Posted on 06/20/2005 6:10:32 PM PDT by sinkspur
Congressman Curt Weldon, Republican, was scheduled to appear on "The Factor with Bill O'Reilly" after the bottom of the hour.
O'Reilly announced that he was not there, had not called as to why he wouldn't be there, and his staff was not answering their phones.
O'Reilly said he was only the second person in nine years to be a no-show. And, Weldon was booked at HIS REQUEST!
As a result, Weldon was banned from "The Factor" for life.
The topic for Weldon's appearance was to have been Terrorism and the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo.
O'Reilly was hardly "alone" or "brave" in "taking on" Al-Arian. What "risk" was he taking exactly? Jeb Bush, Mike Savage and Neil Boortz were railing against Arian from the beginning as well. I agreed with O'Reilly there, but then he had to go after Jeb personally on a CPS matter Jeb was not responsible for. That was irresponsible. And now we will see O'Reilly's true colors as he bashed the Klein book on Hillary on behalf of his boos Rupert Murdoch. Mark my words.
Hannity is the single worst debater on TV, so he hardly "grills" anybody. I watched with amazement as the tortoise George Mitchell wiped the floor with him. His Cliffnotes Conservatism is unbearable on radio. It's nice he's raising a few million for military kids. But H. Ross Perot has raised over $200 million for military families without any profit motive or public gloating. Am I banned from criticizing Perot because of that? Ridiculous.
How dare you try and censor the opinions of FReepers on this forum.
I don't think O'Reilly's opinions are determined by random error. But he does keep an eye on his ratings. He was going to pull the plug on Bush over Iraq at one point if something didn't happen. It didn't, and he didn't. Rush is the same way; he played footsie with Buchanan for awhile, until well - you get the idea.
Hannity just shows that with a bit of luck and hard work, even the mediocre can still make it big time in America. It is still the land of possibilities. Just find the right uninhabited niche.
I'm not talking about debate, or even hot, honest criticism. There's plently of room for that.
I'm targeting the mindless bashing that the posters used on this thread. Go look at their posts.
I despise O'Reilly who is a "progressive" in drag IMO.
O'Reilly is the prototypical American windbag. He's said
on several occasions that people he couldn't reach were
in "hiding". Since with any guest he is strident,
cross-talks, and interrupts I'm not surprised that people
avoid him. I've heard Weldon interviewed by civil people
and have read reviews of his book. He's got alot of good
things to say that are worth serious discussion -- which
you don't see on The Factor.
I'll name two, first, he may have been wrong, and the potential for liable in that situation would be high. Second, and the real risk I think is the reaction of radical muslim against O'Reilly personally.
Regard Hannity, tell me, how does mindless bashing of Hannity help the children of fallen soldiers? It doesn't and it hurts the conservative cause at the same time.
I'm not talking about debate, I'm talking about mindless bashing, the kind that happened on this thread. There's plenty of room for robust debate without the personal attacks.
All the more reason he looks like a wimp for backing out of his commitment.
Weldon fancies himself a terror-fighter, as he jets all over the world.
So tell us, how will the cause of conservatism be advanced with O'Reilly gone?
True...he should have cancelled but the bloviator has to puff up and make like the bully on the block.
Off topic. Take it to the back room.
"I despise O'Reilly who is a "progressive" in drag IMO."
I listened to BO one day for a while and he told a caller "we are progressive Democrats".
He is in no way independent or conservatine.
LOL. Give it up. This ideological purity thing is getting ludicrous. I don't like O'Reilly because I find him to be too often to sound what chalk sounds like when it hits the keyboard wrong. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the purest conservative of them all?
Torie,
You have mail.
Sursum Corda
I responded. My view on this one is hard wired. Thanks.
I thought Bobby Knight was a no-show a year or so ago when he was supposed to talk about his book. O'Reilly ripped him pretty hard and when I switched over to CNN during the commercial, Bobby Knight was on there.
He mentioned Danny Glover as the only other no-show. Perhaps Knight was one also, and he forgot.
From April 2002:
http://i.tsn.com/voices/fritz_quindt/20020410.html
"FYI "Avoiding the spotlight" of Final Four week, Bobby Knight 1) did an interview with Costas; 2) skipped a scheduled appearance on The O'Reilly Factor; 3) lashed back at Jim Nantz, who mentioned on CBS how "very regrettable" it was Knight hadn't lobbed his old team a congratulatory call all season; 4) was profiled by SportsCentury on April Fool's Day."
I remember Bill was very agitated, calling Bobby's honor into question.
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