Cunningham alleged that "Obama wants to gas the Jews"

Summary: On his Cincinnati-based radio show, Bill Cunningham asked a fictional Jewish character voiced by a fellow WLW-AM host: "Did you hear about this Khalidi tape where Obama is toasting a guy who wants to gas and fry Jews? ... This Obama guy loves the PLO. Can't you figure that out?" Cunningham later added, "Jews for [Sen. John] McCain because Obama wants to gas the Jews, like the PLO wants to gas the Jews, like the Nazis gassed the Jews."

During the October 30 broadcast of his Cincinnati-based radio show, Bill Cunningham asked "Randy Furman," a fictional Jewish character voiced by fellow WLW-AM host Scott Sloan: "Did you hear about this [Columbia University professor of Middle East studies Rashid] Khalidi tape where [Sen. Barack] Obama is toasting a guy who wants to gas and fry Jews? ... This Obama guy loves the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization]. Can't you figure that out?" Cunningham later added, "Jews for [Sen. John] McCain because Obama wants to gas the Jews, like the PLO wants to gas the Jews, like the Nazis gassed the Jews. You got Obama introducing Arab terrorists, and the L.A. Times won't release the story."

Echoing McCain's reported October 29 statement that "if there was a tape of John McCain in a neo-Nazi outfit ... I think the treatment of the issue would be slightly different," Cunningham stated earlier in the show: "I guess the L.A. Times still has that tape on Khalidi, and they don't release it because it's injurious to the interest of Obama. Can you imagine if the media had a tape of maybe John McCain at a Ku Klux Klan rally or at an abortion-clinic benefit and he's standing there toasting the guy who bombed the abortion clinic, and the L.A. Times wouldn't release it?"

The New York Times profiled Khalidi in an October 30 article. The profile quoted Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, who "said he has known Mr. Khalidi for years," stating of Khalidi: "In no way has he ever indicated that he favors the destruction or disappearance of Israel. ... He has always been consistently in favor of dialogue and common ground." The article also reported that Khalidi "has denied working for" the PLO.

As Media Matters for America has documented, numerous conservative media figures have compared Obama to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis in recent days.

From the October 30 broadcast of The Big Show with Bill Cunningham:

CUNNINGHAM: And I guess the L.A. Times still has that tape on Khalidi, and they don't release it because it's injurious to the interest of Obama. Can you imagine if the media had a tape of maybe John McCain at a Ku Klux Klan rally or at an abortion-clinic benefit and he's standing there toasting the guy who bombed the abortion clinic, and the L.A. Times wouldn't release it? What would the media do?

[...]

CUNNINGHAM: Randy Furman, how are you?

SLOAN: Why do you gotta drag me into your GOP mess? Listen, it's people like you that screwed up the Grand Old Party, OK? You racist morons, you. Because this is the year that Obama's -- you do it just to twist the knife in my stomach don't you? You just a -- you like to twist the knife, and then pull it out, don't you?

CUNNINGHAM: Did you hear about this Khalidi tape where Obama is toasting a guy --

SEG DENNISON (WLW host): What?

CUNNINGHAM: -- who wants to gas and fry Jews? Don't you understand? You're into self-loathing. You and your brother are meshugana. This Obama guy loves the PLO. Can't you figure that out?

SLOAN: You just don't [unintelligible] -- you just don't like one-half-percent black people, that's your problem.

CUNNINGHAM: One-half-percent black people.

DENNISON: What the?

[...]

CUNNINGHAM: Well, Randy, we gotta go, but get back on the bus.

DENNISON: Maybe your brother will call.

CUNNINGHAM: Jews for McCain --

AUDIO CLIP: You are atrocious.

CUNNINGHAM: -- because Obama wants to gas the Jews, like the PLO wants to gas the Jews, like the Nazis gassed the Jews. You got Obama introducing Arab terrorists, and the L.A. Times won't release the story. It is time for the Furman brothers to stand with McCain-Palin. Pay --

SLOAN: The only gas that I care about is running his mouth right now on 700 WLW. That's the only gas I'm hearing.

CUNNINGHAM: I think he's talking about you, Seg.

AUDIO CLIP: Jeepers, I sure hope I don't get a gas attack.

CUNNINGHAM: He's talking about you.

DENNISON: I haven't said anything. It's you.

CUNNINGHAM: It's you.

DENNISON: It's you.

CUNNINGHAM: You're the one with the gas attacks.

DENNISON: Who's talking now?

CUNNINGHAM: You.

AUDIO CLIP: Hello, sucker.

SLOAN: We need an America that represents everybody, not just the white majo-- just not the white minority in this country.

CUNNINGHAM: The white minority now. We've lost already, haven't we?

DENNISON: Wow.

AUDIO CLIP: Hey.

CUNNINGHAM: Thank you very much.

SLOAN: It's over. It's over. It's over. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

AUDIO CLIP: This season is over.

—J.K.F.