National Public Radio senior executive savaging Conservatives and complaining about Zionist control of media

UPDATE: Juan Williams gives his summary of the case.



Original: Boy, it is nice to know that NPR is being controlled by such reasonable people. It is very comforting to know that such unbiased people are getting taxpayer money to push the truth for everyone else.

“The current Republican Party, particularly 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,” declared Schiller, the head of NPR’s nonprofit foundation, who last week announced his departure for the Aspen Institute.

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.”

Schiller goes on to describe liberals as more intelligent and informed than conservatives. “In my personal opinion, liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives,” he said. . . .

NPR first tried to deflect the problems and at least partially blame the problem on the film maker.

Initially, NPR issued a brief statement that first condemned the "fraudulent" organization that staged the meeting and pointed out that NPR repeatedly refused to accept its donation. A spokeswoman also said NPR was "appalled" by the comments made by Mr. Schiller, and also noted that Mr. Schiller had announced last week he would soon leave NPR for another job.

Later in the day, however, NPR came down harder on Mr. Schiller, announcing it had put the executive on administrative leave while it reviewed the situation. On Tuesday night, Mr. Schiller released a statement saying he and NPR have agreed to make his resignation 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," Mr. Schiller said. "I offer my sincere apology to those I offended."

Tuesday night, Vivian Schiller, president and chief executive of NPR, released this statement: "Ron Schiller's remarks are contrary to what NPR stands for and are deeply distressing to reporters, editors and others who bring fairness, civility and respect for a wide variety of viewpoints to their work everyday. . . .

Here are some quotes: "they [the Tea Party] believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."

"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."

NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding."

Here is my question: What is going to happen to NPR institutional giving director Betsy Liley? She never corrects or contradicts anything that Schiller says during the discussion.

UPDATE: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has latched on to this video.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said a new video by a conservative provocateur underscored the need to cut funding for public broadcasting.

Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, pointed to a new video by activist James O'Keefe featuring a conversation with an NPR executive, who calls the Tea Party movement "really xenophobic" and "racist, racist people."

"As we continue to identify ways to cut spending and save valuable resources, this disturbing video makes clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR," Cantor said Tuesday in a statement. . . .