One of the ironies of the NPR’s firing of Juan Williams has been how fast the conservative media rose to his defense. That might have been partially because he was fired for something he said on a ‘conservative’ show, but more than likely it was because he presents himself as such a total gentleman. I am a regular viewer of Fox News Sunday and Special Report on Fox News and have watched Juan defend his views on the panels often. I generally disagree with almost everything he says, but I love to hear Juan and Brit Hume discuss an issue. There is an amazing amount of knowledge and logic between the two of them. Anyway, it was refreshing to see one of my favorite left-leaning columnists come to Juan’s defense. <\/p>\n
In yesterday’s Washington Examiner<\/a>, Susan Estrich posted a column about the firing of Juan Williams. I also need to mention here that Susan is another ‘liberal’ commentator who is not afraid to appear in ‘conservative’ media. <\/p>\n In the beginning of the article, she quotes Jesse Jackson stating his feelings about hearing footsteps and basing his level of fear of being robbed on the race of the person following him. She compares that to the statement Juan Williams made about seeing people in Muslim garb on an airplane. The thing that she points out is that firing Juan Williams is not going to change the fact that the people who attacked us on September 11th were Muslims or that the people making threats against America almost every day are generally Muslims.<\/p>\n Ms. Estrich points out in her article that she and Juan Williams have been regular contributors to Fox News for more than a decade. She describes herself and Juan as part of the “balance” in “fair and balanced.” <\/p>\n At the end of the article she concludes:<\/p>\n “Others are free to disagree, on both Fox News and NPR. But to fire an analyst for expressing an honest opinion violates the very principles of free expression and the First Amendment on which NPR so often prides itself.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The kind of rational discussion of issues that Juan Williams and Susan Estrich engage in on a regular basis is a healthy thing for our country. Although I believe that there are some principles that should not be compromised, I also believe there are a lot of issues where alll viewpoints need to be discussed rationally. Rational discussions can sometimes be hard to find (on both sides). I thank Juan Williams and Susan Estrich for being part of many of the rational discussions that do occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the ironies of the NPR’s firing of Juan Williams has been how fast the conservative media rose to his defense. That might have been partially because he was fired for something he said on a ‘conservative’ show, but more than likely … Continue reading \n