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Why is Bill O'Reilly embarrassed to be called right-wing?

October 24, 2008 10:02 am ET by Eric Boehlert

In its Correction Box today the Washington Post writes:

A photo caption in the Oct. 22 Style section incorrectly referred to Bill O'Reilly as a "right-wing pundit." The Fox News host presents himself as an independent.

We assume that came via pushback from Fox News, which is notorious for hounding news outlets that suggest the channel has a conservative tilt.  

Couple things are curious here. First, in the past, Fox News execs have stressed that while its primetime hosts might be opinionated and lean right, its overall news organization plays it straight. That's their argument. So why the rush to claim one of its most opinionated primetime hosts, O'Reilly, doesn't have a conservative tilt?

Second, stressing that O'Reilly "presents himself as an independent" is odd, not only for the obvious reason that he doesn't really. But it's strange because it's not like the Post identified him as a Republican and O'Reilly doesn't want to be associated with a particular party, which would be understandable. The Post identified him as a conservative, as "right-wing," and still O'Reilly objected.  

When somebody like Bill O'Reilly doesn't even want to be associated with the conservative movement, you know it's in trouble. Who's next, Sean Hannity?

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    • Author by vwcat (October 24, 2008 11:40 am ET)
         

      I've noticed republicans and wingers running away from their once proud names.

      Wouldn't it be awesome if conservative became as radio active as the right tried to make liberal?  To hide from the name.

      I've often thought that it would be great if we progressives could band together and make the word conservative a dirty little name just like they did with liberal.  Serve them right.

      But, pols. like Gordon Smith and even in Mississippi are running away from their tag of conservative and even trying to link themselves not with their nominee but, with ours, Barack Obama.

      That is fun.

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    • Author by steeve (October 24, 2008 6:29 pm ET)
         
      O'Reilly is a "traditionalist". That means a conservative who sometimes attacks conservatives for not being conservative enough. Therefore, he attacks both liberals and conservatives. Therefore, he's "balanced".
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    • Author by jumperboon (October 25, 2008 11:51 am ET)
         
      Fox News is the media equivalent of Scientology.  They pursue and harass anyone that disagrees with them, create their own version of history and present reality and relentlessly latch on to has-been celebrities. 
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