Boyles responds to criticism of Haggard allegations: “This is like Media Matters here”

Responding to a listener's criticism of an apparent inconsistency in allegations that male escort Mike Jones told to radio host Peter Boyles on his show during the past three days, Boyles stated, “This is like Media Matters here.” He apparently was referring to Colorado Media Matters' documentation of numerous false, misleading, and dubious claims that Boyles and his guests have made about illegal immigration.

On November 3, 630 KHOW-AM host Peter Boyles read an email from a listener criticizing an apparent inconsistency in male escort Mike Jones's allegations on Boyles's show that Jones had a sexual relationship with then National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) president and New Life Church senior pastor Rev. Ted Haggard. According to the email, Jones originally said Haggard had articulated a “fantasy” involving “six young men.” The email stated that Jones subsequently changed his story, saying the fantasy involved “five” young men. Boyles said that such criticism is “like Media Matters,” apparently referring to Colorado Media Matters' documentation of numerous false, misleading, and dubious claims that Boyles and his guests have made about illegal immigration:

BOYLES: Oh. This is like Media Matters here: [reading from the email] Go back and listen to the part yesterday when he said about Haggard's fantasy. You will hear him say he wanted six young men, not five; and today he said five.

Boyles's comment comes after Colorado Media Matters posted a petition urging Boyles “to apologize to his listeners, and all who were offended, for his specious claims” regarding illegal immigration. A sample of false, misleading, and dubious statistical claims made by Boyles and his guests follows:

  • Colorado Media Matters has noted that numerous Boyles guests have repeated the dubious statistic, attributed to U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-IA), that illegal immigrants kill 25 Americans each day. On September 27, Boyles falsely claimed the figure was “a GOA [sic] number,” referring to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). In an October 26 appearance on Boyles's show, Americans for Legal Immigration president William Gheen revised the statistic -- which he apparently had repeated in the past -- saying that “between 12 and 25” Americans are killed each day by illegal immigrants. But Gheen also acknowledged that “no one really knows how many Americans per day are being killed by aliens and illegal aliens.”
  • Colorado Media Matters noted that on September 19, Boyles falsely claimed that "[o]ver two-thirds of all the births in L.A. County are to illegal-alien Mexican[s]" receiving state Medicaid benefits and said that the figure came from the Los Angeles Times. In fact, the Times has disavowed the statistic, saying that it was part of an Internet “hoax.” The California Center for Health Statistics' Office of Health Information and Research reported that in 2004, the most recent year for which data apparently is available, 62.6 percent (slightly less than two-thirds) of Los Angeles County's 2004 live births were to Hispanic mothers -- a category that includes not just “illegal-alien Mexican[s]” on Medi-Cal (the state's Medicaid program) but also citizens, legal immigrants, Hispanics of non-Mexican descent, and mothers who do not receive Medi-Cal benefits.
  • Colorado Media Matters noted that on September 20, Boyles guest Dr. Patricia Doyle told listeners people “com[e] here for treatment for leprosy because they know as soon as they come into the U.S. and they're found to have leprosy, they are going to be able to go for treatment.” Doyle then falsely asserted, “We once had 900 cases in 40 years -- the U.S. had 900 leprosy cases. In three years, recently -- for three years -- we've had 7,000 cases.” In fact, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) states that “200-250 new cases” of the disease are reported in the United States each year.

From the November 3 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: Email: Good morning, Peter. I find it interesting Mr. Jones said yesterday on your show that he believes what happened between two consenting adults in the bedroom is nobody's business but theirs, but he's decided to “out” Ted Haggard because he's voting no on Ref. I. To me, it's that simple. These guys are in it to make money. Watch how he shops the story.

Well, if he wanted to make that money, believe me, he could have blackmailed this guy in a second.

Oh. This is like Media Matters here: [reading from a listener's email] Go back and listen to the part yesterday when he said about Haggard's fantasy. You will hear him say he wanted six young men, not five; and today he said five. OK. All right.

Congratulations, Pete, you destroyed a man and his family and five children for performing an act that's perfectly legal in every state in the country just to have your male prostitute friend keep saying the polygraph test until he passes. In the 20 years of being a die-hard talk radio listener I've never heard anyone sink as low as you did. You profess to be pro-homosexual, yet you just destroyed a man's life and career for your sport.

Hmm. Then he goes on to say, I really don't care for homosexuals, but at least what he did didn't hurt anybody.

That's right, he didn't hurt anybody coming up here and having sex with Mike Jones. He was hurting people by taking and leading 14 million others against the same guy he comes up and has sex with. Can't you see the difference?