On the August 9 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh agreed with a caller who called progressive financier, philanthropist, and political activist George Soros “a self-hating Jew.” Limbaugh also proclaimed that "[t]here is so much anti-Semitism today in the Democratic Party," later adding: “The seat of this anti-Semitism right now is focused in kooks, like [anti-war activist Cindy] Sheehan and the blogs and the MoveOn.org people and Soros.”
Earlier, Limbaugh played an audio clip of MSNBC's Chris Matthews comparing Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman to "Uncle Tonoose," a character on the 1950s TV shows Make Room for Daddy and The Danny Thomas Show, which he appeared to argue was evidence of anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party.
LIMBAUGH: Can we go back? I'm gonna need Chris Matthews again. Grab number 10. Audio sound bite number 10. This from Chris Matthews last night on his -- well, it wasn't Hardball. It was his election coverage on PMSNBC [sic].
MATTHEWS [audio clip]: The body language of the two is so different. You have this very WASP-y fellow, [businessman Ned] Lamont. Very calm, very casual, very St. Paul's, almost, in the prep-school sense. [...] Lieberman, of course, is the schmaltzy, ethnic guy, the Uncle Tonoose, you know. The guy that's very kind of lachrymose in his, almost, postnasal-drip voice of his. [...] But he doesn't look happy.
LIMBAUGH: All right. Now, let's -- “schmaltzy, ethnic guy, the Uncle Tonoose.” And as I said in the last hour, Uncle Tonoose was a character on the old Danny Thomas Show, and I think I'm pretty safe in saying that Uncle Tonoose was played by Hans Conried. Huge hook nose and so forth. Here's Matthews describing -- let's be honest about this, folks. Let's just put it out there. When you say somebody is a schmaltzy, ethnic guy, you're not talking about an Arab. You are talking about a Jew. You describe somebody as a schmaltzy, ethnic guy who has postnasal drip with his voice, lachrymose and so forth. Uncle Tonoose, in character, was a Lebanese Arab. Danny Thomas was a Christian Lebanese, and Uncle Tonoose therefore -- but isn't it interesting that you have Chris Matthews describing an Arab as a Jew. On the basis of appearance. Schmaltzy, ethnic guy, which -- you know, there are some people saying this, but they're dancing around it. But one of the little -- not-often-discussed aspects of the kook fringe base of the Democratic Party, and I'm just gonna put it out there, is its anti-Semitism. There is so much anti-Semitism today in the Democratic Party. It is -- I don't think it's an accident that [Rev. Al] Sharpton and the Rev. [Jesse] Jackson are up there standing behind Lamont [during his victory speech on August 8].
[...]
CALLER: Their party has been taken over by people that are anti-Israel, as in Cindy Sheehan and Soros, who happens to be a self-hating Jew.
LIMBAUGH: Right.
CALLER: They hate Israel, they hate Jews, they're terrorism deniers. And I just hope it's a wake-up call to the Jewish people that are out there. Is that still the best party for them?
LIMBAUGH: Yeah. Doubt that that's going to happen. It's going to take a little bit more than this. The seat of this anti-Semitism right now is focused in kooks like Sheehan and the blogs and the MoveOn.org people and Soros.
