C-Span Covers Itself in Shame

There was an absolutely chilling moment on C-Span a couple of days ago when Michael Scheuer, the former leader of the CIA's failed Bin Laden unit, was answering questions from viewers. Here is a transcript of the conversation, courtesy of the Elder of Ziyyon blog:

John from Franklin: I for one am sick and tired of all these Jews coming on C-SPAN and other stations and pushing us to go to war against our Muslim friends. They're willing to spend the last drop of American blood and treasure to get their way in the world. They have way too much power in this country. People like Wolfowitz and Feith and the other neo-cons -- that jewed us into Iraq -- and now we're going to spend the next 60 years rehabilitating our soldiers -- I'm sick and tired of it.

C-SPAN host Bill Scanlan: John in Franklin, New York. Any comments?

Scheuer: Yeah. I think that American foreign policy is ultimately up to the American people. One of the big things we have not been able to discuss for the past 30 years is the Israelis. Whether we want to be involved in fighting Israel's wars in the future is something that Americans should be able to talk about. They may vote yes. They may want to see their kids killed in Iraq or Yemen or somewhere else to defend Israel. But the question is: we need to talk about it. Ultimately Israel is a country that is of no particular worth the United States.

Scanlan: You mean strategically?

Scheuer: Strategically. They have no resources we need. Their manpower is minimal. Their association with us is a negative for the United States. Now that's a fact. What you want to do about that fact is entirely different. But for anyone to stand up in the United States and say that support for Israel doesn't hurt us in the Muslim world is to just defy reality.

"Any comment?" This is what a C-Span host says in reaction to a grotesquely anti-Semitic question? Any comment. Words fail. Scheuer is a Jew-hating crank. I don't expect anything from him except invective. But C-Span? I'm calling Scanlan this morning to try to figure out what he was thinking. In the meantime, here's a link to the video. This gross moment occurs at about 15:00. Watch it for yourself.

UPDATE: Bill Scanlan, anchorman of a television network devoted to transparency, won't talk.