Letters to the Editor
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Juan Williams?
I can't believe that's Juan Williams. Doesn't seem like the same person who did a great job hosting Talk of the Nation on NPR. Guess I didn't know ya, Juan.
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O'Reilly and Letterman
O'Reilly is no more a journalist than I am. As far as being insulted by Letterman, he simply received a taste of his own medicine. O'Reilly's greatest fault is that he takes himself seriously.
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Distortion, Obfuscation and Lies
Clearly, O'Rielly et al. were counting on the fact that most of their audience was tucked safely underneath their Dept. of Homeland Security approved quilts at the time Letterman was giving Bill a heaping dose of karma. Notice how the clips O'Reilly showed were video only, all the audio was just too humiliating. If I hadn't seen the show and got my only account of what happend in the No Spin Zone, I'd have thought that Paul Shaffer had performed an abortion in a church-front nativity scene, while Letterman was brazenly signing checks to Osama bin Laden and teaching his audience the propper way to strap on a suicide bomb belt.
By the way, on the Letterman show, did I actually hear O'reilly accuse someone else of being a shill for extreme political interests???
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Juan, Juan, Juan
I'm actually glad to see Juan Williams on FOX News. At least there his intentions are clear. Anyone who lives in the NYC area knows Juan from his time on WNYC, the largest local NPR affiliate. Juan was, to my ears, a mostly objective reporter/newsreader. Until, that is, Swift Boat. His reports on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's attacks on John Kerry were startling in their sloppiness. He'd exclude either key pieces of information (readily available from nearly any other news source) or simply not interview anyone from the Kerry camp for comment.
From that point on, Juan's reporting on Kerry in general ran this way. At the same time, his pieces on Bush, Iraq, and WMDs were suspiciously on-point with what the White House was saying. It was truly perplexing, as listeners tend to turn to NPR for coverage that cuts through talking points of all sides. I actually wrote to WNYC to complain about their morning reporter's coverage. Looking back, though, it's clear what happened. Juan was doing spec work for FOX, a little on-the-job test assignment. And I guess he aced it. Good going, Juan!
-Matt Debenham
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Jerkstore!
Juan Williams: "When he asked you if you lost a relative in combat, what you should have said is, 'Have _you_ lost a relative in combat, Dave?'"
Hey Juan, the ocean called, they're running out of shrimp. Also, David Letterman doesn't support the war, so he doesn't need to support his political position by claiming to understand the human impact of it. O'Reilly (and you, apparently; what do you have to do to get fired by NPR?) hawks the hawk but he hasn't walked the walk. I heard he did carry a pen through the jungles of Panama, ostensibly to write down their ripping good recipe for falafel, only to find out he was on the wrong continent. I think Hard Copy was a safer bet for Bill.
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How Sad!
Juan - we hardly knew you! He was so eloquent, so sophisticated on Talk of the Nation, it was a shame when the ham-handed Neal Conan took the reins. Charitably, I hope this means he can send his kids to better schools, NPR probably doesn't pay much.
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Say it isn't so, Juan!
I, too, loved him on TOTN. But Juan, you've lost me forever.
"You're a journalist...he's an entertainer..."??? The world has truly gone mad when anyone says this to Bill O'Reilly. (Even if they're comparing him to Nathan Lane!)
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Juan Nation Under God
Well, at least now I don't feel so bad that Juan Williams's voice naturally sounds like he is speaking through the drive through window microphone at a fast food restaurant. (all credit to the Salon.com writer who first pointed that out, brilliantly, some years ago).