bill o reilly

When you have one of the best known conservative writers on economics go after the standard GOP talking points that we need more tax cuts for the rich, you know that the right is in trouble.

On Bill O'Reilly, Ben Stein did just that:

Dave Edwards offers this awesome outtake from this confrontation:

O’Reilly went on to argue that raising taxes on the rich would make the recession worse.

“That isn’t true,” Stein said. “There is no correlation, Mr. O’Reilly, between taxes rates on millionaires and people above that level, billionaires, and the growth of the economy… Higher taxes have historically correlated with more growth.”

“Mr. O’Reilly, sir, there is no correlation of raising taxes and unemployment,” he added later. “If you can show it to me, I’ll eat your shoe.”

And Ben Stein is right in this argument. Let's go back to 1982. Ronald Reagan was in the White House, his historic tax cuts only on the books for a couple of years and a recession hitting the country. What did Reagan do? Let's ask David Stockman:

But don’t worry. I’m sure Fox will gladly give him more time on the air:

Veteran journalist Juan Williams was fired from his job as senior news analyst for National Public Radio late Wednesday because of comments he made about Muslims and terrorism on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News Channel.

NPR said in a statement that Williams's remarks--including that he gets "worried" and "nervous" when he sees people dressed in Muslim-style clothing on airplanes--"were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

Williams, 56, made the remarks after the show's host, Bill O'Reilly, asked him whether he thought the United States was facing a "Muslim dilemma." "The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet," O'Reilly said.

Here’s the video of Williams making his comments on O’Reilly:

While talking about the detainees coming here to stand trial, Bill O’Reilly declared “I don’t care about the Constitution!” Finally we hear some truthfulness come from the lips of Bill O.

This seems rather odd:

For years Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had savaged his prime-time nemesis Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel and accused Fox of journalistic malpractice almost nightly. Mr. O’Reilly in turn criticized Mr. Olbermann’s bosses and led an exceptional campaign against General Electric, the parent company of MSNBC.

It was perhaps the fiercest media feud of the decade and by this year, their bosses had had enough. But it took a fellow television personality with a neutral perspective to help bring it to at least a temporary end.

Following the shooting at the Holocaust Museum this week the right has been in defense mode. They are trying everything to pain James Von Brunn as some lefty or just a plain old loon. The problem with that is he isn’t.

Just like in lefty liberal land there are extremes of right wing/neo-con land. James Von Brunn would far surpass even people like Rush Limbaugh on the right, just like Stalin would far surpass Dennis Kucinich on the left. Hence the names “right wing extremists” and “left wing extremists”. Both sides have people that just go too far.

I wanted to give this little lesson in political science to address this:

Weird, huh? What possible grievance could a Jew-hating 9/11 Truther who ranted about Bill O’Reilly and “neocons” have against a magazine owned by Rupert Murdoch and edited by Bill Kristol? Maybe he detected a leftward drift in the Standard’s editorial slant lately? You know how irascible those “right-wingers” can be, especially when they’re fed a steady diet of Fox News. Which, um, Von Brunn hated.

I guess he’s from the conservative-hating wing of conservatism. Big tent!

I have not seen one liberal blog or talking head say that Von Brunn is from the Republican or conservative movement. Instead they are addressing Von Brunn for  what he is – a far right extremist.

But this also goes back to the DHS report. At no point did that report say “Republicans” or “Conservatives”. It addressed far-right extremists like Von Brunn. But it was people like Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh who decided to classify themselves as far-right extremists, not the left or the DHS report.

Here we go with Bill O. sending out his goons again. This time Amanda at Think Progress was the target. Read her entire account of what happened here.

Perhaps its time for O’Reilly to be tested. I have done some work in television in the past and when you tape someone you need a release signed. Now the news is different, as it does have some protection under the first amendment, but is O’Reilly news? No its not. He even admits his show is for opinion.

And if something like this went to court and they sided with FOX, that would open up something new. Bloggers would then have the ability to stalk Bill O’Reilly and “interview” him. Perhaps some simple questions like “why do you think the rape victims deserved what happened?” If bloggers did that and didn’t get pushy to the point of harassment, then it would be a matter of time before we had another one of these moments:

I never have liked Dennis Miller. His comedy always sucked, which is why he is now stuck being a butt boy for Murdoch and Co. In his latest sick attempt at humor, Miller says women on the left are jealous of Sarah Palin because "she has a great sex life". Check it out:

For all the accusations of sexism coming from the right when they talk about Palin, this has to be the most sexist thing I have ever heard. Two old white guys sitting there talking and laughing about the sex life of a political figure. Have they ever said the same thing about George Bush?

I guess this is the family values that Bill O'Reilly loves - minus the luffa.

(h/t Think Progress)