David Horowitz’s Rant Is Just One Big Joke

How revealing David Horowitz’s whiny tirade against Al Franken’s bestseller “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” is (Commentary, Sept. 15). Check any bookstore and you will find at least 10 mean-spirited right-wing “rant” books for every left-wing one. And most of these literary masterpieces do nothing more than repeat the same tired mantra that liberals are to blame for all the ills of the world and that Bill Clinton is their patron saint.

Horowitz also disparages Franken as just a “comedian” unqualified to be a serious author. What are the literary qualifications of a Sean Hannity or a Michael Savage? A loud mouth and some monetary backing is really all one needs these days to succeed in the political book business. It seems to take only a little dose of their own medicine to make right-wing pundits squeal.

Pete Skacan

Manhattan Beach

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Members of liberal arts faculties are not liberal activists who have secretly infiltrated our elite institutions. They are bright people who are paid to think and do objective research about humans and the way we organize and face the world. Rich Republicans cannot reach them. (Many are tenured.) What does it tell you when most of them decide they prefer the Democratic Party to the Republican?

Horowitz surveyed the party affiliations of only liberal arts faculties. He did not survey business school faculties at Harvard, Stanford and USC. My guess is that the faculty members at these schools are predominantly Republican, but then we won’t be able to find that out from Horowitz because he doesn’t really want us to know.

Jack Arnold

Irvine

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I am afraid you have been taken by “David Horowitz” and his commentary. Clearly it was written by Al Franken to further publicize his book. I find Franken very funny. Only he could elicit ironic laughs by proposing the impossibly stupefying notion that his bestselling book is too well researched for right-wing tastes. But seriously, I do think you should give equal space to someone on the right who has a legitimate beef about Franken’s book, perhaps someone who could refute any of the facts put forth by “team Franken’s” research.

Steven Lanzarotta

Culver City