The American Spectator

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p> FATHER KNOWS BEST br> Re: jimi izrael's Bill Cosby's Show : /p> p>Jimi Izrael's article was fair enough with respect to Cosby, but there is one troubling aspect of it that is characteristic of so many liberal critiques of public statements critical of libertine aspects of our culture. That aspect - the litmus lest of whether there is 100 percent consistency between the message and the life of the messenger. If the messenger fails the test, pile on him and forget about whether there is any truth to the message. Maybe Cos isn't the best messenger for advocating that young black men take responsibility for their children, but maybe he got tired of waiting around for someone else to do it. He may have marginally hurt some people who look up to him, but what of those men who abandon their children -- the hurt they cause goes far deeper. But rarely is it censured. br> -- John Hatch /p>

Jimi Izrael's lame article on Bill Cosby was well below the normal standard for TAS. Mr. Cosby was a young enlisted medical Corpsman when I was a young enlisted Marine and we Marines love our Corpsmen. Thus I rise to his defense.

He was honest then and he is honest now. He has been saying exactly what he said the other day, perhaps in slightly more delicate words, since even before he got his doctorate in education from Tufts. In fact, as I understand it, his dismay at the lack of regard for education among young blacks was the reason he pursued his advanced degrees.

He has lived this theme by example and built his very successful career around the mission of bringing blacks fully into the halls of the academy, In both his modern era television series the importance of education was driven home with good humor and panache. The high point of the Cosby Show was Theo conquering his learning disability and going on to become a teacher himself. And his college series ranks in my top five all time series favorites. Set on the campus of mythical Hillman (Spellman?) College, the show again stressed Cosby's emphasis on education for black Americans.

p>It seemed at one time, that in every article I read about these shows, and even his Jello commercials, Mr. Cosby stressed the responsibility parents must assume for seeing that their kids were properly educated. There was nothing new in what he said. It was true. And as a former school board member in a lily-white Connecticut town, I will tell you that many white parents need to hear the same message. Lack of parental involvement in their kids' educations is the real problem in American education today, and Mr. Cosby should not be faulted for devoting his life to eradicating this problem. br> --

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