Fri, Feb 4, 2005 4:33pm ET

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Tony Blankley -- who described Soros as "a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust" -- to co-host LA's Left, Right & Center radio show

Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley announced in a February 4 op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that he has joined author and syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington, Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer, and syndicated columnist Matthew Miller as a host of the program Left, Right & Center on Santa Monica, California, radio station KCRW. Blankley laid out what he plans to accomplish on the program, writing: "In the brief moments I can squeeze a word in between their [Huffington and Scheer] soliloquies, I can steal the ears of their listeners and explain the sober, rational, conservative view of the passing political parade." He added, "If I can convert just a couple hundred thousand West Coast liberals to the great conservative worldview, California could be competitive for Republicans." However, Blankley's "sober, rational, conservative view" has been marked by distortions, inaccuracies, and baseless smears:

  • He described billionaire philanthropist George Soros as "a left wing crank," "a robber baron," "a pirate capitalist," and "a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust."
  • He ridiculed Inauguration Day protesters from the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), calling the organization "People Eating Tasty Animals."
  • He lauded the discredited book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry (Regnery, 2004) by Jerome R. Corsi and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now Swift Vets and POWs for Truth) co-founder John E. O'Neill as "meticulously researched and reported. ... The book has the ring of sincerity to it, and the mark of careful research and writing."
  • He furthered the false rumor that former Clinton national security adviser Samuel "Sandy" Berger concealed classified national security documents in his socks in order to remove them from the National Archives.
  • He misrepresented a court case to support his argument that journalist Seymour Hersh may have been in violation of the Espionage Act of 1917 for an article he wrote about U.S. military operations in Iran.

—S.S.M.

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