Why Bill O'Reilly's Attacks on FreeRepublic.com are Unfair [Melanie Morgan]

Move America Forward ^ | 08/01/2007 | Melanie Morgan

[Impeach98]

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Posted By:
Melanie Morgan
Permalink Why Bill O’Reilly’s Attack on FreeRepublic.com are Unfair

Bill O’Reilly’s been making waves the past few weeks by focusing on the prevalance of ‘hateful’ content at the liberal website, Daily Kos.  O’Reilly is particularly disturbed to see Democratic presidential candidates agreeing to speak at the annual YearlyKos convention that will take place August 2nd through 5th.

To show balance in his reporting, O’Reilly has unfortunately chosen to target the good people who visit the conservative website, www.FreeRepublic.com.  Last night O’Reilly had on his show a friend of mine, Kristinn Taylor, who is a spokesperson for Free Republic, to defend the website from O’Reilly’s criticisms.

To his credit, O’Reilly noted that the amount of controversial content at FreeRepublic pales in comparison to that which appears on a near-daily basis at DailyKos.

As someone who visits FreeRepublic each day, and as someone who has contributed to the website’s fundraising drives, I feel compelled to speak out in defense of FreeRepublic from the critical comments made by O’Reilly. 

FreeRepublic.com was launched in the infancy of the Internet, serving as a source for the sharing of news stories from around the world, and the chance to have an open dialogue on these stories.  Soon thereafter, FReepers (as they are known), used the website to also organize grass roots efforts to allow patriotic Americans to mobilize efforts to make their voices heard in the public square.

As the Chairman of Move America Forward, the nation’s largest pro-troop organization, I’ve seen the impact that such efforts have had.  Thousands upon thousands of proud, decent Americans who love their country have become informed of Move America Forward’s countless pro-troop rallies, care package shipments and calls for help to assist the heroic men and women of the United States military thanks to Free Republic.

To equate these decent and noble efforts with those of a website like DailyKos, which routinely denounces the U.S. military and the foundations of liberty that this nation cherishes, is dishonest and unfair.

I won’t stand for that, and I urge all the members and supporters of Move America Forward to show solidarity with the great Americans who participate at FreeRepublic forums. 

..........

This September FReepers will once again use the FreeRepublic website to organize public displays of support for our troops and their missions in the War on Terror.  This is the kind of good work these people do each and every day, and that deserves the respect and support from all of us who cherish this country and the leadership our nation provides in fighting the forces of tyranny and terrorism.

-- Melanie Morgan
Chairman, Move America Forward
www.MoveAmericaForward.org

[wolfcreek]

I wasn’t all bad. FR got a lot of FRee exposure.

It made feel proud to be part of this site knowing we’re one of the leading, if not the leading Conservative forums.

BOR nit picked some negative quotes which, we all know, get past the Mods from time to time.

IMO, BOR’s criticism can only make us strive to be better. Nothing wrong with that!

[noamnasty]

If Rush shys away from this we need to call him on it .Keep them on their toes . if they want the support of conservatives they need to earn it .

[orinoco]

Yes! I miss old posters like WILLSTAYFREE.

[Plains Drifter]

I watched the O’Reilly show yesterday and what I saw just validates my opinion of O’Reilly. He’s an overated gasbag that’s on the prowl for anything in skirts that he can check into a motel with. He points fingers at Free Republic because the people who frequent this site are capable of independent thought and don’t like Bill’s self serving agenda. Question, how much did you write that check for to your former female producer Bill? And what were you paying for before and after?

[Froufrou]

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2007/020407oreillymafia.htm

Apparently, BOR has quite a rep for intimidation. Interesting: Daily KOS didn’t like his jabs, either!

Thank you Melanie!

[ishabibble]

I agree with you and would like to add that Kristinn was a class act and he did us proud! I also agree with you about BOR, when he’s good, he’s great. When he’s trying to seem impartial, he doesn’t do as well. By taking on the Kos Kidz, he set himself up for a torrent of their bile. That should have been expected. Singling out FR was good for us because there’s really not much hatemongering in here. Bill didn’t have reams of paper to wave around, he had one single sheet.

[WhiteKnight]

Hi Bill and the O'Reilly interns. Just doing my part.

WhiteKnight

[Soul Seeker]

Geez, disappear a few days an something always happens. :-)

So the egotist thinks he’s bigger and better than FreeRepublic? Doesn’t surprise me. Not from the man who treated the Swiftboat vets with disdain though they were the ones with the facts on their side and kerry was the one with shifting stories.

The “god” of the cable world deigns to label a site that has provided more Responsible conservative political influence and more conservative grassroots citizenship a hate site. Yet his show does what? Nothing. He is one man pontificating on tv. Lest O’Reilly think otherwise, he should remember it is this same conservative grassroots (many that frequent this site) that give support to any conservative issue he champions. Without them (us) he’s nothing. Frequently they are already on the issue anyway, he just piggybacks onto the cause.

Maybe O’Reilly ought not to take his cue from the lowly polled politicians in Washington and stop attacking the people that helped him get where he is at. It didn’t serve them well, it isn’t serving him well.

Thanks Melanie!

[wagglebee]

BTTT!

I’ve always thought that O’Reilly was a pompous ass, now my opinion has diminished to the point that it contains too many words we’re not allowed to use here.

[bray]

Has he posted that piece of paper he used to Sandbag Kristin yet??

Pray for W and Our Troops

[evilsmoker]

OReilly the Perv Ping

[danno3150]

O'Really is just a good old fashioned opportunist. He posed as a conservative to get ratings, but that facade has been slipping as the years have gone by. He's rude to his guests (constantly interrupting and bloviating) and (as this issue shows) shoddy in his research. He's really just Chris Matthews with better ratings.

Thank you Melanie for providing an eloquent, substantive response to this poseur. I spent a year in Marin County and you and Lee (and OV) made each morning a pleasure.

[mware]

Harmless, if some of the FReepers here are correct both the dog comment and the I hate blacks comment were the titles of threads, and copies of the titles of the articles that were being discussed.

[1L]

Yep. He’s really a chicken$#!& because he’s too worried those on the left think he’s a conservative. He makes this stuff up to “prove” his balance and to appeal to people who are ignorant of all these sites.

[Steve_Seattle]

At the risk of sounding Clintonesque, I'd like to ask what does BOR mean by the phrase "hate site." If it means a site where people express strong opinions in strong language, and savage the opposition's character and motives, then FR qualifies as a hate site, as does every other Internet political forum. Honesty compels me to admit that strong emotion coupled with negative words comes pretty close to the ordinary understanding of the word "hate." Or should I say that one person's righteous anger is another person's hate?

But if "hate site" means a place where racist ideas are tolerated, where violence - apart from the context of warfare - is condoned, where unedited profanity is tolerated, where questionable or offensive remarks go unchallenged, or where repeated verbal attacks against other members are tolerated, then it is definitely not a "hate site." I recall several cases where - for example - people who cheered the death of a prominent liberal were quickly set straight by others, who often as not offered prayers rather than invective.

Moreover, there are many postings that are of a humorous, informational, or non-controversial nature, so that the overall tone of the site is balanced out and not utterly defined by the angrier posts.

[CDB]

WTG Melanie Morgan!

BER revealed himself as an ignorant fool.

[b4its2late]

[khnyny]

I sent an email asking politely for BOR to provide the documentation he kept referencing, but never showed, last night.

Yes, I thought he was supposed to provide the documentation (that paper he was waving in his hand) to Kristinn today - well, has that happened??

IMHO, that's the only issue that is relevant at this point in the game.

Where's your documentation BOR?

[whitedog57]

In defense of Bill O’Reilly - O’Reilly wants to be impartial. His attacks (justified) against Daily KOS were greeted with “But you don’t attack conservative blog sites like FreeRepublic.” OK, so O’Reilly demonstrates that he is “fair.”

But, Bill, ANY blog site contains idiots who spout off inappropriately. Daily KOS lets the idiots reign, Jim Robinson has banned posters for inappropriate (and libelous) posts. While Freep is not perfect, it is a great source of information that I cannot get from MSM or NewsMax.

Bill O’Reilly is entitled to his own opinion, even if they are incorrect. But he is still a fan of calling all sides on the carpet.

[RonDog]

See also THIS thread, by the Big Guy himself:

I'm not going to call Bill O'Reilly a liar... yet, but...
Posted on 07/31/2007 8:35:37 PM PDT by Jim Robinson

I'm not going to call Bill O'Reilly a liar... yet, but... on his TV show today, he read off a laundry list of ridiculous "hate" statements like "I hate blacks," "Hillary should be assassinated" and "homosexuals are dogs" that he said he personally found on Free Republic and claims that they were posted here today.

I do not believe that. I doubt that he personally logged on to FR and I doubt he found any such thing posted here today.

Who knows what we may have missed and is buried deep in our archives of millions of posts, but our readers do a pretty good job of alerting us to anything out of bounds that is posted and we pull it. Also, one of our readers found a couple of the quotes he alleges, and if they are the ones O'Reilly is complaining about, he took them way out of context. They were simply quotes in the articles posted not statements posted by FReepers.

As soon as he provides me a list of the alleged posts and their URLs, I'll believe him. If he doesn't... then... well, guess he'll deserve to be known as what he is.

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread