O'Reilly: "I very rarely discuss the Clintons" with Dick Morris
On the October 11 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly claimed that he "very rarely" discusses Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton with political analyst Dick Morris, a former adviser to President Clinton.
Yet a Media Matters for America review revealed that in 2005 alone, prior to claiming he "very rarely" does so, O'Reilly discussed one or both of the Clintons with Morris at least 17 times on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, including January 5; February 3 and 9; March 3, 10, 24, and 31*; April 14 and 21; May 24; July 11, 18, and 26; August 1 and 8; and September 12 and 19. In fact, the day after making this claim, O'Reilly discussed Sen. Clinton's (D-NY) potential presidential candidacy with Morris on the October 12 broadcast of The Radio Factor, and then again on the October 13 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor.
O'Reilly has often looked to Morris for the "real" story concerning the Clintons. For example, on the September 19 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, he led off a segment with Morris:
O'REILLY: Now for the top story tonight. What's the real reason Clinton broadsided Bush? Joining us now from Las Vegas, where he's appearing with Wayne Newton, political analyst Dick Morris.
Further, O'Reilly's interest in Morris's knowledge of the Clintons has not been limited to politics. A lead-in for a Morris interview from the March 10 edition of The O'Reilly Factor previewed Morris's assessment of the severity of Bill Clinton's heart ailments:
O'REILLY: "Impact" segment tonight: President Clinton had another heart procedure done today. He is 58 years old. And his appearance has changed recently. You probably have noticed that. Question is, how sick is Mr. Clinton?
Media Matters identified only one appearance by Morris on The O'Reilly Factor this year in which neither he nor O'Reilly brought up one of the Clintons. That was January 20, when the discussion focused on Bush and his inaugural address.
From the October 11 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: Right. It's just like I'm so Kool-Aid-driven, I don't care, and it doesn't matter. And Dick Morris, we use as a political analyst because he was there. Yeah, does he have an anti-Clinton bias? Sure. But I very rarely discuss the Clintons with him. It's usually something else. Much more on Bush, where he comes in and he gives us, look, pretty good -- I'd say pretty good political analysis. We do very well with him ratings-wise.
Is there anything else that Dick could discuss? He has yet another book out on what, the Clintons. Time for hime to get off of the Clinton gravy train. I guess he and O'Reilly could discuss their personal sex scandals.
If you think about it, the whole Republican party has been riding the Clinton gravy train for ten years. People like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter got rich from it. Why give up a good thing? They know that if their base starts to go soft on them, all they have to do is show them a picture of Hillary, and the Pavlovian response sets in.
That's an understatement. The far right is absolutely apoplectic over a possible Hillary run in '08. You should listen to Hannity sometime. Talking about the Clintons is their "bread and butter". My prediction is history will be kinder to Clinton than Bush (W).
History has already b e e n kinder to Clinton than to Bush. They thought they had another Reagan to their hands. Instead they got Hoover II.
Actually nobody has done more to wipe away all negative memory for Clinton than George W. Bush.
The Clintons is almost ALL MORRIS EVER TALKS ABOUT. If anybody talks to Morris at all, you are talking about the Clintons almost by definition. Unless he is bashing other Democrats.
Too funny! If not for Clinton bashing both would be in soup lines!
Orwell would be proud of this one for sure!
Hey MMFA! Whats the matter with you? Do you want dear Billy to be overcome with rage when he reads this? I mean you are really starting to freak the guy out now!
Does this REALLY qualify as conservative misinformation, or JUST O'Reilly "misinformation"? And shouldn't THIS thread be in the Right-Hand Column?
MMFA doesn't mention the TOTAL amount of times Morris has appeared on either Radio Factor or The O'Reilly Factor...IF it was 35 or MORE times, then O'Reilly and he did indeed talk about other things, though using "rarely" still isn't an accurate description...IF Morris has appeared many more times, say 50 or more, then maybe O'Reilly should have used the word "occasionally".
I watch O'Reilly, and Morris seems to be on almost every other week...
If you and I see each other maybe 15-20 times in a year...would I tell someone I only see you rarely? Would occasionally be a better word to describe the frequency?
Ok, I'm NOT really trying to make an argument for O'Reilly, and I think Dick Morris is a sleaze. But I'm not sure what MMFA expects us to post about this topic ...I mean the posts here are bound to go OFF-TOPIC, get Flagged, then the entire thread gets deleted. You know how that seems to go....
Back to work...Lata.
Does this REALLY qualify as conservative misinformation, or JUST O'Reilly "misinformation"?
They are one and the same. In essence, this particular item is about O'Reilly trying to spin the fact that he bashes the Clintons every chance he gets. It IS misinformation on its face.
And, as someone mentioned earlier, the only reason anyone talks to Dick Morris is to bash the Clintons.
Even when Morris is busy promoting Condi for the next President, he sells it as the only chance to stop you know who, Hillary.
The Clintons are Morris' idée fixe to be sure.
What caused this Clinton hatred? They didn't stick by him when he was having a problem with the feet thing? I know it's awful but whenever I see the O'reilly and Morris together I get these horrific images in my head.
"What caused this Clinton hatred? They didn't stick by him when he was having a problem with the feet thing? I know it's awful but whenever I see the O'reilly and Morris together I get these horrific images in my head." -Lynn-
I can't remember what caused their "falling out" either. I'm sure I knew at one time, must be my age...my 50th is just around the corner :(
Does anyone here remember?
Ever notice his eyes when he's talking about Bill or Hillary? He looks kind of crazed!!
"Even when Morris is busy promoting Condi for the next President, he sells it as the only chance to stop you know who, Hillary. The Clintons are Morris' idée fixe to be sure." -open_mind-
Morris's obsession with all things Clinton is maniacal and makes him appear a tad unhinged. The man has a chip on his shoulder that would seem to be the size of a boulder and just continues to keep growing. His entire existence clearly revolves around revenge towards Bill and Hillary and he apparently has decided to dog them till his or their final breaths. Of course he's seen as nothing more than an angry man with a huge grudge to most sensible people who understand his motives, but he is welcomed by the O'Reilly's and Hannity's as some sort of authority on Bill and Hillary simply because they can't get enough of the Clinton bashing.
The real irony is that Dick would be nowhere if he were not a former Clinton insider; it's the only reason Fox loves him so much. In a way, he owes his fame and fortune to the Clintons.
"They are one and the same." --No, they are not. One is important, the other is trivial. O'Reilly was speaking about himself, about an unimportant topic; he made a brief offhand comment. Who was misinformed? Even if people were, how is it important for them to know the "truth" about something as vital as...Bill O'Reilly's discussion subjects with Dick Morris.
"In essence, this particular item is about O'Reilly trying to spin the fact that he bashes the Clintons every chance he gets. It IS misinformation on its face." --O'Reilly is not trying to "spin" the fact that he bashes the Clintons "every chance he gets." You are missing the entire topic, which is that O'Reilly said he rarely talks about the Clintons with Dick Morris. It's not about O'Reilly's criticisms of the Clintons overall. It's about Dick Morris and O'Reilly's Clinton-related discussions with him. It's stupid and trivial.
"And, as someone mentioned earlier, the only reason anyone talks to Dick Morris is to bash the Clintons." --So what?
I tend to agree with you on this one, jeter2. One could certainly point out that O'Reilly is making a false claim of fact, rather than just a rhetorical flourish. (They discuss Clinton essentially every time Morris is on the show.) But the fact in question is just about his show; it's not a fact about the real, external world that anyone might consider relevent to a political debate. It just illustrates that O'Reilly is a blowhard, and so belongs in the right column.
I prefer to think O'Reilly just misspoke. Replace "very rarely" with "frequently" or "nearly always" and the sentence makes perfect sense.
MMFA should just create a dedicated Fox News thread and count the lies and distortions in real time, in the spirit of the U.S. National Debt Clock. I predict they will eclipse the USNDC in a few weeks.
The national debt clock is at about 8.0 X 10^12 dollars. There are only about 6.0 X 10^5 seconds in a week. Fox would have to spew on the order of a million lies per second in order to eclipse the national debt clock in a year. I don't think even they can approach that rate.
Clinton's been out of office for five years now! So I think it's time for Morris and the entire staff at Fox News to GET OVER IT and talk about something else.
Morris can't and won't get over the Clintons. They are his meal ticket, mortgage payment, and Fox VIP insider pass all rolled into one. Without them he's just another sad little has-been political huckster with nothing to peddle.
yes, still wondering why O'reily wasn't investigated and tossed of the air for this:
[link to www.democracynow.org]
The only reason I can think of is that Roger Ailles KNOWS he runs an intentionally deceptive propaganda network designed to compete with Pravda of old, intentionally deceiving the American public. At least in Russia, the people who watched Pravda knew they were being fed a pantload. FOX viewers don't know they are being intentionally deceived.
Is there any wonder why people on the right are so grossly wrong in their perceptions of reality?
Frankly, given what the Professor says, the FCC should jerk FOX's license.
O'Reilly rarely mentions the Clintons?? What??? Every night it seems that Loofah Bill is trashing them. Some items for your perusal.
1.) O'Reilly once threatened to run against Hillary in 2006 becuase he could stop her. What happened Bill?
2.) Hillary's book sold more copies than O'Reilly's. When Drudge exposed this, Bill went nuts.
3.) Morris's grudge against the Clintons comes from when in 1996 his relationship with a prostitute was exposed and the Clinton's dropped him. Think Fox will ever report this.
PS Acoording to reports Morris liked to seranade his lady with the theme from Popeye before moving on. What a riot!
"According to reports Morris liked to serenade his lady with the theme from Popeye before moving on. What a riot!"
His lady??? Please? LOL! Turncoat Dick strikes me as yet another one of the closeted HomoCons such as Dreir and Mehlman.
God,if I had a quarter for every time someone deflected a question during a political debate about this administration by saying something about the clintons, I'd be loaded. The only reason conservatives and republicans hate clinton so much is because they have been told to hate him by right wing politicians. No one really cares about clinton that much, only right wingers who are upset that he lasted 2 terms and was extremely popular despite there constant harassing of the guy.
vega:
Playing "the Clinton card" is the tactic these rightwing demagogues use the most.
When Bush was being "analyzed" for his terrible video-link discussion with those 12 soldiers in Iraq, the criticism was that the Bush press secretary DENIED it was staged, when the staging was all on tape. It wasn't just that it was another scripted and staged photo-op, it was that they LIED and said it was not.
In any event, Rush Limbaugh's knee jerked, and he lit into recalling a photo-op of Clinton's, one where he was in Europe walking on a beach, and arranged some stones to make a cross.
Silly? Sure. Effective? You bet; Europe LOVES Clinton, did then, and do to this day. Was anyone, any soldier, told what to say? Nope.
But Limbaugh was directly making an equivalence: Yes, Bush scripted/staged this event, but SO DID CLINTON.
What Limbaugh doesn't realize is that when Clinton did his staged pieces, Limbaugh was all over him for being a phony and an opportunist and guilty of contemptable behavior.
By drawing such an equivalence with Bush, one would think Limbaugh would realize that he is only broadcasting his own hypocricy. He roundly bashed Clinton, but when Bush does "the same thing", Limbaugh eats it up without an ounce of criticism.
Rightwingers love this tactic, until they are called on it. Back when Clinton was being bashed for "woman troubles", the rightwing were quick to say "this is no different than when Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual perversion." Fine, I would say, are you suggesting then that Clinton be given his job for LIFE, as Clarence Thomas was?
This would shut them up pretty quick. Turns out, it wasn't as "the same" as they claimed. LOL
So, OK, Rush. You're right. Clinton's staged photo-op was silly and contemptable and phony. Just like your hero, Bush. You win the argument!
This is a silly post. O'Reilly's "misinformation" is that he said he doesn't talk about the Clintons with Dick Morris? And MM thinks this is important to anyone, anywhere?
Silly? Ok, a valid opinion. Nevertheless, this post exposes yet another lie. Yes, this is important because it serves to show that O'Reilly, a celebrity who commands a very large audience, has a vendetta against the Clintons and will do anything in his power to attack and embarass them while all the while denying that he engages in such activity. Bill is so paranoid that he thinks if Hillary becomes president, she will send IRS agents to his mansion to take all his money away.
Give it a rest, kenkong the "liberal". Your "is-this-worth-talking-about" schtick is fooling NOBODY.
If you're as opposed to this website and it's content as you often appear to be, why do you bother coming by? Certainly it can't be to refute their articles as I don't think I've seen any evidence/opinion from you not get torn apart. Can you be anything else besides antagonistic?
Morris doesn't talk about Clintons and Bennett isn't a racist...what's next, dubyah didn't send U.S. troops to Iraq? ROFL. Faux is certainly on its "A" game as of late.
O'Reilly is a hidden sex pervert, who tried to played this righteous role and his show suck!!!!
Am I the only one who sees this? Morris never seems to get very upset about the Clintons politics,but when he starts talking about Bill C.'s "betrayal", or "using people", Morris is often close to tears.Like much of the violently anti-gay far Right, Morris seems to have had a schoolgirl crush on Bill Clinton(see Medved also) Morris' political position with Clinton was temporary, like a high-school girlfriend's with the quarterback,& O'Reilly's show is his tear-stained diary. I've been told I have excellent Gaydar for a straight guy,& have felt for quite a while that if it were acceptable to "come out" in the GOP,thousands of deaths could be prevented. PS-Morris & Medved: quit mentionong your wives so much.We get it! You like girls! LOL
Fox would have to spew on the order of a million lies per second in order to eclipse the national debt clock in a year. I don't think even they can approach that rate.
by ichbin - Friday October 14, 2005 06:52:59 PM EST ====
No, but if it were physically possible to do so, I'll bet FNC would give it a shot.
Plato
Why would O'Reilly feel compelled to claim he "rarely" discusses the Clintons with Morris?
Simple. If he acknowledged the TRUTH that he OFTEN discusses the Clintons, and does so almost exclusively when talking with Morris, then he is admitting his unhealthy obsession with the former president. Such an obsession is unseemly and tawdry, and reveals O'Reilly as petty and small.
So he instead adds "liar" to the list of contemptable traits which he seeks to deny.
Remember, there is always a REASON why rightwingers choose to lie, and that reason is that the TRUTH always puts them in a very bad light. Such lies always tell much more about the character of the liar than it illuminates anything about the subject matter they lie about.
Why would O'Reilly feel compelled to claim he "rarely" discusses the Clintons with Morris?
Simple. If he acknowledged the TRUTH that he OFTEN discusses the Clintons, and does so almost exclusively when talking with Morris, then he is admitting his unhealthy obsession with the former president. Such an obsession is unseemly and tawdry, and reveals O'Reilly as petty and small.
So he instead adds "liar" to the list of contemptable traits which he seeks to deny.
Remember, there is always a REASON why rightwingers choose to lie, and that reason is that the TRUTH always puts them in a very bad light. Such lies always tell much more about the character of the liar than it illuminates anything about the subject matter they lie about.
by tex
--------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting insight into what makes B.O. tick . I think that says it all . No wonder Bill O'Reilly is so insecure and comes across as childish when he is speaking .
"Much more on Bush, where he comes in and he gives us, look, pretty good -- I'd say pretty good political analysis. We do very well with him ratings-wise."
So his political analysis is GOOD because it gets high ratings on Fox.
*sporfle*
That's like saying Katherine Harris is a GOOD politician because the way she turns to the side a little shows off her boobs.