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CBS/ AP/ October 23, 2010, 7:37 AM

Juan Williams Talks Back on "O'Reilly Factor"

Juan Williams spoke back to NPR about his termination his first day on the job at Fox News, where he was Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes offered Williams a 3-year, $2 million contract yesterday.

Acting as host on "The O'Reilly Factor," Williams addressed the NPR for firing him after he confessed to Bill O'Reilly that seeing people in Muslim dress at an airport make him feel "nervous" and "worried".

Williams mentioned several remarks made by other NPR commentators he thought were questionable.

Williams stated several cases in which NPR practiced a double standard, saying it didn't fire commentator Nina Totenberg 15 years ago for saying that Senator Jesse Helms or his grandchildren should get AIDS, nor did it object when the Tea Party was insulted.

The analyst also addressed the Council on American Islamic Relations' desire to punish him for expressing his honest opinion.

"What was striking to me was listening to him [CAIR director Ibrahim Hooper say] that somehow anybody who has different views should not be allowed on NPR because NPR should represent only one slice of the spectrum," said Williams, referring to Hooper's discussion with Fox News' Megyn Kelly.

Numerous times Williams criticized NPR and CAIR for wanting to end the discussion of fear of Muslims.

"They are all about diverting it talking about Islamaphobia," Zuhdi Jasser, MD of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy told Williams. "Talking about bigotry when, in fact, they are wanting to divert it from, you know, the issue of fear that you so appropriately brought up is just the first layer of the discussion because deeper within that is the root cause of terrorism, which is an ideology that feeds that and groups like CAIR don't want to talk about reform."

Williams appeared to have no regret for making the comments that got him fired.

"Some American-Muslims want us to be sincere about our feelings so we can have an honest discussion," said Williams.

Juan Williams: NPR Head's Remarks Were an Attack
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Juan Williams: I Meant What I Said on O'Reilly
Former NPR Host Accused of "Religious Profiling"
NPR Fires Juan Williams over Anti-Muslim Remarks
CBS/ AP
52 Comments Add a Comment
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1renegade says:
Amazing when a liberal fires back on his own for being hypocritical, the rest of you go stark-raving mad. That is funny!!!!
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youbrew12 says:
Helen Thomas insulted the state of Israel: fired, not rehired, and Faux News applauds her firing. Juan Williams insults not merely a Muslim country, but individual Muslims for, of all things, LOOKING Muslim: gets a $2 million raise and Faux News tut-tuts about 'freedom of expression'. Only in Amerika.

Maybe Bill O'Reilly will insult blacks for looking black, and get a similar raise.
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youbrew12 replies:
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I mean, did Rick Sanchez do anything that Juan Williams didn't do? Why is Sanchez unemployed while Williams gets a raise? (because he directed his comment at Jews, and their power over the media)
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RunsWithWolves says:
The whold thing was a media stunt by FOX to create the exact firestorm we are seeing now. The goal was to antagonize NPR into firing Juan so they could then go after NPR for the paltry 2% public funding which, by the way, is the best money our government currently spends on ANYTHING.
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nor-one replies:
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Enough of this crap already !!! The guy just joined the rest of the lying a-holes at fox. He got paid well for being "hurt". He's at fox and his credability is shot. Now he's got a foreign employer he doesn't have to worry about his overseas bank account anymore.
documemts replies:
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You betcha!
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stupa5 says:
Jaun go crawl back in your cave! $$$$$ is all you care about!
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slappy-mcfudpuck says:
Americans have killed almost 150,000 Americans since 9/11. (source: http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm) So if you're really scared of people who kill Americans, you should be a LOT more scared of your fellow Americans than of terrorists.
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slappy-mcfudpuck says:
Last year, Americans killed 18,000 fellow Americans, and judging by the statistics, most were Christians. I guess Juan Williams should be scared when he sees Americans, then...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


by larryp0304 Most reasonable people can see the difference between murder for greed, love, money and insanity as compared to murder for religion and murder because you find a particular way of life evil.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Who CARES why murder happened other than self defense? Are you somehow more dead because someone killed you for one reason other than another? Make some sense!
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slappy-mcfudpuck replies:
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If you check out the statistics, Americans have killed almost 150,000 fellow Americans: http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm - so are you afraid of your fellow Americans?
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newz4me says:
FOX rewarded Juan Williams. I'm not sure for exactly what.
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slappy-mcfudpuck replies:
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If you think Fox is "fair and balanced", you're nuts. They only bring on other opinions momentarily in order to shout them down. How often does Hannity let an opposing view finish a point?
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Alleng99 says:
Why hasn't anyone blamed Bush for this yet?...we already have two parts of the liberal threesome (race baiting and fear mongering) in play, why not add the final piece. Blaming Bush.

Liberal talking points aren't too difficult to figure out. Place blame, dodge responsibility and blame Bush.
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RunsWithWolves replies:
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OK since you insist, I'll blame Bush. It is all his fault.
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chonder2 says:
Blame it on Soros? Dick Armey will surely cut your commission check if you can't do any better than that.Get some tips from the guy(The_Only_King)in the cubicle next to you.Good luck!
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thanksgreed replies:
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Like children, the Tea Party folks are spoon fed talking points and are unable to intellectually deviate from them. They like 'em dumb.
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slappy-mcfudpuck says:
What an idiot Juan Williams is, as is anyone who is irrationally scared of Muslims. Last year, Americans killed 18,000 fellow Americans, and judging by the statistics, most were Christians. I guess Juan Williams should be scared when he sees American Christians, then...
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slappy-mcfudpuck replies:
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Who CARES why murder happened other than self defense? Are you somehow more dead because someone killed you for one reason other than another? Make some sense!
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