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[Incognito]

Gather 'round, friends -- it's punditry time! From MediaMatters.org, I present you the insane ravings of one, Bill O'Reilly:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200503310004

ACLU is a bigger threat to freedom than Al Qaeda. Bill O'Reilly began a segment of Westwood One's The Radio Factor by saying that "Al Qaeda is not the most intense threat to your freedom -- it's the American Civil Liberties Union." From the March 30 edition of The Radio Factor:

O'REILLY: All right, this hour's devoted to the most intense threat to your freedom in the world. It's not Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is not the most intense threat to your freedom -- it's the American Civil Liberties Union. And I will back up what I say.

As Media Matters for America has noted, O'Reilly has previously called the ACLU a "terrorist group " and "a facsist orginization. " He has also said that "Hitler would be a card-carrying ACLU member. So would Stalin."

Gay marriage is part of a trend leading to marriage with goats. From the March 29 edition of The Radio Factor:

O'REILLY: The judges in Massachusetts knew they weren't going to be impeached when they said to the state legislature, "Gay marriage is now legal in Massachusetts because we say it is. We the judges" -- they knew they weren't gonna be impeached. They knew the legislature didn't care. You get the government you deserve. In California, the prevailing wisdom is marijuana is no big deal, let's legalize it. And since we can't get that through the legislature, we'll do it this way. And they did it! You see?

And 10 years, this is gonna be a totally different country than it is right now. Laws that you think are in stone -- they're gonna evaporate, man. You'll be able to marry a goat -- you mark my words!

O'Reilly said he needed "armed bodyguards" because of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and "the far left." O'Reilly compared himself to Judge George W. Greer, the judge in the Terri Schiavo case, who has armed protection because he has received death threats .

From the March 29 edition of The Radio Factor:

O'REILLY: [Quoting Krugman's March 28 column ] "One thing that's going on," he says, "is a climate of fear for those who try to enforce laws that religious extremists oppose ... George Greer, the judge in the Schiavo case, needs armed bodyguards."

Well, that's true. So do I, Mr. Krugman. And the reason I need armed bodyguards is because of you and the far left. I gotta have 'em. Okay? So this isn't a one-way street here.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Boomer]

I hate extremists on both sides. They should all just shut the fuck up.

 

[pxleyes]

I hate extremists on both sides. They should all just shut the fuck up.

amen

 

[robox]

i may be missing something, but what does a far left pundit sound like anyhoo? the polarity of this place means we only the ridicule of right wing guys

 

[Hitokage]

I hate extremists on both sides. They should all just shut the fuck up.

But O'Reilly is an INDEPENDENT. He's fair and balanced!

 

[G4life98]

It would make me happy if one of the rap stars he rags on all the time, just whipped his ass...that would be the best thing ever.

He needs to relax and go harass another intern

 

[djtiesto]

i may be missing something, but what does a far left pundit sound like anyhoo? the polarity of this place means we only the ridicule of right wing guys

Probably that Ward Churchill guy... Or Michael Moore... But the majority of the left is pretty stable and never really totally goes off the deep end (like O'Reilly, Coulter, etc)

 

[Diablos]

Though I (and all of us) have known of O'Reilly's crazy antics for quite some time now, I'm not sure what's worse: the fact that he thinks he knows what he's talking about, or the fact basically everyone that listens to him is almost in total agreement with what he says. This wouldn't be so bad if he was at the bottom of the barrel, but everyone knows Fox is at the top (along with The O'Reilly Factor) when it comes to ratings. Sad and scary.

The comments Incognito just quoted are beyond stupid. O'Reilly is a man that lacks a clear conscience and the ability to make a good argument, yet somehow gets away with being arrogant, intimidating and downright nasty on a daily basis. Disgusting.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

But O'Reilly is an INDEPENDENT. He's fair and balanced!

They Report – You Decide.

 

[demon]

or the fact basically everyone that listens to him is almost in total agreement with what he says.

Oh I don't think that's true. I (used to) watch O'Reilly all the time, and only out of morbid fascination with what kind of verbal diarrhea he'll shoot out of his mouth next. I've known other people to do the same, and when O'Reilly was on at the caffeteria every night, most people would laugh at it.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

Fair and Balanced people. Fair and Balanced.

 

[Escape Goat]

O'Reilly is a news commentator. Its not his job to relay news impartially.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

O'Reilly is a news commentator. Its not his job to relay news impartially.

But who is claiming to be Fair and Balanced?

 

[Incognito]

Oh I don't think that's true. I (used to) watch O'Reilly all the time, and only out of morbid fascination with what kind of verbal diarrhea he'll shoot out of his mouth next. I've known other people to do the same, and when O'Reilly was on at the caffeteria every night, most people would laugh at it.

Same. Only reason I watch the clowns on FNC.

 

[Hitokage]

O'Reilly is a news commentator. Its not his job to relay news impartially.

A huge part of the problem is that much of what used to be news programs are now "news commentator" programs. Information isn't being conveyed, only spin, dissembling, and MAYBE an reasoned opinion. People aren't left to make their own judgements, only pick sides.

Networks get away with this kind of shit now because they lobbied to the FCC to do away with the idea that since they are using public airwaves, they must provide a public service. Cable news doesn't even try.

 

[GG-Duo]

Oh I don't think that's true. I (used to) watch O'Reilly all the time, and only out of morbid fascination with what kind of verbal diarrhea he'll shoot out of his mouth next. I've known other people to do the same, and when O'Reilly was on at the caffeteria every night, most people would laugh at it.

I dunno, dude. The more I hear about this the more I think that you're just contributing to his popularity.

Result? Fox News becomes the most watched news channel.
I mean, it's not like the advertisers care.

 

[demon]

I dunno, dude. The more I hear about this the more I think that you're just contributing to his popularity.

Result? Fox News becomes the most watched news channel.
I mean, it's not like the advertisers care.

And....so? Their true power comes from how many people they actually influence. If they're gauging their influence through ratings, and many of the people who watch them are just watching them for humor value or to get mad and throw shit at the TV, they're just overestimating their influential reach. The more intelligent, free-thinking people who watch this kind of shit and as a result know what kind of horse crap this country is dealing with, the better I say. Besides, I don't have a Neilson ratings box.

 

[ge-man]

This thread makes me wish that Paul Krugman had his own show. He's a voice that needs to be heard as often as possible, especially by the leadership of the Democratic Party.

 

[GG-Duo]

And....so? Their true power comes from how many people they actually influence. If they're gauging their influence through ratings, and many of the people who watch them are just watching them for humor value or to get mad and throw shit at the TV, they're just overestimating their influential reach. The more intelligent, free-thinking people who watch this kind of shit and as a result know what kind of horse crap this country is dealing with, the better I say. Besides, I don't have a Neilson ratings box.

That's the assumption, but I can definitely imagine people who get hooked on (and become influenced by) O'Reilly even though their friend recommended it as a joke.

Iunno. To me it just seems that turning off the TV is the first step to stop this fucking bullshit.

 

[videogamer]

Think Progress had this juicy bit:

But I do know that I’ve studied this pope as well as I’ve studied anybody. And I can’t find anything, anything that this guy didn’t walk the walk. You know, right down the line. Nobody’s perfect, but this guy was close in his personal behavior and the way he conducted himself.

But as I’ve said before, I believe also that John Paul is naive and detached from reality. If America does not lead an attack on Iraq, once again, Saddam remains in power and is free to use his anthrax and other terrible weapons as he chooses.

So the pope does not seem to be concerned about that or about Saddam’s behavior in general. Once again, he must know Saddam is a killer. He must know he’s oppressed his own people using murder and torture. He must know that.

[Snip]

Summing up, Jacques Chirac is our enemy, and the pope, well, I don’t know what to think.

One might argue that these two statements can mesh together, but I think that requires some hairsplitting (putting an emphasis on personal behavior over what the Pope was concerned over). Then again, that "I don't know what to think" part seems to be pretty contradictory.
http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=561

 

[way more]

Oh I don't think that's true. I (used to) watch O'Reilly all the time, and only out of morbid fascination with what kind of verbal diarrhea he'll shoot out of his mouth next. I've known other people to do the same, and when O'Reilly was on at the caffeteria every night, most people would laugh at it.

More proof for my theory that O'Reilly is just a shock jock.

 

[Evenball]

Sometimes I can agree with Bill O'Reilly, but then he goes off the deep end. His daily rantings about the ACLU are tiring. I dont always agree with everything the ACLU does, but he seems to want to link them to everything bad that happens in this country.

 

[Socreges]

What would be so wrong with someone marrying a goat?

 

[Bebpo]

What would be so wrong with someone marrying a goat?

The Goat can't speak out when abused!

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Bleat means no.

 

[demon]

The Goat can't speak out when abused!

Isn't that kind of the point!

 

[Fix]

But who is claiming to be Fair and Balanced?

The network that airs his show? You can hardly claim as an aggregate to be fair and balanced when your individual parts all skew in one direction. Then, the same applies for calling the network a "news" channel.

Besides, O'Reilly spouts that same slogan enough on his own show to falter into hypocracy with every taping. I used to watch him nightly, back when he was going after the Red Cross for 9/11 money, but his little crusades have become ignorant and aggrivating. What a tool.

As for the same on the left side: see Al Franken. The right talk (including O'Reilly) likes to lump NPR into the same category, but they tend to ignore the general calm civility that network offers. They may skew liberal on what topics they choose and the presentation of them, but at least they don't devolve into abject mud-slinging.

I actually heard a pre-election Limbaugh show where he referred to Kerry while going to commercial as a "poo-poo head." Seriously. I mean, sure he's joking, but what school child who lets that one fly on the playground isn't?

 

[demon]

yeah...

But who is claiming to be Fair and Balanced?

Give me a fucking break, are you kidding?

 

[Lindsay]

The first time I saw O'Reilly he was a Conservative.
When last I saw him during the election he was a Liberal.
Now according to the quotes posted up top~he's Insane.

Seems like a natural progression to me.

 

[Socreges]

The Goat can't speak out when abused!

What about those gorillas that know sign language?

 

[whytemyke]

best quote ever by George carlin plays right up with this 'extremist' theory:

You have to be realistic about terrorism. Certain groups of people-- Muslim fundamentalists, Christian fundamentalists, Jewish fundamentalists, and just plain guys from Montana-- are gonna continue to make life in this country very interesting for a long, long time. That's the reality. Angry men in combat fatigues, talking to God on a 2-way radio, muttering incoherent slogans about freedom, are eventually gonna provide us with a great deal of entertainment.

 

[Do The Mario]

Just watched the “talking points” on the Fox news website bill said

“The ACLU Believes child pornography should be available on the Internet”

That’s has to be total bullshit.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152033,00.html

 

[FightyF]

I haven't seen ANY popular left wing people f*cked up in the head as these Neo-Cons.

Most left wingers have the sanity to ignore left wing extremists.

Yet the right embraces and endorses people like O'Retard and Skelator (Coultier).

 

[ToxicAdam]

You might as well be arguing about which Professional Wrestler is the most sincere.


ITS ALL A FUCKING ACT PEOPLE.


Jesus A. Christ. When did people like Reilly or Tucker Carlson or that bald headed Carville have any relevance to actual NEWS.


It's fun to watch and laugh at ... but to sit here and pull it apart like it has some value is laughable.

 

[Drozmight]

Somewhere out there someone is complaining about straight marriage being a trend leading toward gay marriage.

 

[Azih]

It's fun to watch and laugh at ... but to sit here and pull it apart like it has some value is laughable.

The problem is that it DOES have value to a lot of people. A lot of people get their entire world view from these guys.

 

[ToxicAdam]

The problem is that it DOES have value to a lot of people. A lot of people get their entire world view from these guys.

College kids, home-bound senior citizens, and intellectuals living in trailer parks.

 

[AssMan]

I love the hypocrisy among liberals, but that's for another time. I shall enjoy the media hating on the liberals when go through with their fillibuster shutting down the legislation for the rest of the year. Just to name a few, liberals have voted against the civils rights act, and the patriot act.


Hey, Incog. Can you name one bill Kerry came up with and actually got passed throughout his entire senate career? :lol

 

[demon]

College kids, home-bound senior citizens, and intellectuals living in trailer parks.

Not the "college kids" I've run into.

I love the hypocrisy among liberals, but that's for another time.

Right..

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Hey, Incog. Can you name one bill Kerry came up with and actually got passed throughout his entire senate career? :lol

Can you name a bill that Bush has vetoed throughout his entire presidential career?

 

[Jim Bowie]

College kids, home-bound senior citizens, and intellectuals living in trailer parks.

The majority of FoxNews viewers, a spatter of CNN viewers, the general public, y'know, nobodies.

 

[Drinky Crow]

Holy fuck, someone SUPPORTS the Patriot Act?

Conservatives never fail to horrify me.

 

[demon]

Holy fuck, someone SUPPORTS the Patriot Act?

Conservatives never fail to horrify me.

That's because liberals aren't patriots.

 

[brooklyngooner]

ust to name a few, liberals have voted against the civils rights act

You'll have to explain this one a bit further because I am going to bet the house that you'll trot out the same tired bullshit revisionist history.

 

[AssMan]

., together with the rest of the southern Democrats, voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

http://www.williambenson.com/tysk/AlGoreSr_distorted.htm


Now we know republicans aren't racist! It's the democrats!

 

[Incognito]

Hey, Incog. Can you name one bill Kerry came up with and actually got passed throughout his entire senate career? :lol

Sure:

S.791: Authorizes $53 million over four years to provide grants to woman-owned small businesses. (1999)

S.1206: Names a federal building in Waltham, Massachusetts after Frederick C. Murphy, who was killed in action during World War II and awarded (posthumously) the Medal of Honor. (1994)

S.1636: A save-the-dolphins measure aiming “to improve the program to reduce the incidental taking of marine mammals during the course of commercial fishing operations.” (1994)

S.1563: Funding the National Sea Grant College Program, which supports university-based research, public education, and other projects “to promote better understanding, conservation and use of America’s coastal resources.” (1991)

S.423: Granting a visa and admission to the U.S. as a permanent resident to Kil Joon Yu Callahan. (1987)


H.R.1900 (S.300): Awarded a congressional gold medal to Jackie Robinson (posthumously), and called for a national day of recognition. (2003)

H.R.1860 (S.856): Increased the maximum research grants for small businesses from $500,000 to $750,000 under the Small Business Technology Transfer Program. (2001)


S.J.Res.158: To make the week of Oct. 22 – Oct. 28, 1989 “World Population Awareness Week.” (1989)

S.J.Res.160: To renew “World Population Awareness Week” for 1991. (1991)

S.J.Res.318: To make Nov. 13, 1992 “Vietnam Veterans Memorial 10th Anniversary Day.” (1992)

S.J.Res.337: To make Sept. 18, 1992 “National POW/MIA Recognition Day." (1992)

You were saying?

 

[gofreak]

A huge part of the problem is that much of what used to be news programs are now "news commentator" programs. Information isn't being conveyed, only spin, dissembling, and MAYBE an reasoned opinion. People aren't left to make their own judgements, only pick sides.

True. I saw an interesting thing on a euro channel over here, it's basically like a news channel. All it is is video, sometimes accompanied by a voice reporting what's happening - you never actually see the reporter though. Then often they'll intersperse it with these "no comment" segments where they simply show video of events or whatever, with absolutely no voiceover. It's an interesting concept, though I'm not sure how successful it'd be on a large scale. It kinda requires you to engage your brain a little more, to pay attention to it more, which possibly isn't what most people want.

Just a thought that literally struck me right now - perhaps people don't want to make up their own minds. Perhaps they want a prepackaged stance to adopt.

 

[brooklyngooner]

http://www.williambenson.com/tysk/AlGoreSr_distorted.htm


Now we know republicans aren't racist! It's the democrats!

:lol

I had a feeling you'd link to some page breaking down the '64 Civil Rights Act voting record. And yes, if you look at the numbers, it would appear that proportionately speaking, more Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act than Democrats. But as is the case with most Republican back-slapping propaganda, when you scrutinize the numbers you realize how flimsy the argument is rendered.

In the decades prior to the Civil Rights vote, the democrats were an odd mix of two distinctly different castes: northern liberals and what were called southern "dixiecrats," between whom the only real common thread was a dislike for Republicans. When you break down the voting numbers for the Civil Rights Act, it's really not a partisan issue so much as a geographic one -- voters of both parties supported it in the north and opposed it in the south. At the time, Republicans had very few elected representatives in Congress in the south, as southern democrats (dixiecrats) by and large had always campaigned successfully on a segregationist platform.

Now here's the rub, and why your cheap logic doesn't hold up: after the act was ratified, southern dixiecrats UNIFORMLY defected to the Republican party, and the so-called "Southern Strategy" was born. Republicans such as Goldwater started to sweep southern states on anti-integrationist platforms. Ever since 1964 the Republicans have been the home of the deep southern neo-dixiecrats such as Trent Lott.

So your Fox News-programmed example of that voting record is moot for your purposes.

Oh and by the way George Bush senior (yes, later the president of the United States) ran for the senate in 1964 as a Republican on an anti-integration platform and lost to a democrat.

 

[AssMan]

So your Fox News-programmed example of that voting record is moot for your purposes.[/QUOTE


Hey. I can list 20 different websites if I wanted to. You've been owned, just admit defeat.

Oh and by the way George Bush senior (yes, later the president of the United States) ran for the senate in 1964 as a Republican on an anti-integration platform and lost to a democrat.

Hey, guess what? Al Gore Sr. was also a racist melon farmer.

 

[brooklyngooner]

So your Fox News-programmed example of that voting record is moot for your purposes.[/QUOTE


Hey. I can list 20 different websites if I wanted to. You've been owned, just admit defeat.






Hey, guess what? Al Gore Sr. was also a racist melon farmer.

Was the "you've been owned" quote for me? Are you ten years old? And do you have a reading disability? It's not about the voting record -- I'm not disputing that. I'm disputing using it as an example as to how republicans are friends to civil rights.