Posted on 09/27/2005 5:39:29 PM PDT by moneyrunner
Bill O’Reilly is someone I would like to like. He makes sense from time to time. But his bombast and dogmatism, unrelieved by humor (unlike Rush Limbaugh who is genuinely funny) usually makes me turn the station shortly after he comes on.
Today he got ridiculous. O’Reilly has been pounding the theme that FEMA failed spectacularly during the Katrina hurricane and its aftermath. Despite the fact that earlier reports of mass deaths (over 10,000 were initially reported), mass rapes, mass murders and even cannibalism have been widely debunked, he is welded to this position.
At the beginning of today’s radio program he stated that if he had been FEMA director, he would have run things right. He then went over the top by saying he would have locked the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana in a room somewhere and taken over. And, of course, everything would have been all right.
RIGHT!!
Now I assume that our Bill is engaging in parody, except that the bit wasn’t funny. However, his bizarre riff raised an interesting point: how does a federal agency like FEMA, which is not a police agency, overcome local organizations who have police power and who become seriously dysfunctional? The problem is not that the local authorities had been washed away in the flood. Instead the local authorities were in place, giving directions, screaming for help, but failing in their essential tasks of timely evacuation, crowd control and the provision of relief supplies until the rest of the country could mobilize.
How does a federal system handle this? Arresting the local authorities and locking them in a room is neither legal nor useful. It’s not legal because they have not committed a crime. It’s not useful because by the time incompetence is revealed, it’s usually too late. For example, once the fleet of school buses that should have been used to evacuate people were flooded, there is no transportation left.
So Bill O’Reilly made himself a pompous ass once again. But his stupid comments do raise good questions. And it’s one that will be the subject of debate in the next few months. Are we going to federalize natural disasters? Is this a good idea? Should we have talk show hosts as head of FEMA? Is Bill O’Reilly nuts or stupid?
We report, you decide. No spin.
Ego is the man killer. It will kill Bill's career.
"He then went over the top by saying he would have locked the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana in a room somewhere and taken over."
Why? Isn't it the job of the governor and mayor, i.e., state/local officials to handle the situation? So he's not going to hold them accountable? What's the point of even having a Louisiana governor or New Orleans mayor then?
Yes.
"Cannibal Bill"
His new nickname?
i gotta say, it's kind of fun watching him yell at Rangel right now. Of course, Rangel is dodging everything.
While critcizing FEMA Bill actually acknowledges the real problem with the NO disaster by proposing to lock up local and state officials. The fact that Bill can't see he's contradicting his own criticism of FEMA with this advice says a lot about his reasoning ability.
I quit watching O'Reilly some time ago. He's a pompous A'hole who can't focus clearly and isn't even entertaining.
I seldom watch him any more. I did last night. Tonight I chose Bluegrass music on the dish.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dan Rather's replacement!
I agree. Bill is hammering Rangel at the moment:
"You're spending 316 billion dollars on 36 million people!"
Priceless.
BOR is all about himself. He is a ratings whore and without scruples, at least any that I can see. Why anyone watches him anymore is beyond me, yet he is still popular. As far as I am concerned he has the credibility of dan blather.
I can't stand him!
And no, the feds should not be first response in emergencies.
I wish he'd stop inviting the Rangel's, Sharpton's and their ilk on the Factor
"The Gardener's Hour" gets my vote for local radio over O'Reilly. Frankly, he's boring.
I had to stop watching this pompous, pontificating blowhard long, long ago, for the survival of our television screen.
Life is much easier in a dictatorship.
Democracy is messy and you have to trust stuff to the little people.
Just not Bill's style.
This morning, Mom was wondering why O'Reilly was being interviewed by Charlie Gibson.
I told her that he had to be either nuts or stupid.
She wasn't sure whether I was referring to O'Reilly or Gibson.
I asked her if it really mattered.
She said "no".
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