Al Sharpton, Bill Press, Lynn Samuels React Differently To Firing Of Juan Williams

GLOATING AND EMOTING

Libtalkers React To NPR's Sacking Of Juan Williams







Not especially long ago, there was a time when broadcasters would put ideological differences aside to come to the defense of an embattled colleague. After all, radio is a nasty, nasty business and anyone who has been in it for very long has endured the pain of its all-powerful dark side.

With NPR's ridiculous termination of Juan Williams over a single comment made on television, it has become apparent those days are long over.

As Williams remains very much a liberal, it should have been relatively easy for "progressive" talkers to back him up, especially on freedom of speech grounds.

But the hatred for Fox has intensified to the point that anyone associating with the network is now considered a traitor to the "progressive" cause. This the overriding deal-breaker for lefties: Fox is off-limits.

As a result, Williams isn't finding many friends in the libtalk world this week.


Listen as only satellite libtalker Lynn Samuels provides the concern that one might expect from a professional broadcaster, while jerky Bill Press gloats and Al Sharpton provides a mealy-mouthed "defense" instead of firing up the Outrage Machine (!!!!):

BILL PRESS (10:18): Whoa, whoa. Juan, what are you doing? A little too much Fox has rubbed off on you, it seems to me.


LYNN SAMUELS (9:40): What kind of f---ing bulls--t is with NPR firing Juan Williams? I don't even like Juan Williams. I think he's just, 'Oh, he's liberal.' Well, you know, in that mushy-headed, unthinking, stupid-ass way he's liberal. He's certainly not liberal to me. At all.

SAMUELS (10:53): NPR, maybe you should pay him more money. He wouldn't have to go on Fox.

SAMUELS (13:10): So, you tell me. All you liberals that listen to me. All you people that complain that I'm not liberal enough. If you're in an airport, and there are people -- I don't even have to see them in Muslim garb -- people that are obviously from the Mid East, particularly if they're getting on the same flight as you, doesn't that make you nervous? It makes me nervous! And nobody likes Muslims as much as I do.

Well, maybe other Muslims. But, it makes me nervous. It does. All Juan Williams was doing was expressing a feeling that I would bet 99% of people who fly have in an airport. I would rather not see anybody who even vaguely looks like they're from the Middle East on an airplane that I'm flying on. I'm sorry. I think it's a natural human reaction.


AL SHARPTON (3:23): I’ve heard what he said and I am wondering whether or not we are going way too far with political correctness. I mean we went through how people chop up tapes in statements with Shirley Sherrod. Now we are seeing no tapes, but people are reading different things. Are we in a too politically correct atmosphere now? Is everything in check?

[...]

Conservatives will take it and say that we’re saying so and so on my show and use that against us in some of the work that we try and do. What is your view? Should Juan Williams have been fired? Or, are we too politically correct?

Or should we be so sensitive about what we say that we don’t leave a gray area? In this particular case and Juan Williams and I certainly don’t agree on a lot, I don’t know that he is not a victim of the culture of political correctness and our taking things to the extreme that may not have even been said. And I think that sometimes you can be mature enough to say that somebody is right even if you think politically they are wrong.

Come on, Al, you can do better than that. Where's the bullhorn? The shakedown of NPR? Marches in the streets?

Obviously, Juan Williams now knows who his real friends truly are and they most certainly aren't liberal talk hosts.