Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:45 pm
Bill O’Reilly gave an interview recently to The Hollywood Reporter where he continued his feud with NBC/MSNBC by calling MSNBC a hateful product that only exists to make money, unlike FNC where O’Reilly once described the disappearance of Laci Peterson as good for ratings. It a strange world Bill O’Reilly lives in, a very strange world.
He continued with his NBC left wing conspiracy theory by saying, about NBC, “They’re dishonest people who do a lot of damage. They put out a product — MSNBC — that is hateful, and they’re doing it solely to make money.. (Jeff) Zucker is in charge of the whole deal, so that delineation doesn’t wash. It’s that brand. Now, I have a lot of respect for the “Today” show because they do a very good job. But if you look at that NBC operation, they’re all left-wing ideologues.”
O’Reilly slipped in this bit of delusion about why liberals hate Fox News, “Because we beat their brains out and their representatives can’t stand up to us, so of course they’re not going to like the situation.” He said that he attacks powerful and dishonest people and organizations like GE and Keith Olbermann, “If the powerful are dishonest and peddling hate, we will expose them. Look, GE was the last company doing business with Iran while they were killing American military personnel in Iraq, and I’m not supposed to get upset about that?”
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Here is some reality. FNC and O’Reilly are in it for the money too. Here is what he said about why FNC devoted so much coverage to the Laci Peterson case, “We do Laci Peterson every 15 minutes and see the numbers go up. It’s a story that resonates with women particularly.” O’Reilly has also used his show to claim that all poor people are lazy, “It’s hard to do it because you gotta look people in the eye and tell ’em they’re irresponsible and lazy. And who’s gonna wanna do that? Because that’s what poverty is, ladies and gentlemen. In this country, you can succeed if you get educated and work hard. Period. Period.”
How could I not include O’Reilly’s comments about the rape and murder of Jennifer Moore? O’Reilly showed his compassion by describing the situation as, “She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at 2 in the morning.” If Bill is the opposite of hateful, then I don’t ever want to meet his definition of love and compassion alone in a dark alley.
It is an interesting world that O’Reilly lives in. He obviously isn’t on Earth with the rest of us, unless he is so deluded that he actually buys his defense of the hate he spews every day on the radio and TV as a good thing. In O’Reilly’s world, anybody that dares hold Bill accountable is a hate filled enemy. O’Reilly likes to see himself as the one who holds the powerful accountable, but who holds him accountable?
O’Reilly’s gimmick is selling enemies and hate. This is why he ambushed Amanda Terkel of the Center for American Progress. Like all good McCarthyites, O’Reilly needs an enemy, without one he is just a crazy old white guy yelling into a camera.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
