Why Bill O'Reilly Sucks

For fans of Bill O'Reilly it's hard to understand what it is about him that bothers the rest of us. I was having a dialog with my father about him when I tripped over a classic example of the problem.

The transcript is here:

From Fox News' Bill O'Reilly site.

The video for this is here:

Youtube Video Link

Let me get to the key points of just one piece of this video:

".... Williams takes his orders....." (as if Brian Williams is a puppet and has no say in anything he does)

".... from NBC President Jeffrey Zucker, a committed liberal..." (WHAT?!? and this is a crime because????)

".... who has completely RUINED the news operation..." (Really? More staw-man in a long list and it's not true. It's his opinion. NBC News is at the top of the heap drawing 10 million viewers nightly. Fox can't even get to a tenth of that number. Interesting metric there Bill.)

".... turning it into the most far-left outfit in the HISTORY of broadcasting..." (Does this man realize the network he's broadcasting from? This sort of pot calling the kettle black commentary doesn't work on me. I have a pulse.)

".... Zucker has also destroyed NBC's prime-time entertainment line-up..." (another staw-man comment designed to bring more haze to the issue. It has NOTHING to do with the point here. NOTHING. Why is this mentioned at all?)

".... Now, if you saw the hate MSNBC spewed last night....." (Classic. Now MSNBC is a culprit by-proxy if ANY of the people they interview says anything wrong... Hmm, do you not see a HUMONGOUS double-standard here? Fox has this going on all day. O'Reilly calls Tiller "Tiller the Baby Killer" but bears no responsibility for anything.)

".... there can be no question that NBC news is now totally out of control...." (Huh? So they have a guest on who says something Bill doesn't like and now they're out of control? No Bill, it doesn't work that way. TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL?????)

".... Remember, NBC has never, ever said a negative word about Tiller's activities...." (RIGHT! Because they're REPORTING the news, not MAKING the news. I don't give a damn what Brian William's opinions are. I want the news. O'Reilly not knowing what reporting is doesn't surprise me.)

".... Tiller became a millionaire doing this....." (He became a millionaire providing a LEGAL service to LEGAL citizens looking for a LEGAL procedure that is their own personal choice and private decision. Why is this mentioned? Is this more unbiased "reporting"?)

".... gaining the disdain of millions....." (What does this have to do with anything? Howard Stern earned millions while being hated by millions. So? This is America is it not? Conservatives are capitalists aren't you they?)

".... but you'll never hear any of that on NBC News...." (Another lie. Just go to MSNBC and type Late Term Abortion. I did. Funny how easy it was to find just what he said you wouldn't find. It just sounds good to tell the choir this because they won't check it. An entire news network never mentions the contentious situation that is late term abortion? Give me a break.....)

".... the blame once again falls on General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt... (So now the blame for something that isn't true falls on the CEO of GE for NOT saying something but O'Reilly bares NO BLAME when he does say something?)

".... But what Mr. Immelt may not know is that Federal authorizies have developed information about General Electric doing business with Iran..." (What in the HOLY HELL has this got to do with what he said? Again, obfuscate and change the subject off him. That's all this is.)

That's one single segment of 1:44 seconds and that's 13 highly-questionable quotes from it. That's the problem. I watch him and have this sort of experience all the time.

Bill O'Reilly is a liar. It's just the way he is. He says whatever he thinks he can get away with not realizing that in today's digital age it's a simple matter to check or not caring because he knows 99.9% of his viewership will never bother to do so or listen to the rest of us that take the time.

Take another quick example. I've been told that Bill is very balanced and, as an example of his sincerity and balance I was pointed to the fact that he "apologized" for one of his most recent lies about CNN, with the exception of Anderson Cooper, not reporting the death of a Private at a recruiting office.

Here's a link to both the "apology" and the story that triggered it:

From PolitiFact.com

Here's the text of the "apology":

".... we have a correction.... a RARE correction on The Factor.... Earlier this week I said that only Anderson Cooper on CNN covered the murder of Private Long in Arkansas. Well today a snide and surly guy on CNN pointed out that the story was covered more extensively by that network and that is true. I was wrong. My apologies to CNN. I was talking about prime time but I did not say that, so I was wrong. As they say in third grade, my bad. Now on Monday we'll have more on how CNN handled the uh, Private Long and Tiller story to make a comparison, so don't miss that."

Only blind supporters would see this as a valid apology. If anyone apologized to you like this for anything they did none of you would accept it as sincere. How anyone can point to an apology that includes the phrase "snide and surly guy" and then a defense ("I was talking about prime time") and finally, and to the point, a commercial for a segment that will attempt to again make the point for the thing he lied about, is a mystery to me.

I'm supposed to view this as evidence of his balanced, fair style? Color me lost. Oh, and even more to the point, there's ANOTHER LIE within this apology. He said, specifically, that he was talking about PRIME TIME. Bull. Here's the original quote:

".... so all day long it wasn't news to cover an army recruiter getting gunned down in Arkansas...."

Since when is "all day long" prime time???? Talk about balls. Bill O'Reilly is a liar, period.