Ray McGovern, an ex-CIA officer, who served under seven different US presidents in 27 years, was a guest on the Pat Thurston show on KGO Radio Friday evening. The topic, of course, dealt with the events in Cairo and the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
About ten minutes into the program, McGovern, who has made several appearances on Thurston's show, began spouting about the "ramifications of the events in Egypt affecting Israel." Fair and valid point, but then McGovern continued into more controversial territory.
He started berating the "Zionist state" and began to talk about "those individuals that possess 'dual citizenship' and whether they should worry about the future affairs in the region. After Thurston questioned McGovern's on-air diatribe and specific words, the ex-govt. operative didn't back down.
"They run the media and control our politicians in Washington." "They?" Who's they? Thurston, on air, could be heard gasping. The inferences were clear. Suddenly, the topic was no longer Egypt, but some govt. agent going on a direct anti-Semitic rant to the core that lit up the switchboard and brought out angry callers.
Thurston, to her credit, challenged McGovern's assertions and was noticeably flustered by his remarks. She was also quick to report that she'd received nasty e-mail directed at her, her family, and producer, Nicole Grigg.
After the two-hour segment, Thurston opened the 9 PM hour by telling listeners that she was taken aback by the remarks by McGovern and "frankly, I feel very uncomfortable about what he said." (I'm para-phrasing, but that's essentially what Thurston stated.) (She also made clear that some of the hateful e-mail directed toward her and Gregg "would not help the cause.")
Clearly, McGovern went way overboard. Everyone has a right to his opinion and the Middle East debate is potent red meat for news-talk radio, but as Thurston pointed out, McGovern's transparent anti-Semitic vitriol was clearly out of bounds.
"We were supposed to be talking about Egypt and suddenly we shifted to Israel, " blurted an obviously shaken Thurston.
Indeed.
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It's funny. You/People point out how angry some of the commenters get on this site about the things you post hence, you must be doing something right/speaking the truth.
ReplyDeleteSame thing goes for those pro-Israel people. If they are going to bombard Thurston with negative emails and you, yourself call McGovern's words anti-semetic; then he must speak some truth. Right?
You can't have it both ways...
C'mon KGO. I 'googled' Ray McGovern and it's clear that he has made anti-semetic comments in the past. "Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation,' McGovern said. Genuine criticism of official Israeli policy is often portrayed as if it were anti-Semite bigotry: 'The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-Semitic.'"
ReplyDeleteWhy did someone at KGO not do some due diligence on this man before letting him on the air to spew his hatred?
Interesting post. I learned about this here first! Actually, I'm not much of a Pat Thurston fan so I wasn't listening when this occurred. Props to her for challenging her guest. Isn't that what a good host is supposed to do, regardless of the topic?
ReplyDeleteand so you don't think Israel and the SAudis have us by the short hairs on the issue of Egypt? Both countries fear..democracy...if that democracy choses leaders who threaten the stability of Israel or the Saudi regime. Our interest in Egypt is absolutely, directly related to the interests of those two countries. Both have a lot of influence on American politics...this should not come as a surprise to anyone paying attention..I've heard Ray McGovern many times on the radio..and he almost always goes into the anti-AIPAC mode(AMERICAN ISRAELI PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE ) and how american politicians suck up to AIPAC..or else. To call him anti-semitic is a bit of a stretch since Palestinians and Lebanese are semitic peoples also. I don't think he has any animus towards individual Jewish people or citizens of Israel..do you think he does? because he points out the influence of the Israeli government on American foreign policy in the middle-east?
ReplyDeleteYou think Israel isn't a "Zionist state"?
ReplyDeleteWhere are your comments when Ronn Owens, Rothmann, Gil Gross and Mary Nemko pretend to be objective when discussing Israel?
"We were supposed to be talking about Egypt and suddenly we shifted to Israel, " blurted an obviously shaken Thurston.
Could have said the same thing re Ronn Owens the other day.
Ronn Owens and John Rothmann are always up front about their support for Israel. To say otherwise is willfully disingenuous. Since I don't listen to Gross or Nemko (egads, who listens to Nemko?), I won't comment on what they say or don't say.
ReplyDeleteThe so-called open minded Bay Area can't have a discussion about Middle East policy without getting the vapors over Israel. Jews need to calm down and realize that not everyone is out to get them.
ReplyDeleteRich, you’d have more credibility on this issue if once in a while you posted a criticism of Michael Savage and/or Brian Sussman regarding their constant diatribes against Muslims. Savage and Sussman are constantly attacking the Muslim religion with their shallow fear-mongering. Yet when KGO invites someone to challenge Israeli policy all of a sudden the Jews reach for the anti-Semitic card. It’s getting very old. No one can criticize Israel without being branded an anti-Semite.
ReplyDeleteRich, are you sure that's McGovern in the picture? He looks eerily similar to the Dos Equis guy, the most interesting man in the world...
ReplyDelete"Stay thirsty, my friends!"
ReplyDeleteSorry. :)
KGO has their shows available in podcast format going back a week if anyone wants to go back and listen. Just go to their radio website.
I was listening to that show. The tone seemed to get worse and worse until I turned off the radio in the second hour. I sent Pat an email saying that I usually enjoy listening to her, but found that program contemptible.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, the guest and callers seemed to say this: People with dual citizenship have divided loyalties. All Jews are dual citizens. Therefore, Jews can't be trusted in government jobs. If they had started to quote from Mein Kampf, I wouldn't have been surprised. (By the way, I'm a non-religious Jew who has never been to Israel and is in no way a dual citizen.)
The host can't control what guests and callers say, but he/she can push back against outrageous statements. In this case, I thought Pat was far too timid. A host like Ronn Owens or John Rothmann would not have let these hateful statements go unanswered.
I'm sure had Gene Burns been at his own dais, he could have handled this idiot. Pat Thurston was simply in over her head. One of the reasons I don't listen to Thurston is because she SOUNDS like a whiny kid. This show proved that kids shouldn't bat with sluggers.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that this guy used to prepare PDB's for Reagan and Bush 41. I listened to the show. Pat tried to push back a little when the guy went off on the Zionism bit. But she was too softball with him. Maybe this will teach Pat to do a little more homework on several of the conspiracy kooks she has on masquerading as experts and investigative reporters. When they get on during the main KGO lineup, rather than weekend 1-5, it undermines KGO's brand. JW
ReplyDelete