"Did I Say That?"

I was all set to write about the phone call from Ginny Thomas to Anita Hill this past week where Ms. Thomas asked for an apology regarding her decades-old testimony at the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Then, Juan Williams spoke.

This is tough. My initial reaction to the firing of Juan Williams was “ What is the difference between Juan Williams saying he is uncomfortable when he sees fellow airline passengers in “Muslim garb” and a white person saying, “When I see a black person walking towards me I get uncomfortable and cross to the other side of the street.”

It appears that the right wing’s annoying habit of resorting to the visceral has finally begun to infect the left as they are seemingly sliding into a posture of exhibiting an untoward inclination to suppress the speech of those with whom they do not agree.

This disturbing new impulse of the left manifests itself in myriad ways from screaming uncivilly at Karl Rove in a California bookstore to a bastion of liberalism, NPR, firing a commentator who violates their sensibilities.

As it is the case with reactionaries, the ever growing anger on the left that manifests itself in crude and insulting behavior is not true of all liberals—certainly I hope it is not true of yours truly, but earlier this week, the impulse to silence or censor a line of thought that differs from the liberal mainstream managed to win the hour in a place where I at least, have always thought was an environment where people could speak fearlessly, National Public Radio.

Late this past Wednesday night, when I like many other Americans were engaged in an activity that shows what is really important these days, the Giants-Phillies playoff game. NPR issued a statement announcing its termination of commentator Juan Williams for his comments on the Bill O’Reilly during a discussion of how Muslims are described or referenced in the context of terrorism.

Prophetically in a manner that he could not have imagined, Juan Williams prefaced his remarks on the O’Reilly show by saying, “Political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don’t address reality.” It was at that point in the discussion that Mr. Williams confessed his own fears at observing fellow airline passengers in “Muslim garb” boarding the same airplane he was about to fly on. To his credit, Juan Williams added quickly that he felt it is terribly unfair to hold all Christians accountable for the horrific behavior of the Wichita “mob” that boycotts the funerals of fallen U.S> troops or the would-be Koran burner from Florida. Williams also quoted, of all people, former President George Bush who once said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are “not a war with Islam.”

Not good enough, Vivian Schiller NPR CEO and Ellen Weis, NPR’s VP for news, announced the firing of Juan Williams stating that “Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years and we did not make this decision lightly or without regret.” The statement went on to say, “However, his remarks on the O’Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

Immediately after the firing of Juan Williams, conservatives, jumped into the controversy with both feet. First, Sarah Pailin weighed in, calling for NPR to lose its federal funding. Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a political rival of Sarah Pailin, voiced that same sentiment and added his own caveat, “I will not longer accept interviews from NPR as long as they are going to practice a form of censorship.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich issued a statement laden with his usual theatrics calling for a congressional investigation into NPR. “The U.S. Congress should investigate NPR and consider cutting off their money. Every listener to NPR should be enraged that there’s this kind of bias against an American.”

These conservative criticisms emanating from the right, however genuine they may be, as usual lack any real factual substance. To begin with, less than six percent of NPR member stations fund their budgets with federal, state and local money combined. As for Mr. Gingrich believing that Americans would be shocked to discover liberals at NPR, everything suggests that much of NPR’s listening audience, who happen to be for the most part left of center, are probably delighted that Juan Williams is “outta there.” They never understood (me included) how Juan Williams could be commentating on both FOX News and NPR in the first place.

By the way, this was not the first time that comments by Williams on Fox News, with whom he has always been employed simultaneous with his contract at NPR, angered NPR listeners. A 2009 appearance on FOX echoed sentiments that appeared in his column at that time comparing Michelle Obama to black 50s radical Stokely Carmichael.

When all has finally been said and done regarding this episode, a better resolution might have been for NPR’s executives to give Mr. Williams a choice—them or Fox News. For his part, Juan Williams has, since his firing, slammed NPR for its “one-party rule” and “one-sided thinking that leads to enforced ideology, speech and writing.” And, full disclosure, Juan Williams has been signed to a $2 million contract with Fox News and tonight, he will actually stand in for Bill O’Reilly.

As always, it never really had to come to this. There are other liberal media bastions where the issue of bias in the media is dealt with more responsibly. Shows such as The Colbert Report and The Daily Show come to mind. While these shows annoy conservatives who say the same things liberal say about Fox in that the hosts are actually skilled partisans who are skilled in the art of twisting the words of those they are not in agreement with.

Right now, at this moment, I am desperately trying to come up with something I can say to get Fox to give me a $2M contract.