I can’t say I’m shocked or even surprised by the latest uncover video from James O’Keefe… There’s really nothing surprising or shocking about a senior NPR executive being caught on tape bashing conservatives as “white, gun-toting … xenophobic … seriously racist people.” It’s what they believe, they’ve made it clear they think we’re a bunch ignorant, barefoot rubes.
Anyway, here’s the back story from the Daily Caller:
In a new video released Tuesday morning by conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe, Schiller and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional giving, are seen meeting with two men who, unbeknownst to the NPR executives, are posing as members of a Muslim Brotherhood front group. The men, who identified themselves as Ibrahim Kasaam and Amir Malik from the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center (MEAC) Trust, met with Schiller and Liley at Café Milano, a well-known Georgetown restaurant, and explained their desire to give up to $5 million to NPR because, “the Zionist coverage is quite substantial elsewhere.”On the tapes, Schiller wastes little time before attacking conservatives. The Republican Party, Schiller says, has been “hijacked by this group.” The man posing as Malik finishes the sentence by adding, “the radical, racist, Islamaphobic, Tea Party people.” Schiller agrees and intensifies the criticism, saying that the 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.”
The only real takeaway from this video is Mr. Schiller’s admission that NPR would do better without federal funding:
Later in the lunch, Schiller explains that NPR would be better positioned free of federal funding. “Well frankly, it is clear that we would be better off in the long-run without federal funding,” he says. “The challenge right now is that if we lost it all together we would have a lot of stations go dark.”
When one of O’Keefe’s associates asked, “How confident are you, with all the donors that are available, if they should pull the funding right now that you would survive?,” Schiller answered this way: “Yes, NPR would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive.”
Frankly, I think we should take Mr. Schiller at his word and cut the purse strings. Let NPR compete in the market place like everyone else.
You can read NPR’s official response here. The full uncut two hour video is available here.
Update: NPR has placed Ron Schiller on “administrative leave” while they investigate… They’ve effectively fired him, Mr. Schiller had already informed NPR that he was resigning to take a new job with the Aspen Institute starting in May.
Update II: Mr. Schiller has resigned from NPR effective immediately:
“While the meeting I participated in turned out to be a ruse, I made statements during the course of the meeting that are counter to NPR’s values and also not reflective of my own beliefs. I offer my sincere apology to those I offended. I previously resigned from NPR effective May 6th to accept another job. In an effort to put this unfortunate matter behind us, NPR and I have agreed that my resignation is effective today.”
Update III (Wedneday, March 9, 2011 @ 10:30): Vivian Schiller, is out as President and CEO of NPB…
Update IV (Wednesday, March 9, 2011 @ 1:00 p.m.): Ron Schiller has decided not to join the Aspen Institute.
Related
- NPR officers compare deniers of climate change to birthers and flat earth believers – The Washington Times
- NPR, PBS campaigns to keep federal funds called unlawful – The Washington Times
- GOP leader amazed at ‘condescension and arrogance’ in NPR video, calls on Dems to support defunding – Byron York, The Washington Examiner
- Juan Williams Responds to NPR Sting: ‘They Prostitute Themselves for Money’ – Fox News
[…] the bottom line is they were lying about turning down the check… I’ll repeat what I said the other day: cut the purse strings. Let NPR compete in the market place like everyone […]