Posted on 11/23/2001 3:45:58 AM PST by The Duke
| Lately one hears the leftist media inaccurately labeling the ascendent Bill O'Reilly as being "conservative", and yet Mr. O'Reilly has never promoted himself as such. In fact, over the months and years that I've listened to Mr. O'Reilly's comments I distinctly recall him having lent voice to ideas that were anything but conservative. I recall, for example, Mr. O'Reilly voicing support for organized labor in a way that is fairly liberal. I would submit that the media flaks don't (or won't) recognize Bill O'Reilly as a liberal because, after so many years of seeing "gangster-types" such as those who surrounded and infused the previous inhabitants of the executive office, they have in the most classic Pavlovian sense become conditioned to label only criminals and/or their enablers as "liberal". Just as Pavlov's dog came to associate an audible cue with feeding time - to the extent that merely hearing the cue would cause the dog to begin to salivate in anticipation, the media has come to associate corruption and criminality with liberalism. You see, Mr. Bill O'Reilly is, if nothing else, a beacon of sincerity, honesty and integrity - and being in possession of such copious quantities of these attributes which are virtually extinct within the liberal community, the non-thinking media can only bring themselves to assign to him the only label that they have left associate with such personal qualities - the label of "conservative". Having found an honest liberal in Bill O'Reilly, perhaps we should give more serious credence to 'Bigfoot'? |
However, that being said, I agree with his crusade on the 911 charities diversion of contributions. That was a good deed. Some of his other crusades are also right on. I do click back for as long as I can and then click away. I can usually only watch about 15% of his show. How he commands the ratings he does is a mystery to me.
Anyone who thinks O'Reilly is a conservative is intellectually dishonest or just plain mentally lazy.
His incessant calls for the "feds" to give remedy to this or that problem irritates me at times. But I do believe that he is an honest liberal.
Sure. I like O'Reilly. He's very 'New York' and he grew up on Long Island (as I did) so I can appreciate his in-your-face interviewing approach but I can see why others may sometimes find him 'arrogant'. I do not.
Bill O'Reilly hosts a TV news commentary program that features his opinions and he has guests with opposing views. He defends his positions with vigor but after stating his point of view, O'Reilly almost always asks the guest "Am I wrong"? The guest often thinks Bill is very wrong and the discussion takes off. Works for me.
Of course O'Reilly isn't a conservative; he always denies being a conservative when a guest calls him one. O'Reilly actually buys the Global Warming scam. I don't. I don't agree with his big-government solutions for some of our problems. So what? On the whole, The O'Reilly Factor gives a good presentation of both sides of the issues and O'Reilly always concludes his more contentious interviews whit the reminder; "We'll let our viewers decide". Sounds reasonable to me.
O.K., Bill O'Reilly isn't PC or Peter Jennings-suave but he has an interesting show and doesn't sugercoat some of the tougher issues, even when you don't agree with his position. Some continue to call O'Reilly's firmly stated convictions 'arrogance' but I like seeing someone on TV who isn't PC and isn't afraid to say what he thinks - and to debate it with others who disagree - without sweating about not looking PC or ''arrogant'.
As for 'pushing' his book; he gives it a 30 or 40-second blurb at the end of the show. Why not? No big deal.
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