An recently released clip of Bill O'Reilly losing his temper on his old set at Inside Edition hit the internet this week, and it is just so hilarious that I had to download it.
Even though he's got Scarborough, Imus, Snoop Dog, Al Franken, Olbermann, David Brock, and so many others ready to duke it out with him, I never thought I would hear about this feud...Attack. Demonize. Divide and Deride.LINK: Right Wing Talk Wars! Mark Levin Threatens O'Reilly With Hour Exposing Bill's "Porn"
It's the right wing Lords of Loud bread and butter. Ripping the opposition is as comforting to talk show hosts as Jessica Simpson is to a New York Giants fan.
Oh, they'll yell all day how the evil Left throws around the Nazi card. Meanwhile, Jonah Goldberg's newest tome, "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning" is being pimped across the dial by right-minded Lords of Loud.
But this week the Right Wing whack attack took an even darker turn...inwards. And when I heard the light and lilting modulated tones of talk show host Mark Levin on his daily show throwing down the gauntlet at the feet of journalist Bill O'Reilly yesterday, I nearly fell off my No Spin Recliner.
Levin was royally annoyed that Bill had anointed himself chief oversight for talk radio standards of demeanor when he brought on six talk show hosts on the TV Factor to discuss what is the right or wrong behavior for radio hosts.
Though no names were bandied about on the Factor, Levin felt Bill was referring to Levin himself as an example of someone who had the temerity to mock politicians, physically and otherwise.
How upset was the normally calm and collected Levin? After saying that O'Reilly had no audience and would be off the air in a year, he said the worst thing you could say about the performance of a host, that O'Reilly "phones it in." In radio parlance, he basically just shows up and wings it.
But the real shot hit the fan when Levin reminded his audience that Bill was involved in a "porn"(Levin's word, not mine) scandal where he was taped sexually harassing a younger subordinate, one in which Bill had to pay millions to make it go away. Levin said that if Bill didn't stop taking on the mantel of talk radio's ombudsman, he would "do an hour on the porn" during his own show.
Yikes.
While Levin's show is syndicated by ABC and O'Reilly by Westwood One so there's no love lost there, but there are outlets, like KABC in Los Angeles, where both shows broadcast over the same station. Having one host going to war with another one in the same lineup should make for a bunch of tight sphincters in a number of program directors' offices.
Will Bill acquiesce to Levin's demands or will the Nospinster tell Levin to stick it where the AM signal is difficult to receive?
Will Levin allow O'Reilly to tell him how he should behave on his own show or will he end up broadcasting a show that would guarantee to draw Levin's largest audience?
We should know soon, but I can already feel the WWE verberations on the airwaves.
Levin vs O'Reilly.
Steel Cage Radio Match
No Loofas Barred
Vince McMahon, eat your heart out.
What ridiculous antics this guy is up to. Has he no sense of decency?After Bill O’Reilly had an altercation with Marvin Nicholson, Obama’s National Trip Director—he crashes and asks Obama if he’ll come on The Factor.
Obama: There’s a whole bunch of people over there I’ve got to talk to.
O’reilly: Thank you very much, You’re a good guy. We like you.
Obama: After the primary we’ll go on.
O’Reilly: After New Hampshire.
Obama: After the primary.
LINK: O’Reilly crashes Obama’s NH speech and asks to interview him! Don’t do it!
Hilarious!
Bill O'Reilly racist? Nawwwww...On the May 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, host Bill O'Reilly asserted that the proposed immigration reform bill is supported by "people who hate America, and they hate it because it's run primarily by white, Christian men. Let me repeat that. America is run primarily by white, Christian men, and there is a segment of our population who hates that, despises that power structure." He continued: "So they, under the guise of being compassionate, want to flood the country with foreign nationals, unlimited, unlimited, to change the complexion -- pardon the pun -- of America. Now, that's hatred, too." O'Reilly later asserted that The New York Times "want[s] to change the white, Christian male power structure" and later concluded: "So you've got racism on the anti-Latino front, and you have racism on the anti-Christian, white male front. Aha! Isn't that interesting?"
As Media Matters for America documented, O'Reilly has previously warned that pro-immigration activists want to alter the racial demographics of the United States. During the April 11, 2006, edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly said of New York City Councilman Charles Barron: "[T]he bottom line is Charles Barron said last night is there is a movement in this country to wipe out 'white privilege' and to have the browning of America." In the April 11 interview with O'Reilly on Westwood One's The Radio Factor, Barron at no point claimed that he and other advocates for immigrant rights are motivated by a desire to force white Americans into the minority -- despite O'Reilly's repeated efforts to provoke such an acknowledgment.
From the May 29 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: OK, I think it's a small part, but I think it's there. On the other side, you have people who hate America, and they hate it because it's run primarily by white, Christian men. Let me repeat that. America is run primarily by white, Christian men, and there is a segment of our population who hates that, despises that power structure. So they, under the guise of being compassionate, want to flood the country with foreign nationals, unlimited, unlimited, to change the complexion -- pardon the pun -- of America. Now, that's hatred, too. It's a different kind of hatred, but it's hatred and best exemplified by The New York Times, which today says in its editorial, quote: "Those who want [the immigration] bill to be better are horribly conflicted by it. Their emotions still seem vastly overmatched by the ferocity of the opposition from the restrictionist right, with talk radio lighting up over 'amnesty,' callers spitting out the words with all the hate they can pour into it," unquote.
Now, this is a theme of The New York Times, that if you oppose the immigration bill that you hate Latinos. Now, there's a segment that does, but most oppose it on policy. They just think it's bad policy, rewarding bad behavior. Bad policy. But The New York Times, which is an open border, OK, let-everybody-in concern -- that's what they want, because they want a totally different power structure in America.
Number one, they realize that 40 million new citizens -- and that's, you know, probably the estimate that if you let all the illegal immigrants and all their extended families come here, which is what The New York Times want, would wipe out the two-party system. You'd only have a Democratic party, because new immigrants are probably gonna break 3-to-1 Democrat, and that's what The New York Times wants. But more than that, they want to change the white, Christian male power structure. That's what they want.
Now, these are hidden agendas. The New York Times would never cop to that, ever, but if you read consistently their editorials, they have no solution to border security. They don't want any sanctions on illegal aliens who come here and even commit crimes. They want criminal aliens to stay, and they don't want any sanctions on businesses who continue to hire illegal aliens even after the Z visa is issued. It's an open border, "Let them all in, anybody who wants to come here."
That's insane. We don't have America then. America disappears. That's where Pat Buchanan is right. You let that happen, there's no more United States of America. It's gone. You have United States of the World, because everybody comes here with no restrictions. So you've got racism on the anti-Latino front, and you have racism on the anti-Christian, white male front. Aha! Isn't that interesting?
LINK: O'Reilly: Immigration bill supporters want to "change the complexion" of America
Crooks and Liars rip into Pat Robertson's powerful institution...Bill Moyers ran a special last night on PBS that examined the separation of church and state in the context of Pat Robertson's Regent University School of Law and its mission of "bring[ing] to bear the will of our Creator, Almighty God, upon legal education and the legal profession." Moyers paints a stark picture of a law school and a religious leader that are having a profound effect on the American system of law and government. Seeing Regent's newly graduated students talk about the philosophy they intend to bring to the practice of law (and most likely to the federal government) is frightening to anyone who appreciates the traditional notion of the separation between church and state.LINK: Chipping Away at the Wall of Separation
Crooks and Liars picked up on this odd story...Snoop Dog doesn't hold back on Bill O"Reilly. This is from a Dutch talk show…(explicit language)
UPDATE: How many people think O'Reilly will be talking about this on The Factor come Monday?
BillO predictably responds to Snoop's hilarious rant on Dutch TV.My money's on Snoop. And Mr.Amato called it….
LINK: O’Reilly Invites Snoop on “The Factor”
Crooks and Liars caught the bloviator again...Bill O'Reilly abuses and cuts the mic of retired Colonel Ann Wright, 29-year veteran of the US Army, after she refuses to fall victim to his leading, dishonest questions and smear tactics. Apparently in Bill's demented world, criticizing the actions of President Bush in explicitly violating international law — something Col. Wright spent years teaching — constitutes "blaming" America.LINK: Why Does Bill O’Reilly Hate Our Troops and American Values?WRIGHT: "I want to make sure the United States treats people properly.."
O'REILLY: "Sure you do. Sure you do."
WRIGHT: "I surely do. That's what I spent 29 years of my life trying to do."
O'REILLY: "Sorry. No you didn't. You know what happened to you…somewhere along the line you started to dislike your own country…."
WRIGHT: "I served 29 years. How many did you serve? Where did you teach the Geneva Conventions?"
O'REILLY: "Cut her mic."
Transcripts:
VIDEO / LINK: O’Reilly And Beck Agree: We’re ‘Afraid’ To Have ‘A Lot Of African-American Friends’O’REILLY: Now you got to feel sorry for us white folks here, because I’m telling you now I’m afraid to say anything. You know, you’re an articulate guy, doctor, but I’m never going to say that. You’re a smart guy. Is that bad if I say you’re a smart guy? … Yes, absolutely, instead of black and white Americans coming together, white Americans are terrified. They’re terrified. Now we can’t even say you’re articulate? We can’t even give you guys compliments because they may be taken as condescension?
BECK: You know, Shelby, I don’t know if anybody else in the audience — oh, this is just going to be a blog nightmare over the next few days. But let me just be honest and play my cards face up on the table.
I was thinking about this just last week. I don’t have a lot of African-American friends, and I think part of it is because I’m afraid that I would be in an open conversation, and I would say something that somebody would take wrong, and then it would be a nightmare. Am I alone in feeling that?
Media Matters documented this little gem. I'm glad they found it and I'm glad Laura Ingraham and Bill-O discussed this -- I can't stand Neil Cavuto.From the February 1 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
LINK: O'Reilly on Fox News vice president Neil Cavuto: "I think he is a demented guy"O'REILLY: They say, look, nature screwed up. It should be, you know, everybody in a free-fire zone. Now, I understand -- I did not hear this, so correct me if I'm wrong -- on your program, you had people giving Fox News jazz because we used --
INGRAHAM: Intervention time, Bill. Here we go again.
O'REILLY: -- cheesecake video, right?
INGRAHAM: What is the purpose of your running the continuous loop -- are we going to run the B roll of this? This is what I am talking about. What is --
O'REILLY: We ran it last night for cosmetic surgery.
INGRAHAM: Here is what I'm saying.
O'REILLY: Cosmetic surgery.
INGRAHAM: I don't know if there's a rampant mid-life crisis going on on this network among the male anchors. But I can tell you that my female listeners are basically saying you can make these debates -- have these debates. Are we having more? This is what I mean! What is the purpose? We don't care about the coffee shop babes with their bikinis. OK?
You can talk about cultural issues and cultural debates without running the constant loop of this video.
O'REILLY: I'm putting you in charge now.
INGRAHAM: It's ridiculous.
O'REILLY: You're in charge of the Fox News Channel.
INGRAHAM: Yeah right. You'd get better demos with me, Bill.
O'REILLY: We do a story like we did last night on cosmetic surgery. OK? Women enhancing themselves. You say no video of that. Correct?
INGRAHAM: No, you are trying to make --
O'REILLY: No, I'm saying this is the truth. That's why we used it.
INGRAHAM: Bill, why did you do the story about the naked parties at Yale. Do you think that's really a cultural phenomenon that a T-warrior needs to fight against?
O'REILLY: It was at Brown.
INGRAHAM: Wherever.
O'REILLY: Student activity fees were being used to fuel an orgy.
INGRAHAM: Why did you run the video? Why?
O'REILLY: To show people what happened at Brown.
INGRAHAM: You don't think people know what a nude party would look like? You had to see it?
O'REILLY: I don't think so. I had to. I didn't know.
INGRAHAM: Why did your pal Cavuto, who I like very much --
O'REILLY: And nobody was naked, by the way.
INGRAHAM: Why did you run the video, during Cavuto, of, you know, the guy who came up with the Girls Gone Wild franchise?
O'REILLY: I don't have anything to do with Cavuto. I think he is a demented guy.
INGRAHAM: I like Neil Cavuto. But the point is, it's really started to creep into the Fox programming.
O'REILLY: I just want to get this clear. You, Laura Ingraham, no video of cosmetic surgery or anything. None.
INGRAHAM: No. You can talk about an issue without training the camera on a particular --
O'REILLY: I didn't shoot those shots.
INGRAHAM: You know what also I find interesting? All the women also wanted to know this. Where did all the segments about the Playgirl, you know, issues out there? Where are all the men? Where are all the male enhancements?
O'REILLY: I don't know anything about those stories. I don't know. I'm confused.
INGRAHAM: Why are those photos all of women? You say is you are a T-warrior, right? You're a T-warrior.
O'REILLY: I am.
INGRAHAM: Then act like one and stop playing this video.
O'REILLY: No more bikinis! They're over.
INGRAHAM: How about the hands over the boobs.
O'REILLY: No hands! No anything!
INGRAHAM: You don't want to hear me, Bill, but you should hear me, because people are tired of it.
O'REILLY: Never again. We'll be right back with Dick Morris.
Another O'Reilly bit from Crooks and Liars...Imus: Here's what a disgrace O'Reilly is. Olbermann can't kill him enough. Here's what O'Reilly's doing. You are not going to believe this. This sonofabitch actually went on that falafel thing of his and he said—–if you'll buy a copy of his book—for every copy of his stupid book, he'll send a copy to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan. I mean I don't know where to start. That's his contribution to the men and women who are fighting and dying in this idiotic war for this country.
Limbaugh tried a similar trick of trying to make money off the troops with his "Adopt a soldier" scam.
VIDEO / LINK: Imus calls O’Reilly a “Sonofabitch”
QUOTE:On the January 29 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, blogger and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin claimed that "Jane Fonda's anti-American position has never changed over the last several decades." Host Bill O'Reilly responded: "[Y]ou say it's anti-American. You know that the Fondas and [Sean] Penns are going to say, 'Listen, I'm as American as you are, Michelle Malkin. I just see things differently.' And I'm willing to give them the benefit of that doubt. I don't want to say that they're anti-American." However, just minutes earlier during the "Talking Points Memo" segment, onscreen text had referred to Penn as "anti-American actor Sean Penn." While that text was on the screen, O'Reilly referred to Penn as "far-left actor Sean Penn."
To close the segment, O'Reilly asked Malkin if she had "any personal message for Sean Penn," to which she replied, "I'm glad that he's gone now from D.C.," before adding: "Jeff Spicoli for president." Penn played stoner Jeff Spicoli in the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
From the January 29 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
LINK: O'Reilly wouldn't call Penn "anti-American" minutes after Factorreferred to Penn as "anti-American"O'REILLY: But to far-left actor Sean Penn, who consistently sides with America's enemies, that really isn't much of a problem at all.
[...]
MALKIN: Jane Fonda's anti-American position has never changed over the last several decades. And I think that it's clear that the concern for the troops that the anti-war left has shown is cynical. The compassion that they pose for the Iraqi civilians is totally disingenuous. And their opposition to the war is not rooted in principle, but in clear Bush hatred and in a desire to see this country fail.
We talked about those poll results last week showing that a hard, significant portion of this country wants us to fail there. And that's what we saw voiced over and over again this weekend.
And I think that there's another ugly aspect to the anti-war movement. It was not just sort of the peace-loving '60s throwbacks that we saw in front of the camera. But we saw the ugly side of the anti-war movement this weekend, too.
And you won't see that on a lot of the mainstream media coverage. People spitting at an Iraq war veteran, vandalism on the Capitol steps, rocks thrown at military recruitment centers. This is what it's about. It was a big temper tantrum. And that's all the left has to offer.
O'REILLY: All right, but you say it's anti-American. You know that the Fondas and Penns are going to say, "Listen, I'm as American as you are, Michelle Malkin. I just see things differently." And I'm willing to give them the benefit of that doubt. I don't want to say that they're anti-American.
[...]
O'REILLY: All right, I gotta load up Michelle for one final -- Michelle, any personal message for Sean Penn?
MALKIN: I'm glad that he's gone now from D.C.
O'REILLY: Yeah. I just -- I was wondering about the hair that was going on up there with him.
MALKIN: Jeff Spicoli for president.
About Political Humor and Crooks and Liars followed this "fight"...Watch video clips of Stephen Colbert appearing on Bill O'Reilly's show, and Bill O'Reilly appearing on Stephen Colbert's show, in what Colbert described as a "meeting of the guts."LINK: Colbert on O'Reilly, O'Reilly on Colbert
Colbert was in full right-wing, well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status-idiot-mode and kept O'Reilly on the ropes while getting in a few good jabs — like ripping on Bill's ancient audience.VIDEO / LINK: Colbert on the O’Reilly FactorTo put this nonsensical myth to death, although O'Reilly refers to Daily Show viewers as "stoned slackers," MSNBC found that Daily Show viewers are actually more educated than those who watch The Factor. No-spin, indeed.
VIDEO / LINK: “Papa Bear” O’Reilly on the Colbert Report
Keith Olberman even weighed in...
Keith breaks down rounds 1 & 2 of Colbert vs. O'Reilly with Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane.VIDEO / LINK: Olbermann Dissects Colbert vs. O’Reilly
I didn't bother adding this to the "Papa Bear" post last night because I thought it was a joke. Alas, it wasn't.
From ABC News:
It may have been a greater error allowing Colbert into the Fox News headquarters, located near the "Colbert Report" studios in Manhattan. There, Colbert smuggled a microwave out of the green room, a bounty which he proudly displayed at the conclusion of his show.
A spokesman for Fox News confirmed that Colbert stole the microwave, but said it was all in good fun.
HuffPo has more:
According to FNC spokeswoman Irena Briganti, Colbert told O'Reilly off-camera of his plan to take the microwave from the Green Room. "We were well aware of it and entirely amused - it was all in good fun," said Briganti in an email earlier today. "We honestly just thought the whole thing was hysterical."
LINK: Colbert Stole O’Reilly’s Microwave
My Way News picked this up...It may feel like looking into the mirror for Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert next week. The Fox News Channel host and Colbert, who has essentially based his comic character every evening on Comedy Central on him, will trade appearances on each other's programs Jan. 18.
"I'm really looking forward to speaking to a man who owes his entire career to me," O'Reilly said.
On "The Colbert Report," Colbert portrays a self-involved talk-show host who has tried to bring "truthiness" to the world. His character owes an obvious debt to O'Reilly, who holds court in the "no-spin zone" each evening.
On "The O'Reilly Factor," O'Reilly portrays a ... um, he hosts the top-rated program in cable news.
"I look forward to the evening," Colbert said. "It is an honor to speak face-to-face with a broadcasting legend, and I feel the same way about Mr. O'Reilly."
"And I challenge you to debate me anytime, anyplace, anywhere..."Scarborough: And I challenge you to debate me anytime, anyplace, anywhere, and find one thing I have said on this program over the past year that is not consistent with the conservative congressman who was against military adventurism when I was in Congress, that was against exploding deficits, that was against reckless spending and against turning Congress into the type of swamp that we Republicans have turned it into over the past six years!
LINK: Scarborough challenges O’Reilly to a debateThat doesn‘t make me liberal, that makes me conservative! That may make you, though, a suck-up, if you defend the Republicans that have done that to this country and to our party over the past six years! (full transcript below the fold)
...[O]n The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly falsely claimed, "There isn't one conservative ... not one conservative commentator that works for NBC News at this time." In fact, at least two MSNBC hosts -- Scarborough and Tucker Carlson -- are known conservatives. Scarborough is a former Republican Florida Congressman and Carlson is a well-known conservative commentator who used to write for the conservative publications Policy Review and the Weekly Standard, in addition to formerly being the conservative co-host of CNN's now-canceled program Crossfire.LINK: Scarborough blasts O'Reilly for being GOP "suck-up"
In additon to the screencapture above, more evidence has been captured by Think Progress. Thanks to them for this priceless clip...O’Reilly didn’t fully recover from his gaffe, stumbling over his own e-mail address and reassuring viewers, “I know my own [web] address.”
Transcript:
LINK: O’Reilly Momentarily Joins ‘War on Christmas,’ Says His Show Is Gearing Up ‘For The Holidays’How about the website where there is no jabberwocky? Mr. Transition strikes again. Mr. Segue, here I am. www.foxnews.com/oreillyfactor - Gear up for the holidays…and Christmas and Chanukah. And uh, Talking Points Memo. Please e-mail us with pithy comments: oreilly@foxnews.com. OReilly@foxnews co — dot.com. Oreilly@foxnews.com. I know my own address.
This Thanksgiving, progressives have a lot to be thankful for. Here’s our list:
We’re thankful for our country’s troops.
We’re thankful America dumped the 109th Congress.
We’re thankful Rick Santorum will have more free time to find the WMD.
We’re thankful we don’t have to go to war with the Secretary of Defense we had.
We’re thankful for “red state values,” like protecting reproductive rights, supporting stem cell research, and rejecting discrimination.
We’re thankful Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), who calls climate change the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” will no longer chair the Senate environmental committee.
We’re thankful Matt Drudge does not rule our world.
We’re thankful Al Gore helped the country face an inconvenient truth.
We’re thankful Bill O’Reilly does not resort to name calling - well, besides labeling ThinkProgress as “far left loons,” “kool-aid zombies,” “hired guns,” “vile,” “haters,” a “far left smear website,” and “a very well-oiled, effective character assassination machine.”
We’re thankful minimum wage ballot initiatives passed in six states.
We’re thankful the Dixie Chicks aren’t ready to make nice.
We’re thankful Ted Haggard bought the meth but never used it.
We’re thankful for the 100,000 readers who responded to our Tell the Truth About 9/11 campaign.
We’re thankful for “the Google” and “the email” (and the “series of tubes” that make them possible) — but not iPods, which are endangering our nation.
We’re thankful Maf54 isn’t online right now.
We’re thankful people send us Jack Abramoff’s email.
We’re thankful Keith Olbermann’s ratings are up and Bill O’Reilly’s ratings are down.
We’re thankful President Bush’s secret plan for Iraq is safe with Conrad Burns.
We’re thankful we won’t spend Thanksgiving turkey hunting with Dick Cheney.
We’re thankful the “Decider” only gets to make the decisions 789 more days.
And last but not least: We’re thankful to the Think Progress readers for their tips, energy and support.
LINK: Think Progress presents... 21 Reasons To Give Thanks
-Mr. Joseph
GamePolitics.com caught this gem from the Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly: I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life - the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.
Remember, if you want to defeat the jihadists, don’t buy a premium membership on billoreilly.com:
LINK: O’Reilly: iPods Are Endangering America
-Mr. Joseph
Here is proof that FOX is conservative and not at all reliable...
