Michael Graham, spiked by ABC

Brent Bozell wrote in Townhall Remember this the next time ABC toots its own horn as a defender of free speech. Michael Graham, a popular talk-radio host on ABC-owned WMAL in Washington, D.C., publicly declared that "Islam is a terror organization." Under pressure from a radical Islamic group, ABC fired him. Left alone as a sentence, Graham's charge is a wild overgeneralization. But he didn't utter a sentence. He delivered an entire series of oral essays over a four-day period exploring the point. Graham plainly stated in print and on the air that he had "great sympathy for Muslims of good will who want their faith to be a true 'religion of peace.' I believe that terrorism and murder do violate the sensibilities and inherent decency of the vast majority of the world's Muslims." But his main point was unquestionably clear and disturbing: Millions of Muslims refuse to condemn terrorists in their midst and tell pollsters that suicide bombings and other acts of terror are defensible. With their firing, it's clear that the timid ABC brass wasn't listening to Graham. It was listening to the Council on Islamic-American Relations, a radical lobby that fights so-called "Islamophobia" in the media.

Actually they were worried because CAIR began to attack their advertisers, which is why I think that supporters of Michael Graham should do the same thing, and boycott WMAL advertisers.

CNSNews.com reported that CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper went so far as to blame a recent alleged hate crime against a pregnant Muslim woman in Virginia on Michael Graham.

Michelle Malkin blogged Meanwhile, Brent Bozell helpfully reminds us that ABC News apparently had no objection to George Stephanopoulos' description of Jesse Helms as a "terrorist"

Of course not. George served in the Clinton Administration, and hence he knows the secret handshake, and hence can say anything he wants to about conservatives.

on This Week in 1997:

Sam Donaldson: "I think Governor Weld has done this country a service in a sense, even though I think that he's been shot down in the ocean now, and that is by allowing the country to see Senator Helms in action. Over the years I've run into him two or three times at receptions here and he's the most gentlemanly, courtly, friendly, pleasant individual you would ever hope to meet. But, when you see him in action, you see beneath that courtliness beats the heart of a dictator and I think the country is appalled."

George Stephanopoulos: "Or a terrorist. The President is really, I think made a mistake because he's been negotiating with a terrorist here."

--Exchange on ABC's This Week, September 14, 1997