Mercury Rising

From the LA Times:

Thursday, for example, the Parents Television Council and the National Religious Broadcasters released a study of prime-time television, which they said found that shows produced by Hollywood have "virtually no respect for religion."

That's hardly surprising, since Hollywood, by and large, has no respect for women, families, minorities, intelligence or anything else, except ratings and the increasing number of awards it seems to give itself each year.

More interesting — and revealing — was the reason for this disrespect, according to L. Brent Bozell, president of the parents' group. "Is it because Hollywood is Jewish and taking care of its own?" he rhetorically asked during a conference call with reporters. "No, I don't think that. In the general public and in Hollywood, there is an understanding that respect is owed to Jews. It's as simple as that. That same respect ought to be paid to other faiths as well."

In other words, Bozell doesn't want to say it too clearly, but the Jews control Hollywood. Or as Bozell, a Catholic, subsequently told The Times' Lynn Smith, that's what "many would say."

Read the rest here (registration or BugMeNot required) If this were going on before World War II, Bozell would have felt free to just go ahead and call them "Christ-killers". But the religio-racist right has subtled up their act: They're now in favor of the state of Israel -- but only because it makes a nice staging ground for Armageddon. Want to read a really good treatment of the history of Brent Bozell and his equally-whacked-out father? Go check out the last chapters of WWE wrestling star and Kerry voter Mick Foley's book Foley is Good, available at Barnes and Noble (use ISBN 9780061032417, or search for it by name). (Yes, it's also at Amazon.com, but they donate to the GOP while B&N donates to the Democrats.) There are a lot of boneheaded wrestlers out there, but Mick Foley -- chair shots to the head notwithstanding -- is not one of them. (He's been a frequent guest and guest host on Air America Radio's "Morning Sedition" program -- and he's GOOD.) The deal is that Bozell has been after the WWE for ages -- and thus, in the spirit of Know Your Enemy, the WWE has learned chapter and verse about Bozell. Foley even did outreach to Joe Lieberman to try to pry him away from Bozell's orbit! If you understand pro wrestling, you understand what it takes to win in American politics. Foley helped bring a lot of his fan base into the voting booth for Kerry -- and remember that the youth vote was Kerry's strongest bloc. Remember how Clinton's ratings soared as he stood his ground under the media barrage and the OIC's Starr Chamber attacks? That's because of two (2) things that any second-rate wrestling promoter could tell you: 1) People like fighters and hate quitters. A guy who fights until the last dog dies is regarded more highly than someone who throws in the towel right away. 2) The quickest way to turn a "heel" (or bad guy) wrestling character into a "face" (or good guy) is to have him/her undergo what's called "piling on". That's when a bunch of other wrestlers start attacking the guy/gal for no good reason. As for Rule #1: Clinton stood and fought when everyone in the GOP/Media alliance -- and even a number of really stupid and/or self-serving Democrats -- was urging him to "do the honorable thing" and step down. Because he stood and fought, he saved his party and his country. And as for Rule #2: The OIC's harrassment, brought to the surface in all its sliminess where the American public could see it, was the best pile-on Clinton could have hoped for. The OIC tried to embarrass and humiliate Clinton, and instead wound up looking like the bullies and thugs and cheaters that they are. If the Democrats had actually followed Clinton's lead and ran against the OIC in 1998, they'd have won both houses of Congress and set it up for a very good run for Al Gore -- so long as he stayed the hell away from Lieberman.