Ann Althouse:
This is the sort of thing that a Republican would be pilloried for saying. It wasyesterday’s “Fox News Sunday,” and the moderator Chris Wallace had just read a question tweeted by some guy named Skip. The question was “other than hope, what substantive argument do the ACA, Affordable Care Act, supporters have that the law will work as intended?” Juan Williams threw out a big word storm, but one line jumped out at me, and I will boldface it:
Well, Skip, I think you’re deserving a straight answer. There’s such a snowstorm of partisan politics around the ObamaCare thing right now.
When I wrote “big word storm,” above, I’d forgotten that he’d said “such a snowstorm.” Normally, I’d rewrite to eliminate a clumsy repetition, but I’m leaving this one for effect. And I’m also amused by that first sentence. To say that Skip is “deserving” of “a straight answer” is not to promise you’re about to give one. I’m reminded of the way we used to laugh when Nixon said “let me make one thing perfectly clear.” And I’m reminded of the way Obama et al. keep blaming others for hearing promises when, technically, there were none.
All Williams said is that Skip deserves — or, oddly, is deserving — a straight answer. He never said he was going to give Skip a straight answer, and if Skip somehow gets the impression that a straight answer is forthcoming, well, then Skip ought to sharpen his critical listening skills. And when Williams said “There’s such a snowstorm,” he did not say: And I’m here to guide you through the storm, Skip. The passive voice preserves the possibility that Williams himself is part of the snowstorm. Why wouldn’t he be?
Back to the text:
So I’d say the number one thing I would say is….
What a locution! Why not just say what you have to say? When you say that you’re going to say what you would say, it sounds as though you are dissembling.
… just look at this week. A million people went to the website as it was working. So there’s obviously an appetite, a real need.
A need?! People are required to buy insurance. The need is to comply with government force. How is that evidence of appetite? (I picture a parent saying “You’re going to eat it and you’re going to like it.”)
30 million people uninsured. Millions more inadequately insured who can avoid bankruptcy and illnesses as a result. Number two, I think it the reason [sic] I think this is going to work is it doesn’t disrupt the market for most people. Nobody on this panel is going to have their health care affected, impacted, by what’s taking place.
There it is! He looks around at George Will and Brit Hume and the AP’s Julie Pace and says, hey, we’re all doing fine. So what’s the big deal? People like us aren’t hurting!Â
Frankly, Juan should never have taken the job offer Roger Ailes made him when he was on the outs from NPR. Either that, or he should have turned his coat completely and stopped trying to win back his liberal spurs by playing the lefty gadfly on FOX.
Williams has made an absolute fool of himself over this issue. He has been reduced to yelling, laughing hysterically, waving his arms and doing everything but clap his hands over his ears and scream “la-la-la.”
Nowadays, I watch his desperate antics and think to myself: “THIS is the man who wrote ‘Eyes on the Prize’ and ‘Thurgood Marshall: An American Revolutionary’?!”
I felt sorry for Mr. William when he was fired from NPR after his statement on the O’Reilly show about being uncomfortable boarding an airplane where people in native Middle Eastern garb were seated; I react the same way and I fly frequently. And he had many attacks from progressives about his book where he went after the race hustlers. But he has not learned a dang thing and keeps pushing the progressive message when he of all people should see how intolerant they are of his and others free speech.
I have lost all respect for him and some months ago wrote and told him what I have written here. Whether or not he ever read my missive I will never know, but if he did, it didn’t have any impact on him. And I doubt I am the only one who has written him about this with the same message.
So sad; so very sad that Mr. Williams cannot escape his mind set.