“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. . . . " he said. “But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in clerical collars or nun's habits and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Catholics, I get worried. I get nervous.”“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. . . . ” he said. “But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”
“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. . . . " he said. “But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in beards with side-curls and wearing those funny hats and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Jews, I get worried. I get nervous.”
“I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. . . . " he said. “But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in dashikis and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as black, I get worried. I get nervous.”
So basically, anyone who exhibits any kind of ethnic or religious affiliation other than what he deems "normal 'Murkin" (like that nice Timmy McVeigh!) is somehow NOT a True AmericanTM and therefore makes him (reasonably!) afraid! Those people shouldn't be allowed! They're probably up to something, maybe! And it's totally not bigoted!
Nobody is throwing Juan Williams in jail for expressing his personal sentiments and he is free to talk about his bigotry all he wants (now on Fox, which obviously has no problem making bigotry a cornerstone of its broadcasting policy). But his former employer, which depends on a public perception of impartiality and equanimity, should not be required to retain him as its face and voice when he demonstrates the opposite.
