David Barton never lets the facts get in the way of his promoting of right-wing view of history and political causes, no matter the issue. Today on his radio show WallBuilders Live with co-host Rick Green, the pseudo-historian claimed that under President Obama the Department of Justice stopped prosecuting cases of child pornography because the department has reduced its attention to obscenity. The de-emphasis on obscenity cases started well before the Obama Administration, as Religious Right groups even complained that the Bush Administration wasn’t prosecuting enough obscenity cases.
Barton told co-host Rick Green that the Justice Department has now “encouraged” licentiousness and that the department is turning a blind eye to people who “use underage kids on these movies.” But earlier this year the Associated Press reported that prosecutions for child pornography are rapidly increasing, and just since the beginning of this year the Justice Department announced convictions in at least 19 cases involving child pornography.
Barton: We’ve got laws against illegal pornography, and you can’t stop all pornography but even the liberals recognize that some pornography is over the top.
Green: I mean an easy one is child pornography.
Barton: Simple. And you’ve had this Administration in three years has not prosecuted a single what’s called ‘obscenity,’ which is hardcore pornography. Not a single case. Now what’s that tell all the pornographers and all the movie guys and all the internet guys what they can do?
Green: Do whatever you want now
Barton: Man, we can push the limits, we can get over the top, we can use underage kids on these movies, we can do snuff movies because they’re not prosecuting nothing. So what we got today is—
Green: They’ve basically given a license for licentiousness—
Barton: Exactly. They’ve encouraged it, and that’s what happened with the Justice Department.
