Who is Bill O'Reilly and what is he like?
TOOTS
Posts: 114MI6 Agent
Who is Bill O'Reilly and what is he like? I have never seen his show but keep reading about it. For anyone who has access to this show, is it really confrontational and serious? From what I have read, I cannot imagine the show. Can someone share their thoughts on this chap, please?
Comments
Like with any show dealing with politics, his show sometimes gets heated and confrontational. O'Reilly is very passionate about his beliefs and sometimes becomes angry. He identifies himself as a moderate, however he does lean to the right.
O'Reilly has many critics and is sometimes the subject of major controversies, typical really of anyone involved in politics. You either love or hate Bill O'Reilly.
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of O'Reilly. I agree with him on many issues, but like Hardyboy said, he often does come off as arrogant.
-Roger Moore
Most consider him to be a right-wing talk show host, but if you look at his actual positions on issues, he's really more of a centrist: he's much more rhetorically divisive than divisive in his positions on issues.
Yes, I am, but that doesn't mean I can't be critical of other conservatives. And like you said, Bill is far from a true conservative.
I sometimes catch the end of O'Reilly's show because I frequently tune in for Hannity and Colmes. Hannity is my favorite political TV/radio personality.
-Roger Moore
I'll leave this alone. :v I don't have a single favourite political TV/radio personality but my favourites are mostly Australian, so I doubt that many people on this board would have heard of them. Among Americans, however, I'm a big fan of Jon Stewart.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
It will give you insight to him, his colossal ego, and intolerance of any views other than his own. His treatment of Jeremy Glick, the son of a 9/11 victim, speaks for itself. I am obviously not a fan.
NOTE: I do not want this to become a political debate. I am not suggesting anything about Mr O'Reilly. I'm sorry for my post.
I just want to know in whether it is true that:
i he verbally assaulted a 9/11 victim's child; and ii verbally assaulted the mother of a slain US soldier?
Allegedly, he shouted them down on live TV?
Yet he is considered to be on the Right of politics?
Would most posters on AJB consider themselves to be on the right of Bill O'Reilly?
I can Wiki and You Tube him but between the fors and againsts I wanted the intelligent informed opinion of the posters on this site to contextualize the raw data. I seek your opinion. I make no judgment on anything. I'm just trying to reconcile what I have read with what appears to be the facts - it is difficult in this case.
Did he actually do those things?
On live TV?
I don't know what to believe. If so, why?
If not, then it's just bad reporting.
I think the answer is yes and no. The mother in question is Cindy Sheehan, who is an extremely controversial figure because of her anti-war activities. O'Reilly, to my knowledge, has never confronted her on his show, but he has essentially called her a tool of the left wing. The child of the 9/11 victim is also a war protestor, and O'Reilly did get into a shouting match with him on TV.
Normally I'm not a fan of Wikipedia, but there's some information on O'Reilly's controversies that is cited and pretty accurate. With this link you can go directly to what he's said about Sheehan; and if you scroll down a bit to "Jeremy Glick" you'll see his exchange with the son of the 9/11 victim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O'Reilly_controversies#Cindy_Sheehan
(NOTE: I see this doesn't link properly. I suggest you do a cut and paste into your browser. Happy reading!)
The reason Mr O'Reilly shouted at the son of a September 11th victim was because said son had signed an anti-war petition. Glick, the son, also pointed out that the US had supported the Afghan mujahideen in their fight against the Soviets. Mr O'Reilly, therefore, was shouting at Glick from a 'right-wing' perspective, in the sense that Mr O'Reilly evidently felt that Glick was propagating 'far left' views.
Again, far from being a 'Hanoi Jane', the reason he is a critic of Cindy Sheehan is because she campaigns against the war in which her son died.
I am sure Mr O'Reilly would be somewhat offended at being described as 'left-wing', TOOTS. Of course, to pigeon-hole someone as 'left-wing' or 'right-wing' is not really helpful anyway as such generalisations do not take into account the nuances in political views.
But the neocon agenda is to intervene in other state's affairs (for the better) and that means Bush has gone to war over Afghanistan and Iraq, prompted by 9/11.
So the roles have reversed a bit, except that Republicans perhaps do the my country right or wrong bit once a war gets going. Always sense that it was Left v Right in Vietnam, despite the Dems kicking it off.
(Goes off to play that Billy Joel track...)
Roger Moore 1927-2017
What an excellent, eloquent and balanced post, Lazenby880. Thanks for clearing that up. NOW, I understand. I must have got the wrong end of the stick.
Thanks to everyone for helping someone out. Nice to see a measured debate without people getting thin-skinned and oversensitive and people actually reading the posts. These types of threads are always tricky but I'm grateful people took the thread in the spirit it was intended. AJB can be a sophisticated debating forum.
Thanks everyone.
Good call - we didn't start the fire!
GOODNIGHT SAIGON
We met as soul mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho
To lay down our lives
We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight
We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might
We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together
Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight
We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island
We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together
by Billy Joel from The Nylon Curtain (1982)
I love it when he puts people in their places, especially the vile Rosie O'Donnell, who is enemies with the flaxon-haired beauty known as Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
You mean a socialist who has hijacked the title "liberal" in order to sound more mainstream?
Oi Dan, did you see them take the **** out of him on the Chaser?
The bottom line is it's a 'sensational' political commentary that's supposed to drive you up the wall. After all, isn't that what politics are for?
No, I don't think so. I think that within politics, people should be encouraged to have intelligent discussions, without attacking anybody who agree with them. Perhaps it's an idealistic view, but I don't think that what O'Reilly does (and he isn't unique) has any benefit whatsoever.
The show does have a benefit which is to emotionally appeal to those who agree with him and to let them relish the irritation he causes to those who don't. Is that beneficial to the topic being discussed? No not really. But there are some who reap a benefit...which speaks to the longevity of the program. Becuase his show is not the forum for 'intelligent' discussion of political topics does not mean that it has no purpose. The same could be said for The Daily Show.
That said, yes, viewers of The O'Reilly Factor would feel that it has benefits. However, in my view, it does not. Does that mean that I think it should be taken off the air? Of course not. Nor does it mean that I will refuse to be friends with someone who happened to like the show.