Everyone lay off Juan Williams, he's written BOOKS about Civil Rights

[Enrique]

His insights on Civil Rights movement are IMPECCABLE. Instead of criticizing him, we should be basking in his wisdom on such matters:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/27/juan-michelle-stokely/

Fox News contributor Juan Williams — who has complained about the “militant anger” that Michelle Obama “sometimes uses” — kept up his attacks on the First Lady last night. Appearing on the O’Reilly Factor, Williams agreed with conservative commenter Mary Katherine Ham that Obama will have to watch what she says since, according to Williams, she is “Stokely Charmichael in a dress“:

WILLIAMS: And let me just tell you this: If you think about liabilities for President Obama that are close to him, Joe Biden’s up there, but Michelle Obama’s right there. Michelle Obama, you know, she’s got this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going. If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine suggested, her instinct is to start with this “blame America,” you know, “I’m the victim.” If that stuff starts to come out —

O’REILLY: Yeah, it’ll be death.

WILLIAMS: — people will go bananas and she’ll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross.

Ta-Nehisi Coates noted that Williams’ remarks “prov he knows very little about Michelle Obama and even less about Stokely Carmichael,” the civil rights leader who coined the phrase “Black Power.” Resisting “the urge to say something really nasty,” Coates simply quipped, “It’s a dangerous, dangerous thing to make a living running your mouth.”

[msanthrope]

1. We should keep our eyes on the prize, eh? n/t

[saltpoint]

2. "Stokely Carmichael in a dress..." Wow. Talk about yur

tone-deaf cultural references...

[Poll_Blind]

3. I reserve the right to turn on anyone, regardless of their credentials.

I know you were being facetious, but it had to be said!

:)

PB

[blue sky at night]

4. ya, you are right....

billo-the-clown has a few "books" under his belt too.....

[GoneOffShore]

5. I think you forgot the sarcasm icon.

[madmax]

6. I can't believe he said what he said about Michelle.

:wow: :mad:

[Warren Stupidity]

7. And tons of people here are defending this asshat. nt

[doc03]

8. That has nothing to do with his firing, he got fired because he

told the truth that he sometimes has a thought or a feeling. Jimmy carter said he sometimes lusts in his heart, remember that? What has this country come to when people even try and control your thoughts, it's sad. He admitted he sometimes has a thought that may not be PC. Now what will the MSM be talking about this weekend? (Juan Williams) Then Monday I read on DU that Obama or some other Democrat did something and the MSM doesn't even cover it. All this does is confirm the BS the right has been feeding people about liberals wanting to control everyones lives.

[Enrique]

9. i think you're interpreting it wrong

your interpretation is the domiant one, I'm hearing it everywhere. But it's wrong. The real reason he got fired is the one NPR gave, and the reason they took such a dramatic step was the importance of the issue of Islamophobia.

I think you might be right about "confirming the B.S." and I'm sure NPR knew people were going to call them thought police or whatever, but they had the courage to say, let them make their stink, we have to let go of this guy.

[elleng]

12. I think you're correct. thanks.

[doc03]

14. I totally disagree and like I said NPR only confirms to the

Faux viewers and right wing radio listeners that the left is trying to control our lives right down to what we even think. What NPR did caused more harm to our side than Juan Williams has. If it wasn't for all the publicity this has made I would hardly even know who Williams is. I don't watch Faux or listen to right wing radio but this will just confirm to their followers that they have been right about the liberals. I didn't get pissed off because Bill Clinton was fooling around with Monica Lewinsky, what pissed me off was it confirmed what the right wingers were saying about Clinton being a liar and a womaniser were true.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Iris]

32. yes -let's just keep on sitting by while Faux controls our lives

[gratuitous]

10. Juan Williams is perfectly free to continue to have his thoughts and opinions

He's just not going to pick up a paycheck from NPR anymore. His speech now is really, truly free. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, Juan Williams is--

Oh, he just got a new job at Fox for seven figures annually?

:think:

So it was a contract negotiation all along. And somehow I'm supposed to be convinced that this has something to do with liberals wanting to control everyone's lives? Sorry, but I'm not that stupid. Maybe if I watched Fox News more?

[doc03]

15. And the right has already started to call for cutting funding off

to NPR.

[gratuitous]

18. Quick quiz: How much of NPR's funding comes from the Treasury?

Please choose one of the following:

A. 100%
B. 65%
C. 30%
D. 2%, if that

Ready? Pencils up! And . . . Go!

[spanone]

19. the correct answer is D...this is grandstanding bullshit

[Enrique]

25. started?

the right has been calling for NPR's funding to be cut off for 40 years.

[mkultra]

29. WRONG, he got fired for a history of bias

[spanone]

11. he should have been fired years ago

[laureloak]

13. But he's blind to his own faults, or he doesn't think that what

he requires from others applies to himself.

I see that a lot here on DU.

[obliviously]

16. Another black man loses his voice

Same song different verse a little bit louder a little bit worse.

[Spazito]

20. He didn't lose his voice, he broke his contract and lost his job at NPR...

He still has his voice, Faux hired him for it and that says it all, imo.

[obliviously]

22. Oh, I see

he can get a drink of water but please use a different fountain!

[Spazito]

23. Huh! He BROKE his contract, what part of that do you not understand?

Do you think he should have kept his position even though he BROKE his contract not once but numerous times?

[gratuitous]

26. How has Juan Williams lost his voice?

From what I can see, he's perfectly free to continue talking, spouting his fraidy-cat bigotry to anyone who's willing to listen. The only difference between the Juan Williams today from the Juan Williams at the beginning of the week is that he's not picking up an NPR paycheck anymore. That's hardly losing his voice, unless he could only speak if he was getting a paycheck. In which case, he's not only a fraidy-cat bigot, but an expensive one at that.

[obliviously]

28. I just have to wonder

how the other black NPR commentators feel about this.

[mkultra]

30. goodbye Uncle Juan

[hedgehog]

21. Williams was under notice from NPR that he had a choice to make:

work as a news analyst for NPR or a news commentator for Fox.*



He chose........poorly.
















*n the spring of 2008, NPR shifted him from a staff correspondent position, making him instead a senior news analyst on contract. NPR has also asked Fox News not to identify him as an NPR analyst on screen, most recently after he described first lady Michelle Obama as being like the black militant Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress.

Schiller compared Williams's dismissal to NPR's recent decision to ban news staffers from attending the upcoming Washington rally of political satirist Jon Stewart, who frequently targets conservatives.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130732174

[obliviously]

24. yes of course he was warned

stay in your place, don't get uppity.
I'm with Whoopie on this one!

[bigtree]

27. he was brilliant on that subject - he turned into a FOX shill

. . . who gets his rocks off saying things his benefactors want to hear. I'm not surprised he got caught with his foot in his mouth. But, your point only proves that, of all people, HE should know better!

[2nd_try]

31. uneasy feeling over this

We can pick apart this looking for supporting details. But as many have pointed out, this isn't about how we may interpret this. Who here has engaged this subject with people at your work or wherever? In my casual discussions, not expressing my views, in my little informal experiment, most are thumbs down to NPR. Like it or not, I think NPR did damage to the more moderate fence-sitters out there. And, it's a dumb time to be pushing anyone toward the right.

[WillyT]

33. Woosh...

You really did forget the sarcasm thingy... but I got it.

This time, so close to an election, use the sarcasm thingy.

:shrug:

:hi: