Juan Williams is Hot, Literally and Figuratively

Imus’s new buddy Juan Williams, a Fox News political contributor, was doing well today, save for the oppressive heat and humidity in Washington, DC. “It’s like a blanket,” he described. “You wake up and it’s just sitting on you.”
 
Encouraged to stop whining about the weather, Williams manned up and gave both Jon Stewart and Chris Wallace kudos for their “fascinating” discussion on last weekend’s edition of Fox News Sunday.
 
“Wallace was trying to make the case about how much Stewart is a political player, and Stewart just said, ‘Look, I’m in this business to make money,’ and I thought that was an honest sentiment,” he said. But what Williams giveth, Williams quickly taketh away.
 
“On the other hand,” he continued, “Stewart seemed absolutely blind to the idea that there’s any bias outside of Fox News. He’s nuts! How can you not see the bias that’s so evident in places like NBC and ABC?”
 
A big fan of The Daily Show, Imus observed, “there’s nobody better” at delivering material than Stewart, but added, “I don’t think he’s being honest about not owning up to being an ideological activist. He is.”
 
But Williams, who was fired by NPR last fall for comments he made about Muslims on airplanes, has witnessed firsthand the insular mentality at certain news organizations. “People would say to me, ‘You know, I don’t see the bias, it looks to me like they’re just doing journalism,’” he said. “It’s like, you guys have been drinking this water for so long, you don’t recognize the taste.”
 
Not long ago on The Daily Show, Stewart played a clip of Republican presidential contender Herman Cain, and affected an Amos ‘n’ Andy style voice afterward. Williams agreed with Imus that no other white guy could get away with that, and that the rules are different for Liberals than they are for Conservatives, which Stewart admitted on Sunday.
 
“Conservatives are more easily charged with being bigots, and racists, and intolerant than people on the Left,” Williams said. “Part of it has to do with history, I suppose. There’s a terrible history in this country in terms of race, and people think back to who supported the Civil Rights Act, voting rights…all of that plays into the idea of who can say what, and who can take on an Amos ‘n’ Andy voice in this country.”
 
Beyond questions of media bias, there’s another partisan debate going on in Washington these days over the legality of the Libya incursion. “There’s no way that we are not involved in hostilities in Libya,” Williams said, noting that the argument coming from the White House—that the U.S. does not have “boots on the ground” and is part of a multi-national force, and is therefore not violating the 1973 War Powers Act—is “baloney.”
 
The Left and the Right are, he believes, both biting their tongues at the moment, having to defend uncomfortable positions. “It’s very complex, because suddenly you have Republicans disagreeing with Republicans, agreeing with the Democrat, liberal President,” Williams said. “On the Left they’re saying, we disagree but we can’t say it, we don’t want to upset anything.”
 
Imus, for one, has no problem whatsoever upsetting things or people, which he tried to do by telling Williams he’s a better guest on this show than he is on Fox News Sunday. Williams protested that he loves appearing with Wallace, whom he thinks is the best questioner on television. Imus respectfully demurred and, when asked which anchor on television he finds most adept at interviewing, replied with no hesitation, “Me.”
 
“Well,” Williams said. “Excuse me, Emperor.”
 
-Julie Kanfer