# An easy pit. O'Reilly. He has lost it, you better be scared **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 3, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976 "2006-03-03T23:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/1 "2006-03-03T23:45:51Z")
If you call his radio show, and say something he doesn’t like, he’ll tell [his mommy](http://mediamatters.org/items/200603030010)! Oh, no. Wait. He’ll tell Fox Security. They both instill the same amount of fear in me, and both hold the sam amount of authority over me. He honestly thinks that threat carries any weight? Seriously. The guy has lost the cheese off of his cracker. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/2 "2006-03-03T23:58:30Z")
Oh god, the local authorities? Jesus, like the cops don’t have enough people wasting their time will stupid bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/3 "2006-03-03T23:59:00Z")
It seems perfectly reasonable to me. This caller, Mike, presumably said something obscene about O’Reilly and/or Olberman (which is blanked out on the clip, most likely by some sort of automatic delay mechanism used to screen calls) and O’Reilly took the opportunity to remind any other prospective cranks that such acts have consequences. The bit about ‘Fox Security paying a visit’ did, admittedly, sound a little silly. The image of Monty Burns with his winged monkeys flashed across my minds eye for a second there (Fly, my pretties. _Fly!_), but in O’Reilly’s defence he was probably caught a little off guard. What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/4 "2006-03-04T00:05:47Z")
O’Reilly’s just scared because the latest ratings report show that he’s losing viewers in the 25-54 demographic, while Countdown with Keith Olbermann is gaining on him. Which is not surprising, because Keith is INTENTIONALLY funny on his show. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/5 "2006-03-04T00:08:07Z")
Uh, he didn’t blank anything out. All the guy did was say “I think that Keith Olbermann-” and then O’Reilly cut him off and threatened him. ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/6 "2006-03-04T00:16:35Z")
> [@Guinastacia](#): > > Uh, he didn’t blank anything out. All the guy did was say “I think that Keith Olbermann-” and then O’Reilly cut him off and threatened him. I may be wrong, but I think it’s SOP for call-in shows to initiate a 5-10 second delay between the call and the broadcast, so if the caller says something that might get the station in trouble (like mention Janet Jackson’s tits, or something) they can terminate the call before the offending words are broadcast. If this Mike character said something untoward and was indeed cut off, we wouldn’t know about it. I’m pretty sure he said something _after_ “I think that Keith Olbermann-” that was egregious enough to get him booted off the air because what we heard was completely innocuous. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/7 "2006-03-04T00:54:13Z")
Mr. O’Reilly has a track record of cutting off the mike of anyone who disagrees with him and/or has a chance of making him look foolish. He also tends to exaggerate his own importance (see: Boycott France) and make up or misinterpret facts (see: War On Christmas.) If his fans knew the facts, they would no longer buy into his shtick. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/8 "2006-03-04T00:56:08Z")
> [@George Kaplin](#): > > I’m pretty sure he said something _after_ “I think that Keith Olbermann-” that was egregious enough to get him booted off the air because what we heard was completely innocuous. Was there some kind of pause between when Mike was cut off, and when he was admonished by O’Reilly? I haven’t seen the clip, and I’m genuinely curious if there was any indication that something else was said by Mike before he was threatened. If there was not some kind of five second gap between when Mike stopped talking and when he was told that Fox security would be paying him a visit, then he couldn’t possibly have said anything else. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/9 "2006-03-04T01:08:27Z")
Something’s screwy here. I listened to the clip and the guy sounded like he was complimnetary to O’Reilly until he was cut off. No way is this just because the guy mentioned Oberman. O’Reilly can be a bully, and he shows it with his comment about “we have your number”, but the missing piece is what did the guy actually say, and I’m guessing that only the folks of Fox know. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/10 "2006-03-04T01:10:37Z")
What happened was, the caller said a few pleasantries and then had the audacity! the effrontery! the unmitigated gall! to say the he listens to Bill in the afternoon, and to Olberman at night because Olberman has a better show. The audio is out on the “internets” now. So, Billy O simply lost it. If it was me, when he threatened to send Fox security to my house, I would have laughed out loud. What are they gonna do? Nothing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/11 "2006-03-04T01:27:53Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > What happened was, the caller said a few pleasantries and then had the audacity! the effrontery! the unmitigated gall! to say the he listens to Bill in the afternoon, and to Olberman at night because Olberman has a better show. The audio is out on the “internets” now. So, Billy O simply lost it. If it was me, when he threatened to send Fox security to my house, I would have laughed out loud. What are they gonna do? Nothing. Link? I’ll be pretty surprised if that’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/12 "2006-03-04T01:34:03Z")
Keith is having a ball with this right now. He mentions that the whole clip has now been erased from O’reilly’s web site - it jumps right to the exit cliché “_a no spin zone!_” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/13 "2006-03-04T01:58:40Z")
I want to have Keith Olbermann’s babies. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/14 "2006-03-04T02:14:11Z")
Perhaps a little backstory would help **John Mace**. Olberman and O’Reilly have been having an ongoing on the air fued. O’Reilly started a petition to get Olberman replaced at MSNBC, and Olberman, well, um, Olberman signed it. A blogger over at [CallingAllWingnuts.com](http://CallingAllWingnuts.com) by the name of Mike Stark made the call. None of any of the previous calls of theirs that I’ve heard contained any vulgarity, and he claims all he did was mention Olberman. The whole thing is pretty juvenile, and Olberman, by signing the petition, is goading him pretty well. Bill, on the other hand, is unable to make light of the conflict. He’s freaking out, as the clip shows. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/15 "2006-03-04T02:20:50Z")
Interesting. Bill does have a pretty thin hide. I’d love to hear the whole audio clip, but I wonder how anyone outside Fox would even get a hold of it. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/16 "2006-03-04T02:30:53Z")
The website [http://callingallwingnuts.com/](http://callingallwingnuts.com/) has a number of mp3s (thanks **NurseCarmen**!). It’s possible that some of them have a recording of the clipped conversation from Mike’s end, FWIW. I have not downloaded the mp3s in question. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/17 "2006-03-04T02:52:42Z")
Hmph! O’Reilly is snarking about _anybody_ being prurient after the way he horndogs his (law prof/ex-federal prosecutor) radio stooge, Lis Wiehl? If she ever tires of her role as Playboy Bunny to conservative media power jockeys, I bet O’Reilly is gonna need a speculum to find his nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/18 "2006-03-04T03:42:42Z")
I’ve heard that Terry Gross keeps them in a miniature teacup on her desk at NPR. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/19 "2006-03-04T04:09:50Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Link? I’ll be pretty surprised if that’s true. I don’t have the link, I was listening to it at work. I imagine by now you’ve heard it anyway. It didn’t sound like it was building up into an argument though. I’ll try to find it for you. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976/20 "2006-03-04T04:12:19Z")
Never mind, it’s in post 16. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-easy-pit-oreilly-he-has-lost-it-you-better-be-scared/346976.md?page=2)