O'Reilly defends comparing Helen Thomas to "the Wicked Witch of the East," attacks "liberal character assassins" at "corrupt" Media Matters
February 11, 2009 9:11 pm ET
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Bill O'Reilly 0.70 WMC/MMFA 0.30
It would have been a 0.75-0.25 had he not to the ad hominem about 9 minutes in.
Please substitue Bill O'Reilly for Media Matters and liberals for conservatives in the screen shot of O'Reilly's talking points memo. That would be a much better discussion for his show.
"He likened her voice to the wicked witch of the east."
And how exactly is that relevant? And in what way is that not a personal attack?
It's not hard to be conservative...all it takes is a lobotomy and a bib.
Sigtek,
Is Bill O'Reilly a journalist or just a piece of Sh*T.
Answer honestly. You can't have it both ways?
He says he's "fair and balanced." He says he's not a piece of Sh*t." Is he correct?
How do you get he was likening her voice to a witch from this:
O'Reilly: The White House press corps looked intimidated to me... Except for that, what's her name? The old lady, Helen Thomas. [squawking sound]
Colmes: Is that your Helen Thomas impression?
O'Reilly: Yea! [squawking sound]
Colmes: I didn't know you did impersonations.
O'Reilly: It's like the wicked witch of the east! If I were Obama, I would've poured water on her, and she would dissolve!
http://crooksandliars.com/node/25941
Sig has come to the defense of O'Racist, the seasoned veteran of FAux and am Hate Radio. That vicious MMFA had the audacity of questioning O'Racist's stupid comments and misogynistic behavior. How dare MMFA and how courageous of Sig to come to his rescue. Not!
And again, how is making fun of her age, voice and/or appearance at all relevant to any criticism of her question?
You attempted to excuse O'Reilly by saying that he was just criticizing her voice. I'm just wondering why you think that's an excuse.
Helen Thomas does not just ask hard questions of republican presidents, she holds them ALL accountable. You guys are so miffed because she asked Bush (how dare she??) if terrorists were hiding in Pakistan. Guess what? They are. And have been. For a long time. Bush always got mad at people who asked him questions he either didn't want to answer, or didn't like, and she got blacklisted for it.
So be it. Thomas still has more professionalism and experience in her little tiny finger than O'Reilly ever will. When they're both dead and gone, Thomas will be remembered for being a force of nature, and a great journalist, who held many Presidents and Press Secretaries to task. O'Reilly will be remembered for being an obnoxious bloviating lying moron.
"Bush always got mad at people who asked him questions he either didn't want to answer, or didn't like"
Or didn't know the answer to.
Helen Thomas is a hard-working journalist who is in her 80s and still goes to work every day. I sent her an email a while ago telling her how much I enjoyed her work, and got a very nice personal reply from her that referenced my message to her, so I know it wasn't auto-generated.
She a gracious woman who asks tough questions that should be asked, and that's why the wingnuts hate her. Too bad. Get over it.
Faux and O'Racist distorts the public record and attacks liberals with whom it disagrees.
Fixed.
E-mail to O'Dirtbag...
Dear Bill,
It was rather pathetic to watch you try to say you were only joking about the crappy little comments you made about Helen Thomas.
Bill, I watch your show, I'm a fan. But you look like such a wimp when you refuse--like most conservatives--to take responsibility for what you say.
You end up looking like a weenie. Maybe this is why we've gotten our asses kicked the last 2 elections? Please stand up and be a man.
dear sirs,
I would like to know why the woman's media center:did not ask mr. o'reilly why when to compare Helen Thomas to Sarah Palin that she did not say what the vice president ask about the mayor of new york .. always ending his speechs with a noun, verb and terrorists.. the same way sarah palin started and ended her speeches..noun, verb and bill ayers.
"I would like to know why the woman's media center:did not ask mr. o'reilly why when to compare Helen Thomas to Sarah Palin that she did not say what the vice president ask about the mayor of new york"
Could someone please translate the preceding into coherence for me?
Without knowing what your true motives were in what you said about Helen Thomas, it sure looked like you were trashing her.
Frankly I couldn't tell the difference. A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse.
Here's the letter I sent to him today after he tried to defend what he had said last night on this evening's broadcast.
You (nor any other news commentator) don't get to (legitimately and fairly) attack anyone on their voice. Attacking and denigrating her voice as sounding like the voice of a witch IS calling her a witch. Any defense of your behavior by you, where you parse words and say that you didn't call her a witch, you just said she sounded like a witch, is ludicrous!!!! What else could she be but a witch if she really did sound like a witch? Of course when you say she sounded like a witch, you were calling her a witch. Get real. Even you should have been cringing inside when you tried to use that defense! I fear you were not.
And then to compare yourself to Saturday Night Live? They mock people of all political stripes, and they're a comedy show. The feminist on your show on Wednesday evening didn't need to go after SNL when they parodied Sarah Palin in order to have legitimacy when she attacked you for going after Helen Thomas in an unfair way!
This is about you, Bill O'Reilly, first off, like the feminist said. Secondly, Tina Fey did a great impersonation of Sarah Palin, with typical SNL exaggerations of her character flaws and publically-known habits. They do that to all kinds of political characters and others from all walks of life, and they're a comedy show, remember. You're not.
You are not legitimately allowed to make fun of someone's characteristics over which they have no control. She was born with a voice that after 88 years is what it is. It's grossly unfair to make fun of her for it, or use it as a springboard for your humor. Likewise, it is unfair to look at blacks in an unfair way because of the color of their skin, or women because they are women and not men, or to make fun of disabled people because of their disabilities! Physical traits over which a person has no control have no business being fodder for your jokes!!!
It's okay to attack people because of their behavior, and their philosophy, and their politics, if one is a news commentator like you are.
It's okay for SNL to attack people for virtually any reason.
I wish you understood this. I fear you never will. It really aggrevating that I have to try to explain this to you. It's simple common sense and common courtesy to know that it's unfair to attack someone because of their voice or other physical characteristics.
Commenting or joking about personal appearance isn't funny no matter who does it. Saying somebody does it to both sides does not excuse it, nor does saying someone is a comedian.
Not funny.
You may not find it funny when SNL makes fun of the way someone looks or talks.
They're still allowed to do it.
Bill O'Reilly can't legitimately do it.
Glad that point skimmed right over your head!
Bill is "allowed" to do it too.
He just did.
Who's stopping him?
Is he being reprimanded, fired, anything???
Wow, in one ear and out the other, huh?
He can't legitimately do it.
People are "allowed" to murder other people. They can't do it legitimately, but they still do it. It's wrong.
It's wrong for O'Reilly to make personal attacks on things that people can't change, like their voice. It's wrong to discriminate against people because of the color of their skin. People are allowed to do it, even if it's wrong, because we don't live in a prison state where the first offense is a capital offense. O'Reilly is wrong to make fun of Helen Thomas this way. SNL is allowed to make fun of people, because they're a comedy show. He's not a comedian. He's not allowed the same latitude to do stuff legitimately. He can do almost anything, but not everything he does is legitimate. This is one of the illegitimate things he's done.
The Fox and right wing tactic is to attack any and all who speak out and especially if they're "liberal".
They've actually won court cases giving them the right to lie on-air
Dear Mr O'Reilly:
Andrea Mackris.
Loofah.
Hilarious pornography written by you.
Lawsuit against Al Franken thrown out of court by a judge who laughed at you.
Senator Al Franken.
Keith Olbermann.
Helen Thomas is far more respected than you ever will be.
Shut up!
Signed,
Me
Are you blessed with a normal non-witchy aryan nose?
Well, all right. If you want to say that calling Helen Thomas a 'witch' is legitimate because it is a 'fact' then I suppose it's just as legitimate to call YOU a worthless t*rd simply because that is a 'fact' as well.
How's dem apples, dude?
Picking on someone (and saying she looks like a witch is picking on her, it;s not a compliment) for the way they look is unfair.
Picking on them because of a behavior is okay for O'Reilly to do. Picking on her because she looks or sounds like a witch is not okay for him to do.
Actually, BILL, MMFA just points out YOUR half truths and lies.