Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas
Born	John Calvin Thomas (1942-12-02) December 2, 1942[1] Washington, D.C., United States
Alma mater	American University
Occupation	Radio commentator, political commentator, author, columnist

John Calvin "Cal" Thomas^[2] (born December 2, 1942) is an American syndicated columnist, pundit, author and radio commentator. He is a columnist for USA Today where he writes articles with friend and political opposite Bob Beckel in the style of "point–counterpoint".

Life and career

Thomas was born in 1942 in Washington, D.C. He attended the American University for his undergraduate education. During the 1960s and early 1970s he worked as a reporter at NBC News. His program on CNBC was nominated for a CableACE Award in 1995.^[3] His column, which began in 1984, is syndicated by Tribune Media Services.^[4] Thomas joined Fox News as a political contributor in 1997. He was a panelist on Fox News Watch, a Fox News Channel program criticizing the media, and until September 2005 hosted After Hours with Cal Thomas on the same network. He also gives a daily radio commentary, which is heard on more than 300 stations.

Thomas has written extensively about political issues and he supports, among other things, many American positions related to Israel.

He has written 10 books, including Blinded By Might, that discussed, among other things, the role of the Moral Majority in American politics of the 1980s. Thomas was vice president of the Moral Majority from 1980 to 1985. Thomas is an evangelical Christian.

Views

Dutch government policy

In 2004, Cal Thomas was the target of a Google bomb attack, where the phrase "ignorant asshole" was linked to his website.^[5] This Googlebomb was triggered by a segment on his After Hours show regarding the Netherlands' policy on euthanasia. It soon became an attack on the Netherlands' drug policy, prostitution, and the nation's immigration policy. In a follow-up, Thomas rejoined "Thanks to our Dutch viewers for watching and for caring enough to write. Keep watching. Maybe you'll see some things you do like."

9/11 Truthers

In a 2014 Washington Post article, Thomas claims, "Iranian nuclear negotiators joined with Holocaust deniers, 9/11 truthers and anti-Semites from across the globe."^[6]

Barack Obama

In 2014, Thomas criticized the U.S. President Barack Obama for, "treating Israel as an enemy."^[6]

Islam

In his article "Mumbai Explained", published in the Chicago Tribune, Thomas writes that "no new [Mosques] should be built" in Western countries following the Mumbai terrorist attacks. He further claimed that Muslim immigration posed a danger to the UK and United States.^[7]

LGBT rights

After Bill Clinton became the first sitting United States president to address a gay rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign,^[8] Thomas published a column^[9] in November 1997 opposing homosexuality, in which he said:

God designed norms for behavior that are in our best interests. When we act outside those norms—such as for premarital sex, adultery, or homosexual sex—we cause physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to ourselves and to our wider culture. The unpleasant consequences of divorce and sexually transmitted diseases are not the result of intolerant bigots seeking to denigrate others. They are the result of violating God's standards, which were made for our benefit.

— Cal Thomas, Immutable Morals

Thomas published a similar column^[10] on October 16, 2009, after Barack Obama became the second sitting United States president to address the Human Rights Campaign.^[8] Thomas said:

We will get more of what we tolerate. Sexual behavior is an important cultural and moral issue. Mr. Obama won the election with just 52 percent of the popular vote and a margin of 7 percent over Sen. John McCain. This should not be seen as a mandate for him and his administration to make over America in a secular and liberal image. Neither should it be seen as an invitation to give blanket approval to homosexuality, considered by some to be against the best interests of the people who practice it as well as the nations that accept it.

— Cal Thomas, Don't Ask, Tell or Legitimize

Bibliography

• Thomas, Cal (2014). What works : commonsense solutions to the nation's problems. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 9780310339465. LCCN 2013041232. 
• 2008, "Mumbai Explained" Cal Thomas Chicago Tribune/Daily Yomiuri
• 2007, Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America with Bob Beckel (ISBN 978-0-06-123634-1)
• 2001, The Wit & Wisdom of Cal Thomas (ISBN 1-58660-299-3)
• 1999, Blinded by Might with Ed Dobson (ISBN 0-310-22650-3)
• 1994, The Things That Matter Most (ISBN 0-06-017083-2)
• 1988, The Death of Ethics in America (ISBN 0-8499-0638-5)

See also

• List of newspaper columnists

References

External links

• Cal Thomas Website
• Cal Thomas at Townhall.com
• Weekly USA Today Column Common Ground
• Cal Thomas at the Internet Movie Database Retrieved on 2008-01-17
• Booknotes interview with Thomas on The Things That Matter Most, 10 July 1994.