Juan Williams Slams Markos Moulitsas

November 15th, 2007 6:30 PM

Here's something you don't see every day: a well-known liberal journalist slamming the owner of Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas.

Yet, that's what happened on Wednesday's "Hannity & Colmes" when NPR's Juan Williams was invited on to discuss the recent hiring of Moulitsas by Newsweek.

In a rather stunning turn of events, Williams seemed absolutely disgusted by the announcement (video available here, relevant section begins at minute 3:37):

Well, the question is what kind of job they're hiring him for, and from what I've heard you say, they're hiring him as some kind of a contributor who would deal in what's coming off of the Web to try to capture opinion, capture some of the energy that's on the blogs.

But the fact is that he's not a journalist in terms of someone who knows how to do reporting, someone who reflects balance in what he portrays. To the contrary, he engages in the kind of hyperbole and extreme statements that's represented by that crass and, I think, offensive statement he made about those dead people.

But you know what? I think that's just what's going on in journalism. I think that, you know, there's more and more opinion, less and less people who know how to do the job. All you've got to do is shout, say something on the blog that offends and attacks the other side, and suddenly, you have the credentials, and you're said to be a journalist. I think it's a great lie.

You gotta love it. Of course, for another great lie, rewind the video to minute 2:40 to see Alan Colmes say:

By the way, he's for free trade, Kos is. He's for balanced budgets. He's really - he's not a far left liberal as he has been portrayed.

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.