Sen. Lieberman Unfairly Attacked With Anti-Semitic Slurs

The anti-Semitic stuff directed at Joe Lieberman is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

As you may know, some radical left Americans have been vilifying Lieberman for his support of the Iraq war. The usual suspects on the Net have smeared the man. And now Lieberman's campaign is accusing radical bloggers of hacking into their Web site and damaging it.

But far worse are the anti-Semitic rants. This was posted on the far left Daily Kos Web site: "As everybody knows, Jews ONLY care about the welfare of other Jews. We might better ignore all that Jewish propaganda about participating in the civil rights movement."

And this was allowed on the Huffington blog: "Leiberman [sic] cannot escape the religious bond he represents. Hell, his wife's name is Haggadah or Muffeletta or Diaspora or something you eat at Passover."

Nice. But the media has generally ignored the far-left hatred directed towards the senator and his family. I wonder how Mel Gibson feels about that.

Writing today in The Wall Street Journal, former counsel to President Clinton, Lanny Davis says: "I came to believe that we liberals couldn't possibly be so intolerant and hateful, because our ideology was famous for ACLU-type commitments to free speech, dissent and, especially, tolerance for those who differed with us. Now in the closing days of the Lieberman primary campaign, I have reluctantly concluded that I was wrong."

Well, Lanny Davis has learned what Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen learned, what Hillary Clinton has experienced, and what those of us who see things clearly have known for years. The far left in America is dominated by haters, people who despise their own country and want to injure those with whom they disagree.

The smear merchants are now all over the mainstream media and have spread like lice on the Net. They are truly misguided and in some cases emotionally disturbed human beings.

So how do you combat them? Exposition is the best way. My upcoming book "Culture Warrior" does that. It documents who these people are and what they're doing behind the scenes.

Secondly, condemn their behavior as Lanny Davis did today. This isn't satire or a free speech exercise. This is speech meant to injure, to defame, to demean.

As I wrote in my newspaper column a few months ago, Joseph Lieberman is a good man. He's honest, loves his country and obeys his conscience. You may disagree with his politics, but he's a man of respect.

You can't say that for those who have smeared and slurred him. There's no place for their tactics in a country as great as America. And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

A few BillOReilly.com issues.

First, the result of our latest poll, sponsored by MSNDirect.com. We asked: "Should Israel negotiate with Hezbollah?" More than 50,000 of you voted. And astounding 96 percent say no. Just four percent say yes.

Also on BillOReilly.com, we posted information and order forms for my new book, "Culture Warrior", which comes out next week. And if you sign up for the free newsletter, you can try to figure out the "Factor Puzzler Mystery". We'll give you clues to the identity of a famous person. Lot of fun, not ridiculous. We hope you check it out, BillOReilly.com.