Juan "'You're exactly right,' Bill" Williams has been fired from NPR. Fox News snapped him up full-time and can no longer claim that he's their "resident liberal." He never was; he played one on FNS while giving lip service to objective analysis on public radio.
His nominal job at NPR was the only respectable thing left on the once-respectable news resumé he built on years of radio. Now he can be just another Fox News hack giving Billo and Hannity soft-balls to hit out of the park. Nevermore will we suffer his mealy-mouthed "objectivity" on Sunday mornings on Weekend Edition. We're happy about that.
He joins Fox News' stable of five or six actual black people on the "you decide" network.
He got axed around one of his groomings of Billo Reilly and his low-info audience:
"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot ... But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous," Williams said.
Here's a pretty good reason why an objective journalist shouldn't feed the monsters that feed off Fox News and right-wing talk radio.
Remember when the Analyst Williams described Michelle Obama as being like "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress."
This latest incident is one of many that has pissed-off many longtime NPR listeners who once believed in Williams' credibility, first as a reporter, then as an analyst. Williams wasn't paid as a commentator but frequently strayed into commentatin' in the well-paid confines of Fox.
We hope Mara Liasson reconsiders what her contract with the Murdoch right-wing tabloid empire does to her credibility everywhere else.
Eric Boelert of Media Matters writes:
"I'm not suggesting Liasson has said anything as offensive as Williams, or that she has that kind of track record while appearing on Fox," Boehlert writes.. " I'm just saying that if you look at NPR's code of ethics, there's simply no way Liasson should be making appearances on Fox."
I will always remember the day Williams, as host of "Talk of the Nation" (then broadcast on KUOW), spent an hour lobbying softball questions to a couple of think tank academics contending that not only was American empire a good thing, but that our subjects were eternally grateful for it.
Date: Sept. 10, 2001. Look it up.
Posted by: Pete | October 21, 2010 at 08:12 PM
I guess that I was wrong Bla'M. Williams has strayed and thus, is nothing more than another Uncle Tom.
Them fucking coloreds must tow the progressive line. Idiotic of him to believe that he could have his own independent thought.
Now that George Soros has put $1,800,000.00 in to NPR, you can expect the reigns to be tightened up on any other dumb fucks that stray from the progressive reservation. NPR and Uncle George have put the fear of God (aka Soros) in all of their hearts.
Posted by: Chucks | October 21, 2010 at 08:38 PM
No one has called him an Uncle Tom. We don’t understand his appreciation for Faux news in light of this story. I suspect you are projecting again Chuck S.
Posted by: BlackRhino a sincere request to KS | October 21, 2010 at 08:47 PM
I make a sincere request that BR divulge all of his multiple screenames.
It appears that George Soros had a hand in the dismissal of Juan Williams, who is one of the most objective people in the media. Why do I say this ? Because Soros just contributed $1M to Media Mtters and Moveon.org and his other bloggers to bring down Fox News and Glenn Beck. Williams works part time for Fox - connect the dots. NPR's loss.
Posted by: KS | October 21, 2010 at 08:57 PM
KS,
MotorCity Man, Shabby cat, uhh I can’t think of the rest. I finally thought of one I liked, so sue me. Tell me, why are you so beguiled by the other posters that you claim are me?
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 21, 2010 at 09:08 PM
You came out of the closet, BR - kudos, but there also smells like a connection with Tres Assholes and maybe also rozkat.
Posted by: KS | October 21, 2010 at 09:23 PM
Hell, I don’t really care who I sound like. Why do you care? By the way, you are an original.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 21, 2010 at 09:27 PM
Why get defensive ? It's a slow blog day, BR - for instance if Joanie was here, the topic would have had a very short shelf life.
Too bad for Juan, but he'll do OK.
Posted by: KS | October 21, 2010 at 10:13 PM
Gotta tell you, KS, BR is a one and only... Apparently a newcomer and a welcome one at that. Now that we've got that straight, could we all just get back to tearing each others assholes out based on the issues?
Posted by: blathering michael | October 21, 2010 at 10:18 PM
Not defensive, just asking a question. And I realize you won’t answer. I’m starting to realize you republicans don’t answer the hard questions. Putz, chuck S and you go mute when a good question is asked.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 21, 2010 at 10:21 PM
Yeah I hear ya KS, he can always sell Herbalife or Amway, lots of useful tools in the GOP fall into that scam
Posted by: Totally Stupid Conservative | October 21, 2010 at 10:23 PM
Hood, that made me laugh like a wounded jabberwocky.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 21, 2010 at 10:27 PM
As a black man I’m ok with Jaun’s political stance. What I don’t understand is the republican’s reaction to his employer’s position. After all if he said Beck was a fear monger I’d expect him to be fired from Faux.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 21, 2010 at 10:51 PM
Well this blog has just turned into just another boring Fox News Bashing blog. Can you at least put some effort into the story? I used to love reading this for local news on local media. Just turn off your Fox News if you hate it so badly. Thats what I am doing with this blog now. I am no Fox news fan either but really...this is getting boring and pretty lame.
Posted by: Eric | October 22, 2010 at 12:19 AM
Here's the Juan William's disconnect. He doesn't seem to understand how easily his comments could be slightly reconfigured by some white people using just a few different words:
"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot ... But when I walk downtown, I got to tell you, if I see black people I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Black, I get worried. I get nervous."
Posted by: Earl Shankmeister | October 22, 2010 at 03:44 AM
My hatred for NPR has been growing steadily for decades but has really escalted year by year since 911. The newsreading and commenting voices i found tolerable as a lib backgrounded Seattle teenager now fill me with contempt, annoyance and anger whenever i hear them. The worst of the NPR voices i hear now that absolutely insufferable. They are instasntly recognizable , letting a blind man know he has found 88.5 or 94.9 without asking. The males, with their smug, simpering, effetely elitist sound are the worst, i suppose, making a normal American male want to reach through the speaker and bitch slap them, but the female voices are also enragingly annoying. The firing of Juan Williams only confirms to me that my opinions and emotions have been right on.
Posted by: Tommy008 | October 22, 2010 at 05:10 AM
How about publishing the rest of his statement...you are as big a hack as the political ad agencies.
Man up!...Or Woman up! Just be honest and fair, and stop editing other peoples comments to suit your own position or agenda.
Posted by: Bernie | October 22, 2010 at 08:12 AM
Honest? Fair? Those two words don't apply to this wonderful blog.
Posted by: Fred | October 22, 2010 at 08:16 AM
There is no excuse for NPR getting money from the government.
None at all.
I like Juan Williams and I'm happy he'll be on FOX more now than he was... Adds to the "balance".
Good for him.
Best thing that could have happened...
3 years, 2 million.
Screw NPR.
Posted by: Rat_Bastard | October 22, 2010 at 08:47 AM
Doesn't matter how much Murduck is paying him, he's been forever discredited from ever representing himself as a bonafide Liberal ever again. He sold himself out, not unlike Judas. He has to live with that the rest of his life.
Posted by: MstngSally | October 22, 2010 at 08:58 AM
Agree w/ Eric. BW is turning into a rehash of the Huffington Post, but two days late... Predictable and boring. In the old days, at least Hood would make up interesting stories about local radio that I hadn't already seen.
Posted by: tds | October 22, 2010 at 09:06 AM
Totenberg, Stamberg, Gross, Schiller, Weiss, .... NPR appears to be just a personal playpen for ultra-liberal New York Jews........
Posted by: Tommy008 | October 22, 2010 at 09:35 AM
Liberal New York Jews have a right to work in radio or any other job, but my point is that NPR seems to be hiring from a narrow elitist clique of people and is not represenhtative of the greater country in any real way. Narrow cliques running any media organization is not good...it just turns into an echo machine, reinforcign the clique's views...
Posted by: Tommy008 | October 22, 2010 at 09:55 AM
Antisemitism seems to raise it's ugly head at times. We don't need that kind of rhetoric.
Posted by: MstngSally | October 22, 2010 at 10:07 AM
Got to stick up for this blog and Mr. Hood here. In case you haven't noticed, local talk radio has shrunk almost to nothing in the 5 or so years since this blog started up. I am still entertained by what Hood chooses to write about and how he writes it.
Posted by: Parker Sims | October 22, 2010 at 10:18 AM
hey screw you MstngSally . i have the guts to comment on something ive observed anout NPR over the years, that every 2 out of 3 employees seems to have a Jewish name. They are a clique, a narrow "in-crowd". If the ethnicity had been somethingn else i could have made the same point without some oversensitive type like you trotting out thwe old A-S flag. i knew as soon as i made the point here that soem kneejerk assclown liek you would appear, instantly.
Posted by: Tommy008 | October 22, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Fox News, what it is and what it's doing to politics and journalism in this country is one of the most significant stories in American media this decade.
A well-funded hyper-partisan network with multimedia superstars is unprecedented. As stupid as NPR might have been for firing Williams, to compare it to Fox News in any way is ridiculous.
Posted by: Vashon James | October 22, 2010 at 10:27 AM
the seattle anti-semitism Committee thought police just visited me and i will now make the following self-crticism and disclaimer- please disregar my unenlightened two previous posta about NPR- Jews have never formed cliques in hiring to where a disproportionate number of Jews work at a particular operation, although all other ethnic groups have done this over the years many times...Jews have never formed criminal gangs although all other ethnic and racial groups have formed gangs over the years... there have never been any Jews that were bad, evil men although many other ethnic groups have had their bad, evil men,...... Jews have never been racially or ethnically perjudiced although all other racial and ethnic groups have been over the years.........aaaah i feel better now....i'm purged
Posted by: Tommy008 | October 22, 2010 at 10:50 AM
FOX news only gives the other side to politics that CNN, MSNBC, and the networks give.
The Ratings at FOX prove that Americans want more than Liberal elitism.
Juan Williams simply spoke his mind, he said what the vast majority of Americans think and NPR finally snapped, and fired him since they didn't like having one of their own spending too much time in the enemy camp.
FOX employs Williams to give the Liberal side of things and he does a great job.
Conservatives like him as a person and respect his opinions.
Williams has nothing to apologize for.
NPR is about to see it's government funding taken away.
A long time coming, just as PBS is facing.
Posted by: Rat_Bastard | October 22, 2010 at 11:02 AM
That was big of you Tommy, I (for one) appreciate it.
Posted by: MstngSally | October 22, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Good grief, Tommy, don't you have a white hood to iron for the big get-together tonight?
Posted by: Arty Ziff | October 22, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Gotta tell you, KS, BR is a one and only... Apparently a newcomer and a welcome one at that. Now that we've got that straight, could we all just get back to tearing each others assholes out based on the issues?
Posted by: blathering michael | October 21, 2010
It's good to have a clarification at last, but it would have helped more to have it two weeks ago for the good of the order.
Posted by: KS | October 22, 2010 at 12:23 PM
FOX employs Williams to give the Liberal side of things and he does a great job.
Conservatives like him as a person and respect his opinions.
Williams has nothing to apologize for.
NPR is about to see it's government funding taken away.
A long time coming, just as PBS is facing.
Posted by: Rat_Bastard | October 22, 2010 at 11:02 AM
Agreed. I have always appreciated Juan Williams' integrity and objectivity even though I don't agree with him at times long before this occurred. NPR has put themselves in an unfavorable position and have swayed public opinion with this move - they will reap what they sow.
Posted by: KS | October 22, 2010 at 12:30 PM
KS says "It's good to have a clarification at last, but it would have helped more to have it two weeks ago for the good of the order. "
Or you could worry more about your lack of substance and intelligence rather than act like a paranoid fruitcake.
Posted by: Andrew | October 22, 2010 at 02:25 PM
I for one hope you’re joking, KS. As far as I can tell, there is no vetting before posting. And this silly missive, “for the good of the order” the only 'order' misaligned was Putz and yourself. While signifying my possible past monikers you two were posting using other handles. You didn’t hear me whine like you and Putz. You had better take heed of Andrew’s advice “worry more about your lack of substance and intelligence rather than act like a paranoid fruitcake”. He offers shroud counsel, as well as a comical dig.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 22, 2010 at 02:57 PM
He offers shroud counsel, as well as a comical dig.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 22, 2010 at 02:57 PM
The word is shrewd you twit. Dang, they let any ol’ hick wit a keyboard post here don’t they?
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 22, 2010 at 04:22 PM
Or you could worry more about your lack of substance and intelligence rather than act like a paranoid fruitcake.
Posted by: Andrew | October 22, 2010 at 02:25 PM
With all due respect, shut your piehole attached to your keyboard. You bring being a fruitcake to a new level.
It would have saved the false accusations for which I was the guilty party if someone in the know like Bla'M had weighed in earlier - that's all I was saying. I had confused you with Gay Gary, who had assumed many aliases and had been banned on several occasions from BW but periodically resurfaced.
That's all in the past as far as I am concerned.
Posted by: KS | October 22, 2010 at 05:08 PM
lolz
who's who?
Posted by: Andrew | October 22, 2010 at 05:14 PM
NPR was already on my shitlist coming out of their periodic begathon that guilt trips old women into giving more than a reasonable amount of their pension to pseudo-public programming that mostly features elite punditry and professional-grade productions, and I had a blistering attack all worked up, but then I decided that nobody cared before and nobody is going to care now.
Posted by: Andrew | October 22, 2010 at 05:18 PM
Andrew
A bit of self deprecation with a slight aimed at our “order”.
I don’t listen to NPR or watch Faux, but I do have a question about Juan’s departure.
I wonder if Juan has a contradictory opinion over at NPR. Not that hypocrisy is a firing offence, but if NPR has an opinion counter to the Faux news Jaun, it would show he’s playing a game with the public.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 22, 2010 at 05:33 PM
Or you could worry more about your lack of substance and intelligence rather than act like a paranoid fruitcake.
Posted by: Andrew | October 22, 2010 at 02:25 PM
A belated; shut your piehole - you bring being a fruitcake to a new level. The good of the order comment was pointed at others besides Putz, even you.
BR - All I was saying was that in light of false accusations from here which are hopefully excused, the issue was clarified by Hood, but he was aware of it shortly after you first appeared, when I made reference to your alleged multiple identities - not to mention that you played along with it for a while also. FYI, there was poster who went by Gay Gary, who was banned from the blog several years ago and came back as rozkat, M. Steele and other aliases and was banned again and still shows up as another screename- he has had enough saavy to stay ahead of the game. There's some history you would not have known otherwise. Time to move on.
Posted by: KS | October 22, 2010 at 06:45 PM
Or you could worry more about your lack of substance and intelligence rather than act like a paranoid fruitcake.
Posted by: Andrew | October 22, 2010 at 02:25 PM
Andrew, Shut your piehole. You bring being a fruitcake to a new level, with your history of postings.
BR- I falsely accused you of being other aliases - please consider this matter closed. You were confused with another commenter, who had been banned from the blog on several occasions beginning about 3 years ago with all of the names I had referenced previously and resurfaced with another alias, in fact he still shows up periodically. Movin' on now.
Posted by: KS | October 22, 2010 at 07:20 PM
Damn, Fox does it again. I gotta admit that they have done a number on Liberals.
Liberals hitting the 'chicken switch' again.
The NAACP tossed Shirley Sherrod under the bus and then the Obama administration in a wonderful demonstration of cowardice couldn't wait to throw it in reverse and do it again.
Now we have NPR doing it to Juan Williams. I was going to donate to NPR but will instead use that money to buy some of Juan's fine books like his bio on Thurgood Marshall or Eyes on the Prize.
Posted by: Puget Sound | October 22, 2010 at 07:29 PM
and 'BR' I beg ya, go ahead and post that devastating question you got for me.
post it tonight and i'll have an answer for you when i check back on the blog in the morning.
Posted by: Puget Sound | October 22, 2010 at 07:30 PM
Devastating? Don’t be such a drama queen Putz. Your deceitfulness, deflection and obscurification is what I denote. An example? READ ON…!
Funny how the Young Turks, Randi, or even Stephanie Miller can't crack the national list.
Posted by: Puget Sound | October 17, 2010 at 02:52 PM
Then you qualified your post, deceitfulness.
Andrew was naming his top 5. Hence, the others at 24 and 41 are unlikely to be in the top 5.
LMAO.
Posted by: Puget Sound | October 17, 2010 at 05:25 PM
Yes, Putz, Blame Andrew. If you are so undecided on your text why post?
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 22, 2010 at 08:26 PM
May be some credit should be foisted upon the poster who caught your misdeed
Putz, once again your reading skills have betrayed you...Stephanie Miller is # 24 and Rhodes is #41.
Posted by: Fremont | October 17, 2010 at 03:56 PM
Take a bow Fremont.
Posted by: BlackRhino | October 22, 2010 at 08:34 PM
The only thing I wonder is; Why did it take so long to fire Jaun Williams. I was really getting tired of my weekend NPR analysis coming from a Fox News commentator. He used to be a legitamate commentator and did some fine work in the past with "Eyes on the Prize", but he allowed himself to be tempted by those big bucks offer by Rupert and Roger.
Posted by: gorkri | October 22, 2010 at 08:58 PM
Nina Tottenberg has repeatedly done the same thing for years that Williams was fired for, so why wasn't she canned ?
Because of the double-standard displayed by NPR - she states her feelings strongly and stirs up dislike for conservatives, which is OK, but Williams states his feelings about Muslims in their garb and gets fired by NPR. Since George Soros recently donated $1.8M to NPR in efforts for them to become a more strident progressivist mouthpiece, why in the hell should it be publicly funded any longer ? With that said, there are some worthwhile things on NPR, just like ABC, NBC FOX and ESPN, all of which are not publicly funded.
Posted by: KS | October 22, 2010 at 09:21 PM
You seem to listen to NPR a lot, what about Lach Mi Sing. Is she a statist? Sylvia Pajoli?
Posted by: Coiler | October 22, 2010 at 09:42 PM
Lach Mi Sing ? Who ? Pajoli seems to have a liberal slant and seems OK, but don't think she's a statist - her parents were anti-fascist when they were there during the Mussolini regime. I like Mara Liasson on NPR also FNC and hope they keep her - even though NPR has a phobia about Fox - she is very professional and would call her a centrist or conservative Democrat.
Posted by: KS | October 22, 2010 at 10:01 PM