January 2, 2014, - 2:24 pm
Buh-Bye, Bob Grant: Late NYC Talk Radio Host Attacked Me for Standing up to HAMASniks, Jew-Hatred
Bob Grant, who died December 31, is being called the “father of conservative talk radio.” I’m not so sure that he was the sperm donor to the genre (there were others before him), and if he was, that’s sad. I didn’t wish him ill. But as I learned the news, I couldn’t help but recall my one and only experience with Bob Grant, when I was a guest on his radio show, and I had to hang up on him after he shut off my microphone and attacked me as “cheap” because he couldn’t handle the truth about a famous conservative’s open support for HAMAS. Conservative or liberal, the facts–while stubborn things–weren’t as stubborn as he was in refusing to face them. . . at least in my experience. Perhaps he was getting too old and was out of it, but, in general, a leopard doesn’t change his spots, especially in his 80s.
In 2009, Grant was trying to make a comeback on New York radio, and he began with an online radio show. My former agent, a great guy, suggested I go on Grant’s show, as I believe he was also representing Grant. And I obliged. But Grant didn’t do his homework. The topic was the death of self-identified HAMASnik and conservative Bob Novak, a self-hating convert away from Judaism, who wrote that Jews and Israel were behind 9/11. Upon his death, Novak was repeatedly lamented by hypocritical, phony conservatives, including David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin Fraudkin, The American Spectator, Townhall, Newsbusters, Hot Air, etc., all of whom will rightfully jump on liberals and leftists for being anti-Israel and pro-Muslim, but not when it’s a conservative like Novak. (And Novak wasn’t all that conservative, truth be told.)
Bob Grant, had he bothered to read my website or even just the headline, would have known my views on Novak. But, instead, he put me on the show, and started gushing over Novak. I disagreed and started pointing out why Novak was a bad guy. Grant couldn’t handle these facts or refute them. He couldn’t admit he was wrong, or respectfully disagree and make a viable argument against my views on Novak. So, he played the wimp card–attacking me personally as “cheap,” telling me he was “soooo disappointed in me,” and then shut off the audio feed from my phone, so I couldn’t respond.
If that’s any indication of the kind of conservative talk radio host Bob Grant was in his heyday, he wasn’t much of one. Again, I don’t know if that’s how he always was, or if he was already experiencing dementia or Alzheimer’s (and I know many older people in their 80s who are very sharp–it’s just that Bob Grant wasn’t one of ’em). But it made him look bad and like a completely unprepared ignoramus. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote back on August 19, 2009, when it happened:
And finally, there is the incompetent, boring, octogenarian failed New York radio host with nine lives, Bob Grant. The guy is “only” 80 but he sounds like 180. And he doesn’t do his homework. This morning, I made the mistake of agreeing to be on his schlocky online radio show. Unfortunately, next month, this incompetent old fool will yet again have a radio show on Sundays on WABC. (I guess they needed to shore up that prized 80-95 demographic of hip, hot-roddin’ seniors.) It’s the second time I’ve done his show (and the last), and it’s clear he’s got many screws loose, that Alzheimer’s or dementia long ago set in with this guy. He’s one of the worst radio hosts I’ve ever heard. No, THE worst.
Without bothering to read my column on Novak (or do the tiniest bit of show prep ‘cuz that would actually make the show a tad interesting), he asked me about Novak’s death. I said the guy was a HAMAS supporter, Israel-hater, and anti-Semite. Grant didn’t care and said, “But he was a giant.” BFD. Who cares if an anti-Semite is a “giant”? That makes it right? Jimmy Carter is a “giant” in some liberals’ minds. And he says the same stuff Novak said.
When I talked about all of this stuff, Bob Grant said he wasn’t aware of Novak’s support for HAMAS or anti-Israel sentiment and didn’t believe me. Well, dude, I can’t be responsible for the fact that you’re 80 years old, don’t bother to read or do show prep on your guests, and are completely clueless and not all there. Since he couldn’t respond to any of the things I was saying, he first called me, “cheap”–yeah, Bob, insult the messenger, when you don’t have a clue how to respond to facts; that’s what’s really cheap.
Then, he said he was “disappointed” in me. I told him I was disappointed in him that he was not only completely uninformed but that he excused support for HAMAS and Israel-hatred that he’d pounce on if a liberal said it. Since he couldn’t respond to that he just said he just wanted to move on and repeated that he was soooo “disappointed” in me. Wimp. I said, no, I think we need to address this, and he wouldn’t, repeatedly calling me names instead. Then, he said there’s no point in having me on (because, hey, why have facts and information?). So, I hung up.
Yes, this is the guy–I just learned by googling, something he doesn’t have a clue how to do–who called Black people “savages” on his WABC radio show (and didn’t get fired for it). I can only imagine what he says about Jews when no one’s listening. And I won’t be doing his show again . . . ever. Assuming he’s still alive.
Bill P., the one listener, who has time to waste to listen to this–as we say in Yiddish–alta kaker [a very uncomplimentary way of saying he’s an old fool–literally means, “old sh-tter”], Bob Grant, left this comment:
Thanks again Debbie for not budging an inch with Bob Grant this morning!
Took him to the woodshed!
Calls himself a pro yet was completely unprepared.
And he sent this e-mail:
From: Bill P.
Date: Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 8:26 AM
Subject: The Bob Grant UBA Thing: EXCELLENT
To: writedebbie@gmail.comHello Debbie,
Way to go. Proud of you. You stunned Bob Grant!!
Thanks!
I was surprised by his lack of facts.Thanks Again, Debbie!!!
Bill P.
You and me both, Bill.
Not stunning, though, is the hypocrisy of the most prominent voices on the right–NRO, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Newsbusters, etc., who are really tolerant of Jew-hatred after all (despite their protestations to the contrary). The anti-Semite just has to be on “their side” of the aisle.
Yup, so that’s Bob Grant in his later days. And, as I say, if he was the same in his earlier days, let’s hope conservative talk radio has moved on.
Although, as I’ve pointed out on this site many times, in a plethora of ways it has not moved on. And that’s entirely the problem.
Buh-bye, Bob Grant. Rest In Peace.
Tags: Bob Grant, Bob Grant dead, conservative talk radio, radio, radio hosts, Talk Radio
Debbie, thanks for this piece, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh’s talk show about an hour ago, and Limbaugh gushed over Bob Grant’s legacy, etc., and not realizing that Grant used complete apologetics for Bob Novak, and I’ve read your articles on Bob Novak DS, and to be honest, Mr. Novak was not that good of a person but a horrible person.
I also pity Bob Grant for being very boorish with you Debbie of allegedly cutting off your microphone when you detailed and illustrated the truth about Novak on what he exactly stood for of being a conspiracy-theorist and a 9/11-Truther of NOT recognizing that Islamic-terrorists did the 9/11/01 attacks.
I’ll give out a link regarding “absurdity” on why Bob Grant did this crap to you DS on his talk show, absurdity: “An absurdity is a thing that’s extremely unreasonable, to be foolish or not taken seriously, or the state of being so. Absurd is an adjective used to describe an absurdity. The word derives from the Latin “absurdum” meaning “out of tune”, hence irrational.”!
“A nation is defined by its borders, language & culture!”
Sean R. on January 2, 2014 at 3:32 pm