Juan Williams is gone, Ellen Weiss becomes a martyr: The more things change at NPR, the more they stay the same.

In case anybody thought that NPR was really going to change in the wake of the public backlas to NPR's scandalous firing of Juan Williams late last year--the big headline in the Washington Post "Style" section this morning tells us otherwise: "Shake-up at NPR prompts outcry."  That is, of course, the firing of NPR VP Ellen Weiss in the wake of her firing Williams over honest, albeit not p.c. comments on "The O'Reilly Factor."  High up in his story, Post reporter Paul Farhi quotes one NPR official, Peter Block, capturing the government network's overall tone of angry victimization, combined, of course, with NPR's special brand of self-righteousness, even self-exaltation:

"We have allowed Fox News to define the debate," wrote Peter Block, a member of the board of Cincinnati Public Radio, in a posting to an e-mail group consisting of public radio managers. He added, "I do not think this kind of capitulation [by NPR] assures the future of an independent press. . . . Democracy is on the line and NPR is one of the last bastions of its possibility."

So let's get this straight: NPR, which collects hundreds of milions of dollars a year from various government pots, is being picked on by Fox News?   One fair & balanced media portal can muscle the apple of the liberal-left Establishment's eye?  Wow!  What a bunch of limousine-liberal victims!  And that's especially tragic, because, as Peter Block says, NPR is one of the "last bastions" of democratic possibility.   Who knew that we were this close to the edge of right-wing repression in this country--especially surprising, since Barack Obama is president?  

The whole Post article tells The Cable Gamer that nothing at NPR has changed.  That is, the same smug liberal culture.  Actually, though, one thing has changed: Juan Williams is gone, and gone for good.  Yes, Ellen Weiss is gone, too, but she's being turned into a "progressive" martyr.  As Block said, NPR officials were guilt of "capitulation" to Fox--thus setting up, once again, the lefty narrative that the problem with the left is that it isn't tough enough.  Not tough enough, that is, to fight against the right-wing meanies at Fox and their fans in Middle America. 

So after guest appearances on "Charlie Rose" and in "The Daily Beast," Weiss will end up going to work for some liberal billion-dollar foundation, or else get a job at a big public station, or write a book, or all of the above.   In other words, she will continue to "inspire" liberals and leftists to be even more zealous in their liberal-left purity--so don't even think that NPR is going to have any conservatives around, or even moderates.     And one day, if and when the Democrats regain complete power in Washington, as they enjoyed in 2009-10, they will undoubtedly bring Ms. Weiss back in told-you-so triumph.

Roger Ailes was right.

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