Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Crazy Crap / Hargrove My God, Was Bill O'Reilly Just...Reasonable About Lou Dobbs?
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Bill O'Reilly had Richard Cohen of the Southern Poverty Law Center on the Factor, who is calling for CNN to can Lou Dobbs -- the man who, according to friends of mine who've interviewed him, refers to himself in the third person.
Dobbs has displayed a pattern of saying stupid, potential incitements to violence like, most notably, the silliness concerning illegal immigration and an uptick in leprosy. Recently his show looked at the Birther movement, granting it, Cohen asserts, more legitimacy than it deserves.
I had to check the bottom of the screen for the Factor logo just to make sure it was, in fact, O'Reilly that I was watching. I mean, in his answer to Cohen, he sounded so sober and reasonable about the whole thing, calling the Birther movement "bogus" and patently absurd. Cohen wants Dobbs' head. I'm inclined to agree with him. But O'Reilly actually came back with a level-headed approach: It's free speech. The marketplace of ideas. If he sucks and people hate him, the market will take care of that.
Anyway, to see O'Reilly as sane as he will probably ever be, check out the video above.
Comments (8)
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O'Reilly (and Coulter, and other neocon talking heads who have also spoken against the birthers) are really just taking an opportunity to LOOK reasonable against CNN. FOX has to set itself apart from CNN at every opportunity. If Dobbs hadn't jumped on this bandwagon, they would have or they would have simply remained quiet.
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I don't know, Jamie. O'Reilly sounds stunningly sane and reasonable here. And the Southern Poverty Law guy sounds stunningly sphinctered for calling for another man's job.
Good call, Pete! However knowing how far left CNN leans, I can't believe they're just now bringing this up. I'm not saying it's right, because it's not, but I can't believe there wasn't a controversy when this first happened. I think Richard Cohen is trying to get him canned because CNN did nothing. Anyone trying to do that in this day in age and this economy is sick and selfish.
Cohen's comment on America not ready to accept a black president?! I'm not racist, I don't care that he's black, it didn't really change anything, I see everyone equally! I think what most people don't like about him is what he's doing to the US! But you tell someone that and they call you a racist. Everything is about the race card with Obama, even though he preached that we're all the same!
I think if you watch O'Reilly consistently you will find that he is not exactly a "neocon talking head". He disagreed with Bush on several matters and gives Obama credit for several initiatives (examples of both escape me right now), and he has consistently shot down stuff like the "birthers". I'm conservative, and I can't stand Coulter and dislike Hannity (I think he and Olbermann are two sides of the same coin and I don't like the coin). O'Reilly's show is part commentary, part analysis, and honestly just part titillation (like last night's segment with the woman who wrote "Hot for Words", some big-breasted eastern European beauty, or the segments he does with the various Fox hotties - Kelly, Hoover, etc.)
If you can see past the liberal hate you have for Fox you would find O'Reilly is usually pretty "fair and balanced", although his is still an opinion-based show and he does skew right. Just not as right as Hannity, Coulter, Beck, etc.
"Cohen's comment on America not ready to accept a black president?! I'm not racist, I don't care that he's black, it didn't really change anything, I see everyone equally! I think what most people don't like about him is what he's doing to the US!"
I think his comments deal mostly with birthers, who largely seem to be racist. The other part of your comment, about what he's doing to the U.S. What is he doing to the U.S. that the last few president's haven't done? Especially compared with the secrecy and the blatant disregard for the constitution by the previous administration.
And I sort of agree with SGD. I don't think O'Reilly is anywhere near as partisan as the others he mentioned and I wouldn't label him a neocon. It doesn't surprise me one bit that he completely disregards the birther "controversy" because there's nothing there. That being said, I do think he's a little bit smug and way to full of himself.
