Glenn Beck went on his radio show this morning screaming about how George Soros has a million-dollar bounty on his head and how Soros and his "jack-booted thugs" at NPR have already claimed Juan Williams' head, and how they are coming for Beck and all of his listeners next.
Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee is calling on Republicans in Congress to slash NPR's funding.
"NPR has discredited itself as a forum for free speech and a protection of the First Amendment rights of all and has solidified itself as the purveyor of politically correct pabulum and protector of views that lean left," Huckabee said in a statement provided to CNN.
Williams told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Monday that he gets "worried" and "nervous" on flights when he sees people wearing "Muslim garb." NPR terminated Williams' contract on Wednesday evening.
Huckabee said he "will no longer accept interview requests from NPR as long as they are going to practice a form of censorship, and since NPR is funded with public funds, it is a form of censorship."
"It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR," he said.
Guess what's coming with a Republican Congress? Hope you enjoyed All Things Considered. Past tense. but remember, it's conservatives who are the victims. Meanwhile, count on Republican calls to pull the plug permanently on NPR.
They're only defending free speech, you know. Besides, it gets rid of radio competitors for Beck and Huckabee. These guys aren't stupid. No NPR means they get more message time.
In the future, all restaurants are Taco Bell, dig? But hey, I hope they go too far. Take away America's Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion. Then duck.
Seriously, folks. Williams did this to himself. As Bon The Geek told me earlier today when we were discussing this, "One does not hash out one's insecurity with a mic attached to the GLOBE."
Over at Balloon Juice, E.D. Kain makes the argument that Williams should have kept his job, and that if Williams was a white commenter, he would have. His argument does have a pretty substantial amount of merit and is worth a read.
[UPDATE] Eric Boehlert reminds us that the Dubya-era GOP tried to rid us of NPR and PBS back in 2005 because of their "liberal slant" only they couldn't find one.
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9 comments:
Of course you all knew this was coming. I wrote earlier to say Williams wasn't in the wrong to express his feelings. I still stand by that, but then it's also naive to believe that this comment wouldn't be used as fodder for all sides. We discuss our fears and secret worries with friends, over a beer or a piece of pie, not in a forum guaranteed to blow it out of proportion.
NPR has a solid reputation to maintain. I do think they dropped the ball on this. At best, they got the right answer for the wrong reason. Their clumsy response will earn some criticism. The smart thing to do is own it and move on, for both Williams and NPR.
In a nutshell: freedom of speech trumps political correctness every time. Choose what you say and when, and let context guide your choice of words. Pretending to stand for First Amendment rights while attacking the press is taking stupidity to exciting new levels.
Let the screeching begin.
I can understand the argument that NPR overreacted. But if that's true, then so has the Associated Press for retiring Helen Thomas, and so has CNN for firing Rick Sanchez and Octavia Nasr.
It doesn't make Williams being fired correct, but it does make it consistent.
Having said that, the larger issue here is a journalistic assault on people for having opinions that some don't agree with.
That's not a firing offense. I will hedge by saying Williams in his statements basically attempted to justify discrimination versus Muslims. That is a much larger violation.
Having said that, other journalists have gotten away with much worse, and Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh cross that big, thick line every day and suffer no penalties.
Finally, as if this wasn't complex enough, there is the issue of Williams being one of the few African-American journalists out there with a national audience. The same goes for the Lebanese Thomas and Nasr and Latino Sanchez, and you have to wonder if this is a larger problem with journalists of color and one hell of a double standard.
The big story is that Fox is once again liberal-bashing (or so they think) and that people continue to believe Fox is an objective news outlet. NPR could have handled the situation better, perhaps, but sometimes it's better to just get it over with when you have decided to fire someone. There have been problems with Williams and NPR in the past, specifically due to his public statements, especially on Fox. NPR will survive. Only a few percent of their budget comes from the Feds. Some of the smaller outlets will be hurt, maybe, but NPR is the national treasure, not their affiliates. Ironically, NPR is perceived as liberal, but in my opinion they are on of the most balanced news outlets that exists. But being moderate/balanced/objective is not the new liberal.
My comment above is supposed to say that being moderate/balanced/objective is NOW the new liberal. Sorry.
Bon:
The smart thing to do is own it and move on, for both Williams and NPR.
The smart thing to do is to have the federal government sell NPR and PBS to private firms and have them compete in the market, with new call letters of course. Then our tax dollars won't have to fund this dreck anymore. Either that or defund and dump them.
Zandar:
But if that's true, then so has the Associated Press for retiring Helen Thomas, and so has CNN for firing Rick Sanchez and Octavia Nasr.
First, the AP and CNN are private outfits; our tax dollars aren't involved.
Second, this is the government that fired Williams. These are the people who are supposed to be in charge of upholding the First Amendment, and yet NPR fired Williams for not being politically correct.
Third, are you kidding? There is no "moral equivalence" between what Williams said and the virulent anti-Semitism of the other three. The obvious question is how can the AP and CNN employ or keep employed such racists in the first place. Except to a liberal who would believe this:
I will hedge by saying Williams in his statements basically attempted to justify discrimination versus Muslims. That is a much larger violation.
Williams didn't do that at all. All the quoted statement above shows is an attempt to take Williams politically incorrect statements and attempt to ridiculously attach some hideous "slippery slope" straw man to it.
Williams was fired because he is a conservative. That's what liberal outfits like NPR mean by "free speech". Disagree and you're gone.
Any other explanation is a lie.
Eric Boehlert reminds us that the Dubya-era GOP tried to rid us of NPR and PBS back in 2005 because of their "liberal slant" only they couldn't find one.
You're quoting Eric Boehlert? You mean the Soros-bought whore (Soros decided to fund them directly this time instead of using his usual money laundering schemes to get Media Matters their money) who is acting like Orwell's "Big Brother" to get Mara Liasson fired from NPR? That Eric Boehlert?
"The smart thing to do is to have the federal government sell NPR and PBS to private firms"
That is very smart indeed. The government could raise lots of money if it went around selling things it doesn't even own.
Tomorrow, the goverment is going to sell SteveAR's house to the highest bidder.
But then the big banks would get pissy about the government getting in on their racket.
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