Referring to a September 28 Colorado Media Matters item noting his comment that “so many Jews who are regarded by people as instinctively good merchants are just that. They're merchants at the retail level and don't have ... a good grasp of the big economic picture,” Newsradio 850 KOA host Mike Rosen said the item was “another example of their [Colorado Media Matters'] selected use of ellipsis points” to “cast” him “as anti-Semitic.” Rosen further stated that in the item's “summary version the ellipsis points left out the very relevant fact that I talked about how other people regard Jews.”

In fact, Colorado Media Matters used an ellipsis in the item to replace only the words “I don't think” in the sentence: “They're merchants at the retail level and don't have, I don't think, a good grasp of the big economic picture like the people like Milton Friedman did” -- a comment Rosen made during his September 27 broadcast. [emphasis added] Furthermore, the item Rosen criticized included a transcript of Rosen's comments, as Rosen himself acknowledged.

After a caller asked Rosen during his October 3 broadcast if he had “seen what Media Matters did? They did a piece about you on their website?” Rosen replied, “Yes, several people have called it to my attention. They're trying to cast me as anti-Semitic.” He later said, referring to the September 28 item, “It is comical. And it's another example of their selected use of ellipsis points. You know what I mean about ellipsis points? Those are those three dots ... when a quote is taken and something's left out and then they pick up at another point.” Contrary to Rosen's subsequent claim that Colorado Media Matters left out “the very relevant fact that I talked about how other people regard Jews,” the ellipsis he referred to replaced only these words: “I don't think.” Furthermore, both the summary and the first paragraph of the item included the part of Rosen's comment in which he says that many Jews “are regarded by people as instinctively good merchants.”

The September 28 Colorado Media Matters item summary stated:

Summary: Interviewing author David Paul Kuhn about his book, The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma, Newsradio 850 KOA's Mike Rosen asserted on September 27 that “so many Jews who are regarded by people as instinctively good merchants are just that. They're merchants at the retail level and don't have ... a good grasp of the big economic picture.” On a previous broadcast, Rosen characterized Jews as having “a tendency toward pushiness and ostentatiousness.”

Rosen's comments, included in the item's transcript, were:

ROSEN: Sure. [Caller], you have exceptions like Milton Friedman, for example, a brilliant free-market economist who was more libertarian than conservative and one of my all-time heroes. Milton Friedman certainly understood the big picture, but so many Jews who are regarded by people as instinctively good merchants are just that. They're merchants at the retail level and don't have, I don't think, a good grasp of the big economic picture like the people like Milton Friedman did.

Rosen further stated on his October 3 show that Colorado Media Matters' item “threw in some gratuitous statement they attributed to me as saying the Jews are pushy and ostentatious.” Rosen acknowledged that he “may well have” said “the Jews are pushy and ostentatious,” but went on to claim that “in other settings ... when people ask, why are others anti-Semitic? I've explained that other people have this stereotype of Jews as ostentatious and pushy.”

As Colorado Media Matters noted, during the August 1, 2006, broadcast of his show about “why Jews have been so historically despised in so many different contexts,” Rosen asserted, “Jews, even though a small fraction of most national populations, tend to be more successful financially, they tend to be better educated. From a personality standpoint, it's probably fair to say that Jews have a tendency toward pushiness and ostentatiousness.” Rosen further stated, “I grew up in New York City, where there are an inordinate number of Jews,” and added: "[P]olitically, I have differences with most Jews. I'm a conservative Republican, and most Jews tend to be liberal Democrats." He also said during the same broadcast that “there's a certain abrasiveness to the stereotypical Jewish personality.”

From the October 3 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

CALLER: I was going to ask you, have you seen what Media Matters did? They did a piece about you on their website?

ROSEN: Yes, several people have called it to my attention. They're trying to cast me as anti-Semitic. Is that the one you're referring to?

CALLER: Yeah, it's comical.

ROSEN: It is comical. And it's another example of their selected use of ellipsis points. You know what I mean about ellipsis points? Those are those three dots --

CALLER: Yeah.

ROSEN: -- when a quote is taken and something's left out and then they pick up at another point.

CALLER: Uh-huh.

ROSEN: To cast me as anti-Semitic is absolutely preposterous. Since --

CALLER: It's laughable.

ROSEN: Since I am Jewish, even though I don't practice the religion. But I am proud of my Jewish heritage. And on the air, I've on many occasions contrasted, for example, Jews with some other minority groups in extolling the virtues of education. Jewish families are so committed to the education of their kids, which is one of the reasons why Jews tend to be very successful. I've talked about, I've bragged about the inordinate number of Jews who have received Nobel Prizes. Albert Einstein was Jewish; he didn't practice the religion either. Sigmund Freud was Jewish -- I mean, you can go down that list of historical figures. I've talked about the inordinate number of Jews in medicine, in science, in journalism, authors, novelists, historians. However, when a caller last week, I think it was David Paul Kuhn or Paul David Kuhn, I forget his name. He had written this very interesting book about the problem that Democrats are having with white men. Somebody called in and wondered why, with this administration, the Bush administration, or Republicans in general being so supportive of Israel, why so many Jews -- more than 70 percent; I think David said 75 percent -- why they continue to vote for Democrats. And in a couple of minutes I threw out some of the explanations as to why Jews are liberal and have been for so long.

CALLER: I remember the show.

ROSEN: And I've spent hours talking about this over the years and I've even given lectures at synagogues to Jewish audiences on the topic of why Jews are liberals. And one point I made is that even though people -- and this is, this was the key point that the Colorado branch of Media Matters left out with their ellipsis points. I talked about how Jews are regarded by many as instinctive merchants. They left out the part about -- I mean, in their transcript they included that, but in their summary version the ellipsis points left out the very relevant fact that I talked about how other people regard Jews. So when other people regard Jews as instinctive merchants -- case in point: The Merchant of Venice -- I explained that while a lot of Jews may be good merchants, when you talk about the big economic picture, the big economic picture that a Jew like Milton Friedman understood, so many of these Jews are so focused on the short-run that they don't put it all together. And as such, given the socialist roots of so much Jewish intellectualism, this antipathy to capitalism tends to be fairly pronounced among Jews generally, with plenty of exceptions. For example, these notorious neo-cons these days? The neo-conservatives? The neo-conservative movement is dominated by Jews. People like Irving Kristol and Midge Decter and Norman Podhoretz, the late Sidney Hook, David Horowitz, who was a former left-wing radical. At any rate --

CALLER: I'm familiar with him.

ROSEN: It is so preposterous to try to smear me as being anti-Semitic, but that's what these kinds of people do. And they also threw in, this Colorado Media Matters outfit -- and these are a bunch of angry lefties -- they threw in some gratuitous statement they attributed to me as saying the Jews are pushy and ostentatious. And I don't specifically recall a program where I said it in those exact terms. I may well have, and if I have, what I've said in other settings is, when people ask, why are others anti-Semitic? I've explained that other people have this stereotype of Jews as ostentatious and pushy.

CALLER: Well, and that's kind of what it was, because they played this sound bite of that show and when you said that on their site.

ROSEN: Yes, yes.

CALLER: But oftentimes I'll get on the KOA archives and, you know, go back and listen to older shows. And that's not how you meant it; that's not how you said it.

ROSEN: Yeah. Did they give the context that this is how other people regard Jews stereotypically?

CALLER: No, they set it up to where that's how you said it.

ROSEN: And I might -- have you ever spent a lot of time in New York City, where I grew up?

CALLER: I never, nah, I never have.

ROSEN: Well, I know very [laughs] -- I know a lot of Jewish people all over the country and all over the world. There are certainly some, and maybe it's the New York pace that causes people to be like that whether they're Jewish or not, but since Jews are so prominent in New York and have such an influence over the culture, the kind of pushiness and ostentatiousness that's common among New Yorkers is also common among some Jews in New York. So what? [laughter] You know? I mean, there are other groups that have stereotypical identifications that obviously don't apply to all of them. There are, and I don't want to go down through the whole list of stereotypes, but you know what I'm talking about. There are some people, some ethnic groups or national groups that are regarded as sentimental, as emotional, as boisterous, as drinking. Yeah. So? Anyway, I'm glad you raised the question, because normally I make it a point to ignore the Media Matters crowd when they talk about me. It's just a distraction, which is what they want to do.

CALLER: Well, I just, I remember -- well, what made me think about it was looking at their website talking about Rush Limbaugh, and I saw their piece on you and I just thought that was hilarious. I just wanted to know what you thought of it.

ROSEN: It's hilarious. But, you know, it's aggravating. It's annoying and that's what they want to do. They want to annoy. It's such a preposterous assertion. Now, they don't flatly call me anti-Semitic but that's obviously the direction they're taking it in. And based on some of the angry emails I've gotten from the sycophants who go to their website, that's the way some other people have taken it. I'm glad you've given me an opportunity -- you know what I'm going to do? We'll schedule a program, and we'll need at least an hour on this. Maybe I'll even ask Norman Podhoretz to participate in this, since he has a new book out. Norman Podhoretz, of course, for years was the editor of Commentary magazine, which still exists, and it was the -- originally founded by the American Jewish Committee, if you can believe it. And Commentary magazine was one of the leaders of the neo-conservative movement. And back in February 1980, there was an issue of Commentary magazine, it was called, if I remember, “Liberalism and the Jews: A Symposium.” And they had essays from about 150 people from left to right, mostly Jews, who addressed that question of why Jews are liberal, and none of them are anti-Semites. But it's an interesting political analysis as to why Jews are so liberal -- generally, with room for exception, like me and Milton Friedman, for example, and Norman Podhoretz himself. So it might be good to have Norman on the show to talk about that very issue.