Tough-Talking Bill O'Reilly

ABC ^ | Nov. 9, 2001 | ABC

[CommiesOut]

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[Badfoil]

I actually find it refreshing to not get some smooshy full-of-bull commentator on all the joe-average news channels. Bill is my hero! Especially when he was critical of the Red Cross......I'd like to see just how may people contribute now that they know the truth! America wants the truth and Mr. O'Reilly gives it to them. Plan and simple.

[Bogie]

The best show on tv!

[4CJ]

I like O'Reilly (I didn't say I agree with him on everything) for the simple reason he doesn't p*ss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

Personally, I don't think he's "pithy" enough.

[stanz]

Always a magnet for controversy, O'Reilly has been relentless in his criticism of Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay.

Well someone has to do it!

[be-baw]

ping

[Tacis]

O'Reilly is fine and turns over rocks that the mediadiots wouldn't touch. However, I find myself being less able to actually watch him. He is getting ruder and ruder and his rudeness detarcts from everything else about the show. Note carefully how he will ask a guest a question and as the guest answers, O'Reilly will interupt, and ask another question. The show will also begin to suffer as regular folks simply won't allow themselves to be subjected to that kind of treatment. The folks that will appear are the Begalas and Emanuels of the world, folks who are lying no matter what they say, because even if they get out half a lie, they figure they are still ahead. No, Bill is getting worse on air and people will quickly begin to tire of his rudeness.

[stubernx98]

I used to like him, then it went to tolerate him, now I can't stand him. Not because of content necessarily, but style. His self promotion is clintinesqe.

Rush, on the OTH is arrogant and opinionated too, but he does it with style and good humor. BO is rude, interrupts his guests before the finish a sentence, and interjects his opinion.

Anyway, I don't watch him anymore. I don't watch Hannity & Combs much either because I am tired of guests trying to out yell each other - that's not news or very informative.

I do like Brit Hume and his style.

[nicmarlo]

There's an elite club of journalists who report for each other, not for the folks. These people are never going to alienate powerful people because they want to be liked by them.

This is why Bill O' is so effective: he could care less if he's liked, especially by his peers in the media and, especially, politicians. And it's also why he's so powerful: These people he doesn't care!

[usconservative]

I'm with you. I don't agree with O'Reilly on everything. There's days I cheer him on, and days I throw my foam bricks at the tv and call him an idiot. Must be that "fair and balanced" Fox News Network.

On the other hand, I've sent more than a few articles & comments to the O'Reilly factor over the last 6 weeks cheering them on in their investigation of the Red Cross and other 9-11 charities. If it weren't for the exposure some of these families have been getting on his show, I'm convinced that many of the victims would be getting no help at all. Bravo to Bill O'Reilly for sticking with this issue, and seeing it through.

O'Reilly's definitely one of the good guys in my book.

[Bogie]

He may be on to something.

[nicmarlo]

These people he doesn't care = These people know he doesn't care.

[Eva]

I guess you didn't hear O'Reilly last night, after the President's speech. He sounded more liberal than the the Democrat guest that he had on the show. O'Reilly was complaining about Bush using his new political clout to push his economic agenda. It's amusing only because, during the election, O'Reilly repeatedly stated that Bush,Sr. failed to capitalize on the political clout that he gained during the gulf war and O'Reilly wondered out loud if GWB understood what his father did wrong. Now, O'Reilly seems to have reversed his opinion. It looked like O'Reilly was bending over backwards to appear fair and balanced, bending over way too far.

[Sir Gawain]

Because they want to be loved. They want to be accepted by the people they're reporting on. There's an elite club of journalists who report for each other, not for the folks. These people are never going to alienate powerful people because they want to be liked by them. Since nobody likes me, I don't have that problem.

Hehe.

[LarryLied]

Notice how the left doesn't go after him much? If a talk radio host, a conservative columnist or a Republican politician attacked Jesse Jackson the way O'Reilly has, all hell would break loose. The left is afraid of O'Reilly. Or, more likely, they are unafraid of radio, print and politicians. TV scares them. They know its power. They've had a near monopoly on it since the beginning and have no idea how to counter someone of O'Reilly's popularity in the that medium.

[Bogie]

#14

He was just trying to draw the good Democrat Senator from NJ out.

It didn't work!

[realpatriot71]

I agree, Bill's an ass. I don't agree with him half the time, but I do admire his tenacity to tackle stories that other journalists won't go near. When he goes off the deep end, I just change the channel.

[HairkingNH]

O'Reilly has a big ego. When the ratings showed him to be number one, his ego spun out of control. He decided that he is always right and be damned anyone who disagrees with him because after all he is "number 1".

The charities attack is great but it bailed him out because after September 11, the confrontation thing was a losing tactic. O'Reilly was not able to adjust and was coming off as a beligerent bully. His crusade against fraudalent charities has been a great service but when it is over he will go back to being a beligerent bully again.