# Bill O'Reilly's pre-Superbowl interview with President Obama **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541 "2011-02-07T17:21:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/21 "2011-02-08T10:26:08Z")
If you’re the president, you can use the army and navy to slap her back. It’s in the constitution - article 2, section 2. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/22 "2011-02-08T11:25:10Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > It’s especially odd because during Obama’s campaign, I remember someone asking him and McCain what they would change about college sports or something. McCain answered with some serious stuff about, oh, I can’t remember, but Obama said that he thinks that Division I football should have a playoff instead of having a computer or reporters pick who plays in the championship game. Politifact is actually [tracking it as a campaign promise](http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/306/push-for-a-college-football-playoff-system/) (a Stalled one, at the moment). And I’d be more bothered if Obama was wearing a tie and O’Reilly wasn’t. Obama was watching the Superbowl. O’Reilly was interviewing the President. Both were dressed appropriately. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/23 "2011-02-08T14:57:31Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > We were laughing out loud at O’Reilly. The bits where he interrupts the fucking POTUS were too much. Yah O’Reilly, you really need to interject when Obama is speaking, mm hmm. And the follow-up to the ‘people hate you question’: “Ok, but doesn’t it annoy you _just a little bit_ that people hate you?” Way to hang in there, pal. Can’t say I have watched much O’Reilly, but this made him look like a jackass IMHO. And it made Obama look good, portraying him as a non-partisan fellow who really will try to communicate with both sides of the aisle. > > 2 points, Obama. Also, there’s the fact that Obama is willing to go toe to toe on national television with a harsh media critic of his…more than can be said of a certain failed vice-presidential nominee who shall remain unnamed. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/24 "2011-02-08T15:29:33Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Politifact is actually [tracking it as a campaign promise](http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/306/push-for-a-college-football-playoff-system/) (a Stalled one, at the moment). > > And I’d be more bothered if Obama was wearing a tie and O’Reilly wasn’t. Obama was watching the Superbowl. O’Reilly was interviewing the President. Both were dressed appropriately. Thanks. For some reason, that contrast between Obama and McCain made a real impression on me. Anyway, I watched the interview last night – WTF was that football stuff about? Why was Bill on his case about whether he knew football? “You’re a basketball guy, right?” – the guy can’t know two sports? Bizarre. I did like how Obama laughed in O’Reilly’s face, though. Also, they hid the teleprompters really well, I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/25 "2011-02-08T15:50:26Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Also, there’s the fact that Obama is willing to go toe to toe on national television with a harsh media critic of his…more than can be said of a certain failed vice-presidential nominee who shall remain unnamed. Leave James Stockdale alone! ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/26 "2011-02-08T16:13:58Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Anyway, I watched the interview last night – WTF was that football stuff about? Why was Bill on his case about whether he knew football? “You’re a basketball guy, right?” – the guy can’t know two sports? Bizarre. He’s black, so it must be basketball he knows. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/27 "2011-02-08T16:28:25Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > He’s black, so it must be basketball he knows. To be fair to O’Reilly (painful as it may be) it’s basketball that Obama _plays_ (although after getting 12 stitches following a court collision last November he may have eased off a bit). ---
**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:** [February 8, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/28 "2011-02-08T16:30:18Z")
Yeah, but just because he plays basketball doesn’t mean he doesn’t know any other sport. In fact, I think that most people who are active in one sport are interested in other sports. I doubt O’Reilly plays _anything_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/29 "2011-02-08T16:36:48Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > Link to a video of the interview: > [StockExaminer - AI-Powered Stock Chatbot](http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/bill-o-reilly-s-pre-super-bowl-interview-of-president-obama-video) There’s also a transcript of the interview [here](http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/06/transcript-of-president-obamas-pre-super-bowl-interview-with-bi/). Frankly, I was annoyed at how many times Bill O’Reilly interrupted the president, and I wondered what Fox News would have said if, for example, Keith Olbermann had done so while interviewing George W Bush while he was in office. (I think they would have called him disrespectful and rude.) And I was amused when O’Reilly asked the president, “But the entitlements that you championed do redistribute wealth in the sense that they provide insurance coverage for 40 million people that don’t have it.” How is it a bad thing that we provide health insurance coverage for forty million people who don’t have it now? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/30 "2011-02-08T16:43:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Yeah, but just because he plays basketball doesn’t mean he doesn’t know any other sport. In fact, I think that most people who are active in one sport are interested in other sports. I doubt O’Reilly plays _anything_. Oh, I’m not disputing that at all. I’m just saying the O’Reilly’s perception of Obama as a “basketball person” may not have been specifically racial in original. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/31 "2011-02-08T16:51:21Z")
> [@ImNotPaulAvery](#): > > Does it bother anyone else that the President of the USA is not wearing a tie, while O’Reilly is? Afraid he’s going to be mistaken for Ahmadinejad? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/32 "2011-02-08T17:01:00Z")
> [@ImNotPaulAvery](#): > > > [@BACI](#): > > > > Doen’t bother me. Why should it? > > Because it is a (inter?)nationally broadcast formal interview with the head of state of the most powerful nation in the world? > > I know it was O’Reilly and it was the Superbowl, but c’mon. My mother would probably slap me senseless if I went on TV like that. I don’t understand your objection. The person not wearing the tie _is_ “the head of state of the most powerful nation in the world.” And it’s an informal interview. Last year, the president didn’t even wear a jacket when [being interviewed by Katie Couric](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6184114n). ---
**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:** [February 8, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/33 "2011-02-08T17:03:59Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Oh, I’m not disputing that at all. I’m just saying the O’Reilly’s perception of Obama as a “basketball person” may not have been specifically racial in original. Oh, I didn’t take it as racist, just dimwitted reasoning. He plays basketabll, therefore he’s a “basketball guy” and knows nothing of other sports. If he’d done any homework at all, knowing that this was a pre-Superbowl interview, he would know that Obama has publicly expressed a keen interest in football and baseball (White Sox fan) as well as basketball. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/34 "2011-02-08T17:07:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > … > And I was amused when O’Reilly asked the president, “But the entitlements that you championed do redistribute wealth in the sense that they provide insurance coverage for 40 million people that don’t have it.” How is it a bad thing that we provide health insurance coverage for forty million people who don’t have it now? [Off-topic]I know that Social Security and Medicare are entitlements, which I think means that they don’t have to be part of the annual appropriations process, unlike Defense, Foreign Aid, the EPA, and so on. Does the health care reform law actually create a new entitlement? Am I wrong about the definition of entitlements?[/Off-topic] ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/35 "2011-02-08T17:17:29Z")
I am not a political expert, but I think the reason that Social Security and Medicare aren’t part of the appropriations process is because they’re funded by their own taxes. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/36 "2011-02-08T18:07:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I am not a political expert, but I think the reason that Social Security and Medicare aren’t part of the appropriations process is because they’re funded by their own taxes. Thanks. Sorry for the hijack. Back on topic – O’Reilly is a bozo. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/37 "2011-02-08T18:57:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There’s also a transcript of the interview [here](http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/06/transcript-of-president-obamas-pre-super-bowl-interview-with-bi/). Frankly, I was annoyed at how many times Bill O’Reilly interrupted the president, and I wondered what Fox News would have said if, for example, Keith Olbermann had done so while interviewing George W Bush while he was in office. (I think they would have called him disrespectful and rude.) Actually, Obama interrupted O’Reilly by starting to answer questions before he finished answering them. > [@](#): > > And I was amused when O’Reilly asked the president, “But the entitlements that you championed do redistribute wealth in the sense that they provide insurance coverage for 40 million people that don’t have it.” How is it a bad thing that we provide health insurance coverage for forty million people who don’t have it now? Oh, come now. It boils down to this: who’s gonna pay for it? And the answer is that the U. S. government is going to force Peter to pay for Paul’s health insurance, and that is just wrong. Regardless of how many times they have done it before, such as the boondoggle of Medicare. Our economy simply can’t handle it. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/38 "2011-02-08T19:00:59Z")
The government is going to pay for it anyway. This is just a way to lower the ultimate cost and shift the burden a little from the working class to the parasitic, tax-dodging overclass. ---
**Author:** ![ImNotPaulAvery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@ImNotPaulAvery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ImNotPaulAvery)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/39 "2011-02-08T19:15:24Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t understand your objection. The person not wearing the tie _is_ “the head of state of the most powerful nation in the world.” Yes, that is what I meant. Sloppy word choice at 3am. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And it’s an informal interview. Last year, the president didn’t even wear a jacket when [being interviewed by Katie Couric](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6184114n). Well then that’s not helping my opinion of him. And I’m not real sure how a major planned televised interview isn’t formal. I’m generally a supporter of Obama and his politics, but I find it a little disconcerting when I’m dressed better than the president on many occasions. And when his interviewer is better dressed. Hell, even the host of America’s Funniest Home videos that’s on TV right now is wearing a tie. BTW, this was a politically neutral observation. I’d be just as annoyed if it was Bush. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/40 "2011-02-08T19:32:36Z")
Who gives a shit about a tie? Are you serious? Do you know who DID wear a tie? HITLER! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541.md?page=3)