Newt the Victor

If you watched the Republican debate last night, you know that victorious Newt Gingrich won all over the other candidates. Mitt Romney who previously came out of these debate not the absolute victor, but untouched, came across rather weakened. I am comfortable in my feeling that Ron Paul will be the Republican challenger to Pres. Obama in the fall. Rick Perry has improved in these debates. I like Rick Santorum, but I include him and Mr. Perry with Ron Paul in not getting the Republican presidential nomination.  

Newt’s response to Juan Williams’ question of his idea to allow poor children to earn money by cleaning school bathrooms, working in school offices or libraries and Pres. Obama being the Food Stamp President was the highlight of the debate.

When Mr. Gingrich initially came out with his thoughts on allowing poor children to work, I stated in a previous post my concerns about feeding into negative stereotypes. I also add during my child care years as a teacher and a director, I saw plenty of mothers get off welfare to work plus go to school or take on a 2nd job. With that said, I loved his response to Juan Williams. Mr. Gingrich is right on the money about Pres. Obama being the Food Stamp President. I loved all his responses in the debate.

What Goes Around Comes Around

Remember Juan Williams being fired from National Public Radio (NPR) for stating  his reaction to being on the same plane with Muslims dressed in their cultural garb? Some on the liberal left were okay with the firing, because they felt Mr. Williams was extremely out of line and was in hate speech territory. Some on the conservative right were glad to see him fired by fellow liberals.

Juan Williams identifies himself as a liberal.  There are a lot liberals that do not see him that way. Some liberals view him as a self-hating black conservative. That misconception is because he is not a far leftist liberal and he continually appears on Fox News, which most on the left loathe. Therefore, even some liberals where happy to see Juan Williams terminated.

Initially, NPR bosses patted themselves on the back for what they did to him before the public backlash came and strengthened. Mr. Williams did not suffer much from being terminated, because Fox augmented his presence on the cable news channel. He also received a lucrative book deal. Now the firing that he received has gone around to two that took part in his firing. First it was the Vice President in charge of news, Ellen Weiss.

Now, CEO, Vivian Schiller who said and later apologized for saying that Mr. Williams needed to be in therapy suffered quick termination today in relation to another controversy.  She was to leave NPR for a new position, but her resignation was not until May 2nd.  How often does anyone terminated go on to something better and get to see (but have no part in) anyone involved in their termination suffer termination less than 6 months later? In relation to Ellen Weiss and Vivian Schiller, what goes around, comes around.

 

Juan Williams and NPR

Controversy just keeps building and building over the firing of Juan Williams by Nation Public Radio (NPR). Mr. Williams is out at NPR due to his expressing his fears of being on the same plane with Muslims in his frequent travels. I can understand that. I heard a few stories of people quietly playing flight marshal. If you are in the camp that sees analogies with Timothy McVeigh types and/or black stereotypes to Mr. Williams’ travel fears, those types did not pilot planes into World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon and continue plot to attempt to carry out the blowing up of planes.

There are folks on both sides of the political spectrum who are happy with Juan Williams’ termination. Some are glad of his firing for making stereotypical statements while being a journalist. Others are glad, because he is getting it from fellow liberals. There are many more on both sides of the political spectrum that say NPR was wrong to fire him. Liberal, left type, Whoopi Goldberg expressed objection to his firing.

NPR’s CEO, Vivian Schiller made some unprofessional and disparaging remarks against Mr. Williams at a news conference. She has since apologized but not directly to Mr. Williams. NPR’s is flooding with emails and their website has crashed due to protests of Juan Williams’ firing. She talks about journalistic standards. How about Nina Totenburg sharing her opinion on other programs! Her personal opinions goes along with NPR’s liberal, progressive outlook; therefore, she is still at NPR.

Juan Williams is an old-time liberal and not as progressive as many of today’s liberal thinkers. I know people who think he is a Republican. He makes comments that do not jive with NPR’s liberal, progressive outlook on Fox News and gets the boot. If you are feeling good about the termination, allow to me to disturb that feeling somewhat. There are reports that Fox News has offered him a $2 million contract. Hey, not a bad aftermath to being fired!