Juan Williams/Image: CC/GregPC/Flickr

Mr. wOw reacts to the firing of Juan Williams.

As readers of this column know, Mr. wOw is not much for excessive political correctness.

Recently, I have decried the CNN firing of ignoramus and possible anti-Semite Rich Sanchez. I have given myself a Great Big Headache over Vince Vaughn and Universal caving in to the finger-wagging of GLAAD and Anderson Cooper over a line in VV’s coming crappy movie, “The Dilemma” – that electric cars are “so gay.”

Now we have FOX News commentator Juan Williams fired by NPR because of his unfortunate statement that he “gets nervous” when he’s on a plane when people in full Middle-Eastern garb are also aboard.

Sigh! Juan Williams is a slightly less wussy version of mopey-faced Alan Colmes, who used to co-host a show with Sean (“I’m a Christian!”) Hannity. Colmes was the liberal voice. He was pathetic in this role. (Mr. Colmes still pops up on Fox, often paired with the terrifying Monica Crowley, to duke it out with Bill O’Reilly. He never wins.)

Mr. Williams is another leavening, to balance out the Fox Obama hatred. He rarely succeeds, although he has a stronger character than Colmes. Almost inevitably, he ends up kissing ass and praising the high ratings of Fox and Mr. Bill O’Reilly in particular. Fine. Look, he has to pay his bills too. And, like it or not, FOX does knock it out of the ratings ballpark.

In fact, Mr. Williams made his dumb remark on O’Reilly’s show, during a discussion of Bill’s appearance on “The View.” (Oh, you know – the one where Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off, and then came back, giving Bill mountains of publicity and thousands more in book sales. You could just see the dollar signs around Bill’s head as the ladies stormed off. Liberals must learn to make a coherent point, even in the presence of the deliberately provocative O’Reilly. If not, then we deserve what we get – as in Mrs. Palin for president.)

Juan seemed to be trying to make some reasonable point with Mr. O’Reilly – on “The View” Bill had declared his opposition to the “Ground Zero Mosque” because “Muslims attacked us on 9/11.” But then, perhaps feeling the chill, Juan told us of his “nerves” when on a plane with Muslims who are dressed like Muslims. Juan prefaced his fear of the burqua with: “Now, you know I’m not a bigot, Bill.” (And for the record, I don’t believe he is.)

Poor Mr. Juan Williams. Nobody on Fox (surprise!) pointed out that Muslim terrorists don’t go around dressed in traditional garb. In fact, they tend to get themselves up to look like, well – Bill O’Reilly. Nice suits and nifty casual wear. And so what if Juan does “get nervous” around traditionally garbed Muslims? I think it’s silly, but … he spoke what he feels. He just needs some education in that area. Somebody might point out to Mr. Williams: Should all white people be afraid of African American men in baggy pants, with their underwear out? Mr. wOw finds this an unattractive fashion statement. But I don’t cross the street to avoid these fellows.

Juan’s remark was absurd and had to be called out. But … to be fired because he works for FOX? And make no mistake, aside from everybody’s tender sensitivities nowadays, that was the reason. This was a huge, brutally ignorant move on the part of NPR. If nothing else, it fires up the Foxies. Mr. Williams will now appear on air all puffed up and angry – and much richer. Fox just rewarded Juan with a new $2 million contract. Who’s sorry now?

National Public Radio made a big mistake. Demand Juan explain himself. Don’t fire him. Don’t fire anybody who speaks their mind. This is America!