I know, I know….slamming on Bill O’Reilly is not only futile but also serves to highlight someone who clearly deserves less attention. We’ve all had our fill of him and pointing out why he is an abomination only serves to embolden those who love him.
But after what I saw in this interview with Barney Frank, I'm at a point where I feel expressing my anger is more cathartic than shrugging his lunacy off.
But after what I saw in this interview with Barney Frank, I'm at a point where I feel expressing my anger is more cathartic than shrugging his lunacy off.
I have to seriously wonder about the mental fitness of this man and the greater responsibility that Fox shares with giving him a multi-million dollar contract. Beyond that, I wonder, sincerely wonder, what this is saying about us as a culture. What I find so hard to take about this exchange is how completely inhumane it is on the most basic levels of decency.
I am not smart enough to know if O’Reilly has a point (obviously I’m skeptical) and I know there are good reasons for being angry about our current financial mess. But one thing I think almost everyone knows is that the problems we’re facing are enormously complex and finding one, two, three or even a few hundred people to blame is neither responsible nor accurate.
But that's not even my point here. This “interview” makes even the most irritating exchange on the former “Crossfire” look like a British tea party. To violently interrupt and scream and point fingers with virulent hatred toward a respected member of congress as though he were speaking to Adolph Hitler (really, I can’t think of many people heinous enough to be spoken to like that on a nationally syndicated show) demonstrates a level of disregard to the purpose of having Frank on in the first place that you have to wonder how morally bankrupt and emotionally imbalanced Bill O’Reilly is.
After all, O’Reilly has a mind-bogglingly large audience. I know that many (probably most) do not share his self-righteousness and watch for largely entertainment purposes. And I readily accept and occasionally even enjoy watching train wreck TV like Jerry Springer and the WWF. But we’re talking about a show in which Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Wesley Clark and even Barack Obama have appeared. This needs to stop.
He has finally gone too far for anyone, in my opinion, of any merit or political consequence to be on his show - right or left. I have fired off a letter expressing my disgust with this behavior both to Fox News in general and to the O’Reilly Factor and I would like to encourage everyone - right or left - to speak out and strongly condemn O’Reilly not for his views (which are admittedly awful) but for his blatant hostility and senseless battering of people like Frank that he treats with such animus.
I am so sick to my stomach about O’Reilly’s temperament and the lee-way he gets from Fox and even the establishment media that I actually feel the NEED to rant about it. Imagine yourself…you…having a conversation like that with ANYONE you know - whether or not you like or dislike them. Could you honestly talk to someone like that?
I have my problems with Keith Olberman’s smug attitude at times (and his self-righteous “special comments” have long lost their appeal) but by and large I think he does a fine job. If he ever treated a Republican guest like THAT on his show, forget it. Not only would I cease to care about him or his show, but I’m fairly positive the torrent of right wing hatred would come down on him swiftly.
This is what should happen to O’Reilly. And this interview should be why.
I am not smart enough to know if O’Reilly has a point (obviously I’m skeptical) and I know there are good reasons for being angry about our current financial mess. But one thing I think almost everyone knows is that the problems we’re facing are enormously complex and finding one, two, three or even a few hundred people to blame is neither responsible nor accurate.
But that's not even my point here. This “interview” makes even the most irritating exchange on the former “Crossfire” look like a British tea party. To violently interrupt and scream and point fingers with virulent hatred toward a respected member of congress as though he were speaking to Adolph Hitler (really, I can’t think of many people heinous enough to be spoken to like that on a nationally syndicated show) demonstrates a level of disregard to the purpose of having Frank on in the first place that you have to wonder how morally bankrupt and emotionally imbalanced Bill O’Reilly is.
After all, O’Reilly has a mind-bogglingly large audience. I know that many (probably most) do not share his self-righteousness and watch for largely entertainment purposes. And I readily accept and occasionally even enjoy watching train wreck TV like Jerry Springer and the WWF. But we’re talking about a show in which Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Wesley Clark and even Barack Obama have appeared. This needs to stop.
He has finally gone too far for anyone, in my opinion, of any merit or political consequence to be on his show - right or left. I have fired off a letter expressing my disgust with this behavior both to Fox News in general and to the O’Reilly Factor and I would like to encourage everyone - right or left - to speak out and strongly condemn O’Reilly not for his views (which are admittedly awful) but for his blatant hostility and senseless battering of people like Frank that he treats with such animus.
I am so sick to my stomach about O’Reilly’s temperament and the lee-way he gets from Fox and even the establishment media that I actually feel the NEED to rant about it. Imagine yourself…you…having a conversation like that with ANYONE you know - whether or not you like or dislike them. Could you honestly talk to someone like that?
I have my problems with Keith Olberman’s smug attitude at times (and his self-righteous “special comments” have long lost their appeal) but by and large I think he does a fine job. If he ever treated a Republican guest like THAT on his show, forget it. Not only would I cease to care about him or his show, but I’m fairly positive the torrent of right wing hatred would come down on him swiftly.
This is what should happen to O’Reilly. And this interview should be why.
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Comments
That Frank didn't walk off is the wonder. O'Reilly has been playing to this peanut gallery for years-they love it when he rants. It's what he gets paid to do. Why put oneself through this torture?
This is when "populism" can go awry. It's putting a piece of meat in front of the mob. No, they don't know how Washington works, or the government for that matter, and it doesn't matter--government and politicians are all evil.
"Liberals" of the last generation have perpetuated the same attitide. They've mostly sat on the sidelines since Viet Nam. This is not a subtle point--and the interesting thing will be to see how many of them come back to politics as "it is" with Obama. i.e. a dirty nasty business where nobody keeps their promises, and politicians are only in it for themselves.
But don't think I'm a nut, I realize none of this will happen. If you look at it though, really look at it for what it is, you have to ask yourself why we've allowed ourselves to find this within the normal bounds of political discourse. I firmly believe that Bill O'Reilly has a near crippling self-esteem problem that often manifests itself into self-righteous self-aggrandizing and venomous hate and anger that turns him into a person unhinged, unbalanced and in serious need of therapy. I'm not even joking about that.