George Will: 'NPR Is Run By People Who Don't Like People Like Me'
George Will on Sunday's "This Week" said what likely has been on the minds of right-thinking Americans for many decades.
"NPR is run by people who don't like people like me" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JAKE TAPPER, HOST: Cokie, you've been at NPR for almost 40 years. Obviously this institution means a lot to you, but why should we care?
COKIE ROBERTS: Look, I should just say that they did then reject that money, and sent internal e-mails basically saying this is totally unacceptable. We have to have tax forms, all of that. So, that should be stated. But, look, we should care because 34 million people listen every week and want to get the news that you get there, that you can't get any place else. NPR’s got seventeen foreign bureaus. That's something you can't say for any other broadcast organization these days. And brings you terrific information, day in and day out, week in and week out. And the reporters who are there on the line, being shot at in North Africa at the moment are being very badly served by the management that’s now gone.
TAPPER: George, very quickly.
GEORGE WILL: We learned this week redundantly that NPR is run by people who don't like people like me. Which is fine. The problem is there are 14,000 radio stations in this country. The government shouldn’t be subsidizing neither entertainment, certainly not journalism. In fact, this is a solution in search of a problem.
ROBERTS: Well, there are not 14,000 radio stations in rural areas, which is where most of the federal funding goes. Most of those stations are the ones that, NPR gets hardly any money from the federal government, and the big stations get hardly any money. But the little, tiny, rural stations that, where there’s nothing else on the air, get a lot of money and they would go dark.
I love the fact that Roberts and all the NPR-lovers in the media have the same talking point that in the year 2011, despite the existence of cable, satellites, and the internet, people in rural areas would be totally uninformed without this radio network.
It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.
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Comments
Translation: Without the
Submitted by Mike S on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 1:45pm.
Translation: Without the federal subsidy, there is no way to get our liberal bias out to the rural areas (home to the bitter clingers.) If the subsidy is all about serving remote rural areas, why is NPR so obviously designed to cater to the upper east side of New York City?Rual Stations
Submitted by IndyHawk24 on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 4:46pm.
Unfortunately, these libs all read the same blog from either New York or San Fran... I've lived in and worked in Rual America. There are plenty of radio stations, AM AND FM, that pump out news coverage. What I find idiotic is not the argument, because its always the "poor schulb" argument with the libs; it's the fact that most of these poor backward rural people own ipods, satellite dishes, cell phones, and even satellite radio. And look at the county voting maps over the last 3 elections. These rural folks aren't voting lib and obviously not listening to NPR. It's not about the poor little radio station in Backwater, Ohio. Never will be.exactly yes, NPR is only targetting big city listeners.
Submitted by Less1leg on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 10:51pm.
There are ---- NO ---- votes in the rural districts. NPR is an extension of the Democratic Party. Liberals absolutely focus on big city, urban voters. That's where the people are. And redneck tractor jockey's are not the type of person NPR caters to. The only program on the NPR that I would call angled slightly at, is Prairie Home Companion. But even that is nostalgic gingoism stuff from big cities. They play a part in a stylilized down home ol' country jingoling secession. Some turtleneck sweater nob from inner city NYC lamenting to corn cobs, and cows. Something none of these bozo's have ever seen outside of Discovery Channel or waking up in a drunken stooper on a Saturday morning getting an upstate farm report at 4 a.m. Like Al Franken's radio station for Liberals. Let NPR stand on its own two feet. If the Liberals really like the station. Let them fund it. But just like Al Franken, guess what. Once they put their fingers in the pie they screw it up mercilessly, and it fails. Just like most liberal enterprises. Politically Correct Business all have one common flaw, a China Syndrome. They all self implode from too many bosses and not enough workers. Each stealing from the other, to out do the others inaction, which amounts to as much as the original complainer. Two dufus amounting to nothing, still amounts to nothing, and no money coming in. So defund NPR, and let's see. I bet that NPR would be broke before year's end.Cokie is as rude as anyone,
Submitted by azgal602 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 1:47pm.
Cokie is as rude as anyone, why is it that they all have to interrupt other people......she had her turn, I really wanted to hear what Mr. Will had to say............no manners.If you let a conservative complete a thought
Submitted by TheHistorian on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 1:54pm.
then there will be a thought on the program. And we all know how libs HATE thinking.Dennis Prager
Expect nothing less from the NPR alumnus
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:03pm.
Roberts came to the defense of her old employer and cut Will off because she knows that Will (a) was right, and (b) he articulates problems in convincing ways. Since NPR doesn't have Big Bird to hide behind, she referred to "rural stations" and the people who need NPR as their only source of objective news. (Hah).
Cokie is neither rude
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 5:45pm.
nor is she shy about refuting the claims made by liberal guests on the This Week panel. She was also a fierce critic of Clinton's extramarital dalliances.
Jer
NPR is a hateful and racist organization....................
Submitted by merly1 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 5:56pm.
Cokie, indeed any of its employees, have some culpability in this situation. End of story!That's YOUR story
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:34pm.
and you're entitled to it.Jer
@Jer
Submitted by Samshile on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:00pm.
I also heard her firsthand say: The tea partiers called out the N word when they were camped out for the Obmacare Vote. 4 CAMERAS HAVE DISPROVEN THIS BS. Shes does not source her postions just spouts heresay.Samshile...
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:29pm.
If that was her unqualified statement, it was inappropriate. She should have said something to the effect of "a couple of black Congressmen have claimed they were the targets of racial epithets including the N-word as they made their way through a crowd of tea partiers, etc."Jer
Uhm, Big Guy?
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:54pm.
I coulda swore that at least one of the black Congressman withdrew his claim. Maybe more. I am pretty sure it is a journalist carrying the flame to this day.
***Update**** Ah, they did not after all. Powerline's take on it.
Vet...
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:16pm.
I was just suggesting how Roberts SHOULD have reported the original incident instead of flatly stating the racial slurs were uttered [assuming Samshile's recollection is accurate].Jer
Ok, enough...
Submitted by Tenebrous on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:22pm.
...why don't Jer and The Vet get a room?Visions and Principles blog
Yeah, that train left the station long ago.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:33pm.
The train with other righties trying to torque The Vet.
Maybe you can get a refund.
And following me around trying to catch me in some kind of wrong, mistake, lie, or hypocrisy has not worked on any troll ever. And a lot of banned trolls have tried. Might wanna rethink that strategy there.
Pfffftt.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:37pm.
I did not read it closely. Yes. You were speaking hypothetically of what should be said. Say. I rented a room in Motel 5 in Branson, MO. Room 106. See you there later? We could catch the fake Elvis show and then head on over.No matter a court of law, or
Submitted by Miss_Me_Yet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:52pm.
No matter a court of law, or the court of public opinion, the statement by the Coker regarding the N-word allegedly being hurled at those black racist Congressman, and their blatent attempt to incite a riot right there on the Capitol steps qualifies as a tad bit more than an ' unqualified statement '.
Liberals ... we can't live with them, they couldn't survive without us ...
Here's Another Thought.
Submitted by Tenebrous on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:14pm.
If rural stations wouldn't survive without federal funding, that means that the rural pledge drives bring in JACK DIDDLY. Why is that? Rural people DON'T WANT NPR! Ok, so what they're really saying is that everyone must be taxed to give some people what they have explicitly rejected. And this, when we're running $1.6 trillion in deficits. *facepalm* Liberalism is idiocy.Visions and Principles blog
What "rural" really means
Submitted by Unsane on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 10:23pm.
Tenebrous - Please remember what the NPR's definition of "rural" is.
"Rural" in the NPR world means all portions of the United States west of the Hudson River, excluding the territory found within the Capitol Beltway.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Bigotry is not about race alone
Submitted by TheHistorian on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 1:52pm.
And the left has shown themselves repeatedly to be bigoted snobs. Their's is a bigotry that we are gun-toting, Bible-thumping, tree-cutting cretins that put our waste plants upstream of our drinking water plants. We have huge fires at night, burning gasoline and oil to push CO2 into their beloved atmosphere. We won't worship Gaia, and we doubt the facts that their teachers so lovingly instilled in them. We just can't be trusted with a vote, which is why they keep trying to steal it. They are the smartest; they are the most caring; they are the most long-suffering. They are also the most filled with BS. Just try having a factual discussion with one of them; they are so full of sound bites that they cannot even see, much less use, logic.Dennis Prager
Can't get any place else?
Submitted by Model850 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:18pm.
For Cokie to claim that NPR provides news that people "can't get anyplace else" is ridiculous. She worked for ABC and knows damned well that the left-leaning, biased reports aired by NPR are available from every MSM outlet. Too bad George let that one slide by unchallenged, but he probably had his hands full challenging all the other nonsense spewed by the other guests.Cokie Roberts is special*
Submitted by cajun2 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:19pm.
She is a La native and grew up in that "special" elitist class. Her rich daddy was a politician. So she knows all about those "rural" folks. Here ya' go cher, this one is just for you.
No One Likes George Will
Submitted by BW222 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:20pm.
Most conservatives don't like Will either. He's a "house conservative" and Beltway insider, who makes millions playing a conservative on TV and knows exactly how long his leash is.Spot on, BW222. Will comes to
Submitted by Captain Repus on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:11pm.
Spot on, BW222. Will comes to the show with 3 or 4 well-rehearsed lines about the subject matter, all of which are designed and written to enhance his 'intellectual stature'. When the conversation goes beyond his rehearsed thoughts he never, I repeat never, is able to follow-up rebutting his other liberal co-guests. This guy is no more a true republican/conservative than Ear Leader is qualified to be president.QUOTE: "It would be
Submitted by Soundwave on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:21pm.
QUOTE: "It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious." Actually, what is laughable is that rural areas are not liberal enclaves. In fact, NPR would consider rural America "flyover country" or "Jesusland'Cokie's lines were shorter &
Submitted by Miss_Me_Yet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:25pm.
Cokie's lines were shorter & thinner than those of her namesake she snorted on the way over in the limo.
Liberals ... we can't live with them, they couldn't survive without us ...
Still not above throwing wild accusations.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:29pm.
If it is not accusing David Letterman of pedophilia, it is accusing journalists of illegal drug use. Slurs and Slander, just part of the fun that is barack_must_go/Miss_Me_Yet.
Liar.
Submitted by Tenebrous on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:16pm.
Cokie is not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination.Visions and Principles blog
Excuse me, imbecile...
Submitted by Jer on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:33pm.
You may consider Roberts a LOUSY journalist, but, nevertheless, she is indeed a journalist.Jer
Correction
Submitted by Unsane on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 10:25pm.
She is, indeed, a "journalist". But them, "journalism" is a "profession".
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Another hateful backbiting little snit.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 11:10pm.
Tenebrous the loser that has a crush on the pedophile accusing barack_must_go: Liar. Cokie is not a journalist...
Prove I lied you backbiting little sissy.
ABC News: Award-Winning Journalist Releases...
Southeast Missourian: Journalist Cokie Roberts being treated for breast cancer
PBS: Journalist and best-selling author Cokie Roberts talks...
Hospice Foundation of America: ...esteemed journalist Cokie Roberts...
Loyola University: Emmy Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Cokie Roberts...
National Institute of Health, the UNITED STATES FRIGGIN' GOVERNMENT: Veteran Journalist Cokie Roberts Lauds 'Plain Language'
Kiss my butt you little backbiting snit. I never EVER had issue ONE with you.
"...NPR gets hardly any money from the federal government..."
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:28pm.
Fine. Eliminate taxpayer money and raise advertising rates to cover the shortfall.Next...on the chopping block...
They're caught in their own double-talk, Jeep
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 10:20pm.
On the one hand, they hope to avoid cuts to Federal subsidies by insisting that such funds are 3% or less of their budget, and therefore not a lot of money.
On the other hand, they insist that the loss of funds will kill Big Bird and Car Talk.
Even the disgraced and departed fund-raiser Schiller said that NPR "would be better off" without Federal subsidies.
So, let's help NPR get better.
Yes.
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 10:41pm.
Let's.Radio stations not being able to reach rural areas?
Submitted by no tingly legs on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:30pm.
I could be put in the middle of nowhere in the lower 48 and still pick up many AM stations at night from many hundreds, even 1,500 miles away, with no difficulty. But these libs with their overpriced Bose stereos on the upper East side apparently don't know that.Exactly Where Is That?
Submitted by Jefferson on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 2:43pm.
Ms. Roberts Stated: "there are not 14,000 radio stations in rural areas, which is where most of the federal funding goes." I've heard this a couple times since this whole defund NPR chant started. I'm curious... where are these radio stations that are so rural that only NPR is out there feeding them their news? If they can tell me where these places are, give me a dozen or so of these towns where NO OTHER radio or TV news broadcast can be heard, and someone can verify it, then I'll change my opinion from defund NPR to simply severely cut back NPR. (See, I'm open minded.) If there really are ten or twelve towns in the United States so rural that NPR is the only station they get, then yeah, NPR should remain. If, however, all of those radio stations are in towns in far northern Alaska with only 700 full time residents, then maybe it should be an Alaska problem.The 'tiny rural stations" argument seems often repeated
Submitted by DaMav on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 3:02pm.
Does anyone know if it's true? Anyone have details? I live in one of the most rural parts of Pennsylvania. We don't even have mail delivery here. There is one NPR station which sits in the largest city in the area, the home of Penn State. There are about 15 or more other stations on my radio dial, easily accessed. I keep wondering if our NPR station is on some bogus list somewhere. Time to squash these leaches. Defund CPB. Add: Here's a list of stations getting CPB funds. Unfortunately it doesn't say which ones it is trying to pass off as rural. Lots of bigger cities though. http://www.cpb.org/appropriation/justification_12-14.pdfList of National Public Radio stations
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 3:20pm.
By State: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Public_Radio_stationsI live in NYS. In none of the listed cities is NPR the sole source of news.
Seen this point made yet?
Submitted by Ashrak on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 3:55pm.
I love the talking point that the amount of money is so minute as to not be important on the one hand, but then becomes a death knell if removed on the other hand. It seems that when debating liberals online these days a person might as well keep " Which way will you have it?" loaded to paste over and over again.
NPR is afraid of being dealt the blow that the WWF, no, not the world wildlife fund, was dealt. The loss of the name. It isn't about the money, it is about the pretext that the word "public" affords them. In all the discussions and articles I have read about NPR these last few months, this aspect is one totally overlooked.
Kinda hard to call it "Public" when it is "Private". There is a danger in the blurring of the line between "public" and "private", most especially when that dreaded "public-private partnership" model. "Public-private partnership" is a politically correct version of the word Socialism!
The instant that NPR funding by the taxpayers comes to an end, so too must the presentation that it is "public". Truth in advertising demands it. I am surprised I haven't seen any high caliber authors write about this point. Maybe they have and I have just missed it.
I'm not exactly isolated in small town Iowa
Submitted by nkviking75 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 4:17pm.
I live in a rural area where I can read the local paper plus the Pulitzer-prize-winning Des Moines Register, USA Today, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (sorry, no NY Times). I can listen to news on a number of radio stations, including 3 news talk stations (one is the respected WHO in Des Moines). I can watch all three alphabet networks, plus CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. And of course, I have the internet. If NPR pulled out of my market, I'd never know the difference. I'd be willing to bet that there's no place in the nation that depends solely on NPR for news.“Always love your country — but never trust your government!" -- Bob Novak (1931-2009)
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
More Condecension
Submitted by KornKing on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 5:09pm.
To think-the only news I would get would be the once a week when the pony express guy rides throughNo radio coverage in rural parts of the country?
Submitted by Iowa Boy on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 5:24pm.
That's a flat out lie! My first radio job was at KJAN in Atlantic, Iowa, a 250 Watt daytime AM. 40 miles to the west was KNOD in Harlan. To the north KDSN in Denison or KKRL in Carroll. Farther south was KOAK in Red Oak as well as the powerhouse KMA in Shenandoah. That's six local stations covering Western Iowa, a state where 75% of the population lives east of the state capitol. That doesn't even include the signals that emanate from Des Moines or Omaha.If NPR's argument is " city
Submitted by RMR on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:09pm.
If NPR's argument is " city slickers don't need them but country folks do". Then instead of begging for government hand-outs why not close some big-city stations and use those funds to continue bringing "real news" ( NPR -style) to those poor "rural" folks?Please....the very people
Submitted by shannon76 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 6:39pm.
Please....the very people Cokie Roberts and her NPR colleagues loathe and demean at swanky upper west side cocktail parties are the same people they're suddenly in favor of representing. In other words, "if NPR didn't have government funding, then all of those gun-toting, racist, redneck, bible-clingers wouldn't have anything on the radio to listen to. Because WE care about THEM!" Leftists HATE people in rural areas, and now they're using them as an excuse to justify public funding?! Gimme a break....They treat rural folks like hicks, until...
Submitted by Tenebrous on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:20pm.
...they need them as straw men for their arguments. *shaking head* NPR is an enclave of arrogant, liberal idiocy.Visions and Principles blog
Oh please.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:21pm.
It is not 1975 any more. These ridiculous arguments that people out in the sticks can't get telephone or TV or radio without the help from the oh so caring liberals don't work anymore.
We have satellite radio now as well as satellite TV for those poor dummies out in the sticks.
Hi Vet!
Submitted by cajun2 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:37pm.
Did you call? What can I do for you sugga' ?
Ah. Confused for a minute.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:44pm.
You live in the sticks too. You know I am partial to the little Illinois farm towns. Liberals are still stuck in the 70's. We have DSL, satellite TV, Cell Phones, and FedEx delivery. Next month, they are opening a shoe store in the next town over, AssVille. We can finally start wearing those new fangled things you city folk call shoes. Oh, did I mention the name of our town? HalfwayToAssVille.Hey!
Submitted by GeneralAl on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 7:51pm.
Hey! Don't forget you have UPS too!"Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"!
How could I forget.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 8:02pm.
UPS brought us our first spoon to town 2 months ago. Now we don't have to scoop up the soup with our hands. Next week it will be my turn to try it.I like George Will, but sometimes his passivity is a real
Submitted by Rush Fan on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 12:40am.
turnoff. I watched that segment on ABC, and Will should not have permitted Cokie Roberts to interrupt him (he obviously didn't finish his thoughts) without interrupting her back.Ah George Will, who wrote a book on baseball and then...
Submitted by acaiguana on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 6:43am.
Won a Pulitzer Prize which makes him a genius. Like Baseball (I actually have nothing against baseball) Will can be boring; and very seldom exciting. I have never seen him 'clear the benches' on any show. ACA...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
George Grew a Bigger Set
Submitted by Utherpend on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 12:46pm.
He needed to cut Cokie off and thank her but he can answer on his own and not have a paid shill of NPR tell him fantasies about non existant stations in rural ares. I have driven through a lot of the US and have yet to find any "Dead Zones" where there was less than 15 to 20 stations on the radio.Rural areas
Submitted by mel21221 on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 1:25pm.
Wait, hold it, um, aren't those rural residents clinging to their guns and religion and watching Fox News? Defund NOW!!! Not one more thin dime of my tax money to NPR!Oh come on
Submitted by Zabazoom on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 4:10pm.
We know that Lib's don't like classical music, or lawerance welk.