NPR's Nina Totenberg appears with Charles Krauthammer on the set of Inside Washington, as he asks why NPR did not fire Totenberg along with Juan Williams. Juan made the mammoth PC mistake of saying he gets nervous on airplanes when Muslims-in-garb are on the plane. Totenberg once said the "Good Lord" must be considering Jessie Helms, and maybe Helms or his grandchildren will get AIDS. Nina escaped the crude "mobile-firing - or any firing at all, Juan didn't.
Nina Totenberg
Totenberg's actual quote from NewsBusters:
TOTENBERG: I think he ought to be worried about what's going on in the Good Lord's mind, because if there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it.
Krauthammer to Nina:
And I don't understand the inconsistency here. Why is it okay for Nina to express opinions, as she has tartly, sharply, unashamedly and openly, and she’s an honored correspondent there? In fact, they mention your status here on this show in your biography at NPR. And Juan, because he expresses his opinions, gets canned from NPR. That’s what the CEO said yesterday. In fact, the standard ought to be lower in the case of Juan because he’s an analyst, whereas Nina is a correspondent.
Totenberg responds in a manner of speaking along with other panelists. Krauthammer keeps asking why Juan Williams was singled-out, and ends with:
This is all highfalutin journalistic theory.
Most journalism today is in disarray. Andrew McCarthy points out the problem with Juan's firing is not Juan's firing. The real problem is our funding of NPR:
Why does a country that is trillions in debt, and in which people have unlimited options for obtaining information, need NPR? More to the point, why do we need to fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which keeps NPR afloat?
And let's not forget the National Endowment for the Arts who gives many millions ($155M) to NPR each year, along with CPB's $400M.
Nina Totenberg, Robert Siegel Spoof Lady GaGa!
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