Catholic League President’s Anti-Semitic Remarks on “Scarborough Country”

The blogosphere is all abuzz (see Andrew Sullivan, Josh Marshall, and Jeff Jarvis) about some anti-Semitic comments made by Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, on the December 8 edition of MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country” in the presence of guest host Pat Buchanan.

Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It’s not a secret, OK? And I’m not afraid to say it. That’s why they hate this movie [Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ]. It’s about Jesus Christ, and it’s about truth. It’s about the messiah. Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions. I believe in traditional values and restraint. They believe in libertinism. We have nothing in common.

There’s little doubt that Hollywood, compared to American society as a whole, is comparatively anti-religious, pro-homosexual, pro-abortion, and Jewish. Donohue’s remarks are offensive, though, because of the gratuitious baiting of anti-Semites. Had he said “secularists” rather than “secular Jews,” the remarks would have said exactly the same thing in a more defensible manner.

Sully is right, though, that even aside from the anti-Semitism issue, Donohue is engaging in hyperbolic pandering. Marshall, though, takes it a bit far:

Maybe the conservatives who go into paroxysms with charges of anti-Semitism any time the word “neoconservative” is uttered, will spare a moment to take notice of this . . .

I would note that it has been some time since Buchanan was part of the mainstream of American conservatism, having long gone off on a rather bizarre nativist-protectionist tangent. Donohue is prominent in the “anti-anti-Catholicism movement, with some rather significant endorsements. I hope he is taken to task for the comments.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. bryan says:

    Hey, isn’t this a repeat. We heard this stuff from Greg Easterbrook several months ago.

  2. whatever says:

    I hope you post an “anti-Christian” entry now every time one of the wild-eyed liberals go off the deep end on red America, comparing the Christian right to terrorists, etc.

    Although that is so common now you would have nothing else on your blog.

  3. Roberta Sherman says:

    Caught Bill Donohue’s act on Scarborough Country. I was suprised. I was under the impression that anal sex was LOVED by Catholic Priests, especially with 10 year old altar boys. He is a stupid old man. May he burn in Hell.

  4. April says:

    This site scares me…

  5. Angie Dag says:

    It would be nice to have Comments (for a change) without slander, obscenities and curses. Why waste time trying to exchange ideas with people who just want to vent in a pathological way? No wonder the country is polarized. By the way, the accusation of anti-Semitism is grossly over-used.
    Are Jews perfect and alone of all ethnic groups never to be held accountable for anything? Absurd.