Okay, I’m not going to say that Tim Russert’s questions to Barack Obama about Louis Farrakhan are racist.
Not directly, anyway.
Instead I’m simply going to ask you about a white religious leader who has been accused of anti-Semitism, and tell you whether primary candidates have been asked to denounce him.
You tell me in the comments whether you think there is a double standard.
This diary has three parts:
• Robertson’s New World Order and anti-Semitism
• How primary candidates treat Pat Robertson
• Does the media apply a double standard?
• Robertson’s New World Order and anti-Semitism
There have been many critiques of Robertson’s New World Order that have highlighted his explicit borrowing from famous Anti-Semitic tracts, notably Nesta Webster’s thesis that most of the revolutionary movements of the 20th century were part of a Jewish plot and Eustace Mullins’ theory that a group of international Jewish bankers control the U.S. government.
The clearest discussion of this is Jacob Heilbrunn’s “His Anti-Semitic Sources” in the April 20, 1995 The New York Review of Books (which I don't have a link to because I wasn’t able to find it online). Heilbrunn makes Robertson’s reliance on the above sources clear (even showing evidence that in my opinion demonstrates Robertson plagiarizes from those source). Heilbrunn doesn’t mince words in his conclusion:
But if he were honestly to clarify his views Robertson would have to acknowledge that his book amounts to a new version of the bizarre conspiracy theories of Nesta Webster and Eustace Mullins. Robertson avoids the word "Jew" in his book, but he has exhumed and embellished some of the most poisonous anti-Semitic canards in European history.
In "New world order, old world anti-Semitism - Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition” The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner writes in the Christian Century that Robertson’s conspiracy theories are broad enough to include both anti-Enlightenment and anti-Semitic ideas. But the latter are clearly there:
Conspiracy theories and the economics of self-regard have historically lent themselves to social and usually racialist scapegoating. It's hardly surprising that Robertson's preoccupation with interest and debt have led him to link his antiusury principles to a distinct form of anti-Semitic propaganda: the Jew as Shylock, insidious money lender.
This seems pretty clear to me, but I urge you to read the articles themselves to appreciate just how convoluted and repulsive Robertson’s views in his 1991 book were.
Does it measure up to Louis Farrakhan? Frank Rich addressed this question in the New York Times over ten years ago:
Like Mr. Farrakhan, Mr. Robertson overdramatizes Paul Warburg's role as the "true draftsman" and "catalyst" of the sinister U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, in 1913. Such is Mr. Robertson's fascination with the Rothschilds that he calls The Economist, an independent magazine that once had a Rothschild as its chairman, "the Rothschild publication."
…
"The New World Order" and Mr. Farrakhan's tirade have the same pedigree. Among its "original historical sources," Mr. Robertson's bibliography does not include either Paul Warburg's papers or books, but it does list Nesta Webster's "Secret Societies," a notorious anti-Semitic tract from the 1920's. Our two most prominent extremists of the 1990's are both dipping into the same well of pseudo-history that once served Father Coughlin and Henry Ford.
Note here that Rich is neither excusing nor equating the two, simply pointing out that many of the arguments made about Louis Farrakhan apply in spades to Pat Robertson.
In the end, is Robertson an Anti-Semite? I don’t presume to say and don’t really care – I’ve simply demonstrated that he has endorsed the same conspiracy theories about Jews that Louis Farrakhan has. Because my ultimate question is: Do we apply the same standard of guilt by association to white candidates?
.
• How primary candidates treat Pat Robertson
In 1995, Frank Rich noted that: “ At its ‘Road to Victory’ convention last fall, Phil Gramm, Lamar Alexander and Elizabeth Dole, standing in for her husband, all kissed Mr. Robertson's ring.” Is that surprising?
I thought I would look at whether current primary candidates are asked being to denounce Pat Robertson.
Let’s start with Rudy Giuliani, who basked in Robertson’s endorsement. You can google image search those two names and find tons of pictures of the two together doing their Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon impression. I don’t recall Giuliani ever being asked to denounce or reject Robertson, and a Lexis search turned up no evidence of it.
When Giuliani endorsed McCain, the Arizona Senator did not automatically get Robertson’s endorsement. You see, he was still mad about McCain’s 2000 statement branding Robertson and Falwell “agents of intolerance.” Robertson sniffs: “I had spent years and lots of money getting him and his buddies and his chairman on various Senate Committees. And then to have him come down to my city and make a statement like that, it was outrageous.” (See Steven G. Vegh, “Robertson declines to give second-round endorsement” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot 2/7/08).
But McCain did give the 2006 commencement address at the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, and you can google their special moment. He also dropped his opposition to a financial-reporting provision that many say was the real reason for televangelist opposition to him (Lee Bandy, “Christian Right weighs in” Columbia State, 1/12/07). Still, while David Kuo wrote that Mike Huckabee is actually campaigning to become the next Pat Robertson, Pat Robertson is the one evangelical leader with whom McCain may shy away from being seen in public. Still, as he says in an interview with Robertson’s CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) reporter David Brody:
"I'm so proud of Justice Alito. I'm so proud of playing a role in getting his nomination through the United States Senate, he and Justice Roberts; and, I've said many times that my nominees as President will be people like Roberts and Alito"
[And canines all across America raised their heads, for the sound of the dogwhistle was so piercing.]
Before I get accused of Clinton-bashing, let me point out once more that my point in this diary is about race. Granted, Clinton did get a dig in at Obama about failing to adequately condemn Farrakhan, and so this might be read as talking about hypocrisy. But I’m not making an argument about her, I’m making an argument about our discourse, and asking why no one has asked her about her recent interview on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club.
I’ll be succinct. On Tuesday, David Brody, the Christian Broadcasting Network “Senior National Correspondent” did a one-on-one interview with Hillary Clinton, that was broadcast on Pat Robertson’s “700 Club”. You can see the whole faith-based affair at the link, introduced by Robertson, ending with Pat Robertson calling her a “brave lady.”
Just to underscore that this is not primarily about Clinton, let me note that Barack Obama’s appearance on CBN was by email with the same reporter. It hits on some of the same faith-based rhetoric, in characteristic cerebral Obama style. But that’s not the end of the saga. Steve Benen records Robertson’s response when someone else alluded to Obama’s remarks, on the “700 Club”:
“I think what [Obama] says is dangerous,” Robertson blustered. “I think that it has a veneer of sophistication and it has a veneer of moderation, a veneer of intelligence, but underneath it he basically is selling out, well, the origins of our nation.
“America wasn’t built on Hinduism,” Robertson continued. “America wasn’t built on Islam. America wasn’t built on Buddhism. America and our democratic institutions were built on the Christian faith. There is no question about it…. And I think to put Christianity on a par with Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., I believe this man is doing a grave disservice to our nation.”
Hehe.
.
• Does the media apply a double standard?
Briefly, I want to point out that Russert was talking about Obama’s pastor’s associations with Farrakhan, and had nothing about any direct tie between Obama and Farrakhan.
Did Russert ever ask Liddy Dole, Lamar Alexander, or Phil Gramm to denounce their direct ties with Robertson?
Did Russert ever ask Rudy Giuliani to denounce his numerous appearances with Robertson?
Did Russert ever ask Hillary Clinton or John McCain (or even Barack Obama) to denounce their personal interviews with Robertson’s televangelist network?
[And let's say that Barack Obama were to give an interview to NOI's The Final Call, would there be the same silence?]
I'm not even going to speculate on why, but in my opinion there is a double standard at work. [Disclaimer: I'm not equating Robertson with Farrakhan, simply pointing out that they are both purveyors of anti-Semitic theories. I don't they have to be "equally" objectionable for the question of double standards to be asked.]
The poll and comments below will tell me if you agree.