O'Reilly again trumpeted "annoying" French boycott
On the October 24 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly offered a more modest assessment of the impact of his ongoing boycott of France than he has in previous claims, now asserting that his boycott effort has "hurt the French economy, not to a tremendous extent, but to an annoying extent. To the extent that they sent the French ambassador to New York to try to talk me out of it." In the past, O'Reilly has variously claimed that the boycott effort has caused France to lose "billions of dollars," "more than a billion dollars," and "$138 million."
In making the claim on the April 27, 2004, edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor that the boycott had cost France "billions of dollars," O'Reilly cited the Paris Business Review, of whose existence Media Matters for America has yet to find evidence.
O'Reilly also claimed on his October 24 radio show that France sent its ambassador "to New York to try and talk [him] out of" continuing the boycott. Although Media Matters could find no evidence to support or refute this claim, French ambassador Jean-David Levitte has suggested that anti-French comments on The O'Reilly Factor are "malicious" and represent "racism." From a July 20 article in The Kansas City Star, on a speech Levitte gave in Kansas City:
Bush and the American government came under scorching attack in the French press, Levitte said. But criticism in the United States tended to be directed at all the French and struck the ambassador as more malicious. He recounted giving Colin Powell, then the secretary of state, three pages of anti-French insults gleaned from a single week of cable television's "O'Reilly Factor."
"For me," the ambassador said, "it's racism."
From the October 24 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: Valencia, California, Bob. What say you, Bob?
CALLER: Hi, Bill.
O'REILLY: Hey.
CALLER: I had a thought about what you said about not buying gasoline on Sundays, but carry it a step further. There is the pro-oil people are always beating you up about the free market thing. Well, what if we just supported, say, Exxon Mobil, only bought from them? The others would have to drive their prices down in order to be competitive then.
O'REILLY: Well --
CALLER: That's just the free market at work.
O'REILLY: Number one, I don't have the power to do it. I mean, we reach 10, 15 million people a week here. But I don't have the power to make one oil company suffer and another not. I don't have the power to do it. What I have the power to do, and we've been successful in doing, is getting the word out that folks are getting hosed. OK? And we've been very successful in doing that. And the don't-buy-gas-on-Sundays, purely symbolic. It's a symbolic gesture of anger. I don't expect it will have -- it's not like France, where, you know, we know that our boycott of France hurt the French economy, not to a tremendous extent but to an annoying extent. To the extent that they sent the French ambassador to New York to try to talk me out of it. All right, but with the big oil companies, the perception and the anger we have been able to build our case, and that has spread. And that's what we're able to do.
Would it surprise anyone if someone asked the French ambassador about O'Lielly's boycott and the ambassador said, "Bill who?"
Doc:
I just don't believe that BO has much influence with the people that would frequently travel to France or purchase French imports. His boycott is pretty funny, its like me saying I'm boycotting purchasing a Bentley or the Hope diamond.
I watch Billy boy because he is so entertaining, you can actually watch his face distort when he is upset. Watch it Billy boy, could become permanent.
Not only is O'Reilly incredibly delusional about the effect of his boycott, he also does not hold true to his promise to lift his boycott if someone can reveal to him one helpful thing the French have done in the war on terror.
I offered this to Bill in an e-mail, but he still has yet to make good on his promise:
France vigorously supported the invocation of NATO's Article V mutual defense guarantee in September, 2001 and U.S. proposals in the UN Security Council to legitimate a military strike on Afghanistan and to create international authorization to freeze the funds of terrorist organizations. In Europe, French law enforcement has been active in pursuing Al-Qa'eda cells in France and in cutting sources of terrorist financing. In December, 2001, French authorities arrested Ahmed Laidouini, a Frenchmen of Algerian descent, who is suspected of serving as a liaison between Al Qa'eda cells in Europe.
Anybody seen "freedom fries" on a menu lately?
Anybody "freedom kissed" their significant other lately?
Anybody had any "freedom toast" lately?
Anybody do their hair in a "freedom twist" lately?
Anybody had Arby's new "freedom dip" sandwich lately?
Didn't think so.
nerzog:
I let my poodle off the leash. Does that count as "freedom"?
--hey, don't forget the "freedom tickler"
Bill O'Reilly could well be the last one to rally for it.
Yet at the same time: the boycott was laughauble when it was started, and it is laughable now. Some boycott it is to replace "France" with the word "Freedom," yeah that will certainly teach France to fall in line.
Bah, what a lecherous little gremlin he is... He's disrespectful to "only 5%" of his guests because he rarely has anyone who disagrees with him on the show... they might get a word in edgewise, and god forbid anyone get some balance with their rhetoric. As a journalism student, this guy represents everything we're told NOT to do, and he's on national tv! how fair is that... I live in Canada, and Chretien said no to war in Iraq... where's our boycott? we could have... freedom poutine? freedom bacon? freedom maple syrup?
Bill boy must be really feeling the heat. Dont let up MMFA!
So Bill has cost the French billions. According to the US government, French imports for the last three years are, in millions of dollars: 2002 - 28,240.1; 2003 - 29,219.3; 2004 - 31,605.7; a net increase of $3,365,600,000 dollars
With enemies like O'Reilly, who needs friends. Source: www.census.gov
I bought a wonderful French wine the other day, the name escapes me. I had no thoughts of BO, but I glad he would disapprove.
Dear Bill O’Reilly,
I think you should expand your boycott of countries, who refused to aid us in our Iraq war, to Turkey and Canada. I propose the following changes in our language to reflect our annoyance with them.
"Freedom Bacon"
"Molson Freedom Ale"
"Freedom Toffee"
"Baked Freedom with dressing and gravy"
Lastly, no more cheap drugs from Canada, or Illegal ones from Turkey!