Alan Dershowitz is on a crusade against Media Matters.
The liberal Harvard Law School professor has taken every opportunity to lambast the left-wing organization for the bile it spills against Israel and its supporters. He is also critical of the association the Democratic Party has with the group.
Dershowitz has written that the rhetoric used by Media Matters senior foreign policy fellow MJ Rosenberg is like the “virulent hate speech you’d expect to find on a neo-Nazi website.”
Despite this hostility towards America’s strongest ally in the Middle East, The Daily Caller has reported that the White House maintains close ties with the group, even including the organization on weekly strategy calls.
But Dershowitz says such a connection between Media Matters and Democratic leadership is unacceptable.
“The president should quickly dissociate himself and his administration from Rosenberg’s hate speech,” Dershowitz wrote in a recent op-ed in the New York Daily News. “And unless Media Matters fires Rosenberg, the president should also distance himself from Media Matters.”
But will Obama and Democratic leaders heed Dershowitz’s advice and distance themselves from the group?
It’s hard to say — since no Democratic leader seems to want to talk about it. (RELATED: More stories in the ‘Inside Media Matters’ series)
TheDC contacted the White House for comment on Dershowitz’s statement calling for the president to distance himself from Media Matters, but got no response.
TheDC also did not receive a response from the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid when it asked whether the number one ranking Senate Democrat finds Media Matters’ rhetoric on Israel acceptable and whether the Democratic Party should continue to maintain close ties with the group.
Reid attended a book party for Media Matters founder David Brock at the organization’s headquarters Tuesday night. He reportedly told attendees he would do what he could to promote Brock’s anti-Fox diatribe, “The Fox Effect,” because he thought it was nice to have an ally in a fight against the cable news channel.
The office of the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, also did not return TheDC’s request for comment.
Nor did the office of the third most powerful Senate Democrat, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who serves as vice chair of the Democratic Conference and chair of the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center.
The offices of other members of the Senate Democratic leadership — Washington Sen. Patty Murray, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich — also, shockingly, failed to respond to TheDC’s request for comment.
Democratic leadership in the House was little better. House Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office followed the trend by not responding to TheDC’s email requesting comment.
One faint glimmer of hope was the office of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. Maureen Beach, Hoyer’s press secretary, did initially reply to TheDC’s request, writing in an email that she would try to get a statement from the congressman. But, in the end, no statement was ever received by TheDC.
Not to be left out, the Democratic National Committee was also unresponsive to TheDC’s request for comment.
