McCaskill: NPR wrong for firing Williams

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Monday became one of the first Democratic lawmakers to openly disagree with the firing of Juan Williams, a news analyst who made a controversial statement about Muslims on Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor" and was subsequently let go from his position at National Public Radio (NPR).

"For what it's worth, I think NPR is wrong for both firing Juan Williams and prohibiting their staff from attending [the] Stewart/Colbert rally," she said. 

McCaskill is also among the first Democratic lawmakers to tweet about the controversy. Republicans, meanwhile, have been steady in their criticism of NPR on Twitter since Williams was fired last week: some have threatened to cut NPR's funding, calling the situation an example of "overreaching political correctness."

NPR, as McCaskill noted, also prohibits its employees from participating in "rallies involving causes or issues that [it] covers." According to an internal memo distributed two weeks ago, the restriction applies to the dual rallies to be held Oct. 30 by Comedy Central personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on the National Mall.