There has been quite a bit of discussion about Bill O’Reilly of late. There are some of you who think he is almost Limbaughesque in his perpretration of evil. Unlike some of you who like to rail against him, I actually watch his program on a semi-regular basis. Here are a couple of things from last Friday. He was interviewing Newt Gingrich. (“I knew it!”, they cry.) Don’t get excited yet. When the topic of WMD’s in Iraq comes up, Gingrich says “We haven’t found Saddam yet either, but we know he existed.” O’Reilly’s response? “That’s just far-right spin.” He shut Gingrich down and continued. Later in the show, he was interviewing a representative from a Catholic student group who is opposed to pro-choice commencement speakers at Catholic colleges. (“Um…I knew it?”) No. The first question out of O’Reilly’s mouth…“Why are you on this jihad against pro-choice speakers?” Sure, some of his questions seem to come from the right…but I see them as grounded in pragmatism and not conservatism in most cases. So is Bill O’Reilly “fair and balanced”? From what I have seen so far after watching probably fifty shows…yes.
See, that’s my problem with him. There’s no reasoned debate, “here’s my side” and “well, here’s my side” to it. It’s just “Here’s my–” “SHUT UP!” I’d like to see reasonable debate on television. I’d also like to see monkey’s fly out of O’Reilly’s ass. I think the two are about equally probable.
Oh my god. Monkeys. No apostrophe. I hate that. Sorry. No sleep for Sani.
When you have three minutes to interview someone and they are squirming like a freshly caught fish rather than answer a direct question, sometimes you have to be a little terse. Do you actually watch the show, SanibelMan?
The Apostrophe Nazi[sup]®[/sup] is feeling merciful today. You’re lucky.
I have watched it, yes. I don’t watch it on a regular basis; I don’t have cable. My beef, then, isn’t just with O’Reilly, but also with other shows that have this policy where you have 2 seconds to make your entire point and the host gets 5 to glare at you and look sourly at the screen like “can you believe this guy?” I know he’s trying to get people to get to the point, but then there’s the time he just told the guest to shut up and tried to get his mike cut because he didn’t agree with what he was saying - I saw the transcript, and I wish I could find it now. This was a few months ago, and as I recall it was someone opposing the war with Iraq whose father died on 9/11. Does this sound familiar to anyone? At any rate, O’Reilly and most of cable news “insight and discussion” seems more farce than thought to me.
SanibelMan: There is reasoned debate on O’Reilly’s show. What he puts a screeching stop to is the automated parrot-like canned answers from the talking heads. He expects his guests to answer the questions he puts to them, not the questions they’d rather answer.
Two cents from a guy on the far-right:
I generally agree with O’Reilly’s stands on issues. And I find his radio show both funny and interesting. As a solo commentator, I like him. And in the faux “conversations” with a sidekick, again, he’s charming and funny.
But his TV show is something else. O’Reilly is NOT good at interviews or in any format that requires give and take. He’s far too domineering. Any “interview” he does with someone he disagrees with quickly devolves into hectoring and browbeating, until it’s neither entertaining nor interesting.
I am disappointed that some of his doper critics haven’t responded to this thread so far. Was my OP so bitingly concise and irrefutable that they simply cannot reply?
That was a guy named Jeremy Glick. The transcript was posted in other threads on this subject. O’Reilly basically went eye-popping ballistic because the guy dared to oppose the war. O’Reilly also started making absurd insinuations aboyt what Glick’s father (who died on 9/11) would think about Glick’s position, despite the fact that Glick tried to explain his father’s pacifist politics. Glick said later (in another interview) that after O’Reilly cut off the interview and went to commercial that he screamed at Glick to “Get out of this studio before I tear your fucking head off!” O’Reilly is damned lucky that wasn’t me he said that to or he’d be doing a talk show with no fucking teeth.
So, how many people actually heard that? After all, it’s not just the two of them in that studio. In other words: Proof?
here’s one cite from the “Not In Our Name” website (An organization of anti-war 9/11 survivors). I got the exact quote wrong. O’Reilly said “Get out, get out of my studio before I tear you to f**king pieces!”
I’m sure the crew heard it too. Glick’s been saying this for a while and O’Reilly hasn’t denied it. what’s so difficult to believe about it?
I’ll see if I can find some more cites.
I saw this, and it illustrates perfectly why I despise O’Reilly: guests can’t breathe one syllable of dissent without being shouted down. This is a good case in point. I saw the clip you mentioned. I thought the guy had some good points, and he raises some interesting questions. What is the role of a Catholic institution? How can a Catholic educational institution balance academic freedom with its mission to provide a sectarian environment? Does such a university have different obligations for academic speech and honoraria speech?
But all those interesting questions get lost in the sturm and drang of O’Reilly’s ranting.
God, I miss Firing Line.
Most of the cites I can find use Glick. himself, as the source for that quote but, frankly, I don’t see why Glick shouldn’t be taken at face value on this. It’s not like O’Reilly wasn’t already raving like a lunatic before he went to break.
Glick also added this to the story:
It’s funny. Jesse Ventura has said a lot of things that would normally make O’Reilly pop a blood vessel but every time Ventura has been on the show, O’Reilly has been as deferential as a school girl. It seems he’s only tough and brave with people he thinks he can intimidate. I get the feeling Jesse Ventura could say, “You know, Bill, your wife is one fine piece of ass. Do you mind if I tap me some of that?” and Bill would say “Why of course, Governor, any time, and thank you for being here.”
O’Reilly is a gutless little shit deep down. All he really is, is a glorified paparazzo after all.
I totally agree. A Catholic institution has every right to promote a Catholic viewpoint. It’s not bound by the same standards as a public university.
I think O’Reilly occasionally goes after a right winger just to show how “objective” he is. He is usually psychotically anti-choice in abortion discussions.
Here’s a great website that I just came across: www.oreilly-sucks.com
I thought Jeremy Glick died on Flight 93…and he had an infant daughter. Am I mistaken?
His father died, not him.
Hmmm. After looking over some of the links provided for the Jeremy Glick story, I’m somewhat suspicious. It seems to be a very convienient way to paint O’Reilly in the worst possible light. And with one guy making the allegations, and people of like mind picking up the story and running with it, could it be…dare I say…bullshit?
And we apparently have two Jeremy Glicks…the one on Flight 93, the judo champion, the one with the infant daughter. And another Jeremy Glick. The one I first heard of this morning. The one whose father died at the WTC. Has anyone else noticed this?
I doubt that it’s bullshit. Glick has no reason to lie, and neither O’Reilly nor anyone from his staff has denied the allegation. It’s also right in line with O’Reilly’s personality. I wouldn’t believe it about Rush Limbaugh (as loathsome as he is) because it’s just not his style. It is precisely O’Reilly’s style, and it followed right on the heels of a completely irrational verbal assault that was on the air. I suspect that you just don’t want to believe it.
Either way, O’Reilly’s behavior on the air was despicible enough in that case.