Some History on Juan Williams

Juan Williams was fired by NPR for his xenophobic comments about Muslims on Fox News. The question I have is why is Williams still working in the media. Williams got into trouble at the Washington Post in 1991 for sexual harassment.

For many journalists, the crystallizing moment was the revelation that Washington Post writer Juan Williams, one of Thomas' most ardent defenders, was himself an alleged harasser. The Post had printed a Williams column minimizing the gravity of the charges against Thomas without disclosing that Williams had been accused of verbally abusing female staff members over a period of at least four years. Post management also initially held back the paper's media writer, Howard Kurtz, from reporting on the angry reaction among Post staff members. It wasn't until WRC-TV, a local NBC affiliate, broke the story that the Post mentioned the controversy in its pages. And only after a protest by 116 newsroom employees did the paper concede that the charges against Williams were founded. Unlike most incidents of sexual harassment in newsrooms, the Williams case was widely reported, largely because of its intersection with the Thomas hearings and the conflict-of-interest question it raised.

Why does Williams still have a job. Williams burned his bridges big time at the Washington Post. Do you think you would have two major paid gigs in your line of work if 116 of your fellow employees protested against you? For that matter why is Bill O'Reilly still working at Fox News after his highly-publicized sexual harassment of his producer. The standards of journalism have sank so low that former Morning Zoo shock jock Glenn Beck can get on the television airwaves.

Fox News Makes Case For Stimulus

Shepard Smith and Juan Williams make interesting points about how the stimulus has helped save America from a depression. Williams agrees with Smith that the White House political team has been unable to promote their own economic policies. The first reason for that is the economy is still bad. The second factor is Team Obama is more concerned with attacking their base then defending themselves against right-wing attacks. It is sad when Fox News can makes a batter case for Obama's economic policies than Robert Gibbs and Tim Geithner.

The Right Goes After Harry Reid

The Right is going after Harry Reid for saying the Iraq war is loss. Bill Kristol is going after Reid's scalp on Fox News

Kristol: What Harry Reid said is much more disgraceful than anything Trent Lott said, and I do think Democrats should ask Harry Reid to step down.

Juan Williams: Brit [Hume] says it’s ‘laughable,’ you say it’s a ‘disgrace.’ I think what he said is the truth. I mean, it’s unavoidable,” Williams said. “Most Americans think we should have never gone in there, so he’s speaking in a voice that represents the majority of the American people.

Brad Delong laid out the 4 planks of the neoconservative movement.

That the Soviet Union was winning the Cold War, which the west needed to heat up and wage it with harsher methods--nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, and death squads rather than limp-wristed Carter-Ford focus on international economic prosperity, democratization, and human rights.

That Likud should be encouraged to drive Palestinians into their existing homeland of Jordan as soon as practicable.

That taxes should be cut, (military) spending raised, and budgets balanced--and that anyone who pointed out that this didn't add up needed to be shouted down.

And:

That African-Americans got too easy a ride in modern America, and needed to be made poorer and less powerful.

Bill Kristol should stay away from the Trent Lott comparisons. Why are people still listening to what he has to say about Iraq? He has been wrong for so long. It's amazing the news talk shows will allow him to continue to come on.

Reid fired back at the attacks from the White House.

In his remarks, Reid criticized Bush and called Vice President Dick Cheney the president's "chief attack dog," lacking in credibility.

He likened the president to Lyndon Johnson, saying the former president ordered troop escalations in Vietnam in an attempt "to save his political legacy," only to watch U.S. casualties climb steadily.

Bush, he said, "is the only person who fails to face this war's reality — and that failure is devastating not just for Iraq's future, but for ours."

The Lyndon Johnson comparison is apt. Bush is putting his selfish needs over that of America.