On Hannity & Colmes, Horowitz dodged charges that he "didn't even write or research" portions of his book
SUMMARY: On Hannity & Colmes, David Horowitz would not answer accusations that he "admitted on the air" that he "didn't even write or research ... parts of" his book, The Professors. Horowitz also claimed that fellow guest Mark LeVine, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, is "an apologist for the terrorists."
Appearing with University of California, Irvine professor Mark LeVine on the August 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, right-wing activist David Horowitz refused to answer LeVine's accusation that Horowitz "admitted on the air" that he "didn't even write or research the parts of" his book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America (Regnery, January 2006), that were about LeVine, and "therefore couldn't comment on how much of it was true." Instead, Horowitz said, "I'm not going to discuss things that happened on other shows. I have read what Mark LeVine has written."
Horowitz and LeVine appeared on Hannity & Colmes to discuss the Middle East conflict, and during the discussion, Horowitz claimed that LeVine is "an apologist for the terrorists." LeVine responded, "This is absolutely unconscionable for you to say. ... Again, you're lying like you did in your book." LeVine then pointed to a prior debate he had with Horowitz over the research for the chapter on LeVine from The Professors. On the April 9 edition of Mother Jones Radio Broadcast, host Angie Coiro asked Horowitz, "[T]his research [in the LeVine chapter] is credited to Tzvi Kahn. ... How much of your work went into this chapter, per se? Did you clear all the facts, here?" In response to Coiro, Horowitz admitted to never having met Kahn, the researcher credited in the LeVine chapter of The Professors. Horowitz never addressed Coiro's question, which she asked twice, about the extent to which he was involved in the production of that chapter.
Co-host Sean Hannity introduced Horowitz as the author of the forthcoming book, The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party (Nelson Current), to be released August 8. In advance of the book's release, Media Matters for America documented many of the book's doctored quotes, falsehoods, and baseless allegations offered up by Horowitz and co-author Richard Poe in an effort to smear progressive financier, philanthropist, and political activist George Soros and others.
Horowitz has also repeatedly attacked Media Matters for noting prior instances in which Horowitz misrepresented the scholarship of The Professors, including when Media Matters noted that the book contains numerous instances in which Horowitz cited the purported extracurricular activities of the professors he criticized in the book, contrary to his denial of doing so on the April 6 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes. Horowitz conceded in an April 13 FrontPageMag.com weblog post that there was a "sliver of truth in the Media Matters statement" that documented his inconsistencies, but he downplayed the contradiction, claiming that "my book is a series of profiles of 101 professors" that includes "general perspectives, [that] may or may not be expressed outside the classroom." A more detailed Media Matters study of The Professors showed that even Horowitz's revised suggestion -- that his book does not rely heavily on professors' activities and speech outside of the classroom, but rather merely mentions extracurricular activities as part of a broader profile of each academic's "general perspectives" -- was false.
From the August 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
HANNITY: As we continue on Hannity & Colmes, I'm Sean Hannity, reporting from Phoenix, Arizona, tonight. As the fighting in the Middle East continues, calls for Israel to use restraint are growing, and the world appears to be lining up against the country. Now, is anti-Semitism spreading as this conflict continues? Joining us now, the author of the upcoming book, The Shadow Party, the editor of FrontPageMag.com, David Horowitz. Also the author of Why They Don't Hate Us, University of California, Irvine professor Mark LeVine is with us.
[...]
ALAN COLMES (co-host): Let me, David, ask you, as Jimmy Carter points out in an op-ed piece today, the issue here is tactics. We all want the same goal, here.
HOROWITZ: The biggest appeaser of them all.
COLMES: But punishing civilian populations with the hope that they will then blame Hamas and Hezbollah has had the opposite effect. So the tactics are not working. We've tried these tactics for decades. They've only created more insurgents, more terrorism, more Hamas, more Hezbollah. So we're not doing it the right way. That's the issue.
HOROWITZ: Jimmy Carter is a moral and national disgrace.
COLMES: That's kind of you to say, David.
HOROWITZ: And saying that just proves it. Israel hasn't punished anybody. Israel was attacked across an international border. And Mark LeVine is not a moderator between them. He's an apologist for the terrorists. I have read a ton of his stuff --
LeVINE: All right, this is absolutely unconscionable for you to say. You have said this in a book, sir --
HOROWITZ: You have never condemned, you -- I mean, just what you said before.
LeVINE: Excuse me? Excuse me?
HOROWITZ: Israel did not go across an international --
LeVINE: I've never condemned Hamas? Is that what you're saying? Again you're lying, just like you did in your book.
HOROWITZ: OK, you know, now you're -- now you're interrupting -- now you're --
LeVINE: See, this is why we need to talk about facts, sir. We need to have the facts that are really at hand to have a real conversation. And I'm happy to do that if you don't want to yell and call people morons and --
HOROWITZ: All right, anybody who writes a book about why -- about -- anybody who --
COLMES: All right, David, wouldn't it be more productive to have an actual dialogue rather than call your co-guest a moron and actually understand where he stands?
LeVINE: Yes, I would like to, so let's stop calling each other names.
COLMES: Now, Mark, let's get this clear, here. You're not a supporter of Hamas or Hezbollah. Let's put that on the table.
HOROWITZ: I said he wasn't a --
LeVINE: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. But -- and I'm not an apologist for anyone, because I've seen the destruction all sides abroad.
HOROWITZ: Everything Mark LeVine writes is a --
COLMES: Let him respond, David. Let Mark respond.
LeVINE: Everything, yeah -- no but see this is --
HOROWITZ: The two of you, the nonstop, this interrupting me and talking, you know?
COLMES: Mark, let David respond. One at a time, please.
LeVINE: I thought you were letting me respond.
HOROWITZ: Yeah, OK.
COLMES: Go ahead, Mark.
HOROWITZ: Pffft.
LeVINE: Yes, thank you. Look, let's get the record very quickly straight. David, you wrote a book, "101 Professors" [sic], where you called me one of the most dangerous professors. You admitted on the air that you didn't even write or research the parts of the book that were about me and therefore couldn't comment on how much of it was true. So let's at least understand where your level of scholarship and research is coming from. OK? This is in the record. Now, I am totally against any terrorism and any attacks on any civilians. The point is how do we get out of this disaster? And is more violence going to help solve this problem or is more violence going to make it work [sic: worse]? And if you read -- this isn't me talking. Forget about me, the so-called dangerous professor.
COLMES: All right we've got to let David respond and we've got to go -- David.
LeVINE: Read the Israeli press. Read the Israeli press and you'll see Israelis saying the same thing.
HOROWITZ: Really? OK, having had --
HANNITY: David gets the floor.
HANNITY: Hey, Mark, your time is up. David -- David gets the floor. David.
HOROWITZ: -- Ten minutes of pile on. I'm not going to discuss things that happened on other shows. I have read what Mark LeVine has written. Anybody who writes a book, Why They Don't Hate Us, referring to the Arab Muslim Middle East has no credibility whatsoever.
From the April 9 broadcast of the Mother Jones Radio Broadcast:
LeVINE: In fact if you look at the end of that -- the end of my profile, it's researched by someone -- I don't know who it is, but I fear that a lot of these chapters -- the research is done by interns who, you know, probably need to go back to college because so much of what is said is just factually misrepresenting my views and the views of many of my colleagues who have been doing stories since the publication of the book.
COIRO: David Horowitz, this research here is accredited to Tzvi Kahn, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. How much of your work went into this chapter, per se? Did you clear all the facts, here?
HOROWITZ: Well -- ahem -- I'm not -- I'm not clear which -- um -- what -- what book -- um -- Professor LeVine is referring to. Because he's written more than one book, now.
COIRO: Well, I'm talking about the person who's taking responsibility for what's in your chapter about Mark LeVine.
HOROWITZ: Yeah, I -- [ahem]. Well, look, I -- I -- um, I'm just. OK. Actually, we quote him criticizing -- um -- I'm -- I've -- I don't -- I have never met Tzvi Khan -- um --
LeVINE: This is the point that I'm --
[crosstalk]
COIRO: Mark -- Mark LeVine, Mark LeVine, I want you to hold that thought, please. Please continue, David Horowitz.
HOROWITZ: And but the book actually says that to bring the socialist millennia to fruition he claims that it is necessary to dig beyond the easy symbolism of freedom, democracy, Zionism equals racism, and other mantras and so forth so, I -- you know, it's not like he's presented as a --somebody who doesn't have a critical thought within the left.
My husband and I watched that last night and both of us were disgusted at both Horowitz and Sean Hannity. It appears anyone disagreeing with the normal train of thought of any republican guests seems to be cut off, shut down, or yelled at by Sean Hannity. It was just another display of what we see often, if not most of the time, that anyone not marching in the same tune as Hannity is ridiculed. I recently emialed Fox via their emails lists as to what I, as a non American viewer thought of their coverage. They have an invitation for non-Americans who get their channel to write and tell them what you think. I don't think I will ever get a response as to what I told them I thought of their channel. Between the spin of Sean Hannity, the rudeness of his own treatment to Colmes, and Bill O'Reilly, Fox really has earned the nickname of "Faux" News, since it seems so divorced from reality to be laughable, and nothing more than a pseudo mouthpiece for the White House. I bet my email hit their garbage can without being read.
I thought it was disgusting. But I admire Mike Levine for going on the attack and showing what a fraud Horowitz is. Nicely done.
This exchange is proof why Horowitz IS a moron... he can't respond to any criticism (based on fact), he sputters/spits and falls back into a perpetual rage if you even question his spurious methods of 'research'. The guy is a joke.
And, thanks Hannity for at least attempting to coddle poor little David into a coherent sentence... but, it ain't happening. What Horowitz is doing (has done) is tantamount to witch-hunting... I want to hear the outcry against his false accusations and slander, instead of giving hacks like Horowitz more airtime to perpetuate their lies (Anne Coulter anyone?)
Hey Peet, give these people a break. How else are they going to sell their books except for having Hannity. Limbaugh and the other right wing nuts push them. Do you think Coulter is bright enough to write anything intellengent enough to sell on it's own. John
It's a bit of a stretch to say that Horowitz "dodged" the charges after Levine fired off a series of questions and issues in the closing seconds of the segment.
Also, Levine's charge that Horowitz "admitted on the air that you didn't even write or research the parts of the book" is incorrect! Horowitz didn't say that at all!
The misinformation came from Levine.
My 2 cents.
So tell us, among shots at Jimmy Carter and Levine, at what point did Horowitz even attempt to answer Colmes' question? The only complimentary thing to say about him is that, in contrast to that imbecile who sits opposite Colmes every night, at least he has the conscience to recognize when he's caught in a lie. Face it, he couldn't have been interrupted because he had absolutely nothing to say.
Never even MET the man who wrote the chapter how is that NOT an admission that he didnt write or research the chapter?
it was simple binary question
COLMES: That's kind of you to say, David.
HOROWITZ: And saying that just proves it.
Wow Perfesser, for an academic you sure have a low standard of proof . . .
embarrassed about this? Is this immoral?
[link to www.cartercenter.org]
This is a facinating example of how adopting the right wing mind set requires the abandonment of massive amounts of brain cells.
There was actually a time when Horowitz was somewhat respected as an intellectual. He cowrote a book on the Rockefeller dynasty that was cogent, well-researched, & well-reasoned. He seemed a committed leftist... in fact he was a committed Marxist/Leninist, but hard times hit the Movement at the end of the Seventies, what with the rise of the twin horrors of Reagan & disco. Seeing the commercial writing on the wall, Horowitz abandoned his Hard Left politics for the financially more lucrative enticement of the Hard Right.
The problem with selling out is that he was forced to abandon his intellect alongside his soul. Slipping on the sneering, finger-pointing trogledite personas of Joe McCarthy & Roy Cohn, Horawitz committed with the Method intensity of a young Marlon Brando to the reptilian portion of his brain. He would now put all of his energy into accusing all nonwingnuts of being communists... or socialists... of terrorists... or athiests... or whatever else might send a chill up the spine of a paranoid & clueless redstater.
And see what this Faustian pact has reduced him to: a blithering, sputtering, subverbal loon. He is a product of militant self-derangement. What profiteth a man, we might ask ourselves, to gain a bank account but loseth his ability to put even half a dozen coherent words together in a single stream?
This can only be discribed as intellectual gonorea.
Somebody please give the poor bastard a shot of penacilin.
Horowitz and Dershowitz should write the definitive book on left-wing anti-Semitic professors and how they want the terrorists to win, and destroy Israel. It'd be good.
HOROWITZ: Stop interrupting me so I can finish slandering you!
and the Amateur Hour when you need them?? This present sort of T.V. is giving T.V. a bad name. This Whoreo guy belongs on a Milk Carton. He is lost. But as that CRUEL-AID drinking Hannity keeps dishing out that purple stuff to his rabid fans(A/K/A SHEEP), the beat goes on. Write the hate, we can sell it but please don't let any fact get in the way of the RIGHTeous. These poor slobs sense a change going on in America and are getting goofy because they will feel the pressure of the search for truth raining down upon them. But for Hannity, he'll just have new targets to hate. He cares as much about America as his wallet allows..who knows, he may watch his show from time to time and realize what he has been saying and see the Light.
How could they call Horwitz as a researcher, when he cannot stand behind his works or his work? But then we are talking about Sean Hannity here.
who calls out liberals in his public appearences to call them to "shame" as if his moral presence is more brilliant than the sun itself!
so many of them disgust and poision the public discourse. Oh how they should make a documentary just on that.
HOROWITZ: "Well -- ahem -- I'm not -- I'm not clear which -- um -- what -- what book -- um -- Professor LeVine is referring to."