Rosen claimed Southern Poverty Law Center “has not zeroed in on any Muslim hate groups”

Written by Media Matters Staff

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Interviewing Tom Tancredo on his Newsradio 850 KOA show, Mike Rosen asserted that the Southern Poverty Law Center “can only see hate groups on the right” and that it “has not zeroed in on any Muslim hate groups.” Rosen later added, “To my knowledge.” In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified the Nation of Islam as an “Active U.S. Hate Group” and has noted that the group has a Denver chapter.

During a September 13 interview with Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton), Newsradio 850 KOA radio host Mike Rosen attacked the Southern Poverty Law Center, asserting that the organization “can only see hate groups on the right” and that it “has not zeroed in on any Muslim hate groups.” Rosen later hedged this assertion with the qualifier "[t]o my knowledge." In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified the Nation of Islam as an “Active U.S. Hate Group” and has noted that the group has a Denver chapter.

Rosen made his claim while discussing with Tancredo the controversy surrounding Tancredo's participation in a September 9 fundraiser in Columbia, South Carolina, for the Americans Have Had Enough Coalition. As Colorado Media Matters noted, a September 11 article by the Southern Poverty Law Center stated that the South Carolina “chapter of the League of the South (LOS), a neo-Confederate hate group, hosted [the] barbeque in honor of Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo.” But The Denver Post reported September 13 that the South Carolina Chapter of the League of the South “falsely claimed to have sponsored the event,” and the Rocky Mountain News has reported that the chapter has since acknowledged that it did not organize the event.

Describing the fundraiser, the Rocky Mountain News reported September 13 that “Tancredo gave his standard immigration stump speech” and that "[t]here were Confederate flags in the room, and he [Tancredo] joined audience members in singing the Southern anthem Dixie." Similarly, the Post's September 13 article stated, “The Southern Poverty Law Center went to Saturday's museum event and reported details on its website, saying Tancredo 'addressed the standing-room audience of 200 to 250 from behind a podium draped in a Confederate battle flag.' ”

From the September 13 broadcast of 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

ROSEN: The Southern Poverty Law Center is conspicuously silent targeting hate groups on the left. It seems as though they can only see hate groups on the right.

TANCREDO: That's right.

ROSEN: The Southern Poverty Law Center, for example, has not zeroed in on any Muslim hate groups.

TANCREDO: No they haven't. Or --

ROSEN: To my knowledge.

TANCREDO: Not to my knowledge either.