# Bill O’Reilly really is the most virulent scumbag in the media today **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 21, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069 "2003-04-21T17:11:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/21 "2003-04-21T22:14:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by girlb0x \* > \*\*Maybe the condition that drives you to violently hate someone who doesn’t agree with everything that you do, should be evaluated. I’d hate to see you suffer an embolism and die before you started to enjoy a life of diversity & open mindedness. > Bill O’Reilly may not be your hero, but he’s popular for being himself and having the open mindedness to not ride one side of every fence. > > 🙂 > > Cheers. \*\* Bill O’Reilly is open minded? Did you even read the fucking link I gave? The one where he tells a man who lost his father in 9.11 to shut up because he doesn’t care what he thinks? Whatever you’re smoking, save some for me cuz it’s definately the good shit. P.S. **Ashtar** , you might consider giving your post another once-over. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/22 "2003-04-21T22:30:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shodan \* > \*\*Haven’t you ever heard of James Carville, or Al Sharpton? Compared with them, O’Reilly is a pussy. > \*\* Quite right. O’Reilly _is_ a pussy. We are, for once, in complete agreement. But let’s not make a habit of it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/23 "2003-04-21T22:36:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Bill O’Reilly really is the most virulent scumbag in the media today True only until Geraldo finds another job. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/24 "2003-04-21T22:37:08Z")
Regardless of the politics involved I’ll tell you why I enjoy watching: In politics, the first thing they teach you about dealing with the media is _‘stay on message’_. What this entails is twisting around questions to suit your agenda, and getting out your pre-scripted answers no matter the cost. It means ignoring questions you’re not ready to answer and turning the conversation back to your points every chance you get. O’Reilly doesn’t stand for that. It’s absolutely hilarious to see someone in complete shock when the interviewer doesn’t politely ignore their blatant pre-scripted responses. They’re flabbergasted that someone would actually call them on dodging a question. Others have eluded to how he tells people to shut up when they stray off topic or when they spout what is (in Mr. O’Reilly’s opinion) a completely ludicrous accusation. Well, it’s his show. He’s not legally obliged to give a shit about his guests’ viewpoints, and they are not contractually obligated to go on the show. All’s fair and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Payton\_s\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/25 "2003-04-21T23:23:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Morrigoon \* > \*\*I get it… it’s okay when a liberal rants and raves on a news program (cite: just about every tv journalist out there), but when a conservative gets a voice, and people WATCH, it’s suddenly a problem. > \*\* Sorry, but you need to be more specific in your cite then “_just about every tv journalist out there_.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/26 "2003-04-21T23:33:35Z")
How about Glenn Beck? I like him. I quite rarely agree with him, but he says what he believes without distorting what other people believe. He’s far too conservative for me…but he doesn’t offend me. We need a LOT more like that – on all sides! Trinopus ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/27 "2003-04-21T23:37:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cainxinth \* > \*\*P.S. **Ashtar** , you might consider giving your post another once-over. \*\* What do you see wrong with my post? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/28 "2003-04-21T23:46:58Z")
I thought he was fair and balanced. :):dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/29 "2003-04-21T23:55:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by XJETGIRLX \* > \*\*Regardless of the politics involved I’ll tell you why I enjoy watching: > > In politics, the first thing they teach you about dealing with the media is _‘stay on message’_. What this entails is twisting around questions to suit your agenda, and getting out your pre-scripted answers no matter the cost. It means ignoring questions you’re not ready to answer and turning the conversation back to your points every chance you get. > > O’Reilly doesn’t stand for that. It’s absolutely hilarious to see someone in complete shock when the interviewer doesn’t politely ignore their blatant pre-scripted responses. They’re flabbergasted that someone would actually call them on dodging a question. > > Others have eluded to how he tells people to shut up when they stray off topic or when they spout what is (in Mr. O’Reilly’s opinion) a completely ludicrous accusation. Well, it’s his show. He’s not legally obliged to give a shit about his guests’ viewpoints, and they are not contractually obligated to go on the show. All’s fair and whatnot. \*\* It’s only a “no spin zone” when a liberal is talking. He does not treat conseravatives the same way. Anyone from the Bush administration, especially, gets to spew any bullshit they want while O’Reilly just nods approvingly. Did you see that fucking _rim job_ he gave to GWB during the 2000 election campaign? The phrase “no spin zone” is really just an all purpose totem that he chants whenever he’s getting his ass kicked in a debate. I’ve said it before on these O’Reilly pit threads, I’d love to see O’Reilly try to hold his own on the SDMB. He would get absolutely destroyed. I think we could make him cry, I mean literally cry tears. It would sure be fun to try. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/30 "2003-04-22T00:32:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Morrigoon \* > \*\*I get it… it’s okay when a liberal rants and raves on a news program (cite: just about every tv journalist out there), but when a conservative gets a voice, and people WATCH, it’s suddenly a problem. > \*\* Complete horseshit. Come up with a real cite for that assertion, or blow your liberal media myth out your ass. [I’m almost through Eric Altermann’s new book at the moment, so the “liberal media” BS is a little more likely to set me off than usual…] ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/31 "2003-04-22T00:32:59Z")
Bill O’Reilly really is the most virulent scumbag **in the media** today. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lord Ashtar \* > If a talking head on TV is the worst person you know, then you don’t know enough people. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/32 "2003-04-22T00:46:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > It’s only a “no spin zone” when a liberal is talking. He does not treat conseravatives the same way. Anyone from the Bush administration, especially, gets to spew any bullshit they want while O’Reilly just nods approvingly. Did you see that fucking _rim job_ he gave to GWB during the 2000 election campaign? > > The phrase “no spin zone” is really just an all purpose totem that he chants whenever he’s getting his ass kicked in a debate. > > I’ve said it before on these O’Reilly pit threads, I’d love to see O’Reilly try to hold his own on the SDMB. He would get absolutely destroyed. I think we could make him cry, I mean literally cry tears. It would sure be fun to try. Just curious, did you mean to quote me? I didn’t say anything about a ‘No Spin Zone’. I just said it was entertaining to watch. Sorta like the Jerry Springer of politics. I just get tired of the same old stiff talking heads and political figures. It’s fun to dice it up a bit. As close to a political cage-match as we’re ever going to get, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/33 "2003-04-22T01:24:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by XJETGIRLX \* > \*\*Just curious, did you mean to quote me? > > I didn’t say anything about a ‘No Spin Zone’. I just said it was entertaining to watch. Sorta like the Jerry Springer of politics. I just get tired of the same old stiff talking heads and political figures. It’s fun to dice it up a bit. As close to a political cage-match as we’re ever going to get, unfortunately. \*\* I guess I was responding to this: > [@](#): > > In politics, the first thing they teach you about dealing with the media is ‘stay on message’. What this entails is twisting around questions to suit your agenda, and getting out your pre-scripted answers no matter the cost. It means ignoring questions you’re not ready to answer and turning the conversation back to your points every chance you get. > > O’Reilly doesn’t stand for that. It’s absolutely hilarious to see someone in complete shock when the interviewer doesn’t politely ignore their blatant pre-scripted responses. They’re flabbergasted that someone would actually call them on dodging a question. I was contending that O’Reilly only does this with liberals. He does nothing to challenge the scripted speeches of Bush administration shills. You didn’t use the term “no spin zone,” but that’s the way O’Reilly describes his own tactics. He gets to define what “spin” is and no one ever gets to call him on his own. I don’t mind someone being tough on both sides (Chris Matthews does a better job of that than O’Reilly, I think) but O’Reilly is not only not objective, he’s not even really that tough. He sreams at people and insults them but there is seldom any real content or substance to his polemic. It’s just a lot of noise and hand waving. He’s a journalistic fraud and an intellectual lightweight. How do _you_ think he’d do on SDMB, **XJETGIRLX**? ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/34 "2003-04-22T01:28:51Z")
Well, I think he’d make one hell of a troll, that’s for sure! But I think he’d get caught up in the ass-eating and goat-felching threads in MPSIMS. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e99b99/32.png) [@Quack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quack)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/35 "2003-04-22T01:45:11Z")
I think the words of Brian from Family Guy apply here: “Does this TV have anything lower than ‘mute’?” ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/36 "2003-04-22T02:47:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by XJETGIRLX \* > \*\*What this entails is twisting around questions to suit your agenda, and getting out your pre-scripted answers no matter the cost. It means ignoring questions you’re not ready to answer and turning the conversation back to your points every chance you get. > > O’Reilly doesn’t stand for that. \*\* I don’t watch the show partly because everytime I have, that is the _only_ thing he does. For example, he recently had some one on and was preaching to this guy that since attacting the NY Times, the Times’s editorial position shifted to the right. The guy, I don’t know who he was, started quoting right-leaning headlines that were printed before O’Riley did his shtick, thus disproving O’Riley’s thesis. End of story. O’Riley kept ranting on and on, shouting over the evidence, and kept asserting the truth of his position even though the only evidence clearly disproved him. Calling that guy the Jerry Springer of politics is an insult to Jerry Springer. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/37 "2003-04-22T06:12:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > \*\*Do the high ratings for O’Reilly suggest that his view of the world resonates with more Americans? > > In other words, is the mood of the country shifting right, and is O’Reilly simply riding the wave? Or is he an opinion-maker, rather than a reflection? \*\* Neither. I would propose that people are watching simply to see how outrageous he might become, thru his worlds or actions. As soon as he stops being controversial, he’ll sink out of sight. I’m convinced the networks put on outrageous people on the air to draw ratings. It’s the modern equivilent of the stonings and feeding the Christians to the lions of Imperial Rome. Something to entertain the masses. If modern networks could figure out a way, we’d be seeing prime time public executions. And not something easy like hangings, we’d see electrocution or something else as grizzly. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/38 "2003-04-22T14:12:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*Quite right. O’Reilly _is_ a pussy. We are, for once, in complete agreement. But let’s not make a habit of it. \*\* I think Michael Savage is a moron, too. DON’T YOU AGREE!!! Bwahahahahahahaha! Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/39 "2003-04-22T17:07:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by js\_africanus \* > \*\*I don’t watch the show partly because everytime I have, that is the _only_ thing he does. For example, he recently had some one on and was preaching to this guy that since attacting the NY Times, the Times’s editorial position shifted to the right. The guy, I don’t know who he was, started quoting _right-leaning headlines_ that were printed before O’Riley did his shtick, thus disproving O’Riley’s thesis. \*\* Just for the entertainment value, it’d be fun to see examples of those “right-leaning headlines” in the N.Y. Times. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069/40 "2003-04-22T17:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve said it before on these O’Reilly pit threads, I’d love to see O’Reilly try to hold his own on the SDMB. Ditto Michael Moore. He’s every bit the left equal of O’Reilly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-o-reilly-really-is-the-most-virulent-scumbag-in-the-media-today/170069.md?page=3)