[nathanbedford]

Just as it did not serve our cause to claim against overwhelming evidence that Barack Obama could not intelligently speak extemporaneously, so it would lead us astray if we do not fully understand what motivates Bill O'Reilly.

O'Reilly is a standard issue New York area middle-class Irishman with huge ambition and matching energy. Despite his Harvard pedigree, he is not well educated in the sense that his degrees have produced a Renaissance man rather they have produced, in shaping his middle-class Irish origins, a street smart egotist who operates on the edge of cynicism. Street smart, O'Reilly, like Rush Limbaugh, knows that he must first get and hold an audience or journalistic pretensions are at best academic and at worst handicaps. So O'Reilly structures the show and everything he does on that show to produce the illusion of immediacy, urgency and importance. At the "back of the book" he will insert sex, tabloid journalism, humor, pathos or whatever it takes to hold the audience and he is not unmindful of the need to hold the female audience.

Like Limbaugh, O'Reilly seeks to establish his own brand so that means he cannot permit anyone, even Doctor Krauthammer to appear to be smarter and often he cannot permit anyone to appear to be more knowledgeable. He pretends to offer "the last word" but of course steals the conclusion at the end when there can be no rebuttal.

But the great failure of Bill O'Reilly from a conservative perspective is that O'Reilly has no ideology other than O'Reilly. He professes not to be a Republican or a conservative and I believe him because his ego requires that all gospel must be according to O'Reilly. Because the combination of his upbringing and education have not produced a Renaissance man, it has produced an eclectic who is liable to come down on any side of any issue. Too often his positions are dictated by his assessment of ratings just as his decision apparently withhold the results of this poll are dictated by his need to protect his brand.

In other words O'Reilly does not proceed from a coherent political philosophy but from an ad hoc need to advance O'Reilly and that leads to the confusion we see about this poll.

[aquila48]

” In other words O’Reilly does not proceed from a coherent political philosophy but from an ad hoc need to advance O’Reilly and that leads to the confusion we see about this poll.”

He refers to himself as an “independent” which means he has no core beliefs - coherent or otherwise. Which means that all his “talking memo” are cringe inducing since you never know where he’s going to come down on a topic. Oddly enough he considers that a positive!

[kvanbrunt2]

and he’s always lookin out for the folks

[MacNaughton]

You should apply to FNC as a replacement for Charles Krauthammer. Excellent analysis.

[fish hawk]

I wish I had said that, you nailed it (him) right on the button. I do enjoy his once in awhile arguments with Megyn Kelly as she always wins, and I might add bust be bad for his ego as she has passed him by in ratings. Not to mention, a hell of a lot better to look at.

[Kenny Bunk]

Despite his Harvard pedigree

Wrong. The guy graduated from a then-new, low-requirement for-entrance, Catholic diploma mill called Marist college, where he played club football, apparently without a helmet. He got a broadcast degree from BU, and after he had established his liberal bona fides as a very left-leaning broadcaster he was accepted at Harvard School of Public Administration.... probably the only guy from Marist who ever was.

In many ways, O'Reilly is just as much a Democrat operative as Stephanopoulos, just lower on the intellectual food chain. If you don't believe me, replay the youtube of one of his softsoap massages of Barry Obama. Disgusting.

BTW, his "books" are pure crap ... pretty much direct swipes of the old Jim Bishop "Day" series, "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" ...Kennedy Was Shot" ..."Christ Died," etc.

People on this site love him for reasons known to themselves and the others who have made this poltroon so rich. BOR also considers himself a babe magnet.

[Yosemitest]

Bill O'Reilly has been BOUGHT AND PAID FOR by Georghe Soros, and his LIBERAL TENDENCIES are showing through.
He believes that people don't have4 the right to CHOOSE what kind of vehicle they want to drive, and he's starting to be Anti-Second Amendment.

Bill Orally is a FARCE !

[T-Bone Texan]

That was an excellent synopsis of BBOR.

Spot on. Everyone should read it.

I used to be a fan over a decade ago, until I figured out his “Schtick”.

[editor-surveyor]

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>> “Just as it did not serve our cause to claim against overwhelming evidence that Barack Obama could not intelligently speak extemporaneously...” <<

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It served our cause just fine!

It’s an incontrovertible fact.

It must be hell to need a teleprompter to brush your teeth.
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