# Bill O'Reilly slowly going off the deep end?(very mild rant) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 6, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739 "2003-11-06T18:17:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/21 "2003-11-07T05:36:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by musicguy \* > **Well, Al Franken’s book, “Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them”, might be an interesting read for you. He mentions that Bill was quite dishonest about being an independent, when he was actually a registered Republican.** I claim to be an independent, but I am registered as a Democrat. Does that make me a liar and a radical liberal? I think not. It is the only way I can vote in the primaries, except registering as a Republican. which would then make me a liar and a radical conservative. Maybe I should do what so many people do and not vote. 😛 ---
**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:** [November 7, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/22 "2003-11-07T05:52:38Z")
**knoz** : O’Reilly specifically claimed that he was not registered with either party and that he was a registered independent. He made this claim multiple times. He lied multiple times. He also claims that he was “stunned” to find out the he had registered as a Republican and that he had no memory of doing it. Yeah, right. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/23 "2003-11-07T07:49:56Z")
> [@](#): > > O’Reilly is a drug Nazi. YEARS ago,\* I wrote him with the stats on drinking deaths versus marijuana deaths. It makes him angry, not reasonable. Which sounds like I agree with the OP. He really thinks that he, alone, is right – on everything. He’s obviously wrong about any social issue, bats .1000. I only surf in on the way elsewhere now. I have heard him make anti-mj statements on air, and also make the circular argument “it ruins lives because you get locked up, etc, so you shouldn’t do it, because it could get you in jail and ruin your life.” Basically it’s bad because it’s illegal, and illegal because it’s bad. If I remember in the Terri Gross interview, which I heard, he plainly says he’s always been for the decriminalization or whatever of marijuana, a complete flip-flop of his views I’ve heard him spout on his TV show numerous times. The man is truly nuts, you can tell just watching him. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/24 "2003-11-07T08:28:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beagle \* > **[aside] OTOH, our culture is a lot more diverse than Yurp if you are using race as the criterion. Maybe it’s where you happen to be sitting. Amsterdam is very diverse. That’s not representative of Europe as a whole, although that is changing if considering trends. Orlando is very diverse. That is representative of Florida as a whole. It’s representative of the nation as a whole also, especially considering macrotrends, but moreso.[/a]** I must disagree with this, at least on principle in _this_ debate. All European countries have, because of colonial histories and more recent labour immigrant histories, considerable “non-native” populations. And they don’t all live in the bigger cities. Sure, it’s true that the big cities show more diversity than the small towns, but that’s no different than the US: is it easier to find a good Thai restaurant in NYC, or in Assboink, TN? Whether or not the US is more diverse or not: that may very well be, in hard figures. But in my personal experience, it certainly isn’t “a lot more diverse” as you say, and European societies sure as HELL aren’t “homogenous” by any stretch of the imagination, as O’Reilly claims. > [@](#): > > **For one thing, state and federal governments do use research to determine what works. Often redundant to start with. Then they do more research. More. Sometimes they follow that research. Sometimes the program is cancelled, resurrected, changed, cancelled, resurrected. It’s politics. Ideology does not enter the picture in European decision-making? That’s laugable on its face.** Of course. There are vast differences between sex ed in the US and in Europe, and I personally happen to think the “European” way (simplifying as that statement is, as there is a lot of variety within Europe as well) of educating children, rather than keeping them ignorant with abstinence as their only tool (and yes, I realise that’s a bit of a generalisation), is plain better, and more effective (well, that last part is pretty much proven by the statistics). Others may disagree, and that’s fine. We both agree that O’Reilly (and in this case, his guest) deliberately polarises the issue by creating this black-and-white scenario where no policy in the US is backed up by research, and all European policy is conveived without any ideological influence whatsoever. It’s a nice radical standpoint to base a debate on I’m sure, but it’s simply untrue. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/25 "2003-11-07T08:28:09Z")
**jinwicked** : I’ve heard O’Reilly discuss drugs on his show, and recall several instances where he clearly distinguished between pot and “hard” drugs in terms of ciriminalization. He has absolutely said, paraphrasing, “I have no problem with people smoking pot in the privacy if their homes”. I don’t have a cite, just my memory. At any rate, I belive you are mistaken on this issue. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/26 "2003-11-07T08:58:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > \*\*I claim to be an independent, but I am registered as a Democrat. Does that make me a liar and a radical liberal? I think not. It is the only way I can vote in the primaries, except registering as a Republican. which would then make me a liar and a radical conservative. Maybe I should do what so many people do and not vote. 😛 \*\* Franken also pointed out that O’Reilly lies about where he was born. As if we cared about whether he was born in a blue collor town or an afluent town… ---
**Author:** ![Blassie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@Blassie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blassie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/27 "2003-11-07T09:08:49Z")
Just remember, approximately 3x as many people watch **WWE Monday Night Raw** as watch O’Really. I would no more base my vote and/or belief on what O’Really says than I would on what Triple H says. As I read once, “_Bill, your show is slipping._” ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/28 "2003-11-07T10:27:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\ ***jinwicked** : > > I’ve heard O’Reilly discuss drugs on his show, and recall several instances where he clearly distinguished between pot and “hard” drugs in terms of ciriminalization. He has absolutely said, paraphrasing, “I have no problem with people smoking pot in the privacy if their homes”. > > I don’t have a cite, just my memory. At any rate, I belive you are mistaken on this issue. \*\* Then perhaps my memory is prior to him making those statements, because I quite distinctly remember the letter he read on air was written regarding the private use of marijuana, and I think he even drudged up the old “gateway drug” argument. I remember this because I got in a very long involved argument with my dad afterwards about how mj is not a “gateway drug” and that it actually does less harm than alcohol in the grand scheme of things – all of that was in response to Bill’s comments on the air. Granted, that was at least three years ago, but I remember it quite distinctly. Regarding Bill vs. Al Franken and his new book… (I just remembered I did this): [http://crap.jinwicked.com/images/comics/20031102.jpg](http://crap.jinwicked.com/images/comics/20031102.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/29 "2003-11-07T10:32:35Z")
Yes, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December… and each seperate dying ember wrought its gho… oh, sorry. It’s late. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/30 "2003-11-07T10:46:56Z")
blassie (Classie freddie reference?) At least the WWE does more to encourage people to vote, as opposed to idiots like O’Reilly who would turn people off politics. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/31 "2003-11-07T12:10:45Z")
Well, yeah. But do we really _want_ people voting for Jesse Ventura? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/32 "2003-11-07T13:13:15Z")
Well, yeah. If they hadn’t in 1998, then Norm Coleman would have won the governorship of Minnesota and wouldn’t have stood for Senator in 2002, and though another candidate would certainly have replaced him, it’s possible that Mondale would have won and the precarious balance of power in the Senate would have shifted. And, of course, it’s possible that monkeys may fly out of my ass. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/33 "2003-11-07T14:53:10Z")
I also remember O’Reilly for decriminalization of pot. I saw it within the last week, while flipping channels. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/34 "2003-11-07T15:06:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*Well, yeah. But do we really _want_ people voting for Jesse Ventura? 😉 \*\* Let me tell you, seeing the Election Victory party with the Governor-Elect partying in a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt, a porno-pink feather boa and a multicolored headband was almost worth it. Keep in mind, the State of Minnesota was founded by a coalition of people with a native distrust of governance, and especially power concentrated in an executive. The Gov. of Minn. has the irrevocable power to sign the proclamation declaring the Rutabaga Festival ( don’t ask) open, and thats about it. He’s likable enough, for a lout. Still a lout. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/35 "2003-11-07T15:08:31Z")
God! That’s it! Why didn’t I think of it before?! Jesse Ventura vs Bill O’Reilly, Steel Cage Death Match! ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/36 "2003-11-07T15:20:53Z")
[I’ll pursue this one irrelevant point to the bitter end.](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031106/ap_on_re_us/foreign_born_3) :dubious: Maybe it’s my neighborhood, or my whole state, but I’m right. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/37 "2003-11-07T15:42:43Z")
[US pop stats, available by race, 2000.](http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html) I’m against keeping statistics by race unless it’s a write-in ballot. We have the whole Hispanic/Latino race/ethnicity/culture controversy here in Florida. There is a whole article on that particular issue. Right now I look like a tank driver in NA – for either side – circa 1942, don’t ask me. Me “cracker.” OTOH, some people swear keeping racial data is useful for a number of things, including public health. It does make it hard to find firm numbers for Europe, France in particular. The demographics of Europe and the US are in a state of flux. We could argue trends, when I already conceded that O’Reilly is a knob. 😉 …_if_ you use race as the criterion… O’Reilly is still a knob. ---
**Author:** ![evilskippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@evilskippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilskippy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/38 "2003-11-07T16:09:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*God! That’s it! Why didn’t I think of it before?! > > Jesse Ventura vs Bill O’Reilly, Steel Cage Death Match! \*\* THAT is worth the price of the ticket! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/39 "2003-11-07T17:28:37Z")
I’m glad old Bill’s around if only for the fact that he gets Al Franken on such a roll. I’m looking forward to Al’s next book, which he mentioned in “Lies” would be called _I Fucking Hate Those Right-Wing Motherfuckers!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zoltarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/dc4da7/32.png) [@Zoltarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoltarb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739/40 "2003-11-07T17:52:13Z")
As I recall, they’ve had pretend political debates on Raw, and I remember, although they end in fistfights(duh) they _still_ backed up what they said with quotes and stats. Come on, O’Reilly. If a scripted fighting show holds itself to higher standards, something’s wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-slowly-going-off-the-deep-end-very-mild-rant/211739.md?page=3)