Juan Williams Commits the Ultimate Kinsleyesque Gaffe

Pajamas Media ^ | October 20, 2010 | Ed Driscoll

[Kaslin]

And thus, pays the ultimate price from NPR:

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.

Michelle Malkin writes:

Un-freaking-believable.

Cable news blogger Johnny Dollar red-flagged NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik’s Twitter feed, which announced tonight that liberal NPR analyst/Fox News contributor Juan Williams’ contract was terminated — over comments Williams made about Muslims on The O’Reilly Factor. He gave his honest opinion: “[W]hen 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.”

Guess who stirred up the pot to get Williams fired?

Think Progress and the Huffington Post:

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

That’s right. Government-funded NPR has apparently caved into left-wing attack dogs on the Internet.

Also in the lynch mob: CAIR, of course.

As I’ve said many times before: Political correctness is the handmaiden of terror.

Condolences to Juan Williams, whom I’ve debated –vigorously, but always with respect and cordiality — many times over the years.

As Michelle writes, “Hope this accelerates his journey on the ideological learning curve. And I hope he doesn’t back down.”

Very likely, the timing of Williams’ crimethink, hot on the heels of Bill O’Reilly’s similarly doubleplus ungood remarks last week, contributed to his dismissal. Odds are that Williams will simply now become employed full-time by Fox, where he has been a regular panelist for many years. Or, to combine a couple of riffs on Twitter tonight, perhaps he’ll move to Slate and/or the Washington Postto cover conservatives from the inside.

And once again, both Matt Welch’s comments regarding the legacy media and their fear of what Ace once dubbed America’s de facto state religion seem remarkably prescient.

(The Photoshop above references this infamous Time magazine cover from this past summer. Oh, and apropos of nothing, note in contrast the sort of material that’s perfectly acceptable to NPR.)

Update: Amongst her round-up of links focusing on Williams’ firing (including this post), Tammy Bruce adds:

Oh my gosh, look who just this week gave $1.8 million to…NPR? George Soros’ Millions Buying ‘Political Reporters’ for NPR

And golly gee, look who also just gave $1 million to Media Matters specifically to target Fox news and their hosts? Now George Soros Backs Media Matters; Beck Calls It a ‘Bounty’

Not bound by the same cortical-numbing strictures of PC as NPR, the Red Eye guys call it…comedy fodder.

Update (10/21/10, 8:15 AM PDT): Bernard Goldberg on “Juan Williams, NPR and the Death of Liberalism:”

So my fellow Fox News analyst Juan Williams just got fired for saying something supposedly controversial about Muslims. But make no mistake, Juan isn’t the only casualty today. So is American liberalism.

On “The O’Reilly Factor” on Monday night, Williams said, “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.”

And this is a fireable offense?

NPR issued a statement saying Williams’ comments “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

At the Corner, Kevin D. Williamson quips, “About ten other people had the same first thought: Man, good thing Jesse Jackson didn’t work for NPR.”

And Ed Morrissey has the entire segment, not just the pull quote excerpted in the above Think “Progress” video. Did NPR watch the whole segment before yanking Williams, or just the ransom-note-esque clip? Or is committing heresy inside the Church of Context no longer a mortal sin these days?

Update: From Kate of SDA: “NPR – where the ‘P’ stands for ‘Plantation.”‘ And Fausta Wertz adds, “Turns out the handwriting is also on Mara Liasson’s wall.” As somebody joked on Twitter last night, heckuva marketing strategy NPR has, attempting to get all of its journalists pulled from America’s top-rated cable channel.

But then, it doesn’t take much, the Professor writes: “Is that all it takes to get someone fired at NPR? 378 people with five minutes and an Internet connection? Point noted. . . .”

Update: “What Won’t Get You Fired From NPR: Wishing AIDS on your political enemies and their children,” as NPR stalwart Nina Totenberg did in 1995. Fortunately, she was referring to Jesse Helms, which in NPR-land, is a perfectly acceptable target.

Meanwhile, Matt Welch adds, “Williams’ firing is a clarifying moment in media mores:”

You can be Islamophobic, in the form of refusing to run the most innocuous imaginable political cartoons out of a broad-brush fear of Muslims, but you can’t admit it, even when the fear is expressed as a personal feeling and not a group description, winnowed down to the very specific and nightmare-exhuming act of riding on an airplane, and uttered in a context of otherwise repudiating collective guilt and overbroad fearmongering.

Or to paraphrase Fitzgerald, the test of a really first-rate network is the ability to hold two opposing thoughts in the minds of its journalists simultaneously, and still retain the ability to broadcast.

[GunningForTheBuddha]

Sometimes it’s fun to see Dems swing at the end of their own rope.

[TheDailyChange]

CONGRATULATION JUAN, now go work for a real American news team, FOX!

[unkus]

CONGRATULATION JUAN, now go work for a real American news team, FOX!

---

And emulate Bernie Goldberg!

[luvbach1]

...if I see people who are in Muslim garb...

I think he could just as well have said" "...people who look like Muslims." The result (his firing) would have been the same. The 9/11 terrorists did not wear "Muslim garb" so passengers, crew, and air marshals had better watch for those who look like Muslims for whatever reason.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Don’tcha just love it when leftists throw other leftists under the bus for being insufficiently PC? Just witness what happened to Joe Lieberman for sticking up for our Iraq war effort.

The undercarriage of that ol’ bus is lousy with the flesh and blood of insufficiently orthodox leftists.

[Red_Devil 232]

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller: "...this has nothing to do with Fox News or his particular views of Muslims. She is also sorry NPR did this while most public radio stations are in the middle of their fall pledge drives.

You have to love the timing of this! LOL

[Scanian]

If Juan cares to go that route, I’m sure he has some interesting stories to tell.

I don’t think he will, however—his liberalism is really dyed-in-the-wool and I can’t see him changing much.

That being said, I never found him nearly as detestable as most libs, such as the types found on MSNBC, for example.

[Kaslin]

Exactly. On the other hand how do Muslims look? The only way to recognize them is by their garments

[Mad_as_heck]

These liberal fools do not understand the disaster they are creating for themselves. People in this country are not going silently into the abyss on the Jihad issue. By marginalizing all reasonable objections to diminitude they empower extremism.

[unkus]

If Juan cares to go that route, I’m sure he has some interesting stories to tell.

I don’t think he will, however—his liberalism is really dyed-in-the-wool and I can’t see him changing much.

---

But he might figure it’s time he gets off the plantation and turns into a Bernie Goldberg. Maybe he realizes he has been used for evil purposes and is waking up. He knows how much blacks have been used and taken advantage of. Now he can speak his mind on that and a whole lot more.

[IamConservative]

There is a hidden gem here. What NPR “journalist” in their right mind is ever going to say anything on television again? If they do, it will be so nothing no producer will be interested.

I big step into obscurity for NPR - I hope.

[tob2]

This is so much bull funky! Can’t a person air their personal concerns without someone taking offence! Consider that Williams’ concern was about an issue of national security. I’d be as concerned as he is about who is on the same plane as I am and the motives of that/those people! I don’t think for one second that Juan Williams is a racist, just being realistic. IMHO the liberals got it all wrong - again.

[Jeff Chandler]

On the other hand how do Muslims look?

[Irenic]

This is what we’ve come to.

Cheerleader gets kicked from the team for not cheering her rapist (why was a convicted rapist allowed to play anyhow).

Juan tells the truth about how Muslims dressed in a way that shows they are Muslim 1st, makes him nervous when on a plane.

Can we even talk about TSA who dare not profile a Muslim but would pat-down a nun...

I suppose NPR doesn’t agree with Eric Holder, eh? Perhaps NPR is exactly the “cowards” Holder was speaking of.

Yes, I know Muslim isn’t a race, but the obvious display of dressing in ‘muslim garb’ and not assimilating with the American culture—IS “”voluntarily socially segregated”

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-18/politics/holder.race.relations_1_holder-affirmative-action-black-history-month?_s=PM:POLITICS

[Senator_Blutarski]

Juan Williams is guilty of being honest. I see two lessons here:

(1) Honesty and liberalism are incompatible.

(2) NPR is woefully inconsistent as regards whatever principles they claim to have.

[Terry Mross]

Isn’t it hillarious! She fired him then afterwards thought “Oh, boy. I forgot about the fund raising.” And she admitted that they’d been having money problems.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Kaslin.

Meanwhile, Matt Welch adds, "Williams' firing is a clarifying moment in media mores:

"You can be Islamophobic, in the form of refusing to run the most innocuous imaginable political cartoons out of a broad-brush fear of Muslims, but you can't admit it, even when the fear is expressed as a personal feeling and not a group description, winnowed down to the very specific and nightmare-exhuming act of riding on an airplane, and uttered in a context of otherwise repudiating collective guilt and overbroad fearmongering.

[SlightOfTongue]

Juan Williams has had an identity crisis ever since I ever laid eyes on him and heard his Fox panel verbal contributions and retorts.

Sometimes he looks conservative and makes sense at times and the next day he's licking liberal media boots.

IMHO, he never was the sharpest knife in any drawer.

[Publius6961]

On the other hand how do Muslims look? The only way to recognize them is by their garments

Not the only way, but unequivocal.
The nineteen 911-Mass Murderers certainly thought so.

They went to great lengths to "not look obviously muslim." They knew that it might have (justifiably) aborted their Mass Murder plan.