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.
&mdash S.S.M.
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