshire added: “As little as I care for Mel and hissplatter-fest Brit-hating oeuvre, though, I care even less for theschoolmarmish, prissy, squealing, skirt-clutching, sissified, feminized,pansified, preening moral vanity of the vile and anti-human PoliticalCorrectness cult.”
• A press release posted on August 2 by theBrotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND) asked ,”Where’sthe Compassion for Mel Gibson?” Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder andpresident of BOND and a sometime-guest on Fox News, was quoted in the releaseas saying: “I am sorry that Mel Gibson and his family are going throughthis difficult period. Gibson absolutely did the right thing by offering aheartfelt apology and asking for forgiveness from the Jewish community — he’seven asked to meet with Jewish leaders. To those who will not be satisfieduntil Gibson is destroyed — I say ’shame on you. Where’s yourhumanity?’ ” This press release was posted earlier onfreerepublic.com.
• On the August 1 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, Horowitz told co-host Sean Hannity that”people deserve compassion when they are in this kind of trouble.”Horowitz continued: “As a Jew, I feel much more threatened by people like[former President] Jimmy Carter when Israel is facing genocidal enemies whohave sworn to destroy it and kill the Jews, and Carter is out there, wagginghis finger at the Israelis.” Horowitz added that the anger overGibson’s comments is “all about politics” and that “alot of the people who are jumping all over Mel Gibson see him as some kind of aconservative or as a Christian. There’s a lot of hatred of Christians in thiscountry.”
• On the August 1 edition of MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, William A. Donohue,president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights,said, “There’s a lot of people who have made comments which arebigoted who are not necessarily bigots,” adding that he is”concerned now about piling on.” Of those who won’t forgiveGibson, Donohue said: “Who gives a damn about those people?”Donohue then asked, “What kind of blood do they want out of thisman?
• As MediaMatters for America noted, radio host Dennis Prager,discussing Gibson on the August 1 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball, sought to deflect criticism ofGibson’s comments by reviving discredited accusations that Sen. HillaryRodham Clinton (D-NY) made an anti-Semitic remark more than three decades ago. During adiscussion with guest host Mike Barnicle and attorney Raoul Felder, Prager said:”I came out on behalf of a person on the left. She hadprivate remarks that were anti-Semitic and I said then, and I say now, youdon’t judge people by their private remarks; you judge them by theirpublic remarks and by their actions.” Prager summarized hisposition by saying: “Frankly, I don’t care about people’shearts. I care about people’s deeds. If you hate me and don’t touchme, that doesn’t bother me.”
• Some conservatives criticized Anti-DefamationLeague national director Abraham Foxman for rejecting Gibson’s initial apologyas “unremorseful and insufficient.” In a July 31 article, NewsMaxcolumnist James Hirsen wrote: “The ADL is apparently trying to use theincident to alter the results of its past failed effort to characterizeGibson’s film ‘The Passion of the Christ’ as bigoted.” TheCatholic League’s Donohue claimed in a July 31 press release thatFoxman is among “some who should know better” about acceptingapologies, adding: “We have quite a file on [CNN founder] Ted Turner atthe Catholic League. Unlike Foxman, I have accepted every apology Turner hasever made for his anti-Catholic outbursts, all of which were made while he wassober.” Donohue further claimed that the “real goal” of”Mel’s enemies” is “to discredit ‘The Passion ofthe Christ,’ and that is why their propaganda machine is in fullgear.” After Gibson issued a second apology on August 1,Foxman accepted it, stating,”This is the apology we had sought and requested.”

Fromthe August 2 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

E.D. HILL(co-host): Hey, Mancow, let me ask you this. You know, he’s clearlydrunk, butthese things come out. Do you think that — that he really believed the stuffthat he said, or was that, you know, some people are saying, “Ah, he’s drunk,and, you know, who knows what you say?” But that — I mean, that is justso horrendous.

MULLER:Well, I mean, I — look, I think this is of human interest, and I’ll going tosay it here on TV. Many times, Brian — kill me, Brian, if I’m talking out of school, I feel bad — but, you know, they saythat drinking is a truth serum. So many times late at night, [co-host] Brian[Kilmeade] will be drinking tequila and call me up and he’ll say “Ilove you, Mancow. I love you.”

KILMEADE:I don’t say “I love you,” I say “I like you a lot.” I mean, don’texaggerate.

MULLER:And — I don’t know, “I got the Brokeback[Mountain] DVD, come to New York.” I don’t know –

KILMEADE:Right. I’m always surprised you’re there.

MULLER:Is alcohol — I can’t believe he’santi-Semitic. I can’t believe — The Passion of the Christ, they thought was anti-Semitic because our herowas Jewish. His mother — you know,all the good people were Jewish in the movie, too. So, I don’t know.

HILL:Yeah, well –

MULLER:I hope it’s not so.

DOOCY: He’s apologized twice already.

HILL:And it’s interesting, you know, all the online polls you look at, peoplestill say, you know, they say they’re disappointed but they support him, and they’re going to gosee his movies.

MULLER:Hey, E.D., you know what drives me nuts about this? They keep predicting thisguy’s failure.

HILL:It’s true.

MULLER:How old is he? I mean, he’s going to fail. Is it over for him? How long hasthis guy been a star? He’s been a star as long as I can remember. Of course, sometimethis guy is going to have a movie that isn’t going to be the biggestthing ever, and they’re going to say, “You see? You see?”

DOOCY:Good point.

HILL:We’ll see. He’s got a movie coming out this fall, and we’llbe watching. Mancow, thanks a lot.

MULLER:We love you guys. Brian, call me.

Fromthe August 1 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, featuring Horowitz, Hannity, co-host Alan Colmes and University of California-Irvine professor Mark LeVine:

COLMES:Troubled actor Mel Gibson has checked into an alcohol rehabilitation programjust days after a drunken driving arrest in Malibu late Friday. The Passion of the Christ director hurledanti-Semitic slurs at arresting officers and said, quote, “Jews are responsiblefor all the wars in the world,” unquote. Gibson has since admitted makingthe derogatory statements and has asked the Jewish community to forgive him. Wenow continue with David Horowitz and Mark LeVine. David, is alcoholtruth serum?

HOROWITZ:Hardly. You know, I was one of those who defended The Passion of the Christ. And I would still defend it. Itis a, you know, powerful religious film. It is not anti-Semitic. Jesus isaddressed as “rabbi.” His disciples, of course, are Jews. Simon the Cyrenian, whocarries the cross for him to Golgotha, is aJew. And Jesus in the film says no one is responsible for his death; it wasforeordained. By which he means in religious terms that we are all responsible,gentile, Jew, and Muslim alike. A man — I am really against hanging a man for– this is a man in deep trouble. Obviously, he’s put himself in rehab. Ithink the judgment on Mel Gibson should be passed when he is recovered, and we’ll seewhat he does.

[...]

HANNITY:David, he said there should be no excuse. He said — David Horowitz. He hassaid there’s no tolerance for anyone who makes any type of anti-Semiticremarks. He said, “I want to apologize to everyone in the Jewish communityfor my vitriolic and harmful words.” And what he said that night when hewas driving intoxicated. He said, “I want to go a step further. I want tomeet with members of the Jewish community. I want to have discussions.” Itseems to me, you know, if somebody admits they have a problem and they were,you know, admitting to — it was in that condition, it seems that people wantto believe it because they already had an agenda about The Passion. Isn’t that — probably anobvious conclusion?

HOROWITZ:Exactly. People deserve compassion when they’rein this kind of trouble. I think it would be very ungracious for people to denyit to him. As a Jew, I feel much more threatened by people like Jimmy Carterwhen Israel is facing genocidal enemies who have sworn to destroy it and killthe Jews, and Carter is out there, wagging his finger at the Israelis. And allthese people who want a cease-fire, which will leave Hezbollah intact and in place, Hezbollahbeing a Nazi army in Lebanonwhose rockets are aimed at Israel.So, that’s how I feel.

HANNITY:Well, David I want to — earlier, earlier –

LeVINE: If I could justjump in there –

HANNITY:Hang on a second, please, Mark.

LeVINE: Sure, sureabsolutely, Sean.

HANNITY:Earlier, the issue of [Rep.] Patrick Kennedy [D-RI] was brought up. Patrick Kennedy didn’t — didn’t admit whathis fault was. And that was part of the problem. We weren’t getting the truthout. What it seems to me, David Horowitz, is that in this day and age, whenpeople really mess up, and if they really take responsibility and they really, honestly,and truly apologize, we seem to be unforgiving in a lot of ways. Don’t youagree, David Horowitz?

HOROWITZ:Well, I think this is all about politics. Ithink that a lot of the people who are jumping all over Mel Gibson see him as somekind of a conservative or as a Christian. There’s a lot of hatred of Christiansin this country. And one of the reasons I defended the film was that Christians have a right to their gospel.

Fromthe August 1 edition of MSNBC’s ScarboroughCountry, featuring host Joe Scarborough, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach andsyndicated columnist Arianna Huffington:

SCARBOROUGH: Letme bring in William Donohue and talk about that apology. Bill Donohue, I wassomebody who — last year, when [New YorkTimes columnist] Frank Rich was saying Gibson was an anti-Semite andothers were saying Gibson was an anti-Semite — you and I were attacking them,saying they didn’t know Mel Gibson’s heart. But now, it’s a little biteasier to read Mel Gibson’s heart. I mean, the guy seems like he’san anti-Semite, right?

DONOHUE:Oh, I don’t know if you can say that. I mean, clearly, what he said wasbigoted and anti-Semitic.

SCARBOROUGH:”F-ing Jews”? I mean, how can you not say that? He’s going around — I mean,he gets pulled over for drunk driving, and he starts ranting about Jews beingresponsible for starting all the wars?

DONOHUE:No, no, no, right. Right, right, right.

SCARBOROUGH: Thatsounds anti-Semitic to me.

DONOHUE:No, no. Well, there’s a difference between — did he make an anti-Semiticcomment? Obviously, he did. It was irresponsible, it was vituperative, andhe’s apologized for it, as he should apologize for it. There’s a lot of people who have made commentswhich are bigoted who are not necessarily bigots. I myself have saidthat there’s nobody in the U.S. Senate who was a bigot against Catholics.However, I have pointed out numerous bigoted comments made by people, likeSenator [Charles] Schumer [D-NY], for example, and I know, for example, that Ihave accepted the apology of people like [radio hosts] Opie and Anthony fortheir lousy little sex stunt act in St.Patrick’s Cathedral. I welcomed them back, was their first guest on theirCBS show because they apologized.

SCARBOROUGH: Letme ask you this, though, Bill Donohue.

DONOHUE:Yes.

SCARBOROUGH: Ifyou had a couple of beers and were pulled over by the police, would you startranting about “F-ing Jews”?

DONOHUE:No.

SCARBOROUGH:So I mean — so again, I don’t think this is just — it doesn’tseem to just be a reckless mistake by a drunk, it seems to be — unfortunately,it seems to be a glimpse into this man’s soul, does it not?

DONOHUE:Well, you know, you want to make that determination, that’s fine. AllI’m saying is this –

SCARBOROUGH: Well,I don’t think it’s hard to make that determination.

DONOHUE:No, no, no. Look — you know what? You know what I’m concerned aboutright now? He has been — this is the most contrite statement I have ever seenin my life. Instead of the type that we normally get at the Catholic League — if you’re offended,that’s too bad, you know, we regret it. The fact of the matter is, I am concerned now about piling on.

Hollywood has a real problem of anti-Catholicism. It’s in the movieindustry, all right? Do we need to go through this one more time? I’m sointerested that the sensitivity mavens now are so concerned aboutanti-Semitism, as they should be. And they should have hammered Mel Gibson. But are we just going to leave this onthe table, now that there’s another problem in Hollywood? How about if they clean up theiract toward Catholics?

[...]

SCARBOROUGH:Rabbi, we’re going to talk about that in the next block. But Bill Donahueand Arianna Huffington, I want to give you all the last word, Bill Donohue,will Hollywoodforgive Mel Gibson?

DONOHUE:There’ll be a small circle of vindictive people who have hated himbecause of his movie who won’t forgive him. And who gives a damn about those people? Most Americans in Hollywood and everyplaceelse are forgiving people. And the onus is on those people now who say, “I didn’t getenough.” What kind of blood do they wantout of this man?

From theAugust 1 edition of MSNBC’s Hardballwith Chris Matthews:

PRAGER:Well, let me tell you, I wrote a piece in TheWall Street Journal a few yearsago entitled “Hillary Clinton is no anti-Semite.” I came out on behalf of a person on the left. She hadprivate remarks that were anti-Semitic, and I said then, and I say now, youdon’t judge people by their private remarks; you judge them by theirpublic remarks and by their actions. If we start judging –

BARNICLE:What sense does that –

FELDER:You know, and I — and I naively thought private remarks reveal more about the people –

BARNICLE:Yeah.

FELDER:– than what they say in a scripted public appearance. And this is what happened here. This is what — this man’s heart has hatred towards the Jewish race.

PRAGER:That’s right, that’s right except — that’s right –

FELDER:He said we caused people — all the wars — we’re responsible for millions of people getting killed, and Idon’t know, Dennis, how you could just say, “Well, maybe he converted.”

BARNICLE:Dennis, aren’t you basically excusing hypocrisy if it is your view thatprivate remarks, you know, they’re OK, but public remarks, you can beforgiven?

PRAGER:I don’t judge — Richard Nixon, to take another Jewish example, RichardNixon –

FELDER:He’s Jewish? I didn’t know that. We’ve got enough troubleswithout him.

PRAGER:No, the example is Jewish, not Nixon, I’m sure you understood that. The example is that Richard Nixon spoke anti-Semiticthings in the White House privately, and he saved Israel’s life in the 1973war. That’s a lot more important to me than if he had spoken nicelyprivately and then stabbed Israelin the back when it needed him. That’s the way I judge people.

FELDER:But how can you equate a movie star with a politician who has to answer to anelectorate — please, let me finish –

PRAGER:You asked me — you asked me, I answered your question.

FELDER:– that has the power to do things. This man doesn’t have any power tohelp Israel.

PRAGER:I answered your question on why it is that I don’t take private remarksis the indication of a man. I didn’t compare Nixon and his power toGibson and his power. I answered your question.

[...]

PRAGER:Frankly, I don’t care about people’s hearts. I care aboutpeople’s deeds. If you hate me and don’t touch me, thatdoesn’t bother me. If you love me and kill me like some spouses do totheir spouses, then what’s in their heart really isn’t important.God judges hearts; men judge actions.