NPR terminated its contract this evening with Juan Williams, who worked with them as a senior political analyst, after Williams appeared on Bill O’Reilly and spoke of a “Muslim dilemma:”
The move came after Mr. Williams, who is also a Fox News political analyst, appeared on the “The O’Reilly Factor” on Monday. On the show, the host, Bill O’Reilly, asked him to respond to the notion that the United States was facing a “Muslim dilemma.” Mr. O’Reilly said, “The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet.”
Mr. Williams said he concurred with Mr. O’Reilly.
He continued: “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”
Mr. Williams also made reference to the Pakistani immigrant who pleaded guilty this month to trying to plant a car bomb in Times Square. “He said the war with Muslims, America’s war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don’t think there’s any way to get away from these facts,” Mr. Williams said.
A taxpaying-funded organization fired someone over their free speech? No! Shocker!
NPR said in its statement that the remarks “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”
Who could forget NPR’s cute guide to all things teabag? NPR had no problem with this: NPR’s “Learn to Speak Teabag:”
NPR doesn’t have a problem with statements like this on its airwaves:
I stick very rigorously to the evidence. You had the Nazis unloaded coffins at night. We saw coffins being unloaded at night. They talked about enhanced interrogation, meaning torture. Karl Rove talked about enhanced interrogation, meaning torture. They said, you know, we’ve got to invade Czechoslovakia, because it’s a staging ground for terrorists. We said we had to invade Iraq, a country we’re not at war with, because they’re torturing their ethnic minorities, it’s a staging ground for terrorists, and they hate our freedoms. I don’t need to draw an analogy. The analogies are there.
Can we stop pretending that this is serious radio and pull their public funding already?
Sad. Just as we thought they were becoming real.
*UPDATE #1: Interesting study just out from FAIR on PBS:
In a special November issue of studies and analyses of PBS‘s major public affairs shows, FAIR’s magazine Extra! shows that “public television” features guestlists strongly dominated by white, male and elite sources, who are far more likely to represent corporations and war makers than environmentalists or peace advocates.s.
Can we stop force-funding television and radio now? If it’s not one of the enumerated powers of Article 1 Section 8, leave it alone.
UPDATE #2: CAIR calls on NPR to address Williams remarks.
UPDATE #3: More NPR “tolerance” courtesy Dan Riehl.
UPDATE #4: NPR producer fantasizes about Rush Limbaugh’s death.
UPDATE #5: NPR’s Nina Totenberg said in 1995, “because if there is retributive justice, he’ll [Jesse Helms] get AIDS from a transfusion. Or one of his grandchildren will get it.”
UPDATE #6: From the comments:
Are Juan Williams’ statements worse that Obama’s regarding his grandmother?
“My grandmother… is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, there’s a reaction in her that doesn’t go away and it comes out in the wrong way.”
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UPDATE #7: Curious the timing of NPR’s cash infusion from George Soros and Williams’ firing …
UPDATE #8: NPR’s Cokie Roberts on Glenn Beck: traitor