The Latest Liberal Purge

Jonah Goldberg doesn't need any help from me in selling his book. But I used the front of his book to introduce this post simply because the title is exactly the first thought I had when I found out about National Public Radio firing Juan Williams for making one itsy-bitsy comment which diverged from the straight Progressive script.

Since I am about to go into full rant mode, I'll start out with a basic recitation of the facts surrounding Williams's firing. Last Monday night, Williams was making comments criticizing Bill O'Reilly's approach to addressing Islam. In particular, the discussion revolved around the now-famous The View exit of Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar because they were so horribly offended by O'Reilly saying "Muslims killed us on 9-11." Williams was cautioning against painting all of Islam with the broad brush of terrorism.

Of course, before making the "damnable remark" that got him in hot water with the left, Williams felt it necessary to point out his liberal credentials and his books about the civil rights movement. He prefaced his remarks with the obligatory "I'm not a bigot." It's very sad that anybody feels it necessary to prove his liberalism before he makes a comment that might not be pure liberal doctrine. And it didn't do Williams a bit of good anyway. After the standard liberal disclaimers, Williams blasphemously said something about his own guilty feeling of discomfort 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."

It wasn't even on a par with Jesse Jackson's remarks from a few years back when he said "when I'm walking alone at night in D.C., and I hear footsteps and youthful laughter behind me, I'm ashamed to admit that I am relieved when I turn around and see white kids." But that was then and this is now. Progressives have become bolder and more vicious than they were just a few decades ago. Once the mantras "Islam means peace," and "9-11 was committed by a small group of radical Muslims who distorted Islam" were established, there can be absolutely no deviation from them.

So the self-righteous and obnoxious CEO of NPR, Vivian Schiller, made a public statement in which she hypocritically denounced Williams for stating his personal opinion in violation of NPR's super-duper standards for their "reporters." She was so far up on that high horse that if she slipped and fell, even her thick head would have broken open. And then she went that one step farther. She announced that if Williams wanted to tell people how he felt, he should have done so with his psychiatrist or his publiher. In other words, poor, stupid, ignorant, bigoted Williams expressed his nervousness about Muslim regalia for only one of two reasons: either he is crazy, or he is doing it to sell books.

Williams will land on his feet. He has a permanent spot as the devil's advocate on Fox News Channel. He has his own regular column at the Washington Post. And he has a series of successful books. If anything, Williams's stature has been improved by this contrived suppression of free speech. I don't think the same can be said of NPR.

The true liberals are coming out in force against this travesty. By "true liberals" I mean those well-meaning but mistaken people whose political philosophy counters conservatism. That doesn't include hardcore leftists, "Progressives," and crypto-communists who control much of the mainstream media. Noted liberal Democrat pundit Bob Beckel could barely sputter out his disgust for the firing. It's the first time I have ever seen Beckel at a near-loss for words. Democrat and former pollster Pat Caddell said that Williams was a sacrificial lamb in the war on Fox, and added "they've screwed with the wrong people this time."

Caddell added "they care nothing about the concept of open debate or free speech." Several liberals joined in noting that just prior to the firing, Nazi collaborator and present currency manipulator multi-billionaire George Soros had just thrown $1.8 million at his leftist hit site Media Matters and NPR. Several mentioned that NPR never batted an eyelash when their leftist commentator Nina Totenberg opined that she hoped someone would pass AIDS on to Jesse Helms or his grandchildren because he wouldn't support many millions of dollars in public money for AIDS organizations in Africa.

The trope that Williams expressed an opinion not allowed for the straight-laced NPR "reporters" is just pure baloney. Totenberg expressed a very clear opinion and a fervid hope that Helms and his grandkids would die a horrible death. Another NPR "reporter" expressed her opinion that Mrs. Clarence Thomas should feed her husband lots of high cholesterol foods so that he would die soon of a heart attack or stroke. As with Totenberg, there were no repercussions. Yet Williams did not even express an opinion. He merely admitted to a certain feeling of unease on an airplane where there are Muslims in Middle-Eastern garb. And he even stated that he felt bad about feeling that way. Sorry, Juan, insufficient mean culpa for NPR.

It's time to cut off all federal funding to NPR. This is not a new opinion for me. One of the reasons I switched to the Republican Party in 1994 was the promise in the Contract With America that funding for NPR would be cut off. It didn't happen then. It should happen now. As for their sources of private funding, I hope many liberals will follow Bob Beckel's lead and refuse to make any pledges to the organization this year (or any year, as far as I'm concerned). Nazi collaborator turned leftist billionaire Soros will probably make up any shortfalls directly and through his many surrogates, but at least a message will get out. And a trillion dollars for a network that nobody listens to or respects anymore is just money down the Progressive drain.

I am glad Fox will continue its relationship with Juan Williams. I enjoy shouting back at the television every time he lets loose with an Obama defense or stands behind the growth of government and the shrinking private sector. Except for sharing his nervousness on airplanes with potential jihadists aboard, I agree with very little that Williams says. But unlike NPR, I enjoy the marketplace of ideas. And unlike Williams, I don't feel guilty about my suspicions of people who look like they're on their way to an Al Qaeda conference.