They took down ACORN. They went after Planned Parenthood. So, should anyone be surprised that NPR got in the crosshairs?
NPR's soon-to-be-departing senior vice president for fundraising Ron Schiller is seen and heard on a videotape released this morning telling two men who were posing as members of a fictitious Muslim Action Education Center that:
— "The Tea Party is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn't even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move."
— "Tea Party people" aren't "just Islamaphobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."
http://www.npr.org/...
Personally, I like NPR; at least my local version of it. I know they aren't a bastion of progressive news and views, but they are more deserving of the motto "fair and balanced" than the faux current holder of that branding. They really didn't need this nonsense at this point in time, with the RW Congressional push against them.
I can't imagine what possessed Mr. Schiller to say some of what he did - unless he had disengaged his mental gears in preparation for his imminent departure. Sure, it was no doubt edited down, but "white, middle America, gun toting ....racist(s)"? I mean, I resemble half of that remark. It won't keep me from paying my annual dues, however annoying the pledge drives get, but I suspect some people who should be hearing the kind of coverage NPR provides are going to bail.
Updated by Catte Nappe at Tue Mar 8, 2011, 04:43:54 PM
Looks like the Washington Times may have been in on the set-up for the release of the tapes:
Following remarks to the National Press Club on Monday, NPR President Vivian Schiller refused to answer my questions about whether or not NPR would be willing to accept donations from any group that backed Sharia law or supported the Muslim Brotherhood.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/...
The Washington Times agreed not to contact National Public Radio until the tape was released this [Tuesday} morning.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/...
Updated by Catte Nappe at Tue Mar 8, 2011, 05:07:41 PM
Oh, goodie.
Here comes "the left does it too"
"...the latest example of an emerging trend: Partisans using false identities and hidden cameras to embarrass their opposition and score ideological points.
Just yesterday, the left seized on a video showing Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown asking conservative billionaire David Koch for money for his 2012 reelection campaign. "Your support during the election, it meant a ton," Brown says in the video. "It made a difference and I can certainly use it again." The video was shot surreptitiously by blogger Brad Johnson of the liberal site Think Progress at the dedication of the David H. Koch Integrative Cancer Institute at MIT.
And last month, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took a call from a left-leaning journalist pretending to be David Koch, which the journalist then released to the public."
http://www.cbsnews.com/...