Confronted by Colmes, Horowitz attacked Media Matters

Summary: On Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, confronted by co-host Alan Colmes regarding a recent Media Matters item that documented false statements he made during his previous appearance on the show, right-wing activist David Horowitz attacked Media Matters as "a smear site." Horowitz later added, "[M]y agendas have been so distorted by smear sites like Media Matters and by the left."

On the April 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Alan Colmes confronted conservative activist David Horowitz, the president of Students for Academic Freedom, regarding a recent Media Matters item that documented false statements he made during his previous appearance on the show. On the April 6 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Horowitz falsely claimed that although he has criticized what university professors teach in the classroom, he has refrained from criticizing "professors' political speech" outside of the classroom, a claim that Media Matters showed to be false. On the April 12 show, Colmes told Horowitz: "[L]ast time you were on the show, Media Matters came up with a list of items in your book, for example, where you criticized teachers for what they do outside the classroom, though you claimed on this show last time you go after them for what they do in the classroom." Horowitz then claimed, "This is not true," and asserted that Media Matters "is a smear site" and that "the fact that I describe who they [the professors] are is not the same as saying that I consider this a fault." Horowitz later added: "[M]y agendas have been so distorted by smear sites like Media Matters and by the left."

But as Media Matters noted -- in the item Colmes referred to -- an examination of his book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America (Regnery, January 2006), reveals numerous occasions in which Horowitz criticized professors' extracurricular speech and activities.

From the April 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HOROWITZ: And I wouldn't care if that teacher was showing a film attacking [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY]. It is wrong to do that in a classroom.

COLMES: In the classroom. Now, we got into this last time you were on the show. Media Matters came up with a list of items in your book, for example, where you criticized teachers for what they do outside the classroom, though you claimed on this show last time you go after them for what they do in the classroom. You went after Angela Davis, because she spoke at anti-war rallies and David Cole of Georgetown for being a member of the Center for Constitutional Rights. You've attacked teachers for what they do totally outside the classroom in your book.

HOROWITZ: This is not true, Alan, and look, Media Matters is a smear site. I'd rather not --

COLMES: No, it's not.

HOROWITZ: It's a total smear site.

COLMES: Oh come on David, they just -- they put the truth out there.

HOROWITZ: I'd like to -- look, my -- that's just false. In my book, I have four -- I think there are four accusations against teachers, and they all have to do with unprofessional conduct. The fact that I describe who they are is not the same as saying that I consider this a fault.

HANNITY: Hey, David.

HOROWITZ: This is ridiculous. Anyway, my -- the slogan of my campaign now is "take politics out of the classroom." And I think what this Alabama incident shows is that we need K-12 academic bill of rights legislation.

[...]

HANNITY: Let me ask you one behind-the-scenes question, because I had this big fight with Ward Churchill after you had debated him at this university. What was that like? What was going on behind the scenes?

HOROWITZ: Well, he was partly pretending not to be able to hear you, so I was prompting him. The debate on Hannity & Colmes was -- had a lot more fireworks than our debate, which will be on C-SPAN because my agendas have been so distorted by smear sites like Media Matters and by the left, that people need to hear what I'm about, which is: Take politics out of the classroom, be professional in the classroom. I have no problem with left- wing professors if they don't bring their political agendas into the classroom. Very simple.

HANNITY: All right. What do you think of him -- I mean, here's a guy that said chickens come home to roost, little Eichmann's, they're not innocent. What do you think of a person like that? I mean, I try to -- go ahead.

HOROWITZ: There are thousands -- let me say that there are thousands of Ward Churchills on university campuses.

HANNITY: It's scary.

HOROWITZ: And I have, you know, demonstrated that, in my book -- quite a few of them in my book. What Ward Churchill believes is that every American is a Nazi. That's what the statement about 9-11 -- that America is worse than Hitler Germany. It's running a global genocide machine, which is what he's actually said. That capitalism, instead of being system that creates wealth for hundreds of millions and billions of people all over the world is one that starves them. That's his position. It's idiotic. It's certifiable. But that's what he's teaching.

COLMES: He said a lot of that outside the classroom, David. Not in the classroom.

HOROWITZ: No, but if you -- when you hear the debate, Alan, you'll see he said, "I profess my beliefs in the classroom."

—B.A.