NPR turned down an exclusive interview with the President of the United States because it was requested Juan Williams present the questions.

The White House reached out to National Public Radio over the weekend, offering analyst Juan Williams a presidential interview to mark yesterday’s 50th anniversary of school desegregation in Little Rock.

But NPR turned down the interview, and Williams’s talk with Bush wound up in a very different media venue: Fox News.

Williams said yesterday he was “stunned” by NPR’s decision. “It makes no sense to me. President Bush has never given an interview in which he focused on race. . . . I was stunned by the decision to turn their backs on him and to turn their backs on me.”

Ellen Weiss, NPR’s vice president for news, said she “felt strongly” that “the White House shouldn’t be selecting the person.” She said NPR told Bush’s press secretary, Dana Perino, that “we’re grateful for the opportunity to talk to the president but we wanted to determine who did the interview.” When the White House said the offer could not be transferred to one of NPR’s program hosts, Weiss took a pass.

Perino said she called Williams with the offer Saturday because of the Little Rock anniversary and the racial controversy over charges of excessive prosecution in Jena, La.

I bet Mr. Williams was stunned. I’m shocked. We all know that NPR slants left but why would you deny your listeners an opportunity to hear the President live? Were they afraid some of them might appreciate what they heard? Shame on NPR.

If you are interested in the complete transcript of this interview the only location in which I could locate it this morning was at Captains Quarters.