Yet another Bill O Reilly Goof

DaemonSeid · #1 02-20-2008, 04:41 PM

During the February 19 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly took a call from a listener who said of Michelle Obama, "I just wanted to say that I think Michelle Obama is an angry woman -- is speaking, I think, with her real voice for the first time." O'Reilly and his callers were discussing Obama's recent comments, which included her assertion that "[f]or the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." When O'Reilly asked the caller, whom he identified as "Maryanne," "You're basing that on what?" she replied: "Well your representative asked me not to talk about this, but I have a friend who had knowledge of her and said to me months ago, 'This is a very angry,' her word was 'militant woman.' " O'Reilly then responded, "What I want you to do then, Maryanne ... I want you to stay on the line. ... Because it's not fair to Michelle Obama for you ... because we don't know who you are, and we don't know who your friend is, but we want to know. We want to know, OK. But it's not fair at this point for you to say, 'My friend said X and Y,' because we just don't know. But if you would give us your information, we would like to talk to your friend. And then whatever your friend tells us, we'll track it down. We'll do it in a fair and balanced and methodical way." He later added, "If indeed Michelle Obama is angry about something, if she has a history, we would like to know that, and then we can put it into some kind of context so that we can be fair to everybody."
O'Reilly then stated:
O'REILLY: You know, I have a lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton, for all of these people. Bill Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper where everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go and bludgeon them. And, you know, Bill Clinton and I don't agree on a lot of things, and I think I've made that clear over the years, but he's trying to stick up for his wife, and every time the guy turns around, there's another demagogue or another ideologue in his face trying to humiliate him because they're rooting for Obama.
That's wrong. And I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802200001

o well...Bill...nobody will probably pay you any mind anyway...

Bill it's just funny how you criticize someone for what they said and you commit the same error all in teh same breath even.

**coff** Kelly Tilghman **coff**

" I don't want to go on a lynching party unless...."

Wow....this stuff cracks me up....LOL

shinerbock · #2 02-20-2008, 06:58 PM

Am I reading this right?

O'Reilly said he wasn't interested in going after Michelle's comments unless he knew her true intent?

Is it just because he used the term "lynching"?

Seems like a bit of a reach if I'm understanding your post.

DSTCHAOS · #3 02-20-2008, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Is it just because he used the term "lynching"?

Yes just like that sports anchor's "lynch him in a back alley."

I understand O'Reilly's sentiment and really like O'Reilly. This was a nonracial comment that, if he had been thinking of the larger context, he would've expressed differently as to avoid the trouble.

shinerbock · #4 02-20-2008, 07:40 PM

I thought the Tiger Woods fiasco was overblown too. I thought the comment was inappropriate, but that was a different scenario in my opinion. The comment there was a joking "lets lynch him in a back alley," which would have been awkward, at best, even for a white golfer. It simply wasn't a professional thing to say.

I think this is more of a reach because it is simply a reference to a lynch mob scenario (which by definition is not racial, though the connotation is obviously there), which in my mind is a much more common usage and not particularly controversial.

I understand that the many people wince when a black person and the term "lynch" are used in the same paragraph, but I think in the O'Reilly type scenario we should simply let that be it. I don't really even think he should refrain from doing that, unless he justs wants to eliminate the possibility of word-choice questioning like this.

DaemonSeid · #5 02-20-2008, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Am I reading this right?

O'Reilly said he wasn't interested in going after Michelle's comments unless he knew her true intent?

Is it just because he used the term "lynching"?

Seems like a bit of a reach if I'm understanding your post.

Not reaching...laughing.

really think about it...that's par for the course for O'reilly....

I just hope and pray this doesn't become a stupid media circus when he is cornered into giving some half assed apology just to save his job.

and all because he was actually trying to defend Mrs Obama....heh

shinerbock · #6 02-20-2008, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Not reaching...laughing.

really think about it...that's par for the course for O'reilly....

I just hope and pray this doesn't become a stupid media circus when he is cornered into giving some half assed apology just to save his job.

and all because he was actually trying to defend Mrs Obama....heh

Fair enough. He's probably just thankful he doesn't work for MSNBC, otherwise he'd (have never been hired) be packing his stuff.

DaemonSeid · #7 02-20-2008, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Fair enough. He's probably just thankful he doesn't work for MSNBC, otherwise he'd (have never been hired) be packing his stuff.

Shiner...speaking of MSNBC....Keith Olbermann is talking about this now....

The circus now begins

They need to do this to Saliva's "Ladies and Gentlemen"

shinerbock · #8 02-20-2008, 09:52 PM

They're talkin about the lynching comment?

Who is it, Olbermann? I wouldn't be surprised considering he spends 80% of his time trying to attack O'Reilly.

pinkies up · #9 02-20-2008, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

O'REILLY: You know, I have a lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton, for all of these people. Bill Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper where everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go and bludgeon them. And, you know, Bill Clinton and I don't agree on a lot of things, and I think I've made that clear over the years, but he's trying to stick up for his wife, and every time the guy turns around, there's another demagogue or another ideologue in his face trying to humiliate him because they're rooting for Obama.
That's wrong. And I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down.

Please tell me how this isn't a racist comment. He wouldn't say he would go and lynch Hillary Clinton.

DaemonSeid · #10 02-20-2008, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Please tell me how this isn't a racist comment. He wouldn't say he would go and lynch Hillary Clinton.

Never said that it wasn't...this is actually par for the course when it comes to Bill...but like I said earlier...why go chasing after him when we all know the end result.

and sadly enough...he said this while defending her...that's what makes this thing so dayumed hilarious

DSTCHAOS · #11 02-20-2008, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Never said that it wasn't...this is actually par for the course when it comes to Bill....

and sadly enough...he said this while defending her...that's what makes this thing so dayumed hilarious

Are you two serious?

Yikes.

DaemonSeid · #12 02-20-2008, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Are you two serious?

Yikes.

not really....but think about DST....if this becomes another media circus, what's really going to happen? At worst same thing that happened to Imus...at least same thing that happened to Tilghman...it's a matter of who complains the loudest and who screams the most for Bill's head....and somewhere you wi;ll get the statement that you provided.

It's a farce if this gets bigger.

DSTCHAOS · #13 02-20-2008, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

not really

*sigh of relief*

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

....but think about DST....if this becomes another media circus, what's really going to happen? At worst same thing that happened to Imus...at least same thing that happened to Tilghman...it's a matter of who complains the loudest and who screams the most for Bill's head....and somewhere you wi;ll get the statement that you provided.

It's a farce if this gets bigger.

What happened to Imus was mean spirited, regardless of anything else, and that is a different context.

DSTCHAOS · #14 02-20-2008, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Please tell me how this isn't a racist comment. He wouldn't say he would go and lynch Hillary Clinton.

musical interlude/

Ice Cube and the Lynch Mob, we're jackin' 4 beats!!!!

/musical interlude

KSig RC · #15 02-20-2008, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Please tell me how this isn't a racist comment. He wouldn't say he would go and lynch Hillary Clinton.

Well, you're attempting to rally a group of people to lynch O'Reilly, when there's really no need for the torches at all.

See? That's not racist - in fact, there were "lynch mobs" before there were ever slaves in the United States. The ignorant connotation behind lynchings is somewhat specific, as we can show:

"He's getting lynched by the media!" <-- No connotation at all, but still probably something to avoid in direct reference to a black person because of historical racist crimes. O'Reilly forgot the second part, but the first part was exactly the opposite of how you described it. He likely would use that term in other situations, and likely has. I use it all the time - but then again, I'm from the north.

"(Something along the lines of) hang her from a tree!" <-- direct, explicit connection to abhorrent acts in the deep south. Inappropriate in almost every context. NOT how O'Reilly used the term.

Your point only stands on its own merits if he had actually said something directly offensive, as in the second case. He didn't - you're really projecting here. The term "lynch" is a completely valid descriptor, after all.