Bites

Garrison Keillor Looks Like a Fart


by Jason Diamond 3 Comments

By Jason Diamond

And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write ‘Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah’? No, we didn’t. Christmas is a Christian holiday—if you’re not in the club, then buzz off.

-Garrison Keillor quote via Tablet.

Until I read Sarah Vowell’s Radio On: A Listener’s Diary, I worried that I was the only one that harbored a deep dislike for A Prairie Home Companion creator and host, Garrison Keillor. Until I read his comments about Jewish songwriters and Christmas songs, I thought that Ms. Vowell and myself were simply irrational people, and that maybe Keillor isn’t such a bad guy.

Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic is on our team now also.

3 comments

  1. Keillor is neither antisemitic nor homophobic. He simply asks people who see no meaning or importance in the celebration of Christmas to show a little respect for those who do.

    That can’t be so difficult to understand ,can it?

  2. @Mike Krevitskie — “simply asks people who see no meaning or importance in the celebration of Christmas to show a little respect for those who do,” is a very generous characterization of Keillor calling out Jewish composers’ work as “trash” when plenty of composers of every faith and race have written trashy commercial holiday songs.

    Paul McCartney’s “Ding dong ding dong ding dong” Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time isn’t exactly spiritual. And Christian rockers are even worse at exploiting the holy day and being emotionally manipulative for commercial purposes. See: Newsong’s 1990s song “Christmas Shoes.” Then puke.

    Some Jewish composers like Irving Berlin (White Christmas) and Frank Loesser (Baby It’s Cold Outside) were endorsed by musical geniuses from Sinatra to Coltrane, and I’d trust those Christians over Keillor any day when it comes to having real soul and Christian faith.