Wayne Allyn Root
Saturday, April 5, 2003

My name is Wayne Allyn Root. I am not your typical conservative Republican – actually, my credentials sound quite liberal. I am a Jewish New Yorker and an Ivy League graduate (from Columbia University, one of America's most liberal institutions of higher learning). I am an author, TV host and CEO of a public company.

I have spent the last 15 years on television – as anchorman, host, expert guest, network NFL analyst and star of sports programming on major American TV networks. Some of those shows were network-owned, some were infomercials owned by me or my public company.

Because of this career amongst the media, I've gotten to know and understand the media and their agenda more than most. And the picture is NOT pretty.

I've also been witness to two shocking acts that literally define America's liberal media – a media so radical, so extreme, with an agenda so out of the mainstream and a prejudice against conservative Republicans so strong and so vicious that it borders on outright hate and loathing.

These two acts were so revolting that I kept them to myself (and my close circle of friends) for over two decades. But now that I see the game being played by that same liberal media – out to humiliate and destroy my president at a time of war – I feel the stories must be publicly told.

The first act I witnessed was so despicable that I could not believe it to be true. But it certainly debunks the myth that liberals are compassionate do-gooders out to save the world – somehow better, nicer, fairer to those less fortunate. In reality they possess a hate so strong toward those with opposing viewpoints that it evokes memories of McCarthyism.

The roots of that hate and moral superiority can be summed up in one event I witnessed back in 1981. I was then a college student, a sophomore at Columbia University majoring in political science. My teachers were radical leftists – bordering on socialists. My fellow students were almost to a man extreme liberals.

I was sickened by the political views I heard day and night – views so left-wing they would make Mario Cuomo and George McGovern cringe. These were people who hated America and everything it stood for.

As a student at one of America's finest academic institutions, I was subjected to a nonstop verbal attack on America, its values and even the very idea of God! This was the definition of "education" and "higher learning" at Ivy League institutions (and still is).

But I was naive – a nice butcher's son from a small blue-collar town on the Bronx borderline, I had never met people like this before. I actually laughed and shook my head at their radical, anti-American beliefs.

I actually thought they were misguided but well-meaning people and that none of this was "personal." I wouldn't hold a person's political beliefs against them – surely they felt the same way. I was very wrong.

What I learned at Columbia was that liberals feel morally superior to others. They are on a mission to save the world from prejudice, patriotism, racism, greed, intolerance and inequality. The success America has achieved is a sign of everything these radicals despise – worse, it is living, breathing proof that everything they believe in is wrong.

And so they resent this country, anyone who has achieved success through American values and/or capitalism, and anyone who disagrees with their "morally superior" point of view. Anyone not on board with the same agenda is labeled ignorant, racist, intolerant, greedy, close-minded or dangerous. We as conservatives are "the enemy." I learned that politics is ALWAYS personal to radical liberals – like those teaching and being educated at Columbia University.

Watching Bill Maher's show "Real Time" on HBO the other night, I was reminded that nothing has changed. Radical Hollywood liberal Janeane Garofalo attacked America, the war effort, George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, and Southerners – on multiple occasions labeling all of them as "ignorant" – to wild applause from the left-wing Hollywood audience.

Her verbal attacks were never questioned or countered by guests or liberal host Bill Maher. (In the interests of disclosure I must admit that I was a frequent guest on Maher's old show “Politically Incorrect” on ABC.) But let's be honest – who in Hollywood would have the audacity to question a vicious attack against either conservatives or Southerners?

After all, if conservatives don't agree with liberals, it's just fact that our disagreement must be based on "ignorance." What else could possibly explain the fact that our opinion is different?

In the new McCarthy era in Hollywood, there can be no dissent. There is only one truth. Any other viewpoint is just repugnant and out of the "mainstream" (once again, only liberals' definition of "mainstream" is relevant).

One need only look at last week's Academy Awards to understand that sad truth – yes, Michael Moore was booed for his anti-American diatribe. But look who did the booing – only guests in the balcony and stagehands behind the curtain. Moore himself pointed that out on "Real Time."

Hollywood's biggest stars sat frozen in their seats – shocked at the booing and silent to protect their box office appeal. (It was obvious that their agents and managers had warned them before the show that any anti-war views would hurt their gross receipts at the box office.)

But the fact that no other celebrities attacked America viciously and openly is not a sign of Hollywood's moderation, support for the war or diversity of opinion. One need only realize that not one single celebrity thought to thank the troops – not one.

Not one celebrity pointed out that our soldiers were in a faraway land, risking their lives to protect the free speech of war protesters.

Not one celeb was willing to say a prayer for our POWs – even though one celeb had no problem offering a prayer to Allah.

Not one celebrity thought to wear an America flag pin – not one! Only peace pins were worn.

Several celebs either made a quick mention of the importance of free speech (when it serves them, it's precious!) and protest, others asked for prayer and blessings for the Iraqi people, Susan Sarandon flashed a peace sign. But not one thought it politically correct to wish our troops well or to pray for victory.

Not one celeb thought it safe to even mention a prayer for our president. Should anyone be surprised? After all, just the idea of God or prayer itself is taboo in the liberal Hollywood community!

Yes, it should now be obvious for all the world to see that McCarthyism is alive and well in Hollywood – it was clear that night that to dare to support the GOP, support the president, or show actual support for the war would result in damage to your Hollywood career.

I now realize that those are the same intolerant liberals I attended Columbia University with.

But that was mild compared to the event that truly defined my four years at Columbia University. Back in 1981, I was sitting in a political science class taught by extreme leftist professor Esther Fuchs – in a large theater-style classroom seating 100 or more students.

Suddenly our lecture was interrupted by a door swinging open violently – whereupon a breathless fellow student raced into our room screaming: "The president has been shot! They've just assassinated Reagan!"

It hit me like a ton of bricks – I instantly felt sick to my stomach and tears flowed down my cheeks. But it was the response of the rest of the class that I will remember for the rest of my life. They cheered! They clapped, they yelled and whooped in sheer unadulterated joy.

My fellow classmates (the ones I was naively trying so hard to befriend despite their radical views) were HAPPY that my hero President Ronald Reagan might be dead! They were celebrating an assassination attempt on America's president. Simply because he had the audacity to be a Republican. That's how deep liberals’ hatred goes.

That's the dirty little secret the liberals don't want you to know. That despite the fact that they claim to be "compassionate," that they claim to love others less fortunate, that they abhor hate and prejudice, that they protest against any war as inhumane and unjustified – despite all this compassion and goodness, this same liberal elite hates, with a deep, unbridled prejudice, anyone ignorant enough to disagree with their definition of what is "right."

To liberals, that form of hate, that form of prejudice, that form of intolerance toward others with different views is acceptable. It's justified to hate conservatives, to hate Republicans, to hate those who support war, to hate those greedy individuals who actually have the audacity to want to lower taxes (God forbid anyone should think taxes are actually OUR money – how ignorant and selfish!), to hate those so ignorant that they would support the death penalty, or to hate Charlton Heston because he has the gall to want to own a gun.

To liberals, that kind of hate, prejudice and intolerance is justified. Heck, it's encouraged! To want to see "those kind" of people dead is okay – after all, it would make the world a better place!

To liberals, to root for the death of a conservative Republican president is morally right – it's actually "compassionate" because the death of a Reagan (or even worse, George Bush) would make the world a better place, safe from prejudice, racism, inequality, intolerance, corporate greed and pollution.

That day at Columbia University, over 20 years ago, I got physically sick. I ran out of class, the CHEERS of my classmates at the possible death of Ronald Reagan reverberating in the halls behind me. I ran into the bathroom, got on my knees and vomited. I cried and shook violently for what seemed like an eternity.

And I felt sick for America, for the people I had just watched cheer and celebrate the shooting of our president were undoubtedly the future leaders of America. Unfortunately, I was right – 20 years later, as I read my “Columbia College Today” alumni magazine and see updates on the career success of my classmates, I see the names of future Supreme Court justices, of close advisers to presidents (George Stephanopoulos was a classmate), of the best and brightest legal minds in the country (any wonder that lawyers seem to be at the root of most problems in our society?), and mostly what I see are journalists and media executives.

That's right, Columbia's best and brightest often wind up in the media. These are the reporters, anchors, journalists and producers who influence the news we watch and read every day.

The same kind of human beings who protest against a war with Saddam Hussein because innocent civilians will be killed (conveniently ignoring the fact that hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have already been killed, gassed and tortured by Saddam Hussein for the past 20 years); who join PETA protests and splatter paint on expensive personal property to protest the "murder" of animals – those same compassionate, Ivy League-educated elites cheer for the death of Republican presidents.

I learned over my four years at Columbia that to a liberal, a Republican doesn't have the same value as a terrorist, a poverty-stricken Iraqi peasant or a dead animal turned into a fur coat.

Today, I have no doubt that if George Bush (God forbid) were assassinated, glasses would be raised in toast to his death or demise by many of America's media elite. No, they would not dare cheer out loud – my classmates are now 40 years old, not enthusiastic kids anymore. But they would applaud and celebrate quietly and with "dignity."

Their children, on the other hand – now attending Columbia or Harvard or Princeton – would undoubtedly cheer and whoop loudly and emotionally at the death of an "ignorant" and intolerant opponent. The death of a spotted owl, a rat, a fox or, worst of all, an Iraqi or Palestinian terrorist – those are to be mourned by liberals. But the death of a conservative Republican is a reason for celebration.

So much for the unbiased press. So much for the compassion of liberals. Now, my fellow readers, you have some insight into the true mindset and agenda of America's liberal media. You understand them they way that I do – an insider with a front-row seat for two decades.

And I ask you a simple question: Do you now feel it's possible for a conservative Republican to ever get a fair shake from people who hold the views espoused above? I've known the truth about liberals all these years – now you do too.

It's the reason that every time I watch CNN or Dan Rather (among others) I feel a need to take a shower. But it never helps – nothing can scrub away the echoes of those cheers 20 years ago in that classroom at Columbia University. That was the day I learned the real truth about liberals.

Read Part II.

Wayne Allyn Root is a Nevada Republican activist, author and TV personality. E-mail Mr. Root at ROOTINTL@aol.com

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