I wonder if the "reporters" Bill O'Reilly sends out for this sort of "assignment" feel any degree of self-loathing for what they've become. I mean, I'm sure that at one point they had high hopes and dreams for a career in journalism, groundbreaking stories, awards, and look at where they are. I'd imagine there has to be a "moment of clarity" for them at some point, a dark, spiraling instant where they realize that their life took this turn almost of its own accord, but instead of there being other turns to look forward to, to carry them away to more vibrant destinations, there's nothing but a long, dark straightway as far as the eye can see. It's so sad.

I wonder if O'Rly sent his crack news team after Candace Gingrich after she said Newt was full of shiat? No?


I'd love to see Bill subjected to the same bullshiat he subjects others to in the name of "journalism". Then I'd love to kick him in the junk.

Bill'O is a puss'o, or he'd be there himself instead of sending stooges.

Bill O'Reilly must have a dick that can only be measured in microns.

To the headline: Now, I hate O'Reilly as much as the next guy, but let's be fair...the phrase "drive-by liberal media" doesn't get used by O'Reilly, it gets used by Rush Limbaugh.

While his tactics are still idiotic, crass, and asinine, I wouldn't call them hypocritical.

Hertzberg himself has a great account of the whole thing here (new window)

Shockingly, O'Reilly and everyone else at Fox come off like disingenuous twats.

Hertzberg writes his side of it (new window).

His blog is always a good read. If he posted on it more, he'd pretty easily rank amongst the better bloggers out there.

He's also more than a little bit better than O'Reilly.

grumble.

I personally think it's brave and noble of Fox News to give so many talentless, idiotic douchebags their own shows. It keeps these dangerous morans off the streets.

Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O'Reilly.^

Oh, and the tactic of Bill'O accusing someone of refusing to be on his show without having first invited said person on is a favorite tactic of his. I'm pretty sure that there's a chapter in the SJIHBO book dedicated to it. It's been forever since I read it, though.

BobXXL: Whaloofahgarrble

Heh...nicely done, sir/madam/other. (Circle as appropriate.)

Head Asplode time guys... I'm pretty sure its Rush who coined the "Drive By Media" moniker, not Orally.

mikeandeichmann: To the headline: Now, I hate O'Reilly as much as the next guy, but let's be fair...the phrase "drive-by liberal media" doesn't get used by O'Reilly, it gets used by Rush Limbaugh.

While his tactics are still idiotic, crass, and asinine, I wouldn't call them hypocritical.

I think Billow is a big bottle of vinegar solution as well.

This is pretty spot on though. Michael Moore does the same type of trash in his movies. It gets ratings for whatever reason. Rush is too lazy to take his fat a$$ outside, so he rips on it.

By the way, two Bill'O greens in two days? Why the fark are we giving him so much damned attention?

O'Reilly is a dick, but subby lacks any sense of grammar.

PizzaJedi81: By the way, two Bill'O greens in two days? Why the fark are we giving him so much damned attention?

I think because, his audacity is somehow, darkly entertaining. His supporters of course, are a sideshow of clowns who are equally amusing to watch.

Ollberman has the right idea to deal with this shiat.

He suggests that when Bill-O's minions ambush someone, the target should include references to loofah's and falafel in their response so that the footage is unusable.

Why is O'Reilly afraid of protesting poofters?

Conservatives are such scared little men.

Who cares, ambushes are ALWAYS awesome no matter what side they're coming from (Look at Michael Moore.)

It catches smug people, who otherwise wouldn't have to defend their bilge, in the act of trying to make excuses for what they might have written or said.

Love it!

/Hendrik is normally a good writer, he just needs to get out of the west side of Manhattan once in a while.

ComatoseB0nerToes: mikeandeichmann: To the headline: Now, I hate O'Reilly as much as the next guy, but let's be fair...the phrase "drive-by liberal media" doesn't get used by O'Reilly, it gets used by Rush Limbaugh.

While his tactics are still idiotic, crass, and asinine, I wouldn't call them hypocritical.

I think Billow is a big bottle of vinegar solution as well.

This is pretty spot on though. Michael Moore does the same type of trash in his movies. It gets ratings for whatever reason. Rush is too lazy stoned to take his fat a$$ outside, so he rips on it.

Oxycotin is a hell of a drug.

If you're ever ambushed by an O'Reilly reporter, just say "let's schedule a time for me to come on the show and talk about it." Then go on the show and talk about it. Problem solved.

'Scuse me while I whip this out:

"Every night, a naked Bill O'Reilly sits hunched over in a dark and airless closet surrounded by untold numbers of boxes of women's shoes. He opens up a pair of sling-backs, and sniffs them until he almost passes out. When his face is red enough he carefully boxes them away, childlike in his movements, already missing the feel of the leather against his face. Quickly, he then takes a rapidly softening whole cucumber and forces it down his throat, fighting the gag reflex while wanting even more. With tears streaming from his eyes, and his body shaking from the exertion, he mumbles a mantra of self-hatred inaudibly into the darkness and onto the cucumber. After 30 minutes of Bill's Special Alone Time he slowly pulls it out, enjoying the sensation of it moving from his throat, past his tongue and into the dank air of the closet, the smell of the vegetable and his fevered saliva reminding him of the time he fell out the sycamore tree when he was 6 and bumped his head on a rock - the exact moment in his life when everything began to make sense to him.
His voice is reborn.
He stands slowly, awkwardly, his body stiff from holding the same position for too long, though to him - always not long enough. He reaches out to the shoe boxes to help him steady himself. Salty beads of sweat run down his chest, trickles from the pools in his armpits and under his breasts, cooling as rapidly as his innate anger is warming. His penis - an object of disgust to him for so long now - is as hard as it's going to get without chemical help. His toes clench and unclench with a staccato rhythm of their own. He opens the closet door, and looks at the poster of John Wayne hanging on the inside - the man he always wanted to be, but never could be, no matter how much he screams into footwear or chokes himself on cucumbers. Wayne looks back with his dead eyes - a two-dimensional construct of a dream that never was.
Bill's chest hitches, and he starts sobbing. Snot runs down his nose, his mouth opens wide and green stains frame this most silent of screams. He cries for all men, for all America. But mostly, almost exclusively, for himself.
Spent, empty, Bill steps into the shower. Runs it as warm as possible. Until it burns. His tears mix with the water.
His fear, his hatred, his shame - his anger. They all fall down the drain. "


/not mine

The fact that the O'Reilly people didn't idetnify themselves as coming from the Factor or even coming from Fox News shows what total pussies they are.

Even Michael Moore let's it be known that he is the one doing the documentary (hell, he does the interviews)

michaeld5: Who cares, ambushes are ALWAYS awesome no matter what side they're coming from (Look at Michael Moore.)

It catches smug people, who otherwise wouldn't have to defend their bilge, in the act of trying to make excuses for what they might have written or said.

Love it!

/Hendrik is normally a good writer, he just needs to get out of the west side of Manhattan once in a while.

Do you really think Hendrik comes off bad here? I don't.

He just looks totally confused at first, like it's two random people badgering him about something he isn't sure about (and indeed in his account he says they don't identify themselves at all) and then when he finally realizes the inane thing they are asking him he stands his ground.

Is it bad that I think both sides are over reacting with the idea of selling themselves and their products? It seems both sides have basically twisted the others words in a version of hyperbole in order to sell a product.

MyRandomName: Is it bad that I think both sides are over reacting with the idea of selling themselves and their products? It seems both sides have basically twisted the others words in a version of hyperbole in order to sell a product.

For what it's worth, in my original piece for the magazine, I didn't accuse Gingrich of being a bigot, let alone a "vicious bigot," as the guy with the mike put it. I think it's fairly clear that what I did accuse him of was playing to bigotry.

Nor do I think I took Gingrich out of context. In Gingrich's November 14th interview with O'Reilly, the context is O'Reilly's mention of two instances of disruptive thuggery, one person being "fired" (the reference is to the artistic director of the California Musical Theatre, who resigned under pressure after colleagues and financial contributors objected to his financial support of the California anti-gay-marriage ballot item), and some boycotts of restaurants. As O'Reilly talks, the screen shows pictures of people protesting peacefully and carrying signs.

The thuggery O'Reilly mentions was contemptible, but the rest of it was just normal democratic protest. (O'Reilly himself frequently asks his viewers to boycott businesses that offend him, such as department stores whose employees wish customers "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas.") None of it comes anywhere near "fascism," let alone some sort of fascist "movement" that could plausibly threaten to take over the government. I don't think it was at all unreasonable for me to infer that the targets of Mr. Gingrich's "fascism" remarks were the mainstream gay-rights movement in general and the opponents of Proposition 8 in particular.

Hertzberg maintains a very carefully self-edited version of "reality".

For example the part of his blog/response where he talks about "Violence? What violence? All that clip showed was peaceful protests." Even though FOX went to the trouble of highlighting the part in the clip where "peaceful protesters" are ripping stuff out of that little old ladies hands, so you'd have to be an idiot not to notice her staggering and looking like she's about to fall.

Dude, if your "peaceful protests" consist of using physical force to harass and intimidate counter-protesters, or even worse, people not even protesting at the time,
you MIGHT be a Brown-Shirt - aka Fascist.
//Unless it's not Fascism when YOU do it.

//As to whether Mr. O.'s show did or did not ask Mr. H. to appear first, can't say.
//It's entirely possible an intern from Fox got an intern from the NYT on the line
//and got the knee-jerk "Appear on FOX? No way!" response so many libs exhibit
//without M. H. ever hearing about it.

//Since Mr. H. was obviously wrong about "you'll never use this part on your show"
//he could well be wrong about the rest of this as well.

PizzaJedi81: By the way, two Bill'O greens in two days? Why the fark are we giving him so much damned attention?

Technically three. The 'Atheist sign gets stolen' thread had an article that was half about Bill O.

I've never heard Bill O complain about "drive by liberal media" ambushes. Besides, if that slovenly grease clog Michael Moore can do it, we might as well all join in the fun.

bmasso: Even though FOX went to the trouble of highlighting

*snort*

jjorsett: I've never heard Bill O complain about "drive by liberal media" ambushes. Besides, if that slovenly grease clog Michael Moore can do it, we might as well all join in the fun.


Soo....two wrongs DO make a right!

/asinine

The New Yorker is the gold standard of journalism. I can see why Bill O'Reilly wouldn't like that.

MentalMoment: bmasso: Even though FOX went to the trouble of highlighting

*snort*

Snort all you want.
But look at the damn video - they upped the brightness of the area around the little old lady - that's the video equivalent of drawing a circle around a face in a crowd - it doesn't affect the reality of what's there, it just makes it so you have to be an idiot to miss it. Or a NYT writer. Oops, repeating myself.

//And in the afterglow of them just printing that Bill Ayers self-canonization piece as-is,
where a guy who advocated blowing stuff up and "kill your parents" tries to come across
as some sort of cute & merry prankster who wouldn't have harmed a fly, I'm taking anything
the NYT says on it's own authority with a 5-lb salt-lick of skepticism.

Came for the "F-It we do it live" pic.

Leaves sadly dissapointed.

bmasso:
//And in the afterglow of them just printing that Bill Ayers self-canonization piece as-is,
where a guy who advocated blowing stuff up and "kill your parents" tries to come across
as some sort of cute & merry prankster who wouldn't have harmed a fly, I'm taking anything
the NYT says on it's own authority with a 5-lb salt-lick of skepticism.

You do realize that Ayers didn't in fact harm anybody and that Fox has been taking a one-line quote out of context for months, right? I just want to make sure you know that while you advocate for them.

You're all a bunch of Left Wing Bombthrowing Islamofascist Idealogues.

Pocket Ninja: I wonder if the "reporters" Bill O'Reilly sends out for this sort of "assignment" feel any degree of self-loathing for what they've become. I mean, I'm sure that at one point they had high hopes and dreams for a career in journalism, groundbreaking stories, awards, and look at where they are. I'd imagine there has to be a "moment of clarity" for them at some point, a dark, spiraling instant where they realize that their life took this turn almost of its own accord, but instead of there being other turns to look forward to, to carry them away to more vibrant destinations, there's nothing but a long, dark straightway as far as the eye can see. It's so sad.

Talking heads on both sides of the fence usually are supported by people aspiring to be talking heads. As both sides spew crap-filled nonsense every waking hour, I certainly don't see how they'd feel any remorse for their actions.

Oh, and Olbermann, if that farker injects politics into football one more time...ARRRGH. My football, stay the fark out of it.

Paula's Beautiful Bloodshot Eyes: You're all a bunch of Left Wing Bombthrowing Islamofascist Idealogues.

You neglect to mention how much we hate the Jesus.

RevMercutio: Paula's Beautiful Bloodshot Eyes: You're all a bunch of Left Wing Bombthrowing Islamofascist Idealogues.

You neglect to mention how much we hate the Jesus Jebus.

ftfy

I wonder if the "reporters" Bill O'Reilly sends out for this sort of "assignment" feel any degree of self-loathing for what they've become.


Porter Barry doesn't seem too proud of it.

(skip to the end if you want to see a butthurt weasel running away)

Bill is just angry because he never gets the cartoons in The New Yorker magazine.

Shvetz: Bill is just angry because he never gets the cartoons in The New Yorker magazine.

I don't either, and you don't see me ambushing people who disagree with me.

'Course, I also don't have a tv show.

RevMercutio: bmasso:
//And in the afterglow of them just printing that Bill Ayers self-canonization piece as-is,
where a guy who advocated blowing stuff up and "kill your parents" tries to come across
as some sort of cute & merry prankster who wouldn't have harmed a fly, I'm taking anything
the NYT says on it's own authority with a 5-lb salt-lick of skepticism.

You do realize that Ayers didn't in fact harm anybody and that Fox has been taking a one-line quote out of context for months, right? I just want to make sure you know that while you advocate for them.

From the Toronto Star : "Dohrn and Ayers take comfort - some might call it self-deluding refuge - in the fact that none of the 24 deliberate bombings attributed to the Weather Underground resulted in deaths. One accidental bombing in New York in 1970 - the homemade bomb went off as it was being made - killed three Weathermen, including Ayers's then-girlfriend Diana Oughton.
"

(1) Even if you discount the three dead bombers as "not his fault" - despite his advocating bombing, founding the organization that did the bombing, and one of the bomb-makers being his live-in lover at the time - It's quite a reality-bender to maintain that you're "not harming anyone" by blowing up their workplaces - or family homes.

(2) - Before you resurrect that old chestnut about how innocent he must be because he never did jail-time, read the Star to refresh your memory that he got off because the FBI screwed up, not because his actions were so innocuous in nature.

(3) - If you're referring to "kill your parents", in WHAT context DID Ayers say it that it should actually be taken as a re-enforcement rather than a rebuttal to the 5th commandment?

bmasso: MentalMoment: bmasso: Even though FOX went to the trouble of highlighting

*snort*

Snort all you want.

My bad. Thought you were being sarcastic.

Shvetz: Bill is just angry because he never gets the cartoons in The New Yorker magazine.

And he can't understand Olberman's imprsonations, either.

Such as:

("Whaddaz he meeeen when he talks that way? I can tell ya that IIII don't talk that way! Heeeezz conspiring with the FCCeeeee, talking that way and saying it's meee!
Whaddoes he think I ammm? A Clownnn?")

/end of Billo impersonation

MentalMoment: bmasso: MentalMoment: bmasso: Even though FOX went to the trouble of highlighting

*snort*

Snort all you want.

My bad. Thought you were being sarcastic.

bmasso is a great source of unintentional irony.

Donald_McRonald: bmasso is a great source of unintentional irony.

Most Bush apologists are these days.

That's the kind of quality work that will earn him^* another Pulitzer⁺.

<sup>* he didn't win it, his crappy tabloid tv show did after he left
+ it was a Polk award</sup>

bmasso: (2) - Before you resurrect that old chestnut about how innocent he must be because he never did jail-time, read the Star to refresh your memory that he got off because the FBI screwed up, not because his actions were so innocuous in nature.

What were the names of the FBI agents who performed the illegal searches, and were they arrested for them?