The Left's Tactics -- a Personal Example

[Valin]

Townhall:

Dennis Prager

Nov 04, 2014

 

Last week, I was a speaker and the emcee at a rally convened by the Republican Party and WLSS, the Sarasota station that carries my radio show. The other speakers were Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

 

I spoke for about 25 minutes, about two minutes of which drew national attention from the left. I spoke about "the divisions that the Democrats have engaged in making in this country." Then I said, word for word:

 

"On issue after issue, these are manufactured divisions: the black-white division, the male-female division, and the old-young division. These are all manufactured. There is no 'war on women.' It's absurd. It is just an absurdity. It is a lie. It's a gargantuan lie to get votes. It's as big a lie as 'culture of rape' on your campuses. What nonsense. There is a 'culture of rape' on campuses run by the feminist left? Why are you trying to sell me this nonsense?

 

"One in five women are sexually assaulted on campuses? You know what sexual assault means? Did you ever look at what counts? An 'unwanted kiss' is considered sexual assault. I'm stunned it's only one in five. Four out of five women have not gotten an unwanted kiss? My wife gets unwanted kisses every so often! [The latter remark was nothing more than self-deprecating humor. It was attacked as literal by many on the left, who read, but did not hear, the talk and who would have regarded it as charming humor if a man they liked had made the same quip.]

 

"They make light of rape because they redefine these terms. We don't make light of it. We think it's the worst thing possible short of murder. But they make light of it by trivializing it. 'Culture of rape'? No, I'll tell you what exists on the campus, and that is a rape of the culture."

 

These comments made headlines on just about every major and, presumably, minor left-wing website.

 

(Snip)