ED’s post is completely wrong and uncharacteristically wrong-headed.
Juan Williams’ firing did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in the context of him having been the official Fox News lawn jockey stooge for years. Here’s the NPR ombudsman 18 months ago expressing concerns about Williams’ appearances on Fox, for example. Williams’ appearances on Fox clearly violated NPR’s guidelines for its employees:
9. NPR journalists must get permission from the Vice President for their Division or their designee to appear on TV or other media. It is not necessary to get permission in each instance when the employee is a regular participant on an approved show. Permission for such appearances may be revoked if NPR determines such appearances are harmful to the reputation of NPR or the NPR participant.
10. In appearing on TV or other media including electronic Web-based forums, NPR journalists should not express views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist. They should not participate in shows electronic forums, or blogs that encourage punditry and speculation rather than rather than fact-based analysis.
The reason he was allowed to get away with it was that he is technically an independent contractor, not an employee.
I’m sure NPR would have liked to fire Williams long ago. Viewers dislike him and he is an embarrassment in many ways. I suspect that the optics of firing an African-American conservative were not good, though, and they felt they had to wait for the right opportunity to rip off the band-aid.
It is hardly surprising that the William Saletans of the world want to take Williams’ side. They see themselves as brave truth tellers, the only ones with the guts to make liberals face the fact that mavericks like J. Philippe Rushton are right about everything; they see Williams’ gutsy comments about Michelle Obama and Muslims as being in the same vein. They also enjoy being contrarian, of course.
Finally, one of the things Slate and others like to do is play games with context. When Ronald Reagan kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, MS by talking about “states rights”, he was just appealing to principled small government conservatives, not giving a shout out to murderers. But when Obama talked about how economic hardship might make people bitter, he wasn’t merely expressing an obvious truth, he was speaking in the tradition of the Hundred Year Liberal War Against Real Americans.
So it is with this, it’s fun to play a game where Williams was fired for just this one comment. But it’s simply not true. Juan Williams tenure at NPR was going to end; the fact that it was with a bang rather than a whimper, is not important.
I don’t know why ED feels differently about this. Sometimes the siren call of contrarianism can be very powerful.
Update. I in no way mean to give the impression of lumping Erik, whose contributions to this blog are great and whom I respect a great deal, in with Will Saletan as a commentator.
Zifnab
One day, folks are going to wake up and realize that there is no “right opportunity” to confront the conservative martyr complex. The bitching today will be precisely the same pitch and tone as we’d receive last month or a year from now.
It’s never going to get any better.
meh
strange choice of words buddy
freelancer
Green Balloons! FFS, Can we talk about something more substantive, like say, Are the GQ photos of the cast of Glee too Racy?
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@meh:
I think it’s appropriate. I would normally never use those words but here, I would.
LittlePig
@meh: strange choice of words buddy
Given Juan’s position at Fox, no, not a strange choice at all.
geg6
He lost pretty much anyone he may have been able to convince the minute he used Saletan and Mataconis as his authorities on the matter. That’s just the definition of fail.
pattonbt
Yeah, gotta agree…”lawn jockey”? I really hate that term.
snark on…
Does Dougj need to be fired from BJ?
snark off
cleek
@meh:
ditto.
they’re so out of place that i stopped reading right there so i could come in here and complain. if that’s the effect you want, so be it…
LittlePig
I hate all these jokers defending cowardice and assuming all Americans buy into their irrational terror. So spare us the fainting couch theatrics.
Jim in Chicago
For NPR, moonlighting on Faux News day after day is fine but attending one Stewart or Colbert rally is too political. I hope for their sake the right-wingers they are trying to appeal to are giving $ to fund their operation b/c they certainly ain’t getting any from me.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@cleek:
If you watch his appearances on those shows on Fox, it really is uncomfortable, jarring, the racial dynamics of it. I’m sorry but it is.
DavidNC
dougj, you have been a pure pleasure to read today.
beltane
I am thrilled NPR finally canned Juan Williams. I am waiting for them to similarly dispatch Mara Liasson for my happiness to be complete.
Jim in Chicago
@meh:
DougJ was just channeling the late Steve Gilliard there, except Steve would have included a colorful picture….
Martin
@meh: Yeah, that sentence really perked me up as well, and I’m not one who’s afraid to toss n-bombs around for effect.
By my terms (which are probably pretty suspect anyway) it’s in-bounds for a place like this, but Cole’s gotta get a harsh tweeting out by Lady Jane for not keeping his dog on a short enough leash.
Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim)
Wow. This post is amazingly condescending to E.D.
How fun: to be able to dismiss an opposing argument with a wave of “you’re just being contrary.” Unfortunately, it’s bogus fun.
cleek
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
evs.
just don’t think you’re not going to take a lot of heat for that. cause that’s some rude shit.
Kryptik
Nghh….
I wonder why I remain masochistic enough to file through comments sections from other places on this issue. The majority takeaway I’ve gotten from said comments generally boils down to ‘LIEBERALS CODDLING THOSE GODDAMN TERRIMUSLIMS! FACIST LIBS WANT US TO DIE!’
Of course, I say this as someone who, given a white skull cap and silk shirt, just might come off as looking Muslim, so obviously I’m not a real American and thus have no right to an opinion, otherwise I might scare someone on the other side of the plane for ‘Looking Muslim’.
pattonbt
I think Juan is going to be laughing all the way to the bank on this and probably planned it (to a small degree).
He’s obviously been warned on his previous behaviour by NPR and kept on going. He was looking for this. I believe he did this so he could get fired, become the “liberal martyr” for Faux news. I’m sure Faux news pays a hell of a lot better than NPR.
Now he can go “oh woe is me, look, I’m a victim” and he can play the weak kneed liberal schtick for Faux on a full time basis. Win win for Juan and Faux. And as it happens, win also for NPR.
singfoom
I’d disagree with ED just because he used Doug “I disagree and won’t rehashs a 20 year old argument” Mataconis as backup for this position.
C’mon, the guy can’t even make a coherent argument about the whole Thomas/Hill phonecall drama. It stops at “Well, I don’t believe Anita Hill…”
Please, please please ED, use other sources as backup, not that hack. Maybe then you might be a little more persuasive.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@cleek:
Fair enough. I struck it out and replaced it with “stooge” but I think the dynamics of his appearances on Fox *should* make people stop short. I really don’t like it and I think that people don’t get how bad it is.
chopper
and he wasn’t fired. his contract wasn’t renewed. which makes sense, as he’s been pissing off the management for a while going on fox and spouting opinions under the guise of an ‘npr reporter’.
seems to me this is much ado about nothing.
kindness
I’m not so sure NPR wanted to fire Juan. Since they changed Managers & Program Directors (at the urging of the bush43 administration) NPR has become increasingly Fox News lite with no pretense to accurate portrayal of the political dynamic as it exists out there. They routinely use the most buffoonish Democratic characterizations of the issues at hand and the most fluffer characterizations of Republican/tea bagger side of the coin.
Canning Juan was a great start but John was right. There are a couple more I want to see go before I start contributing again.
Southern Beale
Yup, agree with this 100%. Williams was an embarrassment. And let’s be real: he’ll land a gig on Fox News where he can be the token “liberal” and it will be smiley faces all around.
Bill E Pilgrim
Also this is part of what Williams said:
Then he went on with the now infamous passage about people dressed in “Muslim garb” on a plane and quoted the Times Square terrorist saying “the war with Muslims, America’s war is just beginning, first drop of blood.” and concluded:
So contrary to E.D.’s post, this is not like someone telling a story about how she was tempted to be bigoted and then learned how not to be.
This was someone saying about O’Reilly’s bigotry “I think you’re right” and then scolding about how “political correctness” threatens to seduce us to drop our bigotry, and warning against succumbing to that.
That he went on to mouth a bunch of platitudes in direct contradiction to this is immaterial, or means about as much as the “I am not a bigot, but..” prefix which is not only meaningless but almost always leads to a bigoted statement.
Martin
@Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim): I think ED can defend himself without you moralizing on behalf of the guys that have keys to the front page.
But ED was being contrary. He never even addressed the statement that everyone took issue to. In fact he very carefully skirted around it.
Midnight Marauder
Because “context matters,” DougJ!
Except for when it completely undermines everything you write in your inane, contrarian post.
singfoom
@kindness:
I agree with your characterization of the national NPR organization, but local affiliates like WNYC, WBEZ in Chicago and KCRW in California have great programs that don’t suffer from that problem.
So contribute to your local affiliate and keep it going, they have to pay so much cash to national for ATC and other things, national isn’t going anywhere…
Laertes
NPR should have canned Williams a long time ago. Keeping him all this time has been poor judgment.
That this perfectly harmless incident was the breaking point is of a piece with that poor judgment.
Kain is right. This was a Shirley Sherrod offense, and now, because NPR is run by idiots, the loathsome Williams gets to don the mantle of a martyr to political correctness.
NPR should have stood by Williams through this storm, then quietly dumped him a couple months down the road.
Nate
@Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim):
Agreed.
Kryptik
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is what was wrong with Juan Williams’ comments. For all the comparisons to the Shirley Sherrod thing, it’s amazingly backwards: Williams’ comments are being whitewashed by being taken out of context, and are much more vile when subjected to context.
But nevermind that, it’s much easier to continue to demonize Muslims and play conservative victimhood as well.
Cat Lady
@meh:
That characterization represents exactly how Fox regards their regular AA guests. Al Sharpton is the mirror image, since they know their audience hates him and will discount every word out of his mouth automatically, which is the goal and why Sharpton is always ever the only AA they use for “fair and balanced”. There is no good faith argument ever advanced on that network about any subject ever, and even less so, if possible, where minorities are concerned. Angry Black Lady’s blog post is exhibit A.
Jewish Steel
lawn jockey
Something that is ostensibly functional and has nothing to do with race, but does.
Apt metaphor.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@Cat Lady:
Sharpton doesn’t defer to them in quite the same way, though. I mean, they’re playing some game with him too, but I don’t find it as offensive.
pattonbt
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
Just want to agree with your sentiment on Juan being a stooge. But it’s not just Juan. Any “liberal/Democrat” who goes on Faux is a stooge. There is not one that isn’t willingly used as a set up person for the straight Faux hard right line. Each and every one is a sell out – gotta pay the mortgage you know. And each shold be viewed and accepted as such – stooge.
Any liberal who goes on Faux and fights with facts to win will not be invited back (and will be shouted down with chants of “la la la la la la la – I cant hear you I have my fingers in my ears”.).
Ailuridae
@Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim):
ED Kain’s post warrants derision. It starts from a ridiculous premise and is poorly reasoned through out.
meh
@kindness:
I dunno, brian lehrer is pretty good and worth of a donation in his own right. Criticism of the left is just as worthy as criticism on the right. Having said that, a lot of the positions of the right are untenable, indefensible, and plainly un-American – so criticizing them tends to be shooting fish in a barrel. Challenging Democratic pols to explain why they are pursuing a particular policy, then actively challenging those answers is journalism. The reason that it seems to happen more to Dem politicians is because the journalists are more likely to a) be assaulted by the right wing nutjobs supporting their local GOP teatard or b) be fired by the teatard station owner for being progressively biased towards socialism. Finally, they probably ask more probing questions of Democrats because they will receive more thoughtful answers and have the tiny possibility of hearing a real back and forth on policy. Half the retards in the GOP ticket can’t even spell policy.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Kryptik:
Exactly. When I read the infamous firing offense passage widely quoted I thought “meh”. Then I read the entire thing and realized that it was worse than that.
People at NPR are being criticized for being impetuous and summarily canning him, and that might be valid criticism. However reading this? I bet they were pissed.
The Moar You Know
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: Wrong move. Lawn jockey is what that motherfucker was from day one.
I could, and would, use similar words to describe NPR in general; they decided to become bought and paid stooges of the right wing during the Bush years, with a couple of exceptions that don’t count enough make them worth listening to. Fuck NPR. If I want to drink GOP koolaid I’ll simply tune in to Fox and get the hundred-proof version.
Cat Lady
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
No, Sharpton doesn’t, which is my point – he’s a known “race hustler” though, which is why they have him on – he’s automatically suspect, therefore any liberal argument he makes is automatically suspect and can be dismissed. That’s the role he plays for them. So, Fox only has AAs who know their place and play along, or who hates whitey. That’s it.
Midnight Marauder
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
I don’t think you should have struck it out, DougJ. It’s acutely accurate in representing the role Williams has played on Fox News for years. It should make people feel uncomfortable because it’s an incredibly ugly dynamic and one that they will continue to pursue. They just won’t be able to pass off Williams as the “token NPR black liberal.”
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@beltane:
Cokie and Innscreep need to go as well. Scott Simon is a tool but since I never listen to NPR on Saturday mornings, he hasn’t had a chance to piss me off for a few years.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Jim in Chicago:
And this time of year would have concluded his rant by saying:
“Fuck the fucking Yankees!”
kwAwk
I know I’m being contrarian here, but perhaps ED feels differently than you because nothing in your defense of the firing of Juan Williams has anything to do with what Juan Williams actutually said on the Bill O’Reilly show.
What your article here mostly betrays is a sense of satisfaction for Williams being fired, and a willingness to justify that end with any means.
Lev
I hate to say it Doug, but this reads like a bizarro RedState post. Your reference to Reagan and Philadelphia, MS is manipulative and propagandistic, and while I have little love for Slate or Saletan, I am not impressed with the notion that just because somebody I dislike agrees with proposition X, therefore I should disagree with it. That’s the right-wing way.
NPR can fire whomever they want for whatever they want, you’re right. I don’t listen to that boring shit and I don’t watch Fox News because it literally pains me to do so. Watching the clip of Williams and O’Reilly talking was tough enough, but I did it so that I didn’t have to resort to crude signposts to tell me how not to think. TP did themselves a disservice here after breaking some pretty damn significant news on the Chamber of Commerce.
Kryptik
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
Thankfully for us Yankee haters, it might need to change to TFTFY: Texas Fucked The Fucking Yankees
Bobby Thomson
Well, I suppose one can never know what someone else is truly thinking. However, I can think of several explanations, none of them complimentary to Kain.
Oh, and cleek needs to sack up. In Steve’s memory, fuck the fucking Yankees.
JPL
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: As one of Gilliard’s fans, all I can say is thank you.
KG
@freelancer: um, they’re all in their 20s? No, not too racy. And for fuck’s sake, the Parent’s Television Council needs to DIAF. “Bordering on pedophilia?” No, they are actors, in their FUCKING TWENTIES! Not even close. If they were legitimate child actors, maybe, maybe I could see that. But we’re talking about 20-somethings that next summer will be doing movies with gratuitous sex scenes (I have no knowledge of that, but that’s what always happens, see Varsity Blues).
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@Lev:
There was an extended debate between David Brooks and Paul Krugman on the context of this a year or two ago. It’s the best example I can think of of playing with context.
I know it’s loaded and I would have used something else as an example, but I couldn’t think of one that I thought was as good.
Steve
It’s true that it’s hard to fire a high-profile conservative because the usual suspects raise a shitstorm. But I don’t think it’s necessary to feed the awful “you can’t fire black people” meme.
Conservatives would whine about the firing just the same if he were a white conservative. The fact that he’s black has very little to do with the optics of the firing, unless you think someone is actually going to draw the conclusion that NPR hates black people, or if you think Al Sharpton will be up in arms now.
Keith G
@cleek:
Sometimes I think what this rather narrow self-satisfied society needs is some (more) rude shit.
Williams went on O’Rielly and pontificated:
If that’s not being a
lawn jockeystooge, I am not sure what would be.Jesus, the man is a snake, worthy of ultimate contempt.
Jules
“Listen Bill, I’m not a bigot….”
A sentence that begins that way probably means that yeah, you are a bit of a bigot.
morzer
ED Kain disagrees because his viewpoint of the incident is different, and he has provided an argument of sorts to defend said viewpoint. Is he misguided? In my opinion, yes – but I don’t see him making the argument for the sake of being contrarian. It’s also hardly fair to lump him in with the Slate buffoonocracy by implication.
Also, we hate it when the right-wing makes assumptions about the motives of liberals and dismisses us as wrong, unpatriotic, people who argue for the sake of argument. Shouldn’t we hold ourselves to a higher standard, especially among ourselves?
Kryptik
@Jules:
But he swears he has Muslim friends who are just darling!
Martin
@KG: Not to mention that it was in GQ. I don’t know about other people with kids, but my kids only very reluctantly pick up a copy at the newsstand.
But I think it’s interesting that they attacked the photoshoot but where’s the outrage over the cheerleaders kissing in bed that carried the line “It’s a nice break from all that scissoring.” Not bad for 8PM.
Oh, right, it’s a Fox show. Silly me. Totally family-friendly! But burn down the liberul GQ!
Paul L.
So it is now Ok to refer to Black People we don’t agree with/like as a
I predict a Amanda Marcotte style walkback in the future.
As for
Wrong Reality Based.
He is a Black Alan Colmes. A Liberal that Fox News brings on to argue with.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@kwAwk:
Let’s take a step back. When someone gets fired from a regular job or even from any non-regular job I can think of, it’s usually the culmination of a series of things.
Larry Summers wasn’t fired from Harvard for one remark about women. if they had liked him and he apologized correctly, maybe “renewed Harvard’s commitment to gender diversity” it would have been fine. But he’d pissed a lot of other people off too
Rick Sanchez wasn’t fired for what he said about Jews and Jon Stewart. If he’d had gang-buster ratings, all he would have had to have done is sing the Dreidel song on-air a few times, maybe have Stewart on as a guest, and he’d have been fine. But his ratings sucked.
That is now life works: if the people you work for don’t like you and think you’re hurting the organization, they will try to fire you given any reasonable pretext. That’s life.
Jules
@Kryptik:
He probably even lets them use his bathroom….
gbear
I’m waiting for Anne Laurie and mistermix to weigh in before I make a final decision.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@morzer:
I’m sorry if I gave too much an impression of lumping him in with William Saletan. That’s not right.
trollhattan
I’m in the camel-collected-final-straw camp on Williams. His opinionating on NPR has been awful for years and his keeping one leg each in the NPR and Fox camps wasn’t something he was suited to. (Could anybody? That’s a question for another day.)
But for anybody feeling sorry for him, this librul high-tech
lynchingmartyring earns him his wingnut welfaregoldplatinum card. It’s a career-builder.Martin
@morzer: Well, I think we can recognize that ED has a much better ability to respond to our claims. This is quite traditional liberals attacking those in power. ED would probably be the first to note that it’s a bit unfair to call it ‘power’ but if he wants to reply to our assertions, he has more than enough tools to do so.
And I think it’s interesting that ED actually skipped right past the part that I think everyone fully agrees got Williams in trouble. Why mount a defense and then ignore the only piece of evidence out there unless you’re doing it for the sake of mounting a defense?
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@Midnight Marauder:
I agree with you, but it’s sort of my official policy to do that if I get more than a few complaints in the comments on a phrase, since we don’t have an editor here. Usually I think “I should have left that in” but once or twice I was glad I did it.
cleek
lawn jockeys!
no racial connotations. none at all.
good clean fun.
jfxgillis
Doug:
I agree with you that E.D.’s post is wrong and wrong-headed.
Look. It’s a cost-benefit thing. Juan Williams says some stupid shit on Fox, then NPR gets shit for it. Then Juan Williams says more stupid shit on Fox, then NPR gets more shit for it. Then Juan Williams says even more stupider shit on Fox, and NPR gets even more shit for it. At some point, dealing with the stupid shit some stupid shit says in another venue just isn’t worth it anymore.
arguingwithsignposts
How the hell do they air half the day’s broadcasts if that’s against their policy?
Punchy
@meh: what is wrong with “lawn jockey”?
cleek
@Keith G:
i’m not defending Williams. i’m saying that “lawn jockey” is commonly known to be an offensive term, especially when applied to a black man.
catclub
I’m just amazed that ED can find time to comment as well as pitch for the Giants.
Midnight Marauder
@kwAwk:
Amazingly, ED’s post suffers from a similar problem, where he overlooks the fact that Juan Williams prefaced and concluded his statements in the context of defending and justifying Bill O’Reily’s continuous conflating of all Muslims as terrorists and how “we have a Muslim problem.”
Oh, and the salient fact that this incident was not the sole foundation for NPR’s decision not to renew Williams’ contract, as opposed to a capstone on a rather horrid stretch of ineptitude on William’s part.
morzer
@Martin:
I think you’ll find that I disagreed with ED Kain in the comments to his piece. That doesn’t mean that he deserves an intemperate and unfair attack on his motives – one which I see has now been partially walked back.
MikeBoyScout
I wanted Williams gone long before he showed up as a regular on FUX.
The guy just sux as an analyst/pundit.
fyi – the gold standard of ‘senior news analyst’ at NPR is Daniel Schorr. Juan is the cat licorice.
morzer
@catclub:
Mr ED is a remarkably gifted performer indeed.
Dan
I’m beginning to find the anti-“contrarianism” here about as annoying as Slate’s contrarianism.
I don’t understand the need here to attach labels to everyone/everything. It’s not enough to say Saletan is wrong, it’s gotta be labeled “contrarianism” and made into this whole thing about how awful Slate always is. It’s an end run around a real argument, and it wouldn’t be so annoying but for the fact that you guys usually are good at arguing and you don’t need that kind of crutch.
I for one think there’s some irony here because Williams has been an awful political commentator for years, and his admission to harboring prejudiced views was one of the more interesting things he’s ever said.
blondie
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: I’m not A.A. I appreciate your edit. When you use a term that is (perhaps) slang for a particular race/gender/etc., and people tell you, “hey, that’s offensive,” and you say, in essence, “I’m sorry, I’ll change it,” that’s being polite.
Also. Contrarianism sucks.
trollhattan
@MikeBoyScout:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128565997
Was. I have to think about who it might be today, as there’s simply nobody able to fill his shoes. Nobody.
Martin
@cleek: I thought it was pretty clear he put that out there as a proxy for how Fox viewed Williams, not for how he did.
I mean, come on, we do that shit constantly here. DougJ was just subtle this time.
catclub
“Cokie and Innscreep need to go as well. Scott Simon is a tool but since I never listen to NPR on Saturday mornings, he hasn’t had a chance to piss me off for a few years. ”
This i s the comment of a person who has not been forced to watch the fingernails on chalkboard painful Today show or similar dreck. – and thus do not know how the good the godawful NPR news programming is
compared with other options.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Agreeing with Mataconis and Saletan ought to be the first clue that you are wrong. Juan rented his ass to Faux and IMO the lawn Jockey reference is quite apt. Is it offensive? Yes, but so is Juan Williams.
How about “self-made lawn jockey for rent”? Either way, NPR is better off getting rid of the ass. Let the faux liberal sell his bullshit on Faux Nooz.
Keith G
@cleek: Fair enough.
I guess I need to field test this over lunch and see what my co-workers with African heritage have to say. As usual in these matters, their input is quite determinative.
Midnight Marauder
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
No, I fully understand why you would want to avoid something as potentially explosive as that. But I just think it was worth pointing out that the term is exceedingly descriptive of Juan Williams’ performance over the years.
...now I try to be amused
I’m a moderator of an Internet message board, and I know the feeling. There are members who were on the ban track long before I actually ban them. It does no good to cite the post that was the last straw, because other members complain that “it wasn’t so bad.” Maybe in isolation, yeah. But some bans are more a lifetime achievement award than for a single incident.
waterballoon
And you say the Atlantic blogs are a circle jerk…
Kryptik
I’m frustrated, but not terribly surprised I suppose, that the conversations on the whole Juan Williams thing still continues to focus only on the airplane comment he made. As pointed out, the whole of his comments in context come out much more damning than just that one part of it cited ad nauseum.
Martin
@morzer: Is there anyone here who doesn’t receive an intemperate and unfair attack on their motives?
Look, we throw elbows here. Nobody is immune to getting pummeled when they say something stupid or poorly though through. It wasn’t an ad-hominem, and it was reasonable in it’s introduction:
DougJ didn’t add ‘uncharacteristically wrong-headed’ because it improved the meter. He added it say from the outset that he wasn’t attacking EDs character or motives, just that ED blew it this time, and I took it to excuse any equivalencies that others then took issue to. DougJ would never proclaim that Saletans defense of Williams was ‘uncharacteristically wrong-headed’, he’d say it was characteristically wrong-headed. From the first sentence DougJ made it clear that he wasn’t attacking EDs motives.
Did everyone skip over that line and zero in on ‘lawn jockey’?
D-Chance.
Juan Williams’ firing did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in the context of him having been the official Fox News lawn jockey for years.
I guess this is supposed to be Duggy’s kinder, gentler alternative to calling Williams a “house ni**er”?
morzer
@Martin:
You are too generous in your view of this post and the implications that it made about why ED Kain wrote as he did. Also, the “everyone else does it so it must be fine” defense is one of the more unimpressive rhetorical gambits of our time.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@Dan:
Someone has to be anti-contrarian. If Mike Kinsley forms an online magazine dedicated to being anti-contrarian, I’ll probably get sick of that too. Until then, I’m going to fly the flag of anti-contrarianism.
Don
Given that NPR sent out a memo to their staff telling them that no news staff not covering the event should attend the Stewart/Colbert rally it’s hard to see how this wasn’t 9 miles farther over that line.
Personally I think that sort of thinking is some flavor mixture of moronic and terror that rightie nutters will show pictures of your folks and scream BIAS but hey, it’s their gig. Canning Williams is at least a little consistent.
Maude
@Keith G:
Do you mean African or African American?
You know that not everyone on the African Continent is black? Right?
Xenos
Once you establish the movement for discontrarianism it is just a matter of time before the antidiscontrarianists start showing up.
cleek
@Keith G:
i’d be interested in hearing what they say.
in my experience (and based on a little Googling, many people on the net concur), it’s an insult along the lines of “Uncle Tom”. not necessarily the worst thing in the world, but definitely not something i’d call a black guy unless i wanted to racially insult him.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@Maude:
Also too, we all have African heritage if you go back far enough.
Southern Beale
The news gets better: Andrew Breitbart refuses to appear on NPR until Williams is reinstated. Win-win!
cleek
@Southern Beale:
wow.
it’s like winning the lottery and then finding out your mother in law is allergic to big wads of cash, on the same day!
Kryptik
@Southern Beale:
….HUZZAH! Double win!
JPL
@Southern Beale: Win!
catclub
Juan Williams was fired from NPR but will still be on FOX.
He has definitely not been silenced by first amendment censorship.
However, his VALUE on FOX has been seriously reduced.
I wonder what excuse FOX will give for firing him three months from now. Groping the interns does not appear to be a firing offense at either FOX or the WAPO, so they will have to come up with something else.
Southern Beale
It gets better: Now Mike Huckabee is also boycotting NPR! Triple win!
catclub
@Southern Beale:
Now there’s a right wing boycott I can approve of!
DearOldDad
E! Juan Williams!!! (I’d say F! Juan Williams but I do not like to talk that way around the kids).
Steve
I find it interesting that the self-appointed guardians of Juan Williams’ right to free expression are all over DougJ’s choice of wording in this post.
cleek
@Steve:
ok, i give up.
who, exactly, are you talking about?
catclub
@Southern Beale:
“It gets better: Now Mike Huckabee is also boycotting NPR! Triple win! ”
FOX commentator solidarity! Soon they will be singing the Internationale! Maybe Pete Seeger can write something for them.
Steve
@cleek: The usual collection of conservative trolls.
Lysana
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
You were wrong to strike it out. Yes, damn it, Juan Williams IS their lawn jockey. Accusing Fox of tokenism is perfectly legitimate. And that’s what you meant. Gods, some people really need to read for context.
Southern Beale
They are now calling for Congress to de-fund NPR, all 2% of their budget that comes from govt. Hilarious. Some lefties are saying now is the time to reinstate the fairness doctrine!
Grab the fucking popcorn.
Am I the only one thinking we’re seeing some manufactured outrage in the making, 10 days before a national election? Perhaps this is why. Just another right wing dog whistle.
Southern Beale
DougJ:
Just tell them you were being ironic and be done with it.
JPL
According to Think Progress Juan Williams stands by his statement
“I said what I meant to say” which is that it’s an honest experience that went on in an airport and I see people who are in Muslim garb who identify themselves as first and foremost as Muslims, I do a double take. I have a moment of anxiety or fear given what happened on 9/11.
The extremists that attacked us on 9/11 did not appear to be dressed in “Muslim garb”. The Muslims in America are 35% black. Maybe someone should ask Williams about racial profiling.
Lysana
@cleek:
Then Fox needs to stop making Williams their lawn jockey. I didn’t call Williams one in that remark and neither did DougJ. They’ve turned him into one as surely as if they handed him a ring and a brightly colored cap.
someguy
What, was somebody else using the term “house n*****” so you couldn’t use that? Way to go there, Kemo Sabe.
someguy
I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on you guys. The imagination fails at times I suppose. So if you want to combine a racial insult along with sneering diminution, and you just aren’t comfortable calling Mr. Williams a mooly, darky, spear chucker, Uncle Tom or house n*****, then lawn jockey will just have to do.
Personally, I’d rather call Juan Williams a right wing bigot and leave race entirely out of it, since, y’know, racial insults are kind of a bad thing in general. But if you want to do some negro-baiting to advance the cause, well, be my guest, it’s a free country and chucking racial insults hasn’t been outlawed. [you pack of sneering hypocritical racist em effers, he muttered as he walked off].
Lysana
@someguy:
Oooh, using real racism to smack at a non-racist remark. Brilliant!
AnotherBruce
So what is “political correctness” except a cover for this bigoted thing that I’m about to say?
Keith G
@Maude: Of course I do, Maude. It just so happens that these….
Did you have a greater point you are getting at?
Lysana
Once more, slowly, then I’m going to have a better life than reading this bullshit:
Saying. Fox. Uses. Williams. As a Lawn Jockey. Is. NOT. Calling Him One.
To put it another way: if I say someone uses a rose as an ironing board, it’s not saying the rose is an ironing board.
Done now.
Mitchell Young
NPR viewers . LOL
cleek
@Lysana:
great.
DougJ did not say “uses as”. he said Williams has been one (give or take a conjugation and a tense or two).
(and DougJ, just FYI: i’m not trying to pick on you with all this. i don’t think you’re a racist or that you meant it as a racial insult)
someguy
@Lysana:
How do you figure that a term that most likely means “trusted scout” is racist, dumbass?
I guess everybody here is so impeccably non-racist, that it’s just like Sarah Silverman, black people don’t mind when you call them n*****s, because you’re down with the black struggle. That’s the claim you’re making, right?
Sorry, but I’m having trouble believing that some of you don’t have a grasp on how fucking racist it is to call black people – even black people you really, really dislike – lawn jockeys, particularly when you’re part of a big white mob doing it. I don’t think it’s something that a big white mob can do in a joking manner.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@cleek:
I did say “official”, which implies that I think.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@someguy:
I think Fox does use him that way. I find the dynamic very uncomfortable. I wasn’t calling him one, I was referring to how he is used by Fox (and he is used by Fox).
I crossed it out because some objected, but I think if you watch him on one of these shows, you will see agree that they do use him that way.
Martin
@morzer:
I didn’t say that. I said that it was commonplace. Why are you calling out an elbow thrown against ED and not against anyone else? (That’s a rhetorical question – I don’t think you have any particular motive here.)
If we want to aim toward a community that doesn’t throw elbows, that’s fine – but getting the vapors over a single incident isn’t going to cut it. Either go after it in all forms if you think its wrong, or leave ED to suck it up like the rest of us if you don’t think the community behavior should or can be changed.
But ED can mount a vigorous defense right on the front page – something that the rest of us cannot do. He’s got power. He’s the last person who should be protected here.
cleek
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
ok. i’ll agree it can be read that way.
Midnight Marauder
@someguy:
You’re making a mistake in thinking a) this site is just one “big white mob” and b) that there are no black individuals who believe that remark was perfectly valid.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@cleek:
I didn’t think you were being too harsh, I see your and someguy’s point. (EDIT: Not to say I agree, but I see the point.)
someguy
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
So if your point is that Fox news is racist, what other slurs do you think might have been appropriate to fling around to reflect the relationship between Williams and Fox?
Sorry, I don’t buy what you’re selling here. I think you wanted to insult Williams in the most hurtful way you could get away with, and “house n*****” being a little beyond the pale you settled on Lawn Jockey. Which, BTW, is a pretty well known synonym and insult directed at black people where I come from, and which would earn you a punch in the teeth if you said it in mixed company.
Martin
@someguy:
People seem to still be unaware of this, but when a person reads ‘n*****s’, they mentally fill in the ‘igger’ part. If there was a chance they filled in ‘apkin’ instead, you might be excused for doing it, but writing ‘n*****s’ instead of ‘niggers’ is expecting the same kind of free pass as someone who calls you a ‘jig’ instead of a ‘jigaboo’, and then protests that they didn’t really say ‘jigaboo’, they just said ‘jig’, which could mean anything really.
Sack up and just write the word. It’s not like there are a bunch of 5 year-olds here that are going to run home and ask mom what a nigger is.
MJ
@cleek:
It usually makes me uncomfortable to have such language used in describing even the most odious black folks. So I see what you’re saying here. But, I think that there is a time and place for calling M.F.’s out and letting them know that we see them.
I normally wouldn’t do this, but I’ve gotta give DougJ some cover for, what my religious old Grandmomma used to call, “telling the truth and shaming the Devil”.
I think DougJ’s description of J. Willy as a Fox News lawn jockey was appropriate. I implore anyone who has a problem with its usage here to consult the declaration set forth below.
As a black woman, being of (reasonably) sound mind and body, I hereby retroactively grant DougJ a day-long “Black Pass”, solely to be used for the purpose of calling out Juan Williams, Armstrong Williams, Clarence “high-tech lynching” Thomas and other folks of their ilk on their mealy-mouthed, self-hating, shuffling shoes wearing, “How’s we feeling today Massa?” bullshit.
As my dear old Grandmomma also used to say, “F*ck Juan Williams!”
JoeInMD
A strike-through is the coward’s approach. If you want to say something, you can say it, but you have to own up to it. Hypocrite.
Jacob Beizer
One of the things that characterizes this debate is that those opposed to Williams’ firing claim his comment was taken out of context, yet the “context” they provide is itself taken out of context, which is then part of a larger context that Juan Williams sucks at his job. To begin with, his comment was not a quiet reflection on his prejudice, but was meant to justify Bill O’Reilly’s Islamophobia. He was saying, “I know what you mean Bill, and I’m the same way.”
Secondly, this latest gaffe is one in a string of performances in which Juan Williams presents himself as a Brooksian pocks-on-both-your-houses liberal, of which NPR has never approved, nor have they been silent in their disapproval. He’s had fair warning to quit indulging Bill Kristol’s dementia every Sunday morning and they felt he’d crossed the line after a series of stupid remarks.
Martin
@someguy: No, he was pretty clearly trying to call out Fox for actually treating Williams like a lawn jockey. Maybe a bit of shame toward Williams for falling for it.
And I think it goes without saying that DougJ knows precisely what ‘lawn jockey’ means considering it’s context and how he sorta softened it (I say sorta because most people can still make out ‘lawn jockey’ under the strikethrough). It’s really pretty funny that you feel the need to educate him on it.
As to this:
I think lawn jockey is really the most spot-on as it does suggest uselessness as noted above. House nigger suggests that Williams is at Fox against his will and is just acting to serve them. I think that’s unfair in several respects. Uncle Tom is wildly unfair. I don’t think we even need to go down the whole ‘oreo’ lexicon. That’s my take at least.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@MJ:
Thank you.
someguy
@MJ:
So you’re cool with me calling Williams a “house n*****” because that’s how I view Fox’s treatment of him? Cool. What other slurs can we lay on him?
L. Trotsky's Nat'l Security State
Martin: I feel much the same way about any epithet, including motherfucker and asshole. This is, after all, the blog that popularized (as it were) “skullfuck a kitten.”
brantl
Really reaching around the obvious to make your point, Cleek, and making it badly.
Steve
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: The problem with your statement that “Fox uses him that way” is that it sort of denies his own voluntary role in the process. I have yet to meet a token of any variety who didn’t fully realize they were a token. Juan Williams is surely smart enough to understand how he serves to further Fox’s overall message.
Once you accept that he is not “being used” but is a voluntary actor, there’s still terms he can be called – but as a white guy I don’t feel I really have standing to use those fairly vicious terms.
RareSanity
I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but, a blogger for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution actually got to interview Vivian Schiller, NPR CEO this morning.
He writes a “Radio and TV” blog for AJC online, and he lucked up because he was scheduled to interview her before the Williams firing. Good on her for still doing (the very candid) interview, even after the “event”. I say I can’t believe I’m doing it because the blogger is routinely mocked most of the time, but, dammit he got the scoop on this one…
Here’s the gist:
Read the entire thing here.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@RareSanity:
Thanks. That is exactly what I thought was going on here.
Norwegian Shooter
Oh noes! Stupid conservative bloggers read BJ! What should we do?!?
Chuck Butcher
ah jeeze DougJ, the “lawn jockey” was an attempt to shock by going for questionable language, that’s why it is a good idea to just avoid it.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@Norwegian Shooter:
Dijontard.
HowRacist
How incredibly racist and demeaning of you to use a term like “lawn jxxxxx” Dougj.
Why would you say such a thing about a person of color?
Why not judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin?
You should apologize.
DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.
@HowRacist:
You just came over here from Legal Insurrection.
myiq2xu
Wow! And John Cole called ME a racist?
Jewish Steel
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
Oh, totally uncool! I was going to change my handle to HowRacist! Now what am I supposed to do?
pst314
Juan Williams is a “lawn jockey” and stooge, and yet it’s NPR that fired him for not toeing the party line.
Serious racism problem at this blog, not to mention Leninist/Stalinist tendencies to demonize all dissent.
pst314
…which is to say “Deviationists are not to be refuted, they are to be destroyed.”
MJ
@someguy:
The point I am trying to make above is that context is King.
I’ve been reading DougJ on here BJ for a while, so I think I’ve got a pretty good bead on the context in which he made the statement. So, as I stated above, I’m fine with him using the descriptor “lawn jockey” in the ironic context he’s using it here.
I don’t know you from Adam, I really haven’t formed an opinion about how you decide to describe Juan Williams in a blog post discussing whether, or not, he should have been fired.
Michael
Lawn jockey? C’mon, you’re better than that. I love me some snark, but let’s we try and elevate the discourse in this particular instance. Mkay?
robtr
It’s no big deal, the left has always been racist and always will be.
Neoshake
Fox News’ lawn jockey? Wow. Guess that’s like an Uncle Tom, right? Funny, I thought only right-wingers used racial stereotypes. Thanks for clearing that up.
JC
Wow! So this site is one of those lefty fever swamps where all you
Ein Reicher.. One Nation Fascists like to hide. “Lawn Jockey”, huh? How open minded of you, you worthless Fascist scum.Jim Treacher
It’s not racist if you don’t like the person.
DB
I stopped reading what you had to say upon hitting your name calling. Terribly inappropriate. There were a million other ways to get the point across. If somebody at FNC had written that same phrase you’d be all over it. You may have written something valid after that. I won’t ever know though. That was extremely racist and childish and uncalled for. There are plenty of other bloggers who support NPR that are capable of expressing themselves without ridiculous commentary such as that.
Wile E. Quixote
@Jim Treacher:
Hey, it’s Greg Gutfeld and Tucker Carlson’s butt-boy, lil Jimmy Treacher. You know Jimmy, you’re just bitter because Juan Williams is higher on the Faux News totem pole than you’ll ever be, and for all the wrong reasons. See, over at Faux they’re not judging you or Juan by the content of your character, because you’re both lazy, stupid bigots. No, they’re judging you by the color of your skin, and Faux has all the lazy, stupid white, conservative bigots they need, but lazy, stupid black bigots are harder to come by, which is why Juan is getting 2 million dollars for a three year contract at Faux and you’re just Greg Gutfeld’s butt-boy.
I mean Jesus Christ Jimmy, you threw yourself in front of a government vehicle to try and drum up some conservative victim cred (because there’s nothing that guys like you love more than feeling like victims) and what do you have to show for it? Zip, nada, fuck-all. Shit dude, you didn’t even get 15 minutes of fame. Juan Williams has spent the last few years pissing off everyone over at NPR by double-dipping at Faux, being a total dick and doing a lousy job and as a result NPR says “We’re not renewing your contract” (Because that’s how the free market, something that you conservatives claim to love, works.) and suddenly he’s the toast of the conservative town. Man, that’s gotta burn.
JAFAC
A ‘Piss Christ’ for liberals:
Barack Obama is the Democratic Party’s Lawn Jockey. Just a black man holding the required pose but doesn’t do much else.
Next I imagine NPR will fire any commentator that makes a comment about Sarah Palin’s dress.
pdjmoo
Juan Williams has used controversy and sensationalism for a long time, hence his Fox employment and used the whole episode for publicity and his new $2 million contract with Fox. And the lefties jumped on it to twist the publicity toward unfunding NPR – as they Hate indepth good reporting – it undermines their shallow, (albeit successful) soundbites. Find it interesting how Boehner and Gingrich quickly aligned with the trash news of Fox…says a lot about them too.
Good Ethics and journalism are hard to find these days…good on you NPR…surprised you didn’t do it sooner.
daddyquatro
Freedom of speech for me but not for thee.
Seriously DougJ.
Shouldn’t NATIONAL Public Radio host all kinds of views? Even…GASP! some you disagree with?
daddyquatro
@Wile E. Quixote:
I didn’t graduate from college, but I’m pretty sure that your last post qualifies as hate speech.
Have a nice day.
daddyquatro
@pdjmoo:
So. You can only be on NPR if you agree with a liberal/progressive/socialist mindset?
Or are exceedingly boring.
The two concepts are interchangeable.
Suidae
You are a good example of the benefits of freedom of speech. Conservatives have spread your words far and wide. They want you to speak loud and often.
Kevin Huxford
Add me to the chorus of folks that, whether you were calling him one or saying Fox thinks of him that way, using a racial epithet crossed a line. You wouldn’t have typed “house N” and said it was OK because, you know, that’s how Fox sees him, not you.
Hell, even if you think that you’re on solid footing with the thought that “I’m talking about how Fox uses him” gives you cover, shouldn’t the “reaction to the phrasing could distract from my message” have kicked in and made you say it a smarter way?
daddyquatro
I can’t help but chortle that NPR, of all government institutions, handed the conservatives such a chestnut less than 10 days before a national election.
Way to go NPR!
Elite, out of touch management. Check.
Enforcing Political Correctness to the point of wearing a muzzle. Check.
Dissing on the black man who doesn’t agree with you 100% of the time. Check.
Seriously!
This was such a stroke of genius that Carl Rove must have planned it.
HInz Site
YOu guys are mostly screwy man. Let me quote Bennet Easton: “Come on, people! This guy has a Mexican name. He looks black. He’s been working as a “liberal leaning” journalist with National Public Radio for 21 years. He’s written books about the Civil Rights Movement, for cryin’ out loud. How much more open-minded can a guy get!” see here
Wile E. Quixote
You know Doug, you fucked up when you said that Juan Williams was a lawn jockey for Faux News. Seriously, you should have instead said that he was an anticolonialist and that he probably wasn’t an American citizen because he couldn’t produce his long form birth certificate. If you’d said that, and oh, had also said “Barack Hussein Obama” instead of “Juan Williams” then Jimmy Treacher, myiq2xu, Reason magazine, robtr, JC, HowRacist, pst314 and the rest of the conservatives who have come over here and are so outraged about your calling Juan Williams a “lawn jockey” would have been totally cool with you.
See Doug, if you called Barack Obama an anti-colonialist, muslim lawn jockey who wasn’t an American citizen and wasn’t eligible to be president of the United States Jimmy Treacher, Reason magazine, myiq2xu, robtr, JC, pst314 and HowRacist would have been totally cool with you. Oh sure, they might have called you out in public, just as they did Mark Williams after he wrote his little letter from the slaves to President Lincoln or Dale Robertson. But in private they would have told you that they were just doing it only because the damned liberals were making them do it and that they totally agreed with you. And within a few weeks Andrew Breitbart would produce a tape, given to him by a source who wished to remain anonymous, which would be aired on Fox News, showing that Barack Obama was a Nazi, which would make your racist statements A-OK in the minds of robtr, myiq2xu, JC, HowRacist, pst314, Jimmy Treacher and the folks at Reason magazine because hey, two wrongs make a right, and don’t you know that Robert Byrd was in the KKK.
Of course it would soon be revealed that the tape was a crude forgery that consisted of footage of a speech by President Obama intercut with footage from Triumph of the Will and Downfall and Andrew Breitbart would be positively outraged that he was duped, and threaten to sue anyone who said that he knew Jimmy O’Keefe, but the conservatives would have covered your back.
But you didn’t do any of that. You fucked up Doug. You forgot the cardinal rule that Jimmy Treacher, myiq2xu, robtr, JC, HowRacist, pst314, and the folks at Reason magazine and for that matter Fox News and the Hoover Institute live by, and that is RIOKIYAR. If you’d done it right you could have had a sweet gig at Human Events writing pieces about how black Americans have a plantation mentality.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38963
But you didn’t.
ID
Wile E. Quixote
@daddyquatro:
You probably didn’t graduate from middle school. But hey, don’t worry, you could still run as a teabagger candidate like Christine O’Donnell and get lots of votes.
mark l.
chestnut. mmm.
btw, i’m glad that lawn jockey is now an acceptable form of criticism.
obama is the ultimate lawn jockey. six years of arguing against Iraq, and the guy triples down on afghanistan, when he hits the batter’s box.
Wile E. Quixote
@daddyquatro:
You know, I’ll take NPR over Fox News any day of the week because NPR isn’t employing any cop-killing sons of bitches like Mike Huckabee.. Remember kids, Fox News doesn’t like politicians who are soft on crime, unless those politicians are Mike Huckabee, in which case they get their own TV show.
Wile E. Quixote
@daddyquatro:
And I’m not a theologian, but I’m pretty sure that Jesus hates you and that you’re going to burn in Hell for all eternity.
Yours in Christ.
Robert
I’d just like to add another vote in support of the long list of folks who find DougJ a despicable racist for calling Juan Williams a “lawn jockey”. Perhaps DougJ should be fired as this blog’s business and economics editor.
Jim Treacher
@Wile E. Quixote:
Well said. You have every right to be angry, and it’s very satisfying to watch.
Robert
the left’s view of free speech! What a bunch of fascists and, in Juan’s case, a bunch of racists.
Craig
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: Those are ugly, ugly words and this proud leftist is *very* pleased to see so many taking you to task for it. I can’t believe the shamelessness with which you went for the little Derrida-esque strikeout too.
I am happy to see NPR stand up for itself and give Williams the boot. If only the others on this crummy little blog would do the same and boot you.
LogicalSC
Well another classic example that intelligence and rational thinking are not common characteristics of the LOONS on the American Left.
NPR just fired their only African-American analyst because he had the gall to go on FOX News to give their viewers a LEFTIST view on daily issues.
But is was Fox News who using him as a “lawn jockey”. Anybody seen the lily-white cast of NPR and MSNBC recently?
No he should have stayed on the plantation of the Leftist Echo Chamber where all the good little leftists go to get their daily leftist thought. NO CHANCE OF A CONTRARIAN THOUGHT at NPR, can’t have that.
So lets rehash, the sin is going on Fox News to debate issues with conservatives, better to stay at NPR for the daily circle-jerk about how wonderful LEFTIST ideas truly are. Got it.
Good thing that the lily-white CEO and the rest of that bunch of NPR racists finally got rid of their “lawn jockey”. And the idiot CEO called him insane and cost NPR another million or so in damages. Yeah, yoos Leftist are the smartiest people.
And for a just a little knowledge, Juan Williams has been working at FOX since 1997, long before he was hired by NPR.
Rogers Cadenhead
I’m amazed that so many commenters here think there are sometimes acceptable reasons to call a black person a “lawn jockey.”
If a TV pundit used that phrase he’d be fired quicker than Williams was.
Larry Bird
@mark l.:
are Iraq and Afganistan now the same country? If not your point makes no sense.
FTR I find the lawn jockey thing classless.
Xenos
@Rogers Cadenhead:
Jules
Looks like the butthurt folks from Reason have swung by,
(must still be smarting from this hit from JohnI’m seriously psyched about all these teahadist victories, and I want each and everyone of you to vow to help me to never let anyone forget that the jerkoffs at Reason have been pimping the tea parties from day one. I wonder how Angle, O’Donnell, and Miller feel about marijuana legalization, John Stagliano’s occupation, torture, civil liberties, no-knock raids, warrentless wiretaps, military adventurism, and all those things you all pretend to care about?
Oh, you’re gonna get your limited government, Christian style, and you’re gonna get it good, you morons- I may even chip in for the wetsuits and dildo for you special cases at Hit and Run. I can’t blame crazy people for being bat shit crazy, but I sure as hell can heap some scorn on pricks like the Reason writers for running rhetorical cover for the lunatics and helping to mainstream their insanity (I know, I know- you don’t PERSONALLY believe Obama is a Kenyan!). Y’all might as well write for Red State.
I just hope you chumps lose the leather jackets and designer wayfarer prescription specs, because those look vaguely French. Your days of esoterically talking about the virtues of Ayn Rand at DC wine and cheese parties are over, because you’re now bitches for Real ‘Murrika. Yeefuckinghaw! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
Douchebags. )
DougJ, apologize already or we will have to deal with these fools for days and days….
It was a kind of shitty thing to write…not stooge, he is a stooge, but the lawn jockey remark that was probably used in a fairly ironic way but since we all know that the guys from Reason don’t get irony…..
MIke
“lawn jockey”? seriously?
so when do they fire you?
Alex
Well, everyone knows racism is permissible when it supports your particular political prejudices at the given time. The working class heroes who run this site and comment on it are some of the most principled I have ever seen.
OldLineTexan
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: @Jules:
Nah, it was flat-out racist and you’re just another “butthurt” troll peeved because he’s missing out on an afternoon bashing eeeeevil Conservatives on Little Green Footballs while he runs lame cover for someone who shot off his mouth WORSE than Juan Williams did in an attempt to bash Juan Williams. (Hold the gun by the OTHER end, genius.)
As for you, how does it feel to be the smartest, brightest kid in the WHOLE UNIVERSE, capable of such esoteric insults, yet still forced to run at the mouth like a frightened rabbit when anyone else has a different opinion?
So, here’s another chance to unload your bile and feel superior. Until you’re once again kidney-punched by the kid that’s taken your lunch money every day since seventh grade in 1984 and caused you to become such a juvenile yet bitter Lib with the Tea Party living rent-free in your empty head. Good luck with that.
Rogers Cadenhead
@Xenos:
My point was that there’s no acceptable reason to call a black person a “lawn jockey.”
HowRacist
@DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
You just came over here from Legal Insurrection.
Ding,ding,ding!
Congratulations, Captain Obvious!
You’re trying to make some point, here, I think.
anon
DougJ, yes, I think you just made a racist comment much much worse than anything Williams said.
anon
@Rogers Cadenhead:
Roger, google Juan Williams Uncle Tom and see how many good liberal bloggers and commenters have called him an Uncle Tom for years. Thought Crime, you gotta love how they took Orwell and used it as a user’s guide.
Kevin K.
@myiq2xu:
Actually I think it’s pretty clear he was calling you a douchebag.
anon
DougJ,
I think a terrific post from you would:
a) acknowledge your use of lawn jockey
b) discuss it’s racist background
c) explain why you felt it appropriate to use
d) explain why you now either feel it appropriate or inappropriate to use
e) demonstrate how c & d differ from Williams’ somehow still justifying his bigoted statement
f) do a google search and show how many liberal bloggers are still calling Williams an Uncle Tom
g) explain why f) is a good thing or a bad thing
Anyway, I think you’re a sanctimonious judgmental racist fuck not open to introspection or enlightenment. I think if you wonder if there is, or why there is, a backlash to the douchebags who claim to own liberalism, you should look in the mirror. And ask yourself how different you are from either Juan Williams or Vivian Schiller.