On the July 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated daily radio show, right-wing radio host Neal Boortz complained about Media Matters for America's report of on-air comments he made July 23, falsely asserting that MMFA accused him of comparing Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) supporters to terrorists.
What MMFA actually did to draw Boortz's fire was accurately report what Boortz said: that he could “not make up his mind” about which group “presents a greater threat” to the United States -- those “who would vote for John Kerry for president of the United States” or “Osama bin Laden and his Islamic terrorists.” At no point did MMFA accuse him of making a comparison.
From the July 26 broadcast of The Neal Boortz Show:
BOORTZ: Well, there's some websites out there, one of them is called Media Matters, okay, that acted like I had just impugned the virginity of Mother ... of, of, what is it, Mother Teresa, or whoever that gal was. “How dare Neal Boortz compare Kerry voters to Islamic terrorists?” That's not what I did.
And I want to set the record straight now, because I, I took some time to put these thoughts down, and I truly feel this way. Okay, it seems that some of the more strident complainers about what I said on Friday are convinced that I compared Kerry voters to Islamic terrorists. Not so.
[...]
Look, you can die if somebody fires an apple at your head at 200 miles per hour. If an apple smashes into your head at 200 miles an hour, it's going to kill you. Likewise, you can die if somebody drops a Volkswagen on you. Either the apple or the Volkswagen can be dangerous, but that does not mean that apples and Volkswagens are alike. You're not comparing apples to Volkswagens, all right. You're saying that either one of them can be dangerous, and depending upon the circumstances, one can be more dangerous than the other. An apple at 200 miles an hour is more dangerous than a Volkswagen in a parking lot. So I'm not comparing Kerry voters to Islamic terrorists.
I ... let's deal with the question of whether or not I was out of line suggesting that Kerry voters, as a group, could be as dangerous as Islamic terrorists. First question there we have to decide is, can voters be dangerous? I can settle that question with one simple reminder. Adolf Hitler was elected by a popular vote. Yes, voters can be dangerous. You see now, Media Matters is going to say, “Neal Boortz compared John Kerry to Adolf Hitler.” [Laughter] Voters can be dangerous.
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