George’s Mistakes

[Flanders]

I did not read Killing Reagan, but I’ll accept George Will’s review based on the dustup between George and the book’s author.

Incidentally, an author promoting his own book with a public microphone smacks of propaganda.

O’Reilly controls his microphone, that is why George Will made the mistake of going on O’Reilly’s show. In fact, anybody that goes on The Factor to defend themself is a fool. Notice how he shouts down George as he does with every guest who disagrees with him:

​

"It is not a laudatory book," Will said about O'Reilly's Killing Reagan. "It is doing the work of the left which knows in order to discredit conservatism it must destroy Reagan's reputation as president. Your book does the work of the American left with its extreme recklessness."

"You're a hack," O'Reilly said to Will. "You are in with the cabal of the Reagan loyalists who don't want the truth to be told."

O'Reilly vs. George Will: "You're A Hack," A "Reagan Loyalist" Who Doesn't Want The Truth To Be Told

O'Reilly vs. George Will: "You're A Hack," A "Reagan Loyalist" Who Doesn't Want The Truth To Be Told​

NOTE: Phil Donahue was a quasi-journalist with a tabloid talk show. For a number of years no media mouth was mightier than Donahue in the afternoon. His attempted comeback a few years ago came and went —— unnoticed and unloved by fickle viewers. O’Reilly’s technique always reminded me of Phil Donahue. Donahue used to run into the audience with his little microphone. The “lucky guy” he selected for comments would get three words out, and Donahue would take over. Of course, O’Reilly does not have a studio audience, but the technique is the same with his interviewees.

George Will’s second mistake was not evening the score by calling O’Reilly a sneak in that O’Reilly plays the fair and balanced journalist when he despises conservatism and conservatives.

O’Reilly is a stooge for big government, as well as the United Nations. O’Reilly, more than any other FOX talking head, fools the audience into believing he is a conservative, when, in truth, he cleverly promotes liberalism as he did in Killing Reagan —— just as George Will charged.

Finally, the way O’Reilly abuses his microphone is a variation of:

He who controls the language controls the masses. – Saul Alinsky​

O’Reilly controls the language for big government.

 

[gipper]

O'Reilly is an arrogant egotistical SOB, but Will is not much better.

How he gets so much viewership, is beyond me. He often gets great guests on and then refuses to let them speak. Why anyone would buy his books is a mystery. He even wrote a book about the JFK killing and bought the lies of the Warren Commission (should have been named the Allen Dulles Report) hook, line, and sinker.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

I'm not crazy about either of them, but O'Reilly has said a number of things over the years that make me doubt the veracity of the political viewpoint he likes to wraps himself in.

I don't believe he's a bonafide Leftist, but that he is so in love with his own ideas that he often - as Will says - does the work of the Left. With O'Reilly's only defense being "You're a hack", he raises even more questions.

He's shilling his book. What more can one expect?

I would not submit to an interview on his show without being given four big bright red 30 second "SHUT UP!" cards that he is contractually committed to abide by when flashed.

 

[Flanders]

O'Reilly is an arrogant egotistical SOB, but Will is not much better.

To gipper: Will is a lot better if the criterion is the amount of B.S. each man puts out.

How he gets so much viewership, is beyond me.

To gipper: It’s television not him. Look at how the once-famous fall off the edge of the earth the minute they lose the camera.

He often gets great guests on and then refuses to let them speak.

To gipper: He even does that to guests who agree with him! I think he enjoys bullying guests. He misses telling his students to shut up when he was a highschool teacher or be punished for talking in class.

Why anyone would buy his books is a mystery.

To gipper: His publisher loves the power of free advertising. That sells books.

As far as I know, O’Reilly plugs his books for free on his show while every other book must pay for advertising.

I'm not crazy about either of them, but O'Reilly has said a number of things over the years that make me doubt the veracity of the political viewpoint he likes to wraps himself in.

To Billy_Kinetta: O’Reilly sounds good when he talks on safe topics. You catch him for what he is when he ventures into the government’s agenda. Not only does his bias show, he shows himself to a stupid man blinded by his personal beliefs. Personal beliefs are fair play. We all have them, but this does not standup to scrutiny:

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSEdvR6a15ihlCaGqlauOGLM2ZTV1k8_r3mydKhgw9qvCmEHjWf:i3.cpcache.com/product_zoom/167518898/we_report_you_decide_tshirt.jpg?height=250&width=250&padToSquare=true

It is not only the things he reports, it is the things he does not report that tell the story.

I don't believe he's a bonafide Leftist, but that he is so in love with his own ideas that he often - as Will says - does the work of the Left.

To Billy_Kinetta: There is not much difference between a bonafide liberal journalist and an establishment Republican journalist. As I’ve said many times, television is responsible for everything that went bad in this country since the LBJ years. O’Reilly is just as guilty as the liberals he criticizes on the alphabet networks.

With O'Reilly's only defense being "You're a hack", he raises even more questions.

To Billy_Kinetta: If this definition of hack fits anybody it applies to O’Reilly’s literary efforts:

3. a. One who undertakes unpleasant or distasteful tasks for money or reward; a hireling. b. A writer hired to produce routine or commercial writing.​

Speaking of hack, I’ll wager that O’Reilly never put down Lincoln’s politics in Killing Lincoln. And you can be sure of this: Had O’Reilly been alive at the same time as Lincoln, he would have been in favor of the war which was the foundation for today’s oppressive big government.

I would not submit to an interview on his show without being given four big bright red 30 second "SHUT UP!" cards that he is contractually committed to abide by when flashed.

To Billy_Kinetta: I love the suggestion. Unfortunately, the only way to shut him up is to put a gag in his mouth.

 

[depotoo]

Personally, I think of O'Reilly as a self bloviating imbecile.

He does no research on his own, takes credit for others, and doesn't even insure the accuracy of those he hires to research. He doesn't get called on it nearly enough. And apologize, when he does get called on it (rarely)? Not really.

 

[Flanders]

O’Reilly made some mistakes of his own:

Bill O’Reilly made two mistakes. The first was writing Killing Reagan, and the second was inviting George Will on his program to discuss it.​

All’s well that ends well:

On Friday’s The O’Reilly Factor, a bully debated an intellectual. The bully lost, badly. What was a bad day for Bill O’Reilly turned out to be a rather good day for historical truth.

George Will Dismantles Bill O’Reilly
Peter Wehner / Nov. 8, 2015

George Will Takes Apart Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Reagan"​

 

[g5000]

George Will did not make a mistake going on O'Reilly's show. He did a bang-up job of exposing O'Reilly for the lying bullshit artist he is.

 

[Flanders]

a bang-up job of exposing O'Reilly for the lying bullshit artist he is.

To g5000: I cannot argue with that.

 

[g5000]

I used to watch O'Reilly every day back in the early years. I stopped watching him around 2002 because he just started lying out of his ass and making massive straw man fallacies in every show. I stopped watching Hannity & Colmes for the same reason. Hannity couldn't stop himself from manufacturing straw man fallacies to save his life. It pissed me off how much the two of them were ruining the conservative brand.

O'Reilly also had a bizarre obsession with swimsuit competitions and spring breaks. He would show all kinds of lascivious clips and pretend to be offended by them.

Very creepy.

The only time I have ever seen BO'R since then is whenever someone posts a clip. This one between him and Will was amazing. BO'R has become a parody of himself.

 

[Flanders]

O’Reilly could be Count Dracula’s biographer. I never noticed this until George Will pointed it out:

The prolific O’Reilly has, with his collaborator Martin Dugard, produced five “history” books in five years: Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, and now the best-selling Killing Reagan. Because no one actually killed Reagan, O’Reilly keeps his lucrative series going by postulating that the bullet that struck Reagan in March 1981 kind of, sort of killed him, although he lived 23 more years.

With Killing Reagan, Bill O’Reilly Makes a Mess of History
by George Will November 10, 2015 6:22 PM

'Killing Reagan' -- Bill O'Reilly Book Makes a Mess of History | National Review Online​

I hope the subject of O’Reilly’s next NOVEL is actually dead before the book is written.

 

[Flanders]

UPDATE

Next step: O’Reilly will have stop calling himself fair and balanced:

Shirley: No, but if I knew what claptrap he was going to write, I would have fought to stop the publication. By the way, I believe he has stopped calling himself a "historian" so I assume he will rightly now call himself a "novelist" because he doesn't write history, that's for sure.

Reagan biographer Craig Shirley: O'Reilly's Killing Reagan is a 'pile of garbage'
By Myra Adams • 11/19/15 12:03 AM

Biographer Craig Shirley: O'Reilly's Killing Reagan is a 'pile of garbage'​