“...especially someone on the same side of the culture war.”
You see, this is where we respectfully diagree. Oreilly is on the side of money. The only culture Oreilly knows is money. He will do anything or say anything, be it true or be it false to that end. He cares least upon whose toes he steps since to him they are mere dirt worms who unwittingly aid and abet his path to fame and fortune. For them he has neither mercy nor gratitude. It’s all about BOR.
Sorry, but this psychologist just doesn’t read him that way.
He enjoys his status, money and perks. But it’s not what lights his fire.
He really does try . . . given his limitations of perception and bias etc. . . . to watch out for “the folks.”
That’s authentic OReilly. It is born earnestly and seriously out of his childhood. I think he comes acrost MOST authentically when talking about such things—and most humbly.
He doesn’t give a flip about important people—REFRESHINGLY.
1. He’s big—what—6’ 6”?
2. He’s successful. He could retire and feel quite proud of his accomplishments the rest of his life. He knows that. He’s far further than he ever dreamed of being.
3. He’s wealthy—more than he cares about having. Loves spreading it around—SOMEWHAT. Not going to just willy nilly give it away to free-loaders without a reason to believe it will do some lasting honest good.
4. He’s smart and articulate.
5. He cares earnestly about America and our way of life and our historic Judeo/Christian values. He really does. Worth a lot more to him than money.
6. But he knows money is power as is status. He’s not interested in compromising his clout for nothing.
7. I doubt he’d compromise his core values for anything—but certainly not to be PC IN LIBERAL TERMS.
8. He’s one of the few nationally known newscasters, personalities who will admit to being wrong on the air in prime time. In our era of super arrogance, that’s no small thing.
Now, He has bought in to some limited degree to some liberal constructions on reality and I think he’s somewhat blind to his own gullibility on those scores. But it’s far less than folks seem to believe, imho.
I think the whole “SECULAR PROGRESSIVES” label is a crock and he should use “SECULAR REGRESSIVES” as the more accurate term. If I could get his ear for 2 minutes, I’d try and make that case. He might even hear it. I don’t know he’d comply because he has bought in—somewhat—to labels the liberal establishment lays out as “kosher labels that fit our script.”
I fault him for that. That’s counter to his position on the culture war and he should know that.
I still think we need all the help in the culture war we can get—including his—in spite of his infuriating flaws.