Categorical Aperitif

I'm sure that my friend jules already knows about this, but just in case, allow me to be the bearer of good news: Juan Williams has finally been smacked down by the NPR ombudsman—this over a recent appearance on Bill O'Reilly's show where he basically called Michelle Obama "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress." It's not much of a smackdown—"NPR's Vice President of News, Ellen Weiss, has asked Williams to ask that Fox remove his NPR identification whenever he is on O'Reilly"—but then this will drastically reduce his usefulness in the See? Even Nominally Public Radio commentators agree that liberals are whacko department. Of course, his usefulness in the See? Even black guys agree that liberals are whacko department remains undiminished, so one doubts he'll be out of Fox's Rolodex anytime soon. Nor will those hard hours of simile freewriting be wasted. Will it be "H. Rap Brown in Manolo Blahniks" that gets him in trouble next? Stay tuned!

I know that jules will also appreciate this comment from Weekend Edition host Scott "This...is an ex-Quaker" Simon:

"We don't monitor what Juan says on Fox -- or for that matter, his books or other appearances," said Simon by email. "Juan is one of the foremost chroniclers of the history of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and African-American life...I think the world of Juan, and he is on our show because the analysis that he offers is insightful, reasoned, fair-minded and interesting."

But after watching the Fox segment, Simon said, "What can I say? That's not the Juan Williams who is on our show."

// posted by nash @ 9:27 AM