Patterico's Pontifications

5/27/2009

Smear: Bill O’Reilly Takes Silly Hot Air Comment And Calls It “Blog Posting”

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:08 pm



See if you can spot the problem with this still image from Bill O’Reilly’s show today:

(Image via Doubleplusundead.)

The problem, of course, is that neither Ed Morrissey nor Allahpundit would ever say something like that. You have probably already guessed (with help from the post title!) that the “blog posting” in question is actually a comment from their site — made by someone who evidently has paid no attention to Ed’s and Allah’s disdain for the use of the name “Hussein” to refer to Barack Obama.

I came this close to paying $4.95 to sign up to O’Reilly’s site for a month so I could troll his message boards for idiotic “Bill O’Reilly blog postings.” But I didn’t want to give him the money. Luckily, ginalou came to my aid. Behold:


Above: Bill O’Reilly blog posting

There have to be even better Bill O’Reilly blog postings. Anyone else a member?

P.S. Allahpundit responds here.

70 Responses to “Smear: Bill O’Reilly Takes Silly Hot Air Comment And Calls It “Blog Posting””

  1. 1. I have no idea the context used so maybe much ado about nothing. Willing to hear otherwise.

    2. I understood this was a poster’s comment and not anything editorial from the owner’s of the Blog.

    3. Yes, BOR should make it clearer b/c visually it looks bad.

    4 Not a fan.

    … but I am more a reader than visual …. but if you juxtapose a logo of GE next to the Iranian flag I would not come to too many conclusions though others would.

    But I am likely all wet.

    HeavenSent (1e97ff)

  2. O’Reilly is really just a pompous blowhard.

    JD (acaf96)

  3. #2, yes but that is Ad Hominem and not of much use in debating this matter. But yeah he is full of crap on many issues as well as being quite happy with himself.

    HeavenSent (1e97ff)

  4. When O’Reilly mentions the internet, it is usually with some disgust and disdain. Apparently he doesn’t use it and sees it far more as a place of potential dangers rather than a godsend for the curious. Not that he is incurious, or perhaps he is, but I would bet his staff were more savvy about taking comments and making them appear as a post. Perhaps he makes the decisions about those things, and no matter how ignorant he may be, the minions follow. He seems a tad power mad.

    Dana (aedf1d)

  5. #4, I think his position is that Blog Owner’s should be responsible for the blog comments made by non-affiliated posters. He has been hyper critical of Kos, et al. With that said, I think O’Reilly kind of misses the whole damn point of what a Blog is and it is a MSM bias.

    HeavenSent (1e97ff)

  6. Well of course he’s ignorant about blogs, and ignorant of his own ignorance. Considering Mary Katherine Ham is one of his regulars (Policing the Internet), perhaps she’ll gently inform him that he has made a serious error and good form requires him to apologize.

    I see that going over really well with him.

    Dana (aedf1d)

  7. And what exactly is false that was stated in that comment posting on the hot air site? It appears to be 100% factually correct.

    cubanbob (409ac2)

  8. Blog ignorance seems to be a non-partisan disease.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407)

  9. Can something be absolutely true and an ad hominem at the exact same time?

    JD (acaf96)

  10. Congrats to the Lakers for their good win tonite. I cannot stand the Lakers, but I dislike the trash-talking thuggishness of Kenyon Martin and JR Smith from the Nuggets.

    JD (acaf96)

  11. I’m guessing O’Reilly has researchers and a producer that are largely responsible. I see it as impossible that none of them knew the difference between a blog posting and a public comment. I’m guessing, instead, that they intend to say that Hot Air is an organization that includes both bloggers and commenters. So they would differentiate between the O’Reilly site, an individual’s site, and Hot Air, a group site.

    That said, it seems pretty weak and it’s likely that O’Reilly will apologize pretty quickly when he finds out. And I bet he admonishes, at least indirectly, the culprits. But with O’Reilly, who knows. It’s all about Bill so it’s hard to know where his ego will take him.

    EBJ (437cb7)

  12. O’Reilly is a TV guy and he really, probably, doesn’t understand this intertube thingy at all.

    But, his staff does. I really don’t understand how he could have made such a stupid mistake, except, he’s a TV guy, who doesn’t listen to his staff that does, indeed, understand this intertube thingy at all.

    Maybe he’s trying to distance himself from the nutcases. But, I really doubt it if he’s basing a comment on “Hot Air” to indict the site.

    He lives in a vacuum. Not the same vacuum as say, Katie and Matt or Keith and Rachel, or the President, but a vacuum, nonetheless.

    Ag80 (425b0a)

  13. That vacuum that houses Keith and Rachel is a bad bad bad vacuum. It is not a Dyson.

    JD (acaf96)

  14. Better Half asked for a Dyson, and I said yes, having no clue what it was, nor how much something like that might cost. She is tricky that way.

    JD (acaf96)

  15. I quit watching the O’Reilly Factor when I realized his “no spin zone” was, in fact, the “no one else’s spin zone”.
    (Maybe Bill will feature this “blog post” on his show!)

    Karl Lembke (b21f28)

  16. I don’t like O’Reilly because of this kind of stuff. Of course, I agree with him a lot of the time, but I want to listen to people who know what they’re talking about.

    I listen to Hugh Hewitt on occasion, and I do respect him. He’s a smart guy.

    Today he had on Larry O’Donnell (I hope I didn’t misspell the name) who said the most incredibly stupid things I’ve heard in a long time.

    I don’t listen to Hannity, although I think he’s probably an OK guy, for pretty much the same reason

    Ag80 (425b0a)

  17. Ag – Do you know where I could read a transcript of the Hewitt O’Donnell interview? I heard that Larry went krazy, and Hugh vivisected him.

    JD (acaf96)

  18. O’Reilly tends toward bombast which some seem to think makes great TV. I will say that on the basics I tend to agree more than not, though I am not a regular viewer. That said, wasn’t Michelle Malkin (who was one of the founders of Hot Air) once closely affiliated with O’Reilly’s The Factor? As I recall she was a regular guest and frequent fill in host. I seem to remember there might have been a fall out last year or the year before.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  19. JD:

    You might try this link:

    Hewitt and O’Donnell.

    If that doesn’t work try townhall.com and look around.

    Ag80 (425b0a)

  20. JD, Check his web site in a day or so. He may have a link to a transcript by then. You can also download podcasts of his shows.

    Stu707 (471645)

  21. JD:

    Also, sorry, that’s not a transcript, but the audio.

    Ag80 (425b0a)

  22. I laugh that someone came here and said ‘this is factually correct’.

    I knew, as soon as I saw this on Instapundit, that patterico’s blog would discuss it and that one of the trolls would come right in with that line.

    This, however, exposes the problem. Words mean something. An anonymous comment is not a blog post, specifically because it’s not something that the blog owner has made. It’s really simple, but also really easy to lie about.

    This is another example of O’Reilly attempting to slam the internet. he’s had a huge problem with all things internet for quite some time… and who can blame him? I can get more information in 60 seconds off the internet that I’ll hear from his show in an hour. O’Reilly has wisely decided that he can only fight for what’s left: the chronically uninformed.

    Juan (4cdfb7)

  23. Clair5as:

    What the hell are you posting about? Stupid troll. Can that post be deleted?

    Ag80 (425b0a)

  24. Ag80 at 24 – I think that is just regular comment spam. I imagine that the link in Clair5as’ is to a site that is less than wholesome. (Not going myself. I just had to scrub the sysguard.exe trojan out of my system and am not risking that nightmare again anytime soon.)

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  25. Cheap V1@gra 4u! Comments as such should applauded be.

    carlitos (a0089e)

  26. There must be a very good spam filter here, because that stuff almost never gets through. Over at A Brief History, we get scores of spam every day.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407)

  27. […] to say that he does not understand the intertubes at all.  In that respect he is an ultra-maroon.  Patterico has […]

    Gazzer’s Gabfest » O’Reilly, Oh really… (b98ad6)

  28. I agree with HeavenSent at #5, but O’Reilly did have Amanda Carpenter on as the internet expert when he did the story. I saw the clip and Amanda Carpenter didn’t say anything. To be fair, she might have not seen the graphic but she definitely needs to talk to O’Reilly and get him off of this kick.

    liontooth (c6d5a7)

  29. liontooth, you can pretty much bet on her not having any idea what they were talking about or being given any sourcing or feed. She did not know that Bill was lying. Not her fault… she was perhaps being set up.

    I only watch Bill once in a blue moon, but he doesn’t do the whole ‘discussion’ thing. He likes ambush interviews in parking lots, muting microphones, asking softball questions, and having sycophants on. His interview with Barack was the last one of his I watched.

    He’s better than Olbermann, I guess. The NYT is better than Pravda I guess.

    Juan (4cdfb7)

  30. O’Reilly is still angling for a news anchor job at CBS/NBC/ABC. He’ll persist in deriding all sources of information that are not part of corporate media. This is basically a ploy for ratings, and ultimate truth takes a backseat to attracting viewers. He cares not if his viewers are happy with him or hostile toward him – they are all viewers.
    .
    As entertainment and informative value goes, I put his programming in the bottom 5%. He’s boring, a boor, and a simpleton.

    cboldt (3d73dd)

  31. [Comment by Dark Beergod — 5/28/2009 @ 3:55 am]

    I strongly suspect you’re doing a Bill O’Reilly imitation. You have the stupid part down. Now work on the outrageous.

    Dusty (7bba43)

  32. you have to be kidding. hell , this is the truth as Obama is a socialist as are in all probability his picks. this comment is mild compared to the leftist blogs and this is nit picking and silly.

    d. everette (777391)

  33. I am unbanned both by Patterico and AllahP, and I submit that I am the epitome of uppity.
    That is false, darkbeergod.

    wheeler's cat (3e296e)

  34. The example post is mild. But one wonders why O’Reilly seems obsessed with reporting on pageant queens, female teachers who have sex with their male students, spring break for co-eds, young girls sending nude cell phone pictures, etc., etc., etc.,…Oh, lemme think, could it be the same reason every woman on his show has a plunging neckline?

    There is more substance and cogent thought in one line from Patterico then in one year of O’Reilly’s incoherent meanderings. But Patterico, Hot Air, Gateway, et al, don’t run B-roll of half naked girls.

    Not that I wouldn’t mind a little ankle, now and then.

    Mike (8c4793)

  35. JD, transcript is up at hugh hewitt’s blog, but the whole first hour is good listening – he had Christopher Hitchens on to discuss North Korea beforehand.

    Patterico never bans anyone without advance notice and an explanation of why.

    carlitos (be9241)

  36. My God, I just looked up the mediamatters source for Dark Beergod’s assertion, and that show was in 2006. I’m no Bill O’Reilly fan, but geez, get some new material.

    carlitos (be9241)

  37. Last year I wrote him about the difference between blog posters and commenters and compared it to editorials and letters to the editor. He put my e-mail on the air and ridiculed me saying that editors control the comments printed. They also changed my e-mail slightly but didn’t really change my message. So after last night I sent him this e-mail:

    Mr. O’Reilly;

    Concerning the Supreme Court nominee, you continue to confuse blog posts by the website with those of commenters. Yes, the website has control over comments just as you do, but I don’t confuse your opinions with those of the comments from cool aid drinker e-mailers selected for your program.

    amr (4e0dda)

  38. The trolls are almost as lame as O’Reilly. I watch him about one third of the time but he is a blowhard and gets off on these child abuse stories. He also has a very weak understanding of economics and every time the price of gas goes up, he gets his panties in a twist about oil companies. I expect he will start in on them again soon.

    Anybody who has read a lot of primary source material on World War II knows there were lots of summary executions, especially of SS who were rare in POW camps. Ditto for Japanese after the early days on Guadalcanal showed that it was dangerous to try to treat wounded Japanese soldiers. Most primary military sources note that the most dangerous time for those who surrendered was the first hour before they were taken behind the lines. This was true of both sides in Europe. It was far less true of WWI where there really were Christmas armistices and cooperation in retrieving wounded.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  39. #36 None of us were there to know what happened exactly. I will say this, however: I was an infantryman in Viet Nam and things get heated under certain conditions. Saw some things I won’t discuss. Olberman is the one you should be dulling your bayonet on.

    Larry (8b5bb1)

  40. 40, Carlitos, you need a decontamination shower after going to mediamatters, a torture worse than a bungled waterboarding.

    Bill O ought to stick to things like the Dallas hospital where a noncitizen African ripped down another employee’s US Flag put up for Memorial Day, and that atrocity was compounded by the Hospital berating the employee for putting up the flag, and by that employee’s supervisor putting that US Flag on the FLOOR of their office.

    There should be some firings at this Dallas Hospital. I got the link to the story at my blog since Drudge dropped it from his page.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  41. Conservatives must tread lightly lest LGF think everyone is a Nazi!!!

    Demetri (6e2326)

  42. I know this is no consolation, but O’Reilly does that with the left, too. He makes no distinction between DailyKos blog posts and comments and uses the most incendiary comments to characterize the whole site. I was actually surprised he singled out sites on the right last night, in addition to his usual targets. Every major site is going to attract extremists. I think sites should be judged on their overall tone.

    I agree with #4. O’Reilly sees the Internet as this dangerous place populated by creeps and weirdos.

    Myron (98529a)

  43. Dark Beergod, if you are interested in law about blog comments, go a review Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 United States Code section 230(c)) and current holdings on it’s application to “bloggers”.

    A blogger does not turn a comment into his own content even if he were to removes other posts for crossing whatever line he wishes to create for unacceptability. Your suggested vision of the law, is not in concert with present reality.

    SarahW (fdd722)

  44. “moneyremix” really told me why O’Reilly sucks – he’s a “jag-off,” a “weirdo with a bad haircut,” and he’s an “ego-centric, biased vermin who spreads nothing but fear, hate and misunderstanding.”

    Well said, sir. May I subscribe to your newsletter, for more penetrating insight?

    carlitos (be9241)

  45. “This is why Bill O’Reilly sucks…”

    I tend to agree that he sucks because of the boorish mannner, but I see no indication of why here… just the repeated assertion that he does, based on his perceived politics.

    Reminds me of when Letterman told him his positions were BS, and then had to admit that he could not state a single one of them, having never watched BOR’s show! I wrote to Letterman and told him you have to try pretty hard to make BOR look smart, but that he had risen to the challenge!

    sherlock (bbc421)

  46. I’m not sure why anyone reads, watches, or listens to O’Reilly’s drivel. Has he called Matt Drudge “a threat to democracy” recently?

    That being said, I’m not sure why anyone reads Hot Air and the drivel that AllahPundit posts on there. I stopped reading that jerk after he decided to attack Mary Katharine Ham for two hours on Twitter because she went to the White House Correspondents Dinner.

    Timothy Watson (e38177)

  47. I smell a pansy.
    And it’s too bad it’s true that Obama, the left, and his pick DO believe that empathy is important and threw that pesky little thing called the law and the constitution out with the trash. There is no room for “empathy” in the law. What happened to blind justice. Now go home, your mother is calling.

    JN (71c90d)

  48. #9, Yes.

    FWIW, you presented an Ad Hominem attack in #2 which had nothing to do the debate over whether BoR mis-respresented something on a Blog.

    But hey, it is all goode

    HeavenSent (1e97ff)

  49. racist beergod appears to have reached the bottom of the keg.

    JD (e738c0)

  50. .. and in comparision to KOS or Olberdouche — this is nothing.

    As stated earlier, use the knife on Olberdouche instead.

    HeavenSent (1e97ff)

  51. Sarah, Dark Beergod’s vision of the law matches his understanding of history. Which is to say in its incompetence.

    SPQR (72771e)

  52. Dark. I didn’t hear O’Reilly’s comment about Malmedy, but such a comment would, as you note, be completely wrong (though what does one expect from a Harvard Grad?).

    Nonetheless, a similar event did occur after the Battle of the Bulge in which numerous German infiltrators were executed because they dressed in US Army uniforms in an effort to confuse the Allied response to their offensive.

    And there was nothing wrong, or illegal, about this. It was expected under the Rules of War. Five of the six German spies who landed in the US during WWII suffered the same fate (the one who disclosed the plot received jail due to his cooperation). Again, this was the rule, as it was for allied intelligence operatives (okay…spies) who entered German-held territory in civilian attire. This was a given.

    Capturees received a battlefield “hearing” to determine their status. If found to be a spy, they were executed.

    The point is that the Geneva Conventions were overhauled after WWII…the current ones date to 1949, with additional protocols from even later (the US hasn’t signed these and is therefore not bound…though we shouldn’t give Pres. Obama any ideas). It is unclear whether such summary executions would be permitted under the new conventions. This too is a legal/historical subtlety that, based upon your report of O’Reilly’s comments, is completely lost on the proprietor of “The No-Spin Zone”.

    Slainte

    Blaise MacLean (445965)

  53. Anyone starting to notice any of the similarities with this most recent visitor?

    JD (84e317)

  54. Do we have an agreement, albeit not unanimous, that O’Reilly is a pompous blowhard?

    JD (84e317)

  55. JD, affirmative.

    SPQR (72771e)

  56. Some people are just too touchy!

    The Emperor (09c9e3)

  57. I think of him more as a populist media whore…but pompous blowhard works, too

    Steverino (69d941)

  58. Blaise, especially after Malmedy, German prisoners in SS uniform often did not make it back to the rear alive.

    SPQR (72771e)

  59. And its equally false – as a matter of logic.

    SPQR (72771e)

  60. Dark Beergod-

    By that logic, doesn’t the government imply its approval of all speech it protects or does not censor? Statements like “God exists”, or “Christ is Lord”, for example?

    CliveStaples (b591b3)

  61. Given that Patterico regularly bans liberal commenters who persist in riling the regulars,

    Give some examples or admit that you’re lying once again, LightHorseFace.

    As for O’Reilly, does he still like Loofah scrubs?

    Dmac (1ddf7e)

  62. Comment by CliveStaples — 5/28/2009 @ 1:50 pm

    Huh?

    The Emperor (09c9e3)

  63. RacistBeerDude appears to want to persist with his lies about our host’s conduct. Strikes me as a bad idea, but YMMV. Lovie not understanding something is as common as the days of the week ending with the letter y.

    JD (f8b50e)

  64. I have to admit that, between O’Reilly, Limbaugh and Hannity, O’Reilly is by far the most listenable. He’s an arrogant blowhard, yes, but at least he’s an entertaining one.

    Sean P (e57269)

  65. cable tv news is of the devil

    happyfeet (2d133f)

  66. [spam deleted]

    Motor114 (6d152c)


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