Anti-Muslim Rhetoric Triggers Little Fallout

BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2010— -- What do Brian Kilmeade, co-host of the conservative-leaning morning cable show "Fox & Friends," and Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief of left-leaning New Republic magazine, have in common?

Both have recently apologized for their anti-Muslim rhetoric. And neither appears likely to suffer any lasting career damage.

"People agreed that what he [Peretz] said was offensive but they were scrambling all over themselves to provide context," said Matthew Duss, national security editor at the Center for American Progress.

That sets Peretz apart from Helen Thomas, for example, the former opinion columnist who lost her job this year after saying that Jews in Israel should go home to Germany or Poland.

After all, Duss asked, "How do you punish a guy who runs his own magazine?"

Not to mention a guy who, after 36 years, has either hired or fired many of today's well-known media figures.

On his blog the Spine, Peretz wrote Sept. 4, "But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. ... So, yes, I wonder whether I need to honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment, which I have in my gut sense that they will abuse."

He apologized Sept. 13, writing, "I do not think that any group or class of persons in the United States should be denied the protections of the First Amendment, not now, not ever."

He stood by his statement that "Muslim life is cheap" referring to it as a "statement of fact, not value."

Meanwhile, Kilmeade has apologized after stating on his show Friday that "not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."

"Well, I misspoke," he said Monday. "I don't believe all terrorists are Muslims. I'm sorry about that, if I offended or hurt anybody's feelings."