Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

So many bastards, so little time.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

How stupid are these people?

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

“woke” is the new caravan.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / Juan Gone

Juan Gone

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If they fire Mara Liasson too, I might start giving them money again:

NPR has terminated its contract with Juan Williams, one of its senior news analysts, after he made comments about Muslims on the Fox News Channel.

NPR said in a statement that it gave Mr. Williams notice of his termination on Wednesday night.

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.”

This should just give him more time to focus on sexually harassing the interns at Fox.

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  2. 2.

    morzer

    Time for Doug Mataconis to appear and explain that he doesn’t believe Juan Williams is a pervert and a bigot, so we should all just shut up.

  5. 5.

    Chris

    That’s tempting, but I’m still holding out for them to can Cokie Roberts. And I’d give up a couple pieces of flair tote bag and an umbrella for them locking her in a room with Bob Somerby for an hour.

  8. 8.

    Jon H

    @Chris: “That’s tempting, but I’m still holding out for them to can Cokie Roberts.”

    Too old. She has emeritus status now. She’ll be there until she pops her clogs.

  9. 9.

    Kryptik

    So how long until NPR is tarred as something juvenile like ‘Muslim Public Radio’ or something like that?

  11. 11.

    Suck It Up!

    Let me know when they fire someone on FOX News for insensitive remarks about Muslims.

    yes. I know.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jon H: Too old. She has emeritus status now.
    So she’s Daniel Schorr, without the record of achievement and speaking unpleasant truth to power?

  16. 16.

    fasteddie9318

    Cue the cries of “FIRST AMENDMENT” from the wingnut fringe, which as usual fails to understand that the First Amendment doesn’t guarantee everyone a correspondent gig with NPR.

  18. 18.

    John Cole

    From the story:

    “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.”

    I’m sober tonight, so I may not be thinking clearly, but isn’t the second half of that quote the FUCKING DEFINITION OF BEING A BIGOT?

    Hey Juan, you douchebag. Substitute “Muslim” with “Negro,” and then choke yourself out with Bill O’Reilly’s falafel.

  19. 19.

    Mike

    It’s funny how widespread the perception of Williams as a ‘liberal’ is. Just because he’s a wimpy black guy with NPR next to his name.

  20. 20.

    Suffern Ace

    Juan missed the memo. It was o.k. to raise the spectre of sharia in New York this summer to rile up the masses and help turn the election into another conservative cultural issue election. It is NOT ok to call to take that war global, outside Iran. There is too much money at stake in the oil fields and real estate in those countries. Even “Deport em all” Bryan Fischer knows that you don’t call for the general war.

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    OT: I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but Elaine Marshall and Robin Carnahan have shot up in the polls out of nowhere. And Russ is within three.

  24. 24.

    fasteddie9318

    Also too, let this be a reminder that nothing good ever comes from a remark that starts off with “Look, I’m not a bigot…” There’s simply no way to dismount that fucker without sounding like a bigot.

  28. 28.

    wengler

    “The biggest threat on the planet is Muslim Jihad” said a citizen of a country occupying two Muslim-majority countries through force of arms.

    The real threat appears to be any government not wishing to enter the world economy established by the US/European/East Asian syndicate.

    Remember kids:

    Iran = bad, Saudi Arabia = good

    DPRK = bad, PRC = good

    Cuba = bad, Vietnam = good

    If only North Korea and Cuba made their slaves make us stuff, and Iran went back to the old oil kickback scheme that existed under the Shah, they too could be made good. Anything that enriches our millionaires and billionaires is something worth fighting for!

  29. 29.

    Bhall35

    I think his years spent trying to stay in the good graces of O’Reilly only exacerbated the stupid. It was only a matter of time before he lost all perspective in order to keep the paycheck.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Michelle Malkin, Jeffrey Goldberg and something called “Big Journalism” are defending Williams. The First Amendment has been invoked

  33. 33.

    Mr. Furious

    All day long NPR treated the Ginny Thomas / Anita Hill thing as a top story, and never presented it with any facts to make it anything beyond a she said / she said.

    A listener was left to decide completely on their own whether Hill or Thomas was in the wrong.

    At the end of the day, a more extended segment with Nina Totenberg didn’t add much clarity on the history, but she wasn’t subtle about calling it out as a fundraising ploy for Thomas’ PAC.

  34. 34.

    Tim

    @fasteddie9318: “Look, I’m not a bigot, but this beer tastes really good.”

    For meeting your challenge, I’m going to reward myself by drinking more of this great beer.

  35. 35.

    Lev

    @John Cole: It’s something I’ve learned in my time on this Earth: the “I’m not a racist, but…” construction always means that what follows is going to be the most racist thing you’ll ever hear. As in, “I’m not a racist, but Obama just won because he’s black.”

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’d forgotten that Wan had been at the Washington Post. Brad DeLong remembered that for me.

    Thomas Defender Apologizes: A Washington Post reporter who wrote a widely quoted column criticizing the accusations of sexual harassment against Judge Clarence Thomas has been disciplined by the newspaper for his own conduct toward female colleagues and has apologized to the staff, The Post reported today. The 37-year-old journalist, Juan Williams, said in an open letter to The Post’s newsroom on Friday that his conduct had been “wrong” and “inappropriate.” Several female employees had complained that Mr. Williams had harassed them with sexually explicit and hostile comments, and the newspaper investigated those complaints.

    Not a good day for Clarence Thomas supporters to be stirring shit up

  37. 37.

    Mr. Furious

    @sven: I’m with you. the sound of his voice enrages me more than a chorus of Juan, Mara and Cokie.

    He is the very embodiment of a wussy liberal media persona and grants complete deference to whoever is spinning the other half of the conversation. He is a bullshit conduit and enabler in a more perverse and offensive way (to me) than overtly biased asshats like Williams.

  38. 38.

    Mike G

    Rightards wouldn’t be rightards if they weren’t pissing their pants over some hyper-exaggerated foreign ‘threat’. What kind of parochial imbecile is seriously worried about “sharia law’ being imposed in Sisterfuck, Alabama? The same tards who stockpiled canned food and guns after watching Red Dawn?

  39. 39.

    suzanne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The First Amendment? You mean the one where it doesn’t say anything about the separation of church and state?

    These people make me sad that they don’t have a separation of ass and brain.

  40. 40.

    sven

    @Mr. Furious: I noticed the same thing and finally realized why the reporting seemed so incomplete. The only reason the call became a story was because it was so damn weird! If you report the call without observing its weirdness there just isn’t a story.

    I know it expresses a judgment but the story really is:

    “Wife of Supreme Court Justice makes bizarro call to enemy from her past”

    not

    “woman makes phone call”

  44. 44.

    Binzinerator

    I’m bothered by the interconnectedness of this. So he works for NPR but he also works as an analyst for Fox News.

    If these guys were in the trash business they’d be worried about getting nailed with a RICO rap.

  46. 46.

    Lev

    @sven: Yes, and on November 3, I’m looking forward to the debut of Hannity and O’Donnell. Especially the behind-the-scenes rumors of angry fights over who’s prettier.

  47. 47.

    sven

    @Lev: I keep thinking Hannity will run for office. All the mouthpieces have big egos but Sean seems to have that particular brand of vanity I associate with politicians.

  48. 48.

    Comrade Kevin

    At one time, years ago, “Talk of the Nation” was a pretty interesting program to listen to. Then, Juan Williams got his hands on it. He broke it.

    Science Friday is the only part of it now that doesn’t suck.

  49. 49.

    KG

    @fasteddie9318: I’m glad someone else said that, because really any time you start with “look, I’m not a [insert bad thing here], but…” you’ve lost. It’s like a corollary of Godwin’s Law.

  50. 50.

    hitchhiker

    Oh, NPR. You still have This American Life, and my local station plays a good blues show every Sunday night.

    The rest is pretentious noise, and most of us former listeners have a special rock in our sock over a particular voice.

    Mine is the smarmy Scott Simon. Gag-worthy. Eck Eck Eck. Pteh.

  51. 51.

    KG

    @sven: Nah. I use to listen to his radio show, I don’t think his ego could take losing an election (and he would lose because his ego is too big to run for something small like a House Seat or something in the state legislature). Nope, he’s got a big, fragile ego… plus I think he knows he’d come off as a smug asshole to a lot of voters.

  52. 52.

    GregB

    Remember early on when Speaker Pelosi stated that much of the tea-party movement was astro-turf and she was roundly ridiculed.

    She was 100% right.

    Dana Milbank, I know, makes the case.

    Koch Suckers.

  53. 53.

    Sharl

    Before he moved on to found Black Agenda Report, old school leftie Af-Am journalist Glen Ford had some things to say in 2002 over at his former site about a couple of guys named “Williams” – Juan and Armstrong – and none of it was complimentary. Ford was particularly unhappy about the co-opting of the TV show America’s Black Forum into something more intended to reassure conservative and corporate folks, rather than the purpose implied by the show’s name.

    Just providing some counterpoint to the expected wingnut cites of Juan William’s now largely shredded civil rights cred, such as it was.

  55. 55.

    hey hey

    Alicia C. Shepard, the NPR ombudswoman, said at the time that Mr. Williams was a “lightning rod” for the public radio organization in part because he “tends to speak one way on NPR and another on Fox.”

    yeah, this is definitely true…

  56. 56.

    Fleas correct the era

    @hitchhiker:
    TAL is distributed by Public Radio International – they compete with NPR.

    It’s very good to see Juan Guan, but NPR still has the most determinedly mediocre hosts in all radio … Scott Simon, Neil Conan, the narcoleptic morning team of Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne (probably at their worst on the One Slow Word At A Time Morning Business Segment — apparently the NPR team believes businesspeople are unusually dull-witted and need everything explained in very very very simple terms — but horrible throughout) … What a waste of airtime. Thank FSM for Pacifica.

  57. 57.

    asiangrrlMN

    I listen to MPR for the most part. Can’t stand much of NPR’s programming. And, since this is the most current open thread, I’m treating it as an Open Thread. I will be in NC tomorrow having fun, so I’m turning in early. Just FYI.

  58. 58.

    sven

    As the straight ‘news’ content on NPR has trended downhill I find myself increasingly reliant on ‘information’ programming to take up the slack. As mentioned TAL is excellent and increasingly seems to include news related content and Terry Gross often has interviews which really help me understand the context for major stories. There is certainly good stuff available on NPR (PRI) it is just sad to see the trend in their ‘news’ division.

  61. 61.

    Martin

    @hitchhiker: My local station had a nice story about a group in Santa Monica that is working to register the homeless and mentally ill and get them to the polls. These voters were talking about the issues that matter to them – generally entitlement and jobs programs as some of them are disabled. One story was told about a man who couldn’t read or write getting assistance to vote.

    I was stopped at a light and I looked over at the BMW next to me and the driver (alone) was clearly ranting to the air about something he just heard.

    I then realized that all over OC, wingnuts were going completely ballistic over the prospect that the homeless actually do get to vote, and that someone is caring (to them, stupid) enough to help them to. NPR can do no wrong for the next year just due to that story.

  65. 65.

    Arclite

    Juan always struck me as a lightweight. Then when he started on Fox, I just tuned him out completely. So for me, he’s been gone from NPR for years.

  67. 67.

    M. Bouffant

    Too lazy to find it, but I read in one of the zillion items on this that a few yrs. back NPR asked J.W. not to have FOX identify him as an NPR analyst or whatever when he appeared on FOX.

    And even Goldberg (Atlantic version) said Williams was a ninny for this part:

    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.

    Goldberg:

    Juan Williams misunderstands one crucial fact: Muslim terrorists who are attempting to commit acts of terror seldom if ever dress in “Muslim garb”; they dress, for obvious tactical reasons, in a manner meant to help them blend in with surroundings. So Williams is wrong, I think, to be particularly suspicious of traditionally-dressed Muslims. But is he wrong to worry about Islamist terrorism? Of course not.

    I think Williams was fired because that statement proved he isn’t smart enough to know what he should be scared of, though Goldberg’s title was “Juan Williams Fired by NPR For No Particular Reason.”

  68. 68.

    El Cid

    The new conservative government in Britain (no, the LibDems don’t count) is completely reshuffling the placement and funding structure of the BBC World Service.

    That’s the part of the BBC which has been broadcasting to the planet for the last 70 years. It’s the service which actually has listeners around the world in most every language, particularly lots of 3rd world areas where people have pretty much no reliable broadcast sources of news and analysis.

    So their NewsHour program was talking about how these changes affect public broadcasters, and of course they speak a good long time with an NPR director, and it burned me up because (a) the two are not anything like each other and (b) the thought that the World Service might become more like the astoundingly shitty, post-Reaganite-attack NPR makes me sick.

    NPR doesn’t deserve to shine the BBCWS’ shoes.

    I can’t tell you the number of interviews with government and corporate leaders I’ve heard on the BBCWS in which the anchor just tears apart some PR spin or lies, yes, even when the interviewee doesn’t like it.

    And the BBCWS doesn’t get its programming by begging for contributions from Archer Daniels Midland and the like, and they don’t have any program — not one — appearing on their network with people like Juan Williams or Cokie Roberts or Megan McAddled.

    I hope that somehow the UK gov’t doesn’t finally fuck up the BBCWS, because it used to be seen as a core mission of the UK Foreign Office to help understanding about Britain and giving the main tool of democracy — an accurate idea of the world — to those who need it.

  69. 69.

    El Cid

    I did not know that PBS’ NewsHour is privately owned, which your local station just buys.

    The NewsHour, “public TV’s nightly newscast,” is actually privately owned. For-profit conglomerate Liberty Media has held a controlling stake in the NewsHour since 1994. The company is run by industry bigfoot John Malone, who has declared that “nobody wants to go out and invent something and invest hundreds of millions of dollars of risk capital for the public interest.” Public dollars still support the NewsHour, and former PBS president Ervin Duggan declared the show “ours and ours alone,” but Liberty CEO Greg Maffei refers to the program as “not our largest holding,” but “one we’re very proud of.”
    __
    And it’s not just the NewsHour. The Nightly Business Report was sold earlier this year by public station WPBT to a private company. The details of the deal–which shifts the most-watched daily business show on television into private hands–are mostly unknown.

    Liberty Media has a 67% holding in NewsHour.

    So while, yeah, you can still contribute to stations that then buy NewsHour, it’s not public broadcasting.

  70. 70.

    El Cid

    That all said, let me express admiration to NPR for apparently being one of the media institutions which gives a shit about what their commentators say about Arabs and Muslims, because for the most part it seems like you can say just about anything and not be penalized.

  71. 71.

    aimai

    @Mike:

    Its his association with Eyes on the Prize.

    Can I tell you one of my seminal “Oh, no, he Di’nt” moment with Juan Williams? He was competing for lead on Ray Suarez’s old show–Ray really knew his shit and was a great host–and he was interviewing several experts on Russia in an hour long program on the looting of Russia by its new oligarchs, something that our own government had encouraged on the theory that a sharp transition to crony capitalism would be the best thing for everybody. Juan began explaining to the experts, who happened to be women, that this kind of criminality was just so Russian and that they were all crooks anyway so what was the big deal. You could have heard a jaw drop and shatter in the outraged silence and the women started to push back, hard, just kind of sputtering in rage and disgust. I’d actually never heard anything like it on NPR. You never heard the host attacked by his guests the way he was. But it rolled off him like oleo. He didn’t even get why they were upset.

    aimai

  73. 73.

    Keith G

    NPR may not be what is was in the late 70’s when began listening, and there are specific reports and personalities that really annoy me, but I still get value out of much of their programing.

    Recently, they have helped to break important stories on mental health issues of soldiers at Fort Carson as well as the troubles at Walter Reed. I would be happier if their reporting had a bit more of an edge to it, but that just is not who they are at this point.

    @El Cid: Many, maybe most, programs on PBS are produced by outside companies which I imagine are for-profit.

    Rick Steves, and Ken Burns are two PBS icons who make content that they sell to the network.

  74. 74.

    El Cid

    @Keith G:

    NPR may not be what is was in the late 70’s when began listening, and there are specific reports and personalities that really annoy me, but I still get value out of much of their programing.

    That’s true about them generating some important original news stories. It’s also true of lots of other news organizations and companies.

    By this point, like so many other news sources, personally I’m just not able to listen to the majority of it hoping for that type of story to debut. I have to trust others to listen to it, and then bring it to my attention.

  75. 75.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    @fasteddie9318: This.

    In a less civilized society it would be legal, nay, mandatory to punch the speaker in the face. See also: “Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are …”

    I then realized that all over OC, wingnuts were going completely ballistic over the prospect that the homeless actually do get to vote.

    I predict the fReichtards will go Full Metal Disenfranchisement in the next five years. Not the sneaky shit, but Very Serious discussions about who should and should not … how will they put it? “Be burdened with the responsibility of shaping this country’s path.” The Founder’s Intent will be considered in great and reverent detail but for some reason they’ll all arrive at the same answer.

    Then they’ll be shocked when sane people tell them to fuck off.

  76. 76.

    iriedc

    Funny, but one of my local public radio stations used a clip of Juan Williams as a reason for listeners to give during their spring 2010 fundraiser. This sealed the deal for me — I started giving most of my public radio contributions to a competing station. I’d have dropped them altogether if is wasn’t for local show hosts and PRI shows. If they dump “mealymouthed Mara” and “Hawaii’s not real America Cokie,” they might get me back to where I was giving wise. (Not holding my breath, though.)

  77. 77.

    Warren Terra

    Juan Wlliams knows all about racism. Some of Juan Williams’s best friends aren’t racists. OK, not the ones still writing him checks, but there you go.

    It’s just a shame they didn’t fire him fifteen years ago for being a spineless know-nothing bore on Talk Of The Nation, or ten years ago for being a Fox News Democrat, or five years ago when he tipped his hand after a series of fellatory interviews of Bush Administration honchos on Morning Edition, and the Bush White House offered NPR an interview so long as it was with Juan Williams. NPR turned them down, but didn’t go the logical next step and fire their mole.

  78. 78.

    burnspbesq

    @El Cid:

    “Astoundingly shitty” compared to what? Some pipe-dream of what radio might be like if the need to obtain revenue could be made to magically disappear, or compared to what is currently on offer in a typical American metropolitan radio market? I don’t know where you live, but in SoCal NPR is as good as it gets, and there is no reason to believe that the situation will change any time soon.

  79. 79.

    El Cid

    @kommrade reproductive vigor: You should only be allowed to vote if you own a house, your father owned a house, and your grandfather owned a house. And came from Europe. I mean the North parts, not the parts with all the dark people.

  80. 80.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @John Cole:

    “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.”

    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’m walking down the street, I got to tell you, if I see a black man coming towards me, I get worried, I get nervous.

  81. 81.

    El Cid

    @burnspbesq: First, if I’m simply making my own judgment as to content, it doesn’t matter what the revenue model is, does it?

    Second, yes, it’s a relative standard; I certainly know many of people who love it. I’m glad those people are there to keep it going and donate to it.

    Myself, I don’t actually hear any different content on NPR news, though a much better and more intelligent and more educated tone, than I do via other media. When I attempt to listen to NPR news, I like that it has fewer shouty people and no commercials, but I’m not getting any different information and analysis.

    When I listen to the BBCWS, I do. It’s not just a repackaging of the same content available anywhere. It’s not people politely interviewing political and other powerful figures, offering ‘some say’ disagreements, and moving on.

    People are certainly free to contextually understand the reason NPR and PBS changed so much of their work and their type of coverage after the all-out war that the Reaganite Republicans and their shock troops such as AIM waged, but this doesn’t actually affect what anyone should feel like saying about the actual content they encounter.

    I should clarify that I specifically think of their news gathering and broadcasting functions. Cultural and arts and local and documentary etc. programming is completely different.

  82. 82.

    El Cid

    @Just Some Fuckhead: I might have missed it in the thread, but what does having written about the African American struggle for civil and voting and housing rights have to do with not being prejudiced against Muslims / Arabs / Persians?

  83. 83.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    @DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:

    He was fired/resigned at the Post and they barely said boo about it. There was even some scuttlebut around DC that there were some plagiarism issues but I never heard anything afterwards.

    Yes, even back then, the Post was covering for it’s “reporters”, even the ones they fired. I was always amazed at how that asshat kept any kind of job.

  85. 85.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Poor Juan must walk around bug-eyed skeered since the only place he can keep a job is the Muslim-owned Fox.

  87. 87.

    El Cid

    @Keith G: I certainly don’t wish to ‘earn any cred’. I post blog comments when it interests me, I don’t take it seriously, and if I received ‘cred’ here I don’t know what that would mean, or what I would do with it. (Can it be used for Amazon.com discounts, for example?)

  88. 88.

    4tehlulz

    This explains why Satan called asking me to shovel his driveway.

    I thought I was being punked. Turns out he was being serious.

  89. 89.

    debbie

    Mr. Furious, Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas was anything but a he said/she said situation. The man who started bad-mouthing Anita Hill and accusing her of making it all up later came out and said he had in fact made up all the accusations against her. She wasn’t lying.

  90. 90.

    El Cid

    For no particular reason, I withdraw the crankiness portions of my NPR and PBS harangues, as there’s little way I can do it without sounding like I’m pissed at the people who listen to and enjoy it. On the other hand, I’d never post blog comments if it weren’t to air bitter-sounding disagreements.

  91. 91.

    Mr Furious

    @cleek: When I got in the car this morning I realized it was Pledge Week here on Michigan Radio, too.

    I have to strongly consider rewarding good behavior—since William’s continued presence on the payroll was a large part of my withholding support.

  92. 92.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @El Cid:

    For no particular reason, I withdraw the crankiness portions of my NPR and PBS harangues, as there’s little way I can do it without sounding like I’m pissed at the people who listen to and enjoy it. On the other hand, I’d never post blog comments if it weren’t to air bitter-sounding disagreements.

    Too late, yer cred is already shot. One of our new Obots will be along shortly to call you stupid.

  93. 93.

    Jules

    @aimai:

    The best show Juan did as host of TOTN was the very last one, his goodbye show, when caller after caller lambasted and insulted his tenure. It was all kinds of awesome.

  94. 94.

    Keith G

    @El Cid: I wasn’t speaking about you as I have seen you put quite a lot of thought behind what you type.

    Edit: JSF: I hope this Obot (I guess) doesn’t leave you disappointed.

  95. 95.

    Agoraphobic Kleptomaniac

    NPR won’t get a dime from me until Liasson is gone. Williams was a hack, but he was a boring hack. 99% of the time he’d just sit back, and never correct other’s spin, and smile.

    Liasson, on the other hand, said this on All things considered

    Tomorrow, he’ll make another series of economic proposals for business tax breaks. They won’t necessarily pass, and they won’t necessarily help the economy in time for November even if they did pass, but it does give Democrats something to talk about.

    Because don’t forget, the Democrats’ plan A didn’t work. They were hoping that this would be the end of a recovery summer. They talked about those green shoots of growth in the spring, which now, of course, have stalled. So now, they really didn’t have any message other than it would have been worse without what we did, and do you really want to go back to Bush. Now, interestingly enough, people do still blame Bush for the recession, but they hold President Obama accountable for the recovery.

    This illustrates everything wrong with Liasson. Speculation without supporting facts, Horserace analysis, and general spin. This is how every single one of her stories sound.

    I was so mad I almost drove into a ditch in despair.

    On my NPR station, they play CBC’s “As It happens”, which is similar in format to All things Considered, and it’s miles and miles ahead of anything on NPR, often getting interviews with the people involved directly in the news, rather than analysts and pundits. Almost everthing on my NPR station that is branded “NPR” is sub-par to anything from PRI or BBC or CBC.

  97. 97.

    Bokonon

    I would LIKE to think that NPR is finally listening to all of those angry letters from its listeners, after the better part of a decade of tolerating this BS.

    But … no. They are probably just canning Williams because of the Fox News gig.

  98. 98.

    fasteddie9318

    @Tim:

    Oh, you drink beer, eh? You mean like the beer that was consumed in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller, where the Beer Hall Putsch was engineered in 1923 by…HITLER??? Talk about bigotry!

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