Will O'Reilly Quit If Taxed at a Higher Rate?

Absolutely not. And he said as much on The Daily Show.

Here's Jon Stewart taking Bill O'Reilly to the woodshed yet again. I would truly love to see O'Reilly in a serious discussion with Stewart regarding the issues they speak about, instead of his insistence in trying out a punchline here and there. I do believe he's a smart guy - but I also believe he knows where his bread is buttered and therefore leans towards conclusions with which he might not otherwise agree.

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The Solyndra fiasco was reported, or shall I say regurgitated by the media before all the facts were made known.
And the $16 muffins? That's already been debunked as well. Too bad Stewart didn't know anything about it.

One Good Reason To Raise Taxes

Bill O'Reilly might quit.



Of course, Bill-O is throwing crap on the walls to see what sticks. His fear mongering about a 50% income tax is purely wild speculation. No one in the White House has ever claimed that number, only a reversal to the Clinton Era tax rates, which were 36% and 39.6% for individuals in the top 1.2% of wage earners. And in actuality, after deductions and loopholes, they didn't even pay that much.

But hey, if Bill O'Reilly will quit working altogether because of a 3% hike in his taxes, that's all the more reason to support President Obama's revenue increase plan. I'm sure O'Reilly's narcissism will allow him to go quietly into the night and forgo the $20 million he makes a year. No more Fox. No more books. No more showing how he's so much smarter he is than everyone else on the planet. I'm sure that the self-avowed second most powerful man in the nation will go that route. Maybe he can just go back to a simple life of sexual harassment.

The Stewart-O'Reilly Debates

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates they are not, but it's always fun watching Bill O'Reilly get popped in the head with facts and see him squirm and misdirect. It's too bad we can't see an unedited version of this interview.







Oh, and Bill? The Weathergirls are one of your favorite groups? I know it was most likely said in jest, but it only gave me images of you dancing to "Y.M.C.A." so please, leave the jokes to the funny men.

Stop Digging, Huckabee

Former Governor, possible Republican Presidential nominee contender and recent Birther red meat thrower, Mike Huckabee has gotten into some hot water for remarks he made on a conservative radio show in which he said President Obama was born in Kenya, and threw in a couple of Mau-Mau Revolution references to sweeten the pot.

First he said he simply misspoke. Well, I don't remember anything about a Mau-Mau uprising in Indonesia. Then he said "if I'd read from my own text, page 183 of my book, I clearly said he grew up in Indonesia." Nice cross reference to plug his book, huh? There's only one problem: there's no mention of Indonesia on page 183. In fact, there's no mention of Indonesia on any of the pages of his book. It's Indonesia free.

In trying to re-re-re-explain himself on the intrepid O'Reilly Factor, Huckabee then said this:

"My point even talking about him being raised in a different country, actually in Indonesia and not Kenya as I do understand. Again, it's right there in the book for me to read and everybody else, if they care to, but the point that I do want to make is that that creates a different world view. This is not a kid who grew up going to boy scout meetings and playing little league baseball in a small town."

Two things: One, in defending Obama against the birthers, he again reiterates how "different" he is and two, Huckabee is WRONG AGAIN when he says he was "raised in Indonesia."

Barack Obama was in Indonesia from the ages of 6 through 10 before moving back to Hawaii, a US state if I recall correctly. Is that an impressionable age when it comes to subjects like British imperialism in a country you were never in? I don't know about you, but from the ages of 6 through 10, I was more worried about not striking out playing stickball than about Watergate or Nixon's resignation, something that would have made me see at a young age to what depths Republicans would sink to win elections.

Mike, a little advice: Never lose an opportunity to keep your mouth shut.

ADDING... Perfect.

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Wisconsin's State Tree Is What?! - UPDATED

Bill O'Reilly has been getting pretty hot under the collar at all the Wisconsin protesters chanting "Fox lies" while their so-called "reporters" are on the ground at the state capitol in Madison. So what does The O'Reilly Factor do? They lie.

Here's the intrepid BillO and his crack staff using stock footage of some random protest while speaking about the people in the streets in Wisconsin to promote the illusion that the protests are violent. Notice the short sleeve shirts and the palm trees in the background.



Now that's some fair and balanced reporting, huh? And here I thought the Wisconsin state tree was the Sugar Maple. Someone had better correct Wikipedia!


UPDATE (3/3/11, 12:15pm): Mediaite has defended O'Reilly as "not lying" regarding the above video.

The segment in question occurred during The O’Reilly Factor as Bill O’Reilly was discussing the anger in the union protests. At the top of the piece, he rolled footage of a number of the “union thug” videos that have become so popular on Right Wing news sites in the past few weeks. O’Reilly clearly identified the videos as collectively coming from “all over the country.” As many shows do, this B-roll footage was replayed again during the rest of the segment, including during an interview with Mike Tobin, Fox News’ reporter who’s been on the ground in Wisconsin.

Here’s where the problem occurred. Tobin was discussing Wisconsin (since that where he’s been) while the general footage played in the background. Taken out of context, these few seconds would seem deceptive. But, if you’d already seen the full segment, you’d recognize what the footage was (besides, this same clip has aired on other Fox News programs like Glenn Beck and been identified as coming from California). Further, the protest footage from Wisconsin is clearly labeled “Madison” as well as date and time stamped, while the “palm tree footage” is labeled “Union Protests.” Confusing? Not really, though if one were to simply see the 43-second clip on YouTube, one could reasonably raise their eyebrows. A reminder of the importance of context.

Had Fox News Channel, and in particular The O'Reilly Factor, been completely honest, instead of labeling the video "union protests" they would have specified the locality of each video. It's not so hard.

They deliberately misled the viewer by speaking to someone stationed in Madison, Wisconsin while showing video from Sacramento. How do I know it's Sacramento? Because a legit website, Think Progress, updated their site with that information.

By the way, that video of the shoving match was the only reported incident by Sacramento police, so the idea that protests have turned violent has no merit. And reporting about "anger" at protests isn't really news, is it? Anger at protests is a given, otherwise there probably wouldn't be a protest.

Was it a lie? Technically, no. But it was definitely sloppy journalism at a minimum and at worst, tried to paint a biased picture of what's actually happening across the country; far from the "fair and balanced" motto they purport. Therefore, I'll make the reassessment that the O'Reilly segment was purposely misleading.

Battle of the Irish: O'Donnell Challenges O'Reilly

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This Man Is Nuts

Listen to Beck play the communist card like a fiddle. Asked to elaborate on what groups make up One Nation, the supposed organization that will bring down the US, he answers, "the labor unions, communist organizations and the Green movement." Labor unions, that were created to stop employer abuses of its workers, AKA the Average American. The Green movement and their hateful ideas to protect our environment and develop a new revenue source of green jobs in the country to save energy and control waste. He lumps them in with "communist organizations" but doesn't mention any one specific group. Way to scare the rubes there, Glenn.  Of course, if you're intellectually lazy and don't bother looking it up for yourself, why not just take his word for it? Also, buy some overpriced gold coins while you're at it - Glenn wouldn't rip you off, would he?

Here's One Nation's summarized mission statement:

One Nation Working Together is a social movement of individuals and organizations committed to putting America back to work and pulling America back together. Coming from a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and orientations, we are determined to build a more united country with good jobs, equal justice, and quality public education for all.

Good jobs, equal justice and quality public education... ooooh, those evil commie bastards!

Seems like everyone who does not agree with Beck is apparently a communist. It also seems like spreading democracy in the Middle East is a good thing when a Republican is in charge. Where was Beck when we were deposing dictators by force and propping up banana republics?

Oh, and by the way, Bill, it's "foment" not "forment."

We'll Do It Live

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O'Donnell and Fineman's O'Reilly Interview Analysis

Lawrence O'Donnell broke down the amount of times Bill O'Reilly interrupted the President during his Super Bowl Sunday interview. Forty three times in a fourteen minute interview. Wow. He and Fineman then analyze what O'Reilly was after - the interview of the century, only he never let Obama finish a sentence.

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Perhaps O'Reilly's been watching Chris Matthews on Hardball too much.

The Extended Obama/O'Reilly Interview - UPDATED

Here's the rest of the interview aired on The O'Reilly Factor Monday night that we didn't see on Sunday.







Besides the continuing interruptions that I mentioned in an earlier post, I found something very intriguing. Toward the end of the second clip, O'Reilly asks what the media can do better, and gets lost in the Obama's "professorial" style.  He doesn't want a real answer or a real solution apparently, you know, too much substance for Bill confuses him. But then O'Reilly specifically asks, "Do you think you're being treated fairly by Fox News now?" (4:10 mark). President Obama's answer was, "I would say, I think that the news guys try to do a good job...".

 Is it my conspiratorial mind running away with me, or does the video show a very poor job of trying to edit out the "try to" part of the statement and make it sound like Obama said, "I think that the news guys do a good job."

The very first thing that came to mind was the same type of horrible editing during Michelle Obama's "really proud of my country" moment. Since this is a video uploaded to YouTube and not from the official Fox News website, I'll reserve judgement.  But I can't help wondering if they just can't help themselves over at FNC to just tinker with video that is available for editing, unlike the live portion on Super Bowl Sunday.

(I'll replace the YouTube video with official FNC video when it becomes available and update my analysis.)

UPDATE: Conspiracy debunked! In the official video, now posted above, there is no glitch at the 4:10 mark of the second segment. So my apologies to the dweebs in the Fox News control room for accusing them of fudging with the video. You can see the YouTube glitch here. That is, if it is actually a glitch upon upload, bad initial video that was uploaded, or a purposeful attempt at changing the intent of the comment.

The Obama/O'Reilly Super Bowl Interview

Maybe it's because of my Bill O'Reilly bias, but when did it become acceptable to ask a question of the President of the United States, and then constantly interrupt him during his answer? To me, it just shows O'Reilly has a subconscious disrespect for the office and for Obama in particular.

O'Reilly also comes off as an unserious "journalist" when he uses phrases like, "Those are tough guys, the Muslim Brotherhood" and "Mubarak knows a lot of bad things about us, rendition and such... I'm worried that he might go off the reservation." Yes, heaven forbid the American people might find out the truth of the criminal activities the government has been involved in.

"Does it disturb you that so many people hate you?" Not at all a serious question considering the President's 50% approval rating at the moment. Yes, even higher than St.Ronnie's rating at the same point in his tenure. Maybe the people who watch BillO hate Obama, but 2 million people does not a country make. And flailing and missing with a question about whether the President knows football and what a blitz is, as if he were going to catch him floundering and show Joe Average Football that Obama is an elitist who'd rather play cricket or polo than know the rules of American Football, was just pathetic.

What Obama should have said: "Yes Bill, I know what a blitz is. I also know what causes the tides."

Stewart Rebuts O'Reilly Rebuttal to Use of Nazi Terminology

Shorter Bill O'Reilly: But when we call someone a Nazi, we have a good reason.

Bill O'Reilly is a Moron - UPDATED

What causes the tides to roll in and out? According to Bill O'Reilly, it can't be explained. That's his argument when debating American Atheist Group President David Silverman.

O'REILLY: I'll tell you why [religion's] not a scam, in my opinion: tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that. 

SILVERMAN: Tide goes in, tide goes out? 

O'REILLY: See, the water, the tide comes in and it goes out, Mr. Silverman. It always comes in, and always goes out. You can't explain that.

Gee, Bill, it couldn't be science, could it?

UPDATE (1/7/11): Stephen Colbert discusses Bill O'Reilly's mystery.

A Steaming, Hot Bowl Full of Crazy

See Ya, Juan!

Juan Williams agreeing with Bill O'Reilly's comments on the now infamous The View segment in which Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off the set:

"...I think you’re right. I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don’t address reality.
I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Did it ever occur to Williams that the 9/11 hijackers were NOT wearing Muslim garb? So according to Williams, we have more to fear from someone wearing "Muslim garb" than someone who isn't. Remind me again what the Times Square Bomber was wearing? So finally, NPR, which over a year ago asked Williams not to identify himself as an NPR analyst while on O'Reilly's show, has had enough.

NPR announced late on Wednesday night that it has terminated the contract of longtime analyst Juan Williams over his comments... In a statement, NPR said that it had informed Williams of its decision on Wednesday night, and that his remarks were "inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

A quick Google search will find that right wing bloggers are outraged, OUTRAGE I TELL YOU!, that Williams was fired for "no particular reason" or for "telling the truth" and are blaming Think Progress and The Huffington Post for... well for reporting the incident I suppose.

Even the Morning Joe crew was appalled at the firing. And just recently, Joe Scarborough tweeted this:



Actually, Joe, no. Williams was fired for saying he gets nervous on a plane when he sees people wearing Muslim garb.

But here's one question that these people should answer: If it's okay for Rick Sanchez to be fired for saying Jews run the media, and it's okay for Helen Thomas to be forced out for saying that Jews should get out of Palestine, then why is this particular firing an outrage? It couldn't be because one religion is to be revered and the other is to be vilified, could it?

Well at least Williams if now free to express his opinion on Fox News full time without having to worry about damaging NPR's credibility.

Jon Stewart Plugs His Book on O'Reilly Show

I don't know if Jon's going to get many sales from the O'Reilly crowd, but these interviews are always amusing to watch just for the pathetic attempt of O'Reilly trying to be funny in the presence of a sharp-witted and highly intelligent comedian.



(H/T GottaLaff)

Bachmann In Headlights in the No Spin Zone

Kudos to Bill O'Reilly for truly having a "No Spin Zone" moment with Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann and taking her to task for her idiotic remarks in categorizing President Obama's set up of the BP $20 billion escrow account to help with claims of Gulf coast victims as a"shakedown" and "extortion."



Bachmann keeps repeating that she is worried about who will administer this account. By now, we all know that Ken Feinberg has been chosen for the job, the same Feinberg that took care of payouts for the 9/11 victims. Perhaps Bachmann was too busy mudslinging to hear that bit of information. But if Feinberg was okay with Bachmann previously, why is she worried about it now? Oh, right. We have a Democrat in the White House now. And a Democratic majority in Congress. And in her twisted, feeble thing in her head that constitutes a brain, it's okay if you are a Republican.

Oh, and Michele? It's the "Democratic" Party, and the "Democratic" president, not "Democrat" you twit.

Behold The Alternative!

The next time someone says how disappointed they are in President Obama for his "lack of leadership," I would suggest a little dose of reality and remind them of how things could have been...



... and then punch them in the throat.

Stewart Responds to Bernie Goldberg

One of his best bits ever.

The Complete, Unedited Bill O'Reilly/Jon Stewart Video...

... in which Jon Stewart reveals who the real pinhead is. What I don't understand is why Bill-O (to his credit) would allow the full version of the interview to be posted online for an easy comparison of what actually made the show and further shows his thin skin. The aired interview was more heavily edited than a James O'Keefe ACORN video.