Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager on KABC at 12:08 PM:

I received a call from a friend of 20 years… Yesterday was his birthday…

He was depressed… He was with 20 people of his age, and he was the only one who was upset with the President's conduct… They all said it was no big deal… They were cynical…

DP: I don't understand the adulation for the president… people gazing at him in awe… In effect, I am asking you if I should be unhappy…

My first reaction to issues: How does this affect children? I treasure my sheltered upbringing… I try to provide that for my kids…

Why are Americans enamored of the man? 1- He is a celebrity. 2- No proof of his misdeeds.

Prager's show was sponsored by HARDCOPY which boasted of an interview with Monica Lewinsky's hair dresser who speculates about her motives, and secret tape of a Jon Benet Ramsey family vacation.

12:37 PM

DP: A subtle metamorphosis is going on with this show… I now view this show as also a forum for me to learn from you… You help my writing immensely.

[He has always benefited from his callers, but DP now more explicitly asks for their help. He used to view his show as overwhelmingly a forum for him to transmit his values. He used to hold goodness as the highest ideal. Now he holds truth as coequal. And with this change, he seeks out with greater fervor the views of his callers.]

Also, the biggest net loser out of this affair could be the media…

"I know kids listen to my show…that is why I hint at things [rather than be more explicit]…"

Dan Rather: "We are already in trouble with the public… and we ought to be…"

Peter Jennings: "Whether or not I have to flinch [when he mentions semen on a dress]…is not my business… I don't think it is bad if viewers may have to flinch… I don't think it is my job to babysit your children."

DP: I'd rather my kids watched violent movies than TV news.

CALLER: The Clinton administration has pictured the scandal as a battle against a right wing conspiracy… And the crowds want to show their opposition to this conspiracy.

DP: Maybe it is good that people expect less from the President. They expect him to implement certain policies, but they do not look to him as an example, a model for moral behavior. My brain says that is fine, my gut says it is not. I just want to know that if all you people who tell me that these allegations [against Clinton] aren't proven, that his personal life does not matter, only his policies… Would you feel the same way if the President was Republican. If yes, then I respect your view.

I, Luke Ford, called in at 12:58: "The President is a star in an age that reveres fame. And he is even more famous now than two weeks ago.

"Second. This is a function of America's political system, which does not separate between head of state and head of government. In England, the head of state is the queen. And the head of government is the prime minister… But Americans view their primary politician as a representative of their country… Because I come from Australia, an English-influenced political system, I have always viewed the president as a political hack."

DP: "The politician of politicians…. Makes a good argument for the monarchy."

1:08

Prager wants a collection so that KABC can provide him with better head phones…

People are saying, "Dennis grow up… The president is a politician… He is not a moral model…"

So where do we look for heroes? Most kids do not have morally impressive parents or clergy models… So where?

That is why I am so ticked at the ACLU for ruining the Boy Scouts [by going to court to prevent the Scouts from requiring an oath of allegiance to God].

CALLER: We like the man because he likes us. You can see him in the town hall meetings, etc… You can see that he likes people.. He looks people in the eye… We don't get that feeling from Republicans… They seem mean spirited… They do not like the poor and women, and so we don't like them.

Maybe if he killed somebody, we might turn on him…

DP: The party that takes people's money away… we like them…huh?

CALLER: So, they're not perfect…

DP: "I smile as I take more of your money away…but we're the party that likes you…" It shows how personality and rhetoric counts for more than behavior.

This is an education for me. You are attending a political science doctoral seminar… I went to Colombia University, but I am learning more here…

If Republicans are listening, they must be pulling their hair out of their head… They hear that they like people less, because they want to give them back more of their money.

I am curious what message young people are getting. At the least, it certainly is not inspiring. At worst, they are hearing that it doesn't matter what you do, so long as you have the right position… Which was the '60s position, so long as you march for the poor, it doesn't matter how dissolute your personal life.

Clinton typifies the '60s… He was a member of that world, thrived on it… And those who imbibe its values, that since there are no standards in personal lives, it is individual, it is only your stand on political issues that matter.

For individuals, both matter. If my kid cheated on tests, and marched for AIDS, I would be unhappy. I'd rather he not cheat and not march. I'd rather he did both.

1:39 PM

DP: I am getting great answers to my questions, and I don't feel good. My brain and my gut are in conflict, and they usually aren't.

I thought the President was the one political position that we look for personal example…for moral leadership…

MITCH: A lot of people see him as a naughty boy, a rogue… but they don't see him bombing Cambodia, or selling weapons to the Ayatollah [Iran-Contra affair]… People are reacting to the over-coverage…

He's a personable guy… You can see yourself knocking back a few beers with him, maybe chasing women together… Partying… I left the Democratic Party for the same reason that Michael Reagen left the Republicans…

DP: This is a first class education for me. I don't want to think of a leader as a guy that I'd have a few beers with and chase women… I love a leader where there is distance between him and me… Not a back-slapper, shoot the breeze, pick up some broads… That is not my thing… Even when I was a pick-up guy… That is not how I wanted my president…

If he is going to pick up girls with you, he is not a leader… Where is the distinction between you?

1:50 PM:

Prager bantered with traffic reporter David Courtney…nubnicking him about his French pronounciation.

"I'd like to think that if I visited the President, I'd receive inspiration rather than beers… Am I alone?"

CALLER: "Over the past ten years, truth has become relative… Words no longer have objective meaning. The American public has learned to think like lawyers. They've learned how to obfuscate…how to not give up wrong beliefs…"

DP: "Thinking like lawyers… Because people are calling up saying, 'there is no proof.' But that is a legal perspective, rather than a moral one."

Caller: New York Times article today on feminist problems with Clinton…including a scary quote from Gloria Steinem… "I am not blameless…so I do not expect the president to be blames…" Instead of her saying that she agrees with him on the issues, she starts thinking like a lawyer…

On the third hour, Prager went to an open line.

Next Saturday, on CSPAN2 on "ABOUT BOOKS" at 5PM and 8PM, Prager's hour speech on happiness.

Bob Herbert: The Feminist Dilemma

IN AMERICA / By BOB HERBERT

The initial public reaction of feminists and other women's advocates to President Clinton's latest trouble can most charitably be described as restrained. They have a problem:

How do you defend a man whose relations with individual women, at least in some cases, are widely believed to have been irresponsible, disrespectful, exploitive and profoundly destructive?

And yet how do you attack a President with the best record ever on issues related to women?

Feminists, like other staunch Clinton supporters, are trying to buy time, hoping that the improbable turns out to be true, and rooting this time for the man against the woman.

"We're taking these latest allegations very seriously, but we feel like there needs to be some cooling-down time," said Marie Wilson, who heads the Ms. Foundation for Women. The President might be lying, she said, but she hopes not. She stressed that the facts were not yet in. Meanwhile, she said, she does not want to contribute to the media frenzy.

Gloria Steinem asked: "Do I wish that Clinton were blameless? Do I wish that all this turns out to be false? Yes, deeply I wish that. But I am not blameless. How can I require a leader to be blameless?"

Ms. Steinem, a founder of Ms. magazine, said she found it significant that Mr. Clinton had not been accused of coercing anyone into a sexual encounter. She noted that not even Paula Jones, who has filed a sexual-harassment suit, claimed that the President had forced himself on her.

"He takes no for an answer," said Ms. Steinem.

Referring to Mr. Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Ms. Steinem acknowledged what she described as the "suspicious power difference" between a middle-aged President and a young White House intern. But she added that 21-year-olds were old enough to "say yes or no."

Former Representative Patricia Schroeder, like Ms. Wilson, warned against a rush to judgment in the Lewinsky episode. "If the allegations are proven true, this is devastating," she said. "But somebody may be overstating the case. A week from now we could find out this was a fantasy."

And so it went in interview after interview. On many issues that women care about, Bill Clinton has been a godsend. He has been steadfast in his support for abortion and reproductive rights, for expanded health services for women, for affirmative action and increased business opportunities for women, and he has put a woman on the Supreme Court. On Tuesday night, in his State of the Union Message, Mr. Clinton called for an increase in the minimum wage, which would be especially helpful to women, and for enactment of a $21 billion child care initiative.

"Some of us have been fighting all of our lives for the things that are just now happening," said the head of a national feminist organization who would speak only on the condition that her name not be used. "I hate the stories that are coming out about Bill Clinton and I believe at least some of them must be true. Is he in the habit of treating women as sex objects? It would seem so. But I look around and I say, 'What are our alternatives?' "

One frightening alternative, as many women's advocates see it, is to turn these policy matters wholly over to the Republicans and have them handled by the likes of Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich and Orrin Hatch. One woman described that possibility as a descent into the Dark Ages.

Women's advocates have decided, in some cases to their great discomfort, that the more important fight at the moment is about policy and not principle, about practical political matters and not the abuse of political power.

A similar view seems to be reflected in opinion polls. The percentage of women with a favorable overall view of Mr. Clinton remains high.

It is true that women have a great deal at stake politically. And the right wing, its Neanderthal agenda at the ready, is poised to lurch into any vacuum created by a wounded Bill Clinton. But Mr. Clinton is not the only politician who is progressive on women's issues. And women's advocates are likely to learn, probably sooner rather than later, that when it comes to matters of lifelong principle, you can keep your eyes averted only so long.

Thursday, January 29, 1998

2:08 PM:

Prager discussed the Barbara Faye Tucker case… The only valid question: How much did she help the prosecution of the other killer.

I am offended by the notion that if you come to God, or Christianity specifically, that you do not deserve the same sentence…

If she's such a good person, why not let her out? Why just plead for her to avoid capital punishment…

Caller: Bill Bennett, and George Will… and you help me think…

DP: I have not met George Will…one of the few people that I would love to have dinner with…and haven't… My family does know the Bennett family…

Caller: We'd love to have all of your families over for dinner…

The popularity of Hillary Clinton with many feminists..may account for some of Clinton's popularity… She plays the supportive wife…

I am outraged at what he did, and I am outraged at her… A right wing conspiracy? Please… Republicans could not get away with that.

DP then introduced David Courtney by giving a French pronounciation of his name.

2:20 PM

A call about Iraq…

Russians are having a hard time adjusting to third world status after 50 years of being one of the two great powers on earth. The foreign minister for Russia was a former ambassador to Iraq…and he helped negotiate pro-Iraq terms…

CALLER: Are the Russian people pro-Israel?

DP: They are so obsessed with getting by…that they do not care…

What we are doing now, negotiating with Iraq, does not work… We can't hope for a white flag from Saddam, but rather a threat to the stability of his regime. If the Republican Guard gets hit badly, that is a possibility.

Whereever we bomb, we are going to hit some civilians…

Caller related his attendance at a dinner party, where news was spread about a 19-year old single woman who was having a baby…

DP: There's nothing you could say at the time…Everyone would hate you… There is no shame anymore.

We shame cigarette smokers, but not those who bring children into the world without fathers, and raise them. I think such women should give the children up for adoption.

"You're having a kid without a dad? That is terrific..Beautiful."

Next caller: "You (DP) are my moral hero. You discuss ethics with us… you don't preach at us… When Republicans can discuss ethics like you do…. Without being stuffy, judgemental, other worldly…

DP: I believe that the best ideas have the worst salesman. And the worst ideas have the best salesmen. Communism and Nazism had great speakers… Good values are complex, and they are harder to support.

A liberal just has to believe in compassion. That is why there are one word put down of opponents: Greedy, homophobic, antiwoman…

There are few good salesmen in the Republican Party. I often cringe at conservative spokesmen… Last hour, someone called to say, 'the Democratcs care about people…' while the Democrats take people's money away from them. How do the Democrats get away with that? Known as pro-people and the party of compassion, when you take more of their cash, and force them to work more hours away from each other and their children. And you are considered the party of selfishness if you argue that people should be able to keep more of their money.

I sit here and don't blink. I lose my motor instincts.

It's called compassionate to have no ambivalence about abortion.

2:40

It's the larry and Den minute.. The moment you have been waiting for…

Larry: I had a serious conversation with my buddy… 'Everyone cheats, and he just wants to protect his wife… The human flesh is weak… Wouldn't you lie as well? Wink, wink, let's give him a pass… Leave him alone, cut him some slack…'

This is the administration obsessed with the children, we have to execute Joe Camel… Well, what do you tell kids about this president?

We cannot have America's number one legal officer lying under oath… [Clinton denying sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.]

DP: Larry you make a lot of sense. What time are you on?

Larry: "Around 3PM… I like to make them wait…"

DP: "Larry, how often do you wake up in a good mood?"

Larry: "About 95%"

DP: "I'm with you…"

Larry: "I don't remember you waking up with me…"

DP: "At 6'4, 250"…you'd think you'd notice…"

Woman: "National conference of black conservatives in San Francisco… Milton Friedman will speak… Pro-vouchers…"

DP: "The one in a phone booth…"

Larry: "Is Milton Friedman black? That was a lousy picture on his book…"

Caller: "The black people will help us usher in a golden age in this country…through vouchers…"

Larry: "Because blacks are getting screwed by our lousy public schools in the inner-city…"

DP: "The Democrats cannot withstand a black defection… If blacks become pro-vouchers, Democrats will become pro-vouchers…"

2:52 PM

CALLER: The ratings have never been so high…

DP: One of my longest crusades is to have people not watch TV news… Because they give what titillates, not what is important… Jerry Springer surpassing Oprah in the ratings… The titillating titillates… People say, "I can't stand the media's preoccupation with sex… And give me more of it."

CALLER: I want to ask the public to not watch…

GRANT: The more influence, the more responsibility…

DP: So why don't we investigate the personal life of the NY Times editor? It is more important for the NY Times to tell the truth, than for a senator… Most people listening could not name the editor of the NY Times…