Last week, longtime NPR commentator Juan Williams was fired after remarking about his unease when flying on planes with passengers dressed in Muslim garb. Williams, who signed a $2 million dollar deal with FOX news, defended himself by as saying "what I meant to say." On FOX News Sunday he took time with Chris Wallace and Brit Hume to reflect on his comments, the ensuing firestorm and the "double standard" that NPR holds its reporters to.

"To get fired, obviously, is no pleasure, but then to be called a bigot and the innuendo that I'm somehow unstable was, I thought, despicable," began Williams. Chris Wallace appeared to agree, showing numerous clips of NPR's Cokie Roberts and Nina Totenberg saying similarly eyebrow raising remarks that went without punishment. Brit Hume also concurred with his Fox News colleagues, flatly stating:

"It's a howling double standard. The standard that was applied to Juan Williams is manifesting not being applied to other NPR people....in the culture of NPR, appearing on Fox is a sin. And in the culture of NPR for an African- American man like Juan, regardless of his extraordinary stature, to be there and be kind of a Bill Cosby liberal, not a down-the-line liberal, is a sin as well."

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Erik Hayden