Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly Is Trippin’ Out Again

Bill O’Reilly, the highly conservative Fox News channel host who unbelievably tries to portray himself as unbiased, is displaying foolishness again. There has been talk about the Fairness Doctrine which would, in essence, work to balance out the media between liberal and conservative voices. This, of course, sent Big Bill off the deep end since he believes that most of the media is liberal. O’Reilly, on a network that serves as the public relations firm for the Republican Party, is once again bashing the media for being too liberal, as reported by Think Progress:

O’REILLY: A good case can be made there are more liberal voices in the media than conservative voices. The newspaper industry is certainly left. So is the Internet. NBC News almost completely liberal. So is PBS, so is NPR.

Of course, what O’Reilly does not tell us is that Fox News is at least as biased to the right as he could ever claim that NBC is to the left. He is delusional, however, and sees the Fox News channel as some kind of beacon of journalistic fairness (pardon me while I laugh). As many of us know all too well, however, absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. There are many voices out there on the Internet (conservative, liberal and moderate). O’Reilly, of course, obsesses about the liberal voices (many of which upset him because they are not afraid to call him out on his bias). So, while O’Reilly whines about the supposed bias he sees at NPR or PBS, we are subjected to bigotry and racism (disguised well at times, but other times not so much so) from the likes of O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Fox and Friends, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and the list goes on. The Fairness Doctrine would be interesting on Fox News to see how it goes over on the network conservatives trust.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/21/oreilly-internet-bias/

Fear Of A Black President Drives Michael Savage’s Bigotry

Doomsday scenarios for white men being predicted by conservative talk show host Michael Savage (a white man). Here are recent comments from Savage, as documented by Media Matters, on his syndicated talk show:

SAVAGE: But this is just the beginning of it, my friend. You haven’t seen any of what’s coming in this country. You are going to see the wholesale replacement of competent white men, and I’m targeting exactly the group that’s gonna be thrown out of jobs in the government. And I’ll say it, and I’ll be the first to say it, and I may be not the only — the last to say it. I am telling you that there’s gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government up and down the line, in police departments, in fire departments. Everywhere in America, you’re going to see an exchange that you’ve never seen in history, and it’s not gonna be necessarily for the betterment of this country.

Here is the problem with Savage’s comments: (1) He shows his sexism by failing to even acknowledge women in his comments, (2) white men have been fired by incoming white presidents since the beginning of this nation, (3) he finds that there is something wrong with opening doors to qualified women and minorities in many positions that they have been excluded from and (4) he is a bigot. The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama has those on the hardcore right scared. Years ago, the rap group Public Enemy had an album called “Fear of a Black Planet.” We could call this “Fear of a Black President.”

Media Matters:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200811190016?f=h_latest

Right-Wing Nut Spews More Hate Against President-elect Barack Obama

Conservative radio show host Michael Savage is up to his old tricks trying to scare conservative whites into thinking President-elect Barack Obama has a bunch of sinister plans in his head. On a recent radio show, the host got into it with one of his callers about President-elect Obama. Part of the conversation focused on some kind of phenomenon he referred to as being “socially promoted.” The comment from Savage follows, as documented by Media Matters:

SAVAGE: No, no, when you’re socially promoted, you wind up as president of the United States. If you’re socially promoted your whole life and nobody challenges you because you’re of the proper constitution and composition and you look exactly right and no one’s — everyone’s afraid to say a word to you, why, you then go to Harvard, you then go to the law review, you then get elected, you then get elected to the next level. This is what happens in a country that’s intimidated by its own policies and its own fears.

So, let us break the code. Being “socially promoted” is code for affirmative action. And, affirmative action is code for, at least in this case, an undeserving black man getting something that rightfully belongs to a far more deserving white man. “Proper constitution and composition” is translated to mean “black” or “African American.” “Everyone’s afraid to say a word to you …” is code for “you are an affirmative action black and we don’t want to be called out for saying that and being labeled racist.” Savage is playing the old tired deck of cards of right-wing extremists.

Media Matters:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200811190016?f=h_latest

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly Tries To Use The Jedi Mind Trick On His Viewers In Norm Coleman-Al Franken Senate Race

Master Yoda might be so proud of Fox News channel’s Bill O’Reilly. But, Bill, you are not yet a Jedi. O’Reilly, on a recent show, tried to convince his viewers that incumbent Norm Coleman had been certified as the winner of the Minnesota United States Senate race against challenger Al Franken. The margin in the race is razor thin (in Coleman’s favor) and triggered a recount to settle disputed ballots and, quite frankly, just to be as sure as possible. Media Matters was all over O’Reilly for his attempt to deceive his faithful followers into somehow thinking that Coleman had won and this was little more than a desperate attempt by, Franken, a Democrat to steal something from a Republican. Here is a quote from O’Reilly: “‘Factor Follow-up’ segment tonight: Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman was certified the winner in his race against Al Franken today. Coleman won by a mere 215 votes. But about 400,000 voters in Minnesota rejectedFranken, while voting for Obama. They crossed the ticket to supportColeman, a stunning statistic.” This is absolutely not true. Media Matters goes on to document information from the two major papers in the state and from state election officials that, in fact, Coleman has not been certified as the winner as the margin is far too close, there are disputed ballots and it would be stupid to declare a winner when a recount has been ordered and is underway. Here are some of the issues at work for O’Reilly: (1) He is a conservative, (2) Fox News is a conservative publicity firm for the Republicans, (3) O’Reilly has a vendetta against Franken who has challenged and called him out numerous times and (4) O’Reilly is not always one to let the facts muddy up his perspective or his brand of “journalism.” So Bill, as some might have said from the Star Wars series: “You are powerful indeed, but you are not yet a Jedi!”

Media Matters:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200811190019?f=h_top