Former Philadelphia Inquirer editorial page editor Chris Satullo, who in a July 1, 2008 editorial suggested that “America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday” on Independence Day due to the “waterboarding, the snarling dogs, the theft of sleep” used on some enemy combatants since 9/11, has been hired to become the director of news operations for WHYY, the PBS affiliate in the Philadelphia area.
Inquirer television critic Jonathan Storm, who wrote about Satullo’s hiring on Thursday, mentioned how William J. Marrazzo, WHYY’s president and CEO, complimented the liberal columnist as an “an outstanding journalist with a track record in civic engagement who understands this community like the back of his hand.”
This same “outstanding journalist,” in his November 9, 2008 column in the Inquirer, referred to the ideology of Sarah Palin supporters as “a rump conservatism that is small-town, resentful, anti-intellectual, and lily white” and praised “smarter analysts” such as David Frum, Kathleen Parker, Christopher Buckley and David Brooks, all of whom criticized the Alaska governor and/or supported Obama.
Satullo’s earlier column from July, titled “A not-so-glorious Fourth: U.S. atrocities are unworthy of our heritage,” Satullo attempted to shame the American people for supposed complicity, since “...[i]n our name, innocents were jailed, humans tortured, our Constitution mangled. And we said so little.” The whole piece was one long liberal tirade, sprinkled throughout with the usual talking points from the left:
...This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.
For we have sinned.
We have failed to pay attention. We've settled for lame excuses. We've spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.
The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.
The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.
The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.
Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.
Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.
We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office. We have done them, without general outrage or shame.
Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. "Rendition" of prisoners to foreign torture chambers....
But what will history think of us, of how we responded to our great challenge? Sept. 11 was a hideous evil, a grievous wound. Yet, truth told, it has not summoned our better angels as often as our worst.
We have betrayed the July 4 creed. We trample the vows we make, hand to heart....
We can't claim not to have known. The best among us raised the alarm. Heroes in uniform, judges in robes, they opposed the perverse logic of an administration drenched in fear, drunk on power....
...The waterboarding, the snarling dogs, the theft of sleep - all the diabolical tricks haven't made us safer. They may have averted this plot or that. But they've spawned new enemies by the thousands, made the jihadist rants ring true to so many ears.
So put out no flags.
Sing no patriotic hymns.
We deserve no Fourth this year.
Let us atone, in quiet and humility. Let us spend the day truly studying the example of our Founders. May we earn a new birth of courage before our nation's birthday next rolls around.
One wonders if we’ll see such “soaring” rhetoric from WHYY from now on.
[H/t: FreeRepublic.com thread. Fellow NewsBuster Warner Todd Huston lambasted Satullo's July 2008 column on the day it came out.]
Image via Grand Old Patriots.
—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Fairness Doctrine? Oh that's right, This is PBS
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 14:39 ET by CapeCodScottWe have no expectation of fairness with PBS.
www.ScottOnCapeCod.com
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation"... until they get fed-up enough to finally say something about it!
Patriotic?
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 14:44 ET by jackie3This guy may not be in the mood to celebrate the 4th, but he should be grateful that he lives in a country where he can print that rubbish and not be shot.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
But what will history think
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 15:03 ET by bigtimerBut what will history think of us, of how we responded to our great challenge? Sept. 11 was a hideous evil, a grievous wound. Yet, truth told, it has not summoned our better angels as often as our worst.
Satullo...stick it where the sun doesn't shine!
I know there is a special place reserved for you on down the road....you will be begging for ice water....
We will never be able to rid ourselves of being forced to help fund the likes of PBS, NPR ect...sadly.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Well that looks like a
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 15:04 ET by motherbeltWell that looks like a square peg in a square hole...a perfect fit.
He will feel right at home.
An American Carol . . .
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 16:16 ET by pglogozaI thought An American Carol was just good clean satire poking fun at the left. Little did I realize it was a documentary ;-)
PG
I was gonna make a crack
Fri, 11/21/2008 - 11:32 ET by CortillaenI was gonna make a crack about life imitating art, but that works, too.
www.daybydaycartoon.com Proving that conservative comedy is very real.
"With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things near to you." - Miyamoto Musashi
Let this dumb ass write
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 16:23 ET by ConservativeRexLet this dumb ass write anything he wants. He knows he is a coward, A dadgummed yellow bellyed coward is all he is. He realizes that strong men protect him whether he likes it or not.
If folks like him had their way, America would have Ramadan as a National holiday just to spite the nose of his cowardly face.
Now, Americans, you want action against this fella? Now is the time to flood that PBS station with phone calls and emails, just shut their system down with calls and emails. You want action? I've learned my lesson this year, that's how things are done now in this country.
I was raised thinking the squeaky wheel get's replaced. That was wrong I hate to admit. We must take what want. If this think has us thinking it's so wrong. Then we can get him out of there. If they don't do it quickly enough, stay on them. That's about all you can do.
Remember
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 16:44 ET by Ozark_SunshineRemember that Philly, the town supposed to represent our nation's birth and freedom, now represents hatred to Boy Scouts by kicking them out of a building that they built and maintained (What tolerance the city shows, (NOT!). They also represent hatred of free speech by arresting pastors in front of the Liberty Bell, the symbol of Freedom. I canceled our trip there this summer because of how low the town has gotten, but now they show me, a disabled veteran, that they can go even lower by hiring to PBS an American hater. Our founding fathers are spinning in their graves.
OS, don't let a couple of
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 19:05 ET by PA ConservativeOS, don't let a couple of morons ruin your image of our city. Chris Satullo is an embarrassment to his profession and to his country. I emailed this idiot right after I read his 4th of July tirade. Of course, the chicken shit didn't respond to my email. Coward. Writes slop like this frequently and then hides in a corner sucking his thumb. Yes, Philly has some issues but do not hesitate to visit...there really are some remarkable sites to see. Some of which will make you as distressed as I am over the future of our country. As you said, the founding fathers would be spinning. Now, come on up and see where they lived. It will give you a greater sense of these men. And a greater hatred of assclowns like Chris Satullo.
It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea.
Robert Anton
WHYY as in why are our tax dollars funding this crap?
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 19:10 ET by R D HelmPerhaps this spineless, snivelling, bedwetting Chris Satullo wuss would feel better about this country if we just up and surrendered to the Islamo-Marxists.
That way we could celebrate Ramadan every year. :-)
-Dave
Did this country just elect Obama/Biden, or was it Soros/Ayers?
copy of email I sent this jackass...unanswered of course
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 19:11 ET by PA ConservativeSir,
I believe I have a solution to your
obvious embarrassment at being an American citizen. It’s called
Canada. Please move there. I find
your pathetic editorial “A not-so-glorious Fourth” to be the classic left wing,
anti-American rhetoric that many of you at the Inquirer practice. I missed the
declaration…the one that gives you the moral authority to be superior to the
rest of us who believe in our country, right or wrong.
No, there is no “general outrage or
shame” over a President who feels he has the obligation to keep the citizen’s of
our great country safe from outside forces bent on destroying us. Not
inconveniencing us. Not hurting our economy. DESTROYING us! You and your
liberal comrades (Senator Obama for one) would seek a place at the same table as
these fanatical maniacs. To negotiate? They don’t want to negotiate. There is
nothing we have that they want. Islamofacists want us dead. Plan and simple.
It is truly a shame that you seem to have blocked that fact from your highly
self righteous perch.
In conclusion, it is people like you
who do more to embolden our enemies than anything being done to prevent them
from attacking us. Your obvious hatred of America gives
our enemies the hope that many Americans feel the way you do. Sorry to
disappoint you sir, but I will be putting out flags, singing patriotic hymns and
celebrating the courage and greatness of our country. I can assure you that I
will feel no guilt over the things that are being done to keep my family and my
country safe, even if I am part of the “dim” populace you refer
to.
Please do the people of this country
a favor and leave. It is you who is “drenched in fear and drunk on power”.
Unfortunately, you have a pulpit to preach your vial, anti-American venom from.
Apparently, this forum has given you some sort of pathetic superiority complex
over the rest of us mere mortals.
Have a great 4th of
July. God Bless America.
It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea.
Robert Anton
Dissing the 4th of the July
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 22:15 ET by WorriedI agree with PG. An American Carol should be required viewing by all students in public schools and universities across this country. Kind of a lame movie but it touched a nerve on every ridiculous issue the lefties are more concerned with than saving this fragile nation. The just don't get it and will be the end of us all.
God Bless America.
Dissing the 4th of the July
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 22:15 ET by WorriedI agree with PG. An American Carol should be required viewing by all students in public schools and universities across this country. Kind of a lame movie but it touched a nerve on every ridiculous issue the lefties are more concerned with than saving this fragile nation. The just don't get it and will be the end of us all.
God Bless America.
As someone who
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 23:47 ET by Republic1As someone who occasionally views WHYY, I can safely say the station appears to be run by a gang of aging hippies and 60's throwbacks who are still fighting on the side of the catastrophic cultural revolution that is wrecking the country. TV 12 offers a steady stream of leftist/socialist, gay activist, Republican-bashing, anti-Western sewage, so hiring another America-hating leftist is no big deal for them. I'm just waiting for PBS to produce the William Ayers/Bernadine Dohrn Show. With tax money stolen from our paychecks.
"I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula." -Muhammad
Satullo: Poster Child for Defunding.
Fri, 11/21/2008 - 01:48 ET by Mike BrattonIf you live in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, I encourage you to contact your members of Congress and insist that WHYY be defunded.
Today.
Now.
Whenever a story such as this one arises, it should be a reminder that the United States government has better things to do with $400 million than hand it to people who don't even understand the term "enemy combatant."
--Mike
www.thebrattonreport.com
PBS hired a Communist Anti-American?
Fri, 11/21/2008 - 08:04 ET by PopularTechI thought that was a job requirement?
Censored Global Warming Videos
when we dump the GITMO
Fri, 11/21/2008 - 12:40 ET by JIMMY1660when we dump the GITMO detainees out on the street, lets dump them in Philadelphia. with guns and ammo.and give them this a$$holes name and address.
allow me to Love America