PrintNovember 29, 2009
Why the ADL Became a Partisan Mouthpiece
The realization that political debate in a free society is often raucous accompanied my journey from work as an ACLU staff attorney to becoming National Vice-Chair of the then-respected Anti-Defamation League. This journey was inspired in significant part by "refuseniks" -- met during an ACLU "mission" to the USSR -- who were consigned to the Gulag because there was no First Amendment to protect them. You can thus understand the consternation, and not just mine, which greeted the ADL's hyped "Report" declaring that "rage" expressed against President Obama is un-American. These tidbits reveal the flavor of ADL's declaration: Since the election of Barack Obama, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the U.S. (creating) a climate of toxic rage (characterized by) shared belief that Obama poses a threat to the future of the U.S. (with) an intense strain of anti-government distrust and anger....(Read Full Article)
