Bill O’Reilly: Hypocrite
Tonight Bill O’Reilly addressed his recent smear of HotAir.com, claiming that Hot Air has the responsibility to police its comments. Pronouncing that “it’s not enough to say, ‘I didn’t do it,'” O’Reilly sanctimoniously told his viewers that he polices comments on his own web site:
Here’s the money quote:
Miss Malkin is upset because I didn’t identify the “Hussein” comment was made by a civilian — not her or her staff. And that’s true. I should have been more precise. But we often cite hateful civilian comments on blogs and say they should be edited, as we do on billoreilly.com.
Oh really?
Tonight I went ahead and paid $4.95 to join billoreilly.com, and lookee here at what I was asked to agree to:
(Click to enlarge)
BillOReilly.com does not control or pre-screen the files, information, or messages (referred to collectively as “Information”) delivered to or displayed in the Message Boards, unless otherwise noted therein, and BillOReilly.com assumes no duty to, and does not monitor or endorse Information within the Message Boards.
You’re not just an “elite gasbag,” O’Reilly. You’re a rank hypocrite.
P.S. I plan to feature some “Bill O’Reilly blog postings” over the coming days. I may make it a daily feature. This is going to be the most painful 5 bucks Bill O’Reilly ever received.
P.P.S. Instapundit calls O’Reilly’s response “totally inadequate.” Damn straight.
UPDATE: Tonight’s “Bill O’Reilly blog posting” has to do with Mary Cheney marrying a goat.
UPDATE x2: Another Bill O’Reilly blog posting here. Representative quote: “NO MARRIAGE FOR HOMOS.”
It is going to be an amusing (and probably economically disastrous) summer. O’Reilly has a problem keeping his foot out of his mouth anyway, and this isn’t going to help at all. [goes to find the popcorn popper] (Farm income down 15% last year in Minnesota; there may not be popcorn.)
htom (412a17) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:38 pmHe reminds me very much of George Putnam, another pompous gasbag, who would be familiar to LA residents of a certain age.
Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:38 pmDo it! Expose this jerk. He makes an ass of himself when he does those “blogger segments” where all he ends up doing is demonstrating his own ignorance. This is one huge windbag that needs to be brought down to earth.
exceller (d9d2b3) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:42 pmThanks for paying the fee to join, Patterico. I suspect the Dog Trainer may have some competition.
Dana (aedf1d) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:43 pmYay. Will be following you and your five bucks. 🙂
SarahW (fdd722) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:44 pm#2, George Putnam spoke at my 6th grade promotion exercises in So. Cali. Arrived in a limo, and his voice was so booming it scared us. Obviously I’m of that certain age.
Dana (aedf1d) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:45 pmI’ve seen you, and eternal youth is not a certain age, my dear.
Do you have a portrait of yourself in an attic that changes for the worse, while your visage remains untouched by time? 🙂
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:55 pmO’Reilly has some good points but he is awfully gassy and is terrible on economics. He still doesn’t understand why gas prices go up. I expect more bluster as gas prices rise next month.
Mike K (2cf494) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:57 pmMM use to guest host for him too..
BO’R is a tool.
DaveC (a7c547) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:58 pm#7, thanks!
Dana (aedf1d) — 5/28/2009 @ 8:59 pmFor those of you not familiar with George Putnam, just imagine Ted Baxter from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Steverino (1b3695) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:06 pmBut you RethugliKKKan wingnuts all worship everyone on Fox, and O’Loofa is the biggest RepugliKKKan of all of them!!!!
JD (f8b50e) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:11 pm[…] liar and a hypocrite. Methinks Patterico will get his money’s worth for a month. Bill, not so […]
Gazzer’s Gabfest » Bill O, you larruping great nelly… (b98ad6) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:20 pmI’m resisting the urge to say something snarky about it taking you long enough . . . successfully. (But only barely.)
SEK (072055) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:28 pmWho are these civilians he is talking about? Jim Robinson is right. He’s an elitist snob just like Sotomayor.
Juan (31d308) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:31 pmHis response was idiotic at best and hypocritical at worst.
Physician, heal thyself.
HeavenSent (1e97ff) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:32 pmI only discovered George Putnam when he was already near 90 years old but still doing an hour-long radio show every day on one of the conservative talk stations. Yeah, he seemed like a real blowhard, but in an old-man endearing sort of way, kind of like the codger who can’t stop telling you about how rough they had it during the Depression.
O’Reilly, on the other hand, is not old enough to get away with being such a tool. I generally dislike these sort of intramural fights among conservatives, but I am always for putting the Bill O’Reillys of the world in their place. He reminds me of a Bill Moyers without the pseudo-intellectualism.
JVW (fdc303) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:35 pmBill O’Reilly is George Putnam’s and Ted Baxters “love child” metaphorically speaking—or at least he acts as if he were.
He knows shinola about economics. Aside from being unusually self satisfied, and a bit of a bully when a guest doesn’t toe the O’Reilly line for the day, he’s not so bad. Basically in his “no spin zone”, you better be spinning his way. He and Obama share that undesirable characteristic. That said, he usually brings a coterie of conservative commentators on as his guests, and they usually have something interesting to say–if O’Reilly will let them say it.
Mike Myers (674050) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:54 pmSEK – What gives you the idea that any of us liked O’Reilly prior to this?
JD (f8b50e) — 5/28/2009 @ 9:58 pmI’m resisting the urge to say something snarky about it taking you long enough . . . successfully.
Only the Left thought him to be conservative.
And it is fortunate for you that you are holding the snark, when we can simply point to Olbermann as a response.
Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (14d6a1) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:00 pmBill O’Reilly drives a really nice car I bet. Probably not as nice as Simon Cowell’s though.
happyfeet (2d133f) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:10 pmThis guy sort of embodies what Fox’s critics like to portray it as – ignorance only exceeded by arrogance. If you get off on bullies, this is your chance, but who does? We always switch channels before his show starts. There’s much too much BS in the world, why pay to watch it?
Aubrey (f4abf3) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:12 pmI came to the site after watching Bill O’Reilly. After perusing the HotAir pages, I understand that Bill got it wrong. Interesting comments on the message board too.
Blasto (a3ff49) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:21 pmI just have to put my 2-cents in and say that we’re all on the same side. There’s no need to bicker over small potatoes.
I’m reminded of Life of Brian with the different Jewish factions that were fighting the same cause, but couldn’t stand each other.
We’re not the People’s Front of Judea. We’re Americans who have to take our place in history and stand up against a Democratic Dictatorship.
I’m actually a Factor fan, but he does nauseatingly so steps in the his own big dog pile of ignorance when ever he “takes on” these web site comments. There are going to be hateful anonymous d-bags on both sides spouting off in the comments section and to try and hold each site responsible for each and every comment made has always been ridiculous. His having no clue of what he speaks in now made even more plain by his own site’s TOS. Stop being such a whank O’Really, step away from all internet and gas prices themed stories and you will be much better off.
SilentBob1272 (86065e) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:34 pmBill O’Reilly is a hypocrite. But I think he has a bigger problem with bigotry. He was shocked that a black owned restaurant wasn’t filled with people screaming “Where’s my m-f-ing ice tea?!” He was worried that Mexicans were going to steal his hubcaps. He called the Iraqi people a “prehistoric group” and said it was a good idea if we nuked Iraq. A certain piece of his bigotry hit close to home for me. One time on his radio show, Bill said that it was an insult to be compared to an Assyrian. As an Assyrian myself, I was very offended by that comment.
James (66bbca) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:37 pmI do watch him…stop me, I can’t help myself!
His blog segments are ridiculous for another reason, tho. His producers obviously read what’s hot on the blogs that day and put it on the air.
Patricia (2183bb) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:38 pmWho can take seriously any suggestion that anyone ought to better police their own behavior, when the suggestion comes from the apparent purchaser of the world’s highest priced phone sex? Loofah!
Beldar (9bf4d5) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:41 pmTry trolling for comments over at The Fox Nation (Fox News’ official blog).
Finding offensive comments there is like shooting fish in a barrel.
YYZ (8eb758) — 5/28/2009 @ 10:48 pmI personally can’t stand Bill O but may you need to get a life. This a great to do about much of nothing. FInd something of real substance and consequence to pontificate about and you site would be infinitely more interesting.
d. everette (bdf420) — 5/28/2009 @ 11:31 pmQuote Of The Day…
Or perhaps “Goat of the Day” might be a better title. Patterico writes:
Ed Driscoll (a3d746) — 5/28/2009 @ 11:33 pmTonight’s “Bill O’Reilly blog posting” has to do with Mary Cheney marrying a goat.
“Tonight I went ahead and paid $4.95 to join billoreilly.com”, Pa…
I am so sick of people and the things they are offended of!
Grow some balls America. Let’s get it strait we don’t like them they don’t like us. They are fags and we hate anone that’s not a white polition. So what, just because it was written doesn’t make it a thruth.
By the way I’m Hispanic.
Aaron (9c47e0) — 5/28/2009 @ 11:33 pmComment by d. everette — 5/28/2009 @ 11:31 pm
Welcome to Patterico’s. I gather from your posting that you have a blog…? Am sure we’d all love to see it, with its many and varied fresh topics of the day. Feel free to post a link; that’s encouraged on this site.
Seriously, some of us like a nice balance of more in-depth analysis, funny stuff and the ever-entertaining poking fun at gasbags. Stick around and it may grow on you. Y’all come back now, hear? 🙂
no one you know (1ebbb1) — 5/28/2009 @ 11:40 pmBill should go look at some of the comments under the NASCAR/NAACP post at The Fox Nation.
Jim F (b67335) — 5/28/2009 @ 11:48 pm[…] wait, yes he does. That’s exactly what he says. As blogger Patterico discovered, when you sign up for a premium membership at billoreilly.com, you must accept the following terms […]
A Bold Fresh Piece of Hypocrisy | Deceiver.com (971796) — 5/29/2009 @ 12:59 amTo be fair, he said they MODERATE the comments there, not monitor them 24/7 or approve comments before they are made. You should give the moderators a chance to do their job before you “expose” such posts. How long did “The Factor” give that post on hotair.com before it was highlighted on his program? (I’m not saying he was right to do what he did; just saying if you’re going to go after him, do it in a more-than-fair manner; you’ll have more impact that way.)
Also to be fair, Bill is ignorant of how the Internet works. HOWEVER, his staff should stop him from making a fool of himself in that regard – and he should be wise enough to allow them to do their job!
Canof (718d2b) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:07 amYep. Going after Bill O’Reilly is a GREAT strategy.
Obama and the Democrats have all the power to change America in ways that will bankrupt us, make us less safe and tax us for more government services we don’t want, like universal health care and you want to spend your energy policing Bill O’Reilly!
Good grief. Grow up!
SW1 (e50537) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:21 amBill-O is best watched using the DVR. You can watch a whole week in about 2 hours with the fast forward button at the ready. When the bloviating gets excessive, skip the rest of the segment and move on. Like someone mentioned, he not only doesn’t understand the Internet, but he’s afraid of the Internet. It is usually pretty funny what gets a bee in his bonnet, like that hilarious Will Ferrell video with the 2 year old girl playing the landlady — man we had to see him complaining about that for about 2 weeks.
Paul (fd3861) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:23 amI am more worried that Bill O’Reilly has started playing the “Left and the Right are both wrong” game.
In his comments, he cast himself as a smug moderate who is above the squibbles and rantings of people at the disdainful “extremes”–who need not be considered on merit, facts, or evidence…because they are at the “extremes”.
To me, hearing him ooze that night was like hearing the first sneeze of swine flu. He said things that a healthy mind does not say.
I fear that O’Reilly is flipped to the dark side.
Noam Gear (d89094) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:28 amBILL IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN EGOTISTACAL INDIVIDUAL. HIS SITE PROHIBITS FREE SPEECH
ron (a1a4a8) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:42 amBill O’Reilly the man who is afraid of the Rise of the Machines… people getting their information from the internet from a machine!
Why yes, Mr. O and the TV, by that definition, is a machine, too. Printing presses are machines, should we stop reading books because they were printed by machines? His anti-machine fetish is only over-topped by his ‘well I don’t know…’ schtick with Iraq where he famously proclaimed it lost just as the surge was starting up. Good job, Mr. O! You outlasted the liberals! How ‘moderate’.
Watch him for entertainment value, as his hyperbole deserves a mute button. I’m really glad that you can get re-runs of semi-serious programs on History and Discovery channel, not that they are all that much historical or discovering anything, still better than most of Mr. O…
Mr. O, whenever he pontificates, should have the tag-line: and then there is the loofah situation. Add rim-shot.
ajacksonian (87eccd) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:44 am[…] night, Bill O’Reilly apologized, as only O’Reilly could. He agreed that Hot Air editors didn’t write the inflammatory […]
Eric Berlin » Blog Archive » Wading into the swamp (317d33) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:46 amPerhaps he has a vendetta against Ms. Malkin because he tolerated an ignorant thug’s attack on her and she stood up to him and quit o’reilly’s show. Shows what a big man he is.
J (332b35) — 5/29/2009 @ 4:49 amHe has become enthralled with obama and will not tolerate any criticism of him, so that is also part of his problem.
Yep. The Hussein comment vs the Homos comment on his site are two completely different things. If you wanted to you could use that comment to demonize Bill’s site.
In the end, I think this is going to be a lesson for him to be careful about the internet. It’s not representative of everyone and even moderators can only do so much. Then again I have to give exception to sites like Kos. And only because it’s a REGULAR occurrence around there. Whereas on Hotair and even on his site, you’ll get the odd one out. These comments are mild in comparison to their death wishes.
xax (803b4b) — 5/29/2009 @ 5:25 amYep. The Hussein comment vs the Homos comment on his site are two completely different things. If you wanted to you could use that comment to demonize Bill’s site.
In the end, I think this is going to be a lesson for him to be careful about the internet. It’s not representative of everyone and even moderators can only do so much. Then again I have to give exception to sites like Kos. And only because it’s a REGULAR occurrence around there. Whereas on Hotair and even on his site, you’ll get the odd one out. These comments are mild in comparison to Kos’s death wishes.
xax (803b4b) — 5/29/2009 @ 5:28 am@xax: you’ve perhaps not visited freerepublic? I think its fair to say its the right wing equivalent of kos. Both are equally obnoxious to me.
sara (735f21) — 5/29/2009 @ 6:39 amTo be quite honest, after religiously watching Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin Zone since it’s inception, I am growing tired on his “Schtick” and his so called fair and balanced approach to news commentary.
I checked out his website and found the cost and agreements attached were a bigger rip off than the $26.00 I paid for his dreadful book “A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity.”
He has great guests appearances on his program, but his over developed ego, does not allow for the open discussion that needs to be heard.
Sorry Bill O’Reilly, your losing another fan..
Ken Z (2b8d82) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:33 amSomeone point O’Reilly to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and current interpretation in law of its applicability to blogs and blog comments.
SarahW (fdd722) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:36 amI must have missed something. I saw the clip in which he cited two “right wing” statements and then how many other “left wing” I don’t know. All I heard him say was a remark about blocking nominees. An error in attribution of the message does not constitute a smear. It would appear from the comments here that egotism is not just confined to Mr. O’Reilly.
Larry (8b5bb1) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:37 amLarry is an idiot.
Patterico – Great idea on driving traffic by hammering on O’Loofah.
JD (a0edad) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:40 am17, JVW, Oh, if we could get George back now. The man was a Democrat who knew his stuff and could knock the stuffing out of any Obamist.
PCD (02f8c1) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:43 amAn error in attribution of the message does not constitute a smear.
It does when he’s holding up that message as proof that Hot Air is “hateful.”
Jim Treacher (671d28) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:47 amLarry, there are some good remedial books on reading comprehension at your local library. The librarian will help you find them on the shelves if you ask nicely.
I’ve never been a fan of Bill O’Reilly myself, he is an ignorant gasbag. It frequently annoys me that he’s cited as “conservative” when his ideology is plainly not conservative but at best populist when not just stupid self-promotion.
SPQR (72771e) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:51 amI was a big fan of Bill’s for a long time, but am quickly becoming bored with HIM. He has some wonderful guests on, but I never get to hear their side….he constantly interrupts them with HIS opinion. And he is forever cutting his guests off with….”I get it, I get it already.”(how rude). Well maybe some of us in the viewing audience didn’t “get it”, and we’d like to hear more. Now with this whole blog thing….he simply looks foolish – it’s obvious he doesn’t know what he is talking about – he needs to move beyond email, that is if he is even at that level yet.
Linda B. (116744) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:51 amThe thing I can’t stand about O’Really? is the way he makes it a point NOT to criticize the president and always gives him the benefit of the doubt, to the point where he doesn’t hold him accountable. What is the use of investigative journalism if he refuses to come to the conclusion of the evidence? And always in the interest of ‘being fair and balanced’…
Rishika (29cf51) — 5/29/2009 @ 7:59 amBalance is a cardinal virtue of the liberal drone, and a symptom of cowardice.
But, SPQR, he is on Fox! Therefore, all conservatives watch O’Loofah breathlessly and religiously. Where else can we get our thoughts if we are not listening to Boss Limbaugh?
JD (a0edad) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:00 amFor a guy who continually bloviates how much a man of the people he is, his ignorance on this topic among many subjects never ceases to amaze. Probably what happens to most folks who make millions of dollars a year, take limos everywhere, and live their entire lives in self – imposed bubbles of isolation.
Dmac (1ddf7e) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:05 amBTW, I don’t watch his show, but his takedown regarding Krugman’s lies about him on the Chrissy Mathews show was epic – watching Krugman try to defend his inanities was truly hilarious.
Dmac (1ddf7e) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:07 amThis is absurd. Sharing a comment from a website and moving on without comment about the website is certainly not a smear, and you guys all look very whiny for claiming a smear.
He specifically pointed out that some comments get through the filters on all sites, including his own, so what exactly is your point?
Joshua Taj Bozeman (363480) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:26 am#48 Larry
Dr. Carlo Lombardi (2f452f) — 5/29/2009 @ 8:32 amMy condolences on the passing of your associates, Curly and Moe.
Joshua, as I’ve mentioned before, every library system has remedial reading coursework.
SPQR (72771e) — 5/29/2009 @ 9:28 amYou like O’Reilly, we get it. The fact remains that he used that comment as proof that “right-wing sites” are spewing “hate” about Sotomayor, and when he was called on it, he doubled down on his mistake. But I’m sure he appreciates your stalwart defense.
Jim Treacher (671d28) — 5/29/2009 @ 9:44 amKudos, Patt.
O’Reilly needs to be called out on this kind of garbage. He’s a very unsteady ally on the starboard side, and his self-righteous antics against bloggers are only one item on my s**t list against him.
dicentra (5fbaa0) — 5/29/2009 @ 10:34 amBut I’m sure he appreciates your stalwart defense
With “stawart defenses” like JoshTehBoozehound, I don’t know if he needs anymore comrades to come to his aid at this point.
Dmac (1ddf7e) — 5/29/2009 @ 11:22 amJD:
You poor puppy. Obviously conservative don’t do groupthink like you.
Maybe that’s why we’re for individual rights and responsibilities.
Try it sometime.
Bill Johnson (1e6c6d) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:15 pmO’Reilly is no Wally George, that’s for sure.
With apologies for the inside joke, I think Bill Johnson is wearing Jeffery Diamond’s socks.
carlitos (7d2345) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:23 pmWe’ll do it LIVE!
carlitos (7d2345) — 5/29/2009 @ 3:23 pmCommentators above have it exactly right.
GEORGE PUTNAM LIVES.
I burst out laughing at the comparison, it is spot on.
Xanthippe (826baa) — 5/30/2009 @ 1:50 pmBJ – That was pretty clumsy. Try again.
JD (241e9b) — 5/30/2009 @ 1:55 pm[…] Oh, wait. I just reviewed the Terms and Conditions again, and I believe I have found the relevant language: “4. Do not expose Bill O’Reilly as a rank hypocrite.” […]
Don’t pick a fight with the blogs | Hoystory (6855c0) — 5/30/2009 @ 2:49 pmO’Reilly has been described by his betters as Ted Baxter. I couldn’t put it better myself.
trentk269 (0481e9) — 5/30/2009 @ 6:32 pmI can not make no sense of these here post.
DeCrap IsHere (a88b7b) — 5/30/2009 @ 7:06 pmWhere is my post? I cant see it.
DeCrap IsHere (a88b7b) — 5/30/2009 @ 7:07 pm