Dennis Prager is a conservative radio talk show host, a syndicated columnist with the Creators Syndicate, and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the Weekly Standard, among other venues. A vocal proponent of U.S. exceptionalism and the "culture war," Prager was an enthusiastic supporter of the invasion of Iraq and has supported an aggressive war on terror.
In his writings and on his Los Angeles-based radio show, Prager frequently extols the virtues of the Iraq War, champions hardline Israeli policies, and berates liberals. In an May 15, 2007 column, Prager argued that the only reason people think that Israel lost the summer 2006 war against Hezbollah and that the United States is losing in Iraq is because the liberal "news media have said so." He writes: "One lesson to be learned from these two wars is that victory as we have understood it in the past may not be possible when fighting terror organizations. There will never be an equivalent to the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in 1945. There is no way to completely stop suicide terror against 'soft' targets or to stop car bombs in public places. The only total victory over Islamic terrorists will have to come from within the Muslim world. There will have to be a theological and moral revulsion so great that no Muslim would dare risk hell and universal Islamic opprobrium by targeting innocents for murder. Unfortunately that day seems quite distant. In effect, then, America will have lost in Iraq when America decides it has lost. And then it becomes what is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy."
There is no question that Washington must stay in Iraq, according to Prager, even if invading was a mistake. " But even if the war was a major blunder and even if everything the Left charges—including 'Bush lied'—were true, none of these contentions has any bearing on the question of what should be done now," Prager writes in his column (May 1, 2007). "I f we leave Iraq: It will be a great victory for the most dangerous ideology on earth today."
Although not a participant in neoconservative-led advocacy campaigns like the Project for the New American Century, Prager consistently espouses views that buttress the neoconservative line on both foreign and domestic affairs. In a December 2003 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled "Ten Lessons from Saddam Hussein's Capture," Prager provided a pithy summary of neocon views. Among the supposed lessons: "A merica is the greatest force for good on the planet. America, with the support of Britain and some other countries, and against the rest of 'world opinion,' liberated Iraq from evil." "The positive effect on humanity of good vanquishing evil cannot be overstated. ... Many on the Left are ... not particularly happy [with Saddam's capture]. Saddam's capture is a victory for American force and for George W. Bush, and the Left hates both more than it hates Saddam. ... Most of the Left does not hate evil; hatred of evil is primarily found on the Right. ... For years leading up to 9/11, Islamists were respected for their increasing power and America was losing respect as it suffered blows at the hands of Islamic terror. Now America is seen as the powerful one, and is earning the respect once accorded Saddam and Osama. The importance of this cannot be overstated."
Prager created a national controversy in late 2006 when he argued in a column that Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to Congress, should not be allowed to be sworn in to office using the Koran instead of the Bible, which Prager argued "undermines American civilization" (November 28, 2006). He wrote that it would be "an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism—my culture trumps America's culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book. Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is."
Prager's column prompted outrage from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which argued that Prager should be removed from his position as a presidential appointee on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the Holocaust memorial in Washington, DC. "No one who holds such bigoted, intolerant, and divisive views should be in a policy-making position at a taxpayer-funded institution that seeks to educate Americans about the destructive impact hatred has had, and continues to have, on every society," the organization wrote in a letter to the memorial council (CAIR, December 4, 2006).
Perhaps in response, the memorial's executive council said that "while recognizing that Dennis Prager has the right to express his personal views freely, [the executive council] disassociates itself from Mr. Prager's statements as being antithetical to the mission of the Museum as an institution promoting tolerance and respect for all peoples regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity" (Jewish Journal, December 22, 2006).
Prager responded to the controversy by pointing the finger at leftist blogs and academics for skewing his words. Defending his comments, Prager wrote: "I am for no law to be passed to prevent Keith Ellison or anyone else from bringing any book he wants to his swearing-in, whether actual or ceremonial. But neither I nor tens of millions of other Americans will watch in silence as the Bible is replaced with another religious text for the first time since George Washington brought a Bible to his swearing-in. It is not I, but Keith Ellison, who has engaged in disuniting the country. He can still help reunite it by simply bringing both books to his ceremonial swearing-in. Had he originally announced that he would do that, I would have written a different column—filled with praise of him. And there would be a lot less cursing and anger in America" (Prager, December 5, 2006). As of summer 2007, Prager continues to serve on the Holocaust Memorial Council.
Like another high-profile right-wing figure, David Horowitz, Prager holds that the conservative voices on U.S. campuses are being stifled, writing that "i ntellectual life on conservative radio is far more diverse than intellectual life at most American universities" (Prager, December 5, 2006).
Prager is affiliated with Benador Associates, a promotions agency whose list of experts includes a long lineup of rightist and neoconservative writers like Michael Ledeen, Charles Krauthammer, Richard Pipes, James Woolsey, and Meyrav Wurmser. He is also a featured columnist on TownHall.com. According to his biography on Benador's website, "Mr. Prager was a Fellow at Columbia University's School of International Affairs, where he did graduate work at the Middle East and Russian Institutes. He has taught Russian and Jewish history at Brooklyn College; and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Delegation to the Vienna Review Conference on the Helsinki Accords."
Prager's books include Think a Second Time (1996) and Happiness Is a Serious Problem (1998).
