I'm gonna stir this Juan Williams thing up a bit.

[Raine1967]

But first a disclaimer: I really am not that interested in his firing. HE worked for an employer who made it clear what his responsibilities were. HE was warned. I have been let go for far less infractions than he was. So please let me play devils advocate -- or just naive for a moment.




THAT said --

I heard he was given a 2 million dollar contract by Fox. That leads me to ask, did Fox give Helen Thomas that deal? Rick Sanchez? Octavia Nasr?

I know that Imus got a gig at Fox Business Channel -- and yes It's still Fox. Why weren't Thomas, Sanchez and Nasr offered the same contracts?

[marybourg]

1. Fox has some kind of obligation to hire horse's asses? nt

[LiberalFighter]

2. Did Williams intentionally instigate the situation so he would get fired?

[marshall]

8. I think he intentionallyl said something provocative

I'm not sure how NPR communicates what is acceptable to speak about to its employees, but they are apparantly told that they are not to voice opinions that differ from the standard followed by the powers that be in that organization. Williams strayed from that path.

[AtomicKitten]

3. Like Bill Maher said, Juan Williams got fire and hired for the same remarks. nt

[Ter]

4. Why do you think?

They won't hire anyone who says anything bad about Israel.

[Honeycombe8]

6. Sanchez didn't say anything bad about Israel. Neither did Thomas.

What they DID say was generally anti-semitic...about Jewish people. Not Israel.

Thomas said the Jews should go back to Germany.

Sanchez dissed his employers, saying they're all Jews like Stewart, etc., etc. (he meant it negatively...as if being Jewish were a bad thing).

Statements like that are called anti-semitic. A discussion about Israel's actions...not anti-semitic.

[xenie]

11. Not Anti-Semitic

Helen Thomas is NOT anti-Semitic. She IS Semitic. She's from a Lebanese Christian family.

There are millions more Semitic people who are Christian and Muslim than are Jews. Those people were in the eastern Mediterranean region continuously, far longer than the Jews of Eastern Europe who emigrated more recently. Please consider that the native Jews of Palestine, now Israel, have been mistreated almost as badly as the Muslims and Christians by the fanatical Zionists. Jews from Turkey, Iran, Iraq were marginalized when they tried to emigrate. It's so bad that many Iraqi Jews returned to Iraq even during the war because they had it better there than in Israel.

Helen Thomas was right in talking about Israel occupying Palestine, but she could have been more judicious in her choice of words. It's not a Jewish transgression, it's Israeli. The Jews who lived in the region, whose families never left are not the problem. They lived fairly peacefully with Christians and Muslims for well over 1000 years. The people there are divided by religion, not race, not ethnicity. They are the same people.

Israel is the problem. Israel can be the solution. Don't be tricked by leaders like Netanyahu when they whine, "They hit us back!" Peace is in their hands, and they have chosen to ignore it in favor of violence and theft. Until Israel withdraws from Palestinian territory, stops tearing down Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem, opens Gaza, and rebuilds what they've destroyed, Israel will remain a pariah. That's what they've chosen--violence over peace.

No, I'm not antisemitic. My uncle was a Turkish Jew who thought he was a Zionist until he went to Israel and was horrified by it, soon leaving and moving to Paris instead. Thomas apologized, "I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon." but didn't back down on her statement about occupation of Palestinian territory.

[Honeycombe8]

5. Helen Thomas isn't a TV broadcaster or pundit, for one thing.

No one would tune in to watch her. That's a niche that not everyone can carve out or do well. I never heard of Nasr, and I watch a lot of political TV, so maybe that's your answer about that person. And Sanchez...don't know about that one. Maybe he will be offered a contract. But his statements were clearly personal, anti-semitic, and downright hateful. He had sort of a meltdown on public airwaves. Not someone you'd want on the air. Juan Williams' comment was merely a personal opinion about people on airplanes of a certain faith who were dressed a certain way and behaving in a certain way. They weren't hateful comments or general anti-muslim comments...it was about his feelings. Very different.

Also, Williams has a longstanding relationship with Fox.

[JoePhilly]

7. This was the deal he had with Fox all along.

Fox liked having Juan on as their FAUX Liberal because his NPR position allowed them to claim he was "objective".

With that arranged, Juan played a ROLE when he was on Fox News. He played the "weak liberal", his job was to misrepresent liberal positions and defend them halfheartedly.

They knew that at some point this would happen. NPR would get tired of Juan spouting non-sense Fox and fire him. Fox would hire him as payment. And then Fox would turn its attack against NPR, which they, and the GOP would love to destroy.

The dominoes were set up, and Juan and Fox were simply waiting for NPR to push over the first one.

[RockaFowler]

9. How did he get a contract so fast??

My God, I know how long it takes for local TV contracts to get pushed through. How did this guy get a contract in less than 24 hours??

It was staged. They had a contract waiting for him, just ready for him to get out of his NPR deal. Now NPR looks like the bad guy, when in fact Juan and Faux are the truly "bad guys".

[vaberella]

10. I don't believe those three were regular pundits on their station.

Juan Williams is.