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Jewish World Review
March 14, 2011
/ 8 Adar II, 5771
GOP focuses on NPR's subsidies, not its politics
By
Byron York
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
In a little-noticed portion of the National Public Radio undercover video, now-departed NPR executive Ron Schiller discussed the taxpayer-subsidized network's efforts to limit the damage from the firing of commentator Juan Williams.
At the time, October 2010, some Republicans were expressing outrage over NPR's decision to dump Williams for comments about Muslims made on Fox News. Listening to the complaints, NPR executives wondered: Are those conservatives just posturing -- playing to their base -- or do they really believe NPR is biased?
NPR decided to do a little field research. "I asked one of my very conservative friends who lives in Washington if they would give a dinner of very conservative people in government," Schiller said at the Feb. 22 lunch secretly recorded by conservative activist James O'Keefe. "The purpose of the dinner was to ask them if they really believed that NPR had a liberal bias or not. Is this just something that conservatives say to each other, or is this in fact true?"
The dinner was arranged, and 10 conservatives attended, along with Ron Schiller and NPR head Vivian Schiller. (The two are not related.) The results of the evening, Ron Schiller said, were "very amusing."
"We began with everyone around the table taking this point of view that of course NPR is liberal, or perceived as liberal ... and that there is a reason for that perception," Schiller recounted. "And then, about half an hour into the dinner, one of the people said, 'Well, of course I listen to NPR every day because it's the only place I can get intelligent reporting. But it's still liberal.' And then the next person said, 'Well, of course I listen to it every day.' By the time we finished the dinner, every person around the room admitted that they listened to it every day."
Assume for a moment that Schiller's description of the dinner conversation is both accurate and complete. (I haven't yet spoken to anyone who was actually there, and NPR did not answer a request for details.) The lesson the NPR executives took from the dinner seems to be that because some Republicans listen to NPR -- and they do -- then they should support federal funding for the network. "It's politically advantageous to attack NPR and to paint it as liberal, even if in fact [you] listen to it and don't really think that it's all that liberal," Schiller said on the video.
Rep. Doug Lamborn, a conservative Republican from Colorado, is leading the fight in the House to defund NPR. I asked whether Lamborn had been invited to the Schiller dinner. "No," he laughed. (He hadn't known about it until I told him.) But he was struck by the notion that anyone who listens to NPR must also support federal subsidies for NPR.
"It's not an issue of whether they have quality programming or whether they have an ideological bias," Lamborn says. "Those are valid questions, but the issue is whether we can afford something that's no longer essential." Lamborn has no desire to see NPR disappear; he believes it can thrive on its corporate, foundation, and private support, without federal dollars.
It's not hard to understand. People watch and enjoy ESPN but don't believe it should be federally subsidized. They watch the History Channel, the Food Channel, the news channels, the old movie channels -- all without believing those should be federally subsidized. Why shouldn't they feel the same way about NPR?
Even though much coverage of the Schiller sting video has focused on bias -- in the video Schiller refers to Tea Partiers as "xenophobic" and "seriously racist, racist people" -- Lamborn and other Republicans are trying to keep the emphasis on federal funding. In the video, Schiller said NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding." That, to Lamborn, is the heart of the matter; he wants to debate whether the government should fund a news agency, especially in a time of runaway deficits. What he's trying to avoid is "an ideological battle where people take sides."
Of course, that is exactly the situation some congressional NPR defenders want to create. "They're trying to make this, including my involvement in it, into an ideological jihad of some kind," says Lamborn. "If we keep it on fiscal issues, we can make more progress."
It's not clear whether Lamborn can prevail. But it is becoming clear that NPR doesn't fully understand its adversaries on Capitol Hill.
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Previously:
03/08/11 While Obama seeks new ideas, his bureaucrats stifle them
02/28/11 Why the GOP shouldn't fear a government shutdown
02/22/11 In Hawaii, a dispiriting glimpse of one-party rule
02/21/11 Obama team uses slippery words to tout budget
02/15/11 Myth and memory: The battle over Reagan's legacy
02/07/11 Invoking Reagan, Palin says this is a time for choosing again
01/31/11 With each passing year, Reagan grows larger in the American political imagination
01/24/11 House GOP begins long drive to dismantle Obamacare
01/17/11 GOP gears up again to strip NPR of federal funds
01/10/11 To House GOP, illegal immigration is a jobs issue
01/03/11 Obamacare mess is legacy of Dems' moment of power
12/27/10 Smiling Dems will soon cry Washington is broken
12/20/10 Dems are earmark junkies but GOP goes straight
12/13/10 Needed: A more presidential Palin
12/06/10 With Dems in a funk, Obama charts a new course
11/29/10 Obama's poll numbers point to his defeat in 2012
11/22/10 Holder ignored risks of civilian terror trials
11/16/10 Dems love facts and science --- except when they don't
11/08/10 Obama, new GOP lawmakers are on collision course
11/01/10 New GOP star on track to defeat Dem legend Russ Feingold
10/26/10 If Dems lose, Obama will blame everyone but himself
10/19/10 Profligate Congress should read its own bills
10/13/10 Why Big Labor couldn't match Glenn Beck's rally
10/11/10 Trash-talking Democrat faces defeat in Florida
10/05/10 A GOP unknown in striking distance of Barney Frank
09/28/10 Administration inflates green-jobs numbers
09/20/10 In Delaware, GOP should target Dems, not O'Donnell
09/14/10 GOP Insiders Wary of Landslide Predictions
08/31/10 For Obamacare supporters, judgment day approaches
08/23/10 Obama has himself to blame for Muslim problem
08/17/10 Cut spending without cutting services? Start here
08/17/10 For Michelle Obama, extravagance dents popularity
08/09/10 Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy
08/02/10 A battle between Left and Right --- inside the GOP
07/26/10 GOP spoiling for fight over Berwick appointment
07/20/10 How long will the public tolerate Afghan war?
07/12/10 NASA's Muslim outreach: Al Jazeera told first
07/02/10 Legal complaint against Gore is detailed, credible
06/28/10 Obama and Dems heading for electoral disaster
06/21/10 Who told Obama drilling is absolutely safe?
06/14/10 Billions for green jobs, whatever they are
06/07/10 Sestak a no-go for any job. So what was the deal?
05/31/10 As economic worries worsen, White House puts on the glitz
05/25/10 GOP dilemma: Fight Kagan, or go along?
05/11/10 Enforcing nation's immigration laws would be a bargain
05/03/10 How Obama could lose Arizona immigration battle
04/27/10 What's behind the anti-Tea Party hate narrative?
04/20/10 As government expands, beware the post-office example
04/19/10 Who wins in 2010? Good luck reading tea leaves
04/12/10 GOP Obamacare strategy: Try repeal, then cut
04/05/10 Obamacare was mainly aimed at redistributing wealth
03/30/10 Message to Dems: People still don't like Obamacare
03/23/10 The coming consequences of Obamacare
03/16/10 Marco Rubio and the Republicans who love him
03/15/10 GOP hopes town halls take health care off table
03/08/10 Dems turn risky health vote into manhood contest
03/01/10 Why Obama defies the public on health care
02/22/10 South Carolina mulls 2012: Romney? Palin? Huck?
02/16/10 GOP winning war over Miranda rights for terrorists
02/09/10 Who are the 300 terrorists held in U.S. prisons?
02/02/10 Is Obama dissatisfied with being president?
01/19/10 The Republican dilemma: Good Michael or Bad Michael?
01/12/10 Now the lawmakers are figuring out what they didn't know
01/05/10 GOP deserves blame for Democratic excesses
12/29/09 Dems' dreams of a blue West begin to turn red
12/22/09 Why Dems push health care, even if it kills them
11/30/09 Dems' kamikaze mission: Health care by New Year's
11/23/09 Why it's a mistake to bring Gitmo prisoners here
11/16/09 Dems' slick fix: $210 billion of fiscal restraint
11/10/09 Obama can't be community organizer for the world
11/02/09 At key moment, Obama leaves health post unfilled
10/26/09 Fierce urgency' for jobs, not health care
10/12/09 Facts hurt Jennings in youth sex controversy
10/05/09 Amid terror threat, Dems chip away at Patriot Act
09/27/09 In Afghanistan, let U.S. troops be warriors
09/21/09 Under fire, Democrats abandon ACORN in drove
09/14/09 Dems stifle Republican health care plans
09/08/09 For Dems, a serious Charlie Rangel problem
09/07/09 Obama's speech: Wrong setting for a sales job
09/01/09 What happened to the antiwar movement?
08/24/09 Why Dems may jam through health care plan
08/17/09 GOP thinks the unthinkable: Victory in 2010
08/10/09 The empty words of a journalist turned flack
08/03/09 Probe finds new clues in AmeriCorps IG scandal
07/27/09 Obamacare haunted by unkept promises of stimulus
07/20/09 Why the GOP failed the Sotomayor test
07/13/09 What the GOPers will ask Sotomayor
06/29/09 Serious questions remain for Mark Sanford
06/22/09 How GOPers can crack the AmeriCorps scandal
06/16/09 Worried about Sotomayor? Consider Andre Davis
06/08/09 Can Mitch Daniels save the GOP?
06/01/09 When the Dems derailed a Latino nominee
05/26/09 Why the GOP will defeat Obama on healthcare
05/19/09 Rosy report can't hide stimulus problems
05/12/09 The Reagan legacy is the man himself
05/05/09 Sen. Specter, meet your new friends
04/27/09 Ted Olson: ‘Torture' probes will never end
04/20/09 Who's Laughing at the Axis of Evil today?
04/14/09 Congress needs Google to track stimulus money
04/06/09 Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary
03/30/09 On Spending and the Deficit, McCain Was Right
03/24/09 It's Obama's crisis now
03/17/09: Geithner-Obama economics: A joke that's not funny
© 2009, NEA
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