# Bill O'Reilly is the devil! Or is he...? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627 "2003-06-09T12:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/61 "2003-06-10T18:44:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*My problem with O’Reilly vis-a-vis “black leadership” is not that he critcizes black leaders but that he passes moral judgement on those who follow them. \*\* Why is this inappropriate? Followers of Jackson, Sharpton, et al, deserve to be called out for placing their devotion with charlatans. \*\* > [@](#): > > And Dewey, as I said before, i’m drawing a distiction between simple compassion and a call for holistic social change, and O’Reilly’s moralistic “bootstraps” admonitions to blacks which relieves white America of any responsibility for urban social conditions.\*\* Cite for the proposition that suggesting the black community has demons of its own to exorcise is tantamount to complete absolution for dealing with the problems of the inner city? When has O’Reilly ever suggested this? Or is this yet another unwarranted assumption on your part? I’m still curious as to what you think of the Moynihan Report. \*\* > [@](#): > > No, he doesn’t offer ignoring Jackson/Sharpton as a silver bullet, _explicitly_, but he doesn’t offer anything else either. \*\* So he can’t suggest something that will be beneficial unless he also makes a proposal that will solve all the problems of the inner city in their entirety? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/62 "2003-06-10T19:16:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Followers of Jackson, Sharpton, et al, deserve to be called out for placing their devotion with charlatans. Can I call you a bad person for defending a documented liar and hypocrite, then? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/63 "2003-06-10T19:50:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andros \* > \*\*Can I call you a bad person for defending a documented liar and hypocrite, then? \*\* Que? I assume you’re referring to O’Reilly. Well. I’m not a _follower_ of O’Reilly. I’ve stated on these very board my general disdain for his show, his interminable cutting off of guests, his basic blowhardiness and general tendency towards asshattedness. What I _am_ doing is defending O’Reilly against some fairly spurious charges by **Diogenes**. I don’t have to be an O’Reilly fan to do that; I only need a basic sense of fair play. Regardless of O’Reilly’s record on other matters, _these charges_ are silly and deserve scrutiny. It is fair game to criticize the followers of a known charlatan for allowing such a person to speak on their behalf. O’Reilly does not speak on my behalf. I am not one of his followers. I am not attending O’Reilly rallies or giving money to O’Reilly “charities” or showing up at O’Reilly prayer breakfasts or doing anything else along those lines. Nothing I am saying or doing gives O’Reilly any additional political clout. So no, you can’t call me a “bad person.” Unless by “bad person” you mean “someone who calls people on their bullshit.” ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/64 "2003-06-10T20:10:55Z")
Fair enough. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/65 "2003-06-10T20:31:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Debaser \* > \*\*I don’t believe you. > > You lied before when you said that O’Reilly made a statement about blacks being grateful for slavery. I think this is just another lie. > > Of course, if you can come up with a cite showing O’Reilly saying that blacks are bad Americans than I will happily accept it. \*\* I don’t care if you believe me. I didn’t lie the first time and I didn’t lie about this. I don’t know of a comprehesive archive of transcripts for Bill O’Reilly “talking points” but I’ll try to describe what I saw a objectively as I can remember. O’Reilly showed a poll that showed a large percentage of African-Americans opposed the war. O’Reilly then said that _all_ Americans had a duty to support the war, including black Americans, and that anyone who didn’t was a “traitor” He has made statements like this on numerous occasions. Here’s a similar quote I found from [oreilly-sucks.com](http://www.oreilly-sucks.com/billinfo.htm) It’s from a different episode but it shows the color of hi rhetoric: > [@](#): > > “Once the war against Saddam Hussein begins, we expect every American to support our military, and if you can’t do that, just shut up. Americans, and indeed our foreign allies who actively work against our military once the war is underway, will be considered enemies of the state by me.” > > – Bill O’Reilly, The O’Reilly Factor, 2/26/03 (And just to be clear, O’Reilly _does_ define simple protesting as “'working against” our military.) He went on to say that black’s owed “loyalty” to the US because they were better off here than in Africa. That’s as fair a description as I can give. He didn’t explicitly say they should be grateful for slavery, but (IMO and YMMV) I think it’s an unavoidable implication from that statement. I wish I could link to the video. There was an unmistakeable current of anger and resentment that all those black folks would dare oppose his president. Believe me or not. It’s no skin off my dick. > [@](#): > > _Dewey_ > Why is this inappropriate? Followers of Jackson, Sharpton, et al, deserve to be called out for placing their devotion with charlatans. He’s very generic in his statements. He speaks in broad, sweeping terms about the “African-American community’s support” for these guys. He doesn’t make distinctions. It’s all just black folks. > [@](#): > > Cite for the proposition that suggesting the black community has demons of its own to exorcise is tantamount to complete absolution for dealing with the problems of the inner city? When has O’Reilly ever suggested this? Or is this yet another unwarranted assumption on your part? It’s a sin of omission. Obviously I can’t link to ever single episode, but from what I’ve seen, he invariably shoots down the notion that anything can be done legislatively to ease problems in the inner cities. It’s all self-righteous moral criticism of blacks with no other point. > [@](#): > > I’m still curious as to what you think of the Moynihan Report. I thought it was well-meaning, sincere, and somewhat paternalistic (in a 1960s way). It isn’t condescending and moralistic the way O’Reilly is. > [@](#): > > So he can’t suggest something that will be beneficial unless he also makes a proposal that will solve all the problems of the inner city in their entirety? He shouldn’t make condescending moral judgements if he isn’t willing to offer any alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/66 "2003-06-11T08:01:29Z")
[Channelling O’Reilly] SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Turn off his posting rights! [/Channelling O’Reilly] His method of “debate” wouldn’t go down very well on the SDMB… ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/67 "2003-06-11T13:50:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > I don’t care if you believe me. I didn’t lie the first time and I didn’t lie about this. This isn’t a matter of “I don’t believe you” and “You don’t believe me”. You attributed things to O’Reilly that he didn’t say. Not only were you unable to produce him saying what he claimed you did, but I was able to produce him saying things that directly refute your claims. (from your own cite) Instead of admitting you were wrong, you continue to assert that which clearly isn’t true. That makes you a liar. > [@](#): > > I don’t know of a comprehesive archive of transcripts for Bill O’Reilly “talking points” but I’ll try to describe what I saw a objectively as I can remember. Your memory regarding O’Reilly is clearly not to be trusted. There is no point in us trying to debate other issues around O’Reilly. He comes down on the conservative side of many issues. This makes him so evil in your opinion that it’s ok to slander him in order to discredit him. Your obviously not going to let any pesky facts get in your way here. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/68 "2003-06-11T14:15:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*[Channelling O’Reilly] SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Turn off his posting rights! [/Channelling O’Reilly] > > His method of “debate” wouldn’t go down very well on the SDMB… \*\* The moderators ban those that don’t follow the rules of our forums. O’Reilly is the moderator of his forum. It’s extremely rare for him to cut somones mike like he did to Glick. I can only recall it happenning a couple times in years of watching him. O’Reilly attempted to end the interview. Glick wouldn’t shut up. O’Reilly cut his mike. Meanwhile, O’Reilly didn’t say anything further to Glick out of respect for his father. Also, at the beginning of the next segment he apologized to the viewers, saying he would never have had Glick on if he knew how he would act. Also, O’Reilly has many critics listening to everything he says, waiting for him to slip. He’s on TV for an hour every weekday on Fox. He’s on the radio for 3 hours a day in most markets. He appears in lots of other venues as well. I heard him on the Imus show this morning getting interviewed. All of this exposure, and the best people can do to show him lying is to completely mis-represent what O’Reilly says. It only took **Diogenes** a dozen posts in this thread to walk straight into a more blatant lie than O’Reilly has ever told. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/69 "2003-06-11T14:49:23Z")
Well maybe I have misinterpreted the intent of his program. I thought it was a debate/interview show with some ‘plain talk’ from the presenter. To me it looked like he disagreed with the interviewee, wouldn’t let him get a word in edgeways, insulted him, shouted at him, then curtailed the interview. It looked amateurish and pathetic. But if that’s what his bag is, and people like to watch that kind of thing, then fair play to him. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/70 "2003-06-11T14:56:15Z")
> [@](#): > > My point was that he doesn’t discuss his charitable acts in any of the forums that are available to him. I think he deserves some credit for this. He did play up “everything he’s done for the 9/11 victims” in the Glick segment. > [@](#): > > Meanwhile, O’Reilly didn’t say anything further to Glick out of respect for his father. Oh, give me a break. He announced it on the air in the middle of a shouting match. That was just another way of taking a cheap shot. It’s one thing to take on Diog on factual problems. It’s another to go overboard in your defense. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/71 "2003-06-11T15:07:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > He did play up “everything he’s done for the 9/11 victims” in the Glick segment. You would have to be a regular viewer of O’Reilly to understand the meaning of this. O’Reilly’s show broke the story about how the Red Cross was not delivering the money donated by Americans for the 9/11 victims’ families. He did many shows on the subject before anyone else had picked up on it. The ICRC and others were keeping much of the funds donated for victims families for future terror attacks, rather than giving it to those it was donated for. This also led to his feud with many hollywood celebs like George Clooney because he called them out on the fact that they had the charity drive for the 9/11 victims but wouldn’t take any responsability for how the money was being spent. O’Reilly deserves much of the credit for the fact that the Red Cross was forced to start sending out the money that they were making interest on. Of course, the rest of the media doesn’t give him any credit for this. So, when O’Reilly says he did more for the 9/11 victims than Glick ever will, he wasn’t referring to any charity work he has done. He is referring to the work he did towards getting the money released. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/72 "2003-06-11T15:25:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > Oh, give me a break. He announced it on the air in the middle of a shouting match. That was just another way of taking a cheap shot. > > It’s one thing to take on Diog on factual problems. It’s another to go overboard in your defense. 😃 Yep. Re-reading that part of my post, it does look like I am blowing smoke up O’Reilly’s ass. I’ll rephrase. O’Reilly was clearly pissed off. He lost his cool and acted unprofessionally. However, he did catch himself and stop from going any farther. That’s when he said the “out of respect for your father” line. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/73 "2003-06-11T15:51:34Z")
One the show last night, he showcased a poverty exhibit that is underway at the Habitat for Humanity headquarters in Georgia. He interviewed the director. He also had on some newspaper guy who disagreed with the exhibit. He told the newspaper guy that it was good for Americans to see how other people in the world had to live. This was a three minute segment on a topic he didn’t have to do. Try as some of you might, he is not the right-wing evil man you think he is. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/74 "2003-06-11T16:06:58Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s when he said the “out of respect for your father” line. And that’s the sort of tricky-dick holier-than-thou rhetoric that irritates me to no end. I don’t think he’s right wing. I just think he has no right to talk about spin. Spin is not having this or that point of view. It’s slanting rhetoric and presentation of the facts to sell a particular ideology. The position he sells is his, not the right-wings’. But it’s no less spin than all the people he calls on it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627/75 "2003-06-11T16:22:52Z")
Evil: Those who want to believe O’Reilly is Evil Incarnate[sup]tm[/sup] will continue to believe that. It’s rather amusing, though, to watch them rant about him cutting off folks. Whenever I watch the dude’s show, the only folks he cuts off–from whatever political bent they may be–are those who try to answer the questions they wish he’d ask instead of the questions he actually asked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-is-the-devil-or-is-he/180627.md?page=3)