O'Reilly touted unscientific Internet poll to claim "the majority of [University of Oregon] students agree" school president should be fired
SUMMARY: Bill O'Reilly touted an unscientific Internet poll to claim that "the majority of the students on the University of Oregon campus agree with" O'Reilly's opinion that university president Dave Frohnmayer should be fired over his reaction to a student-run newspaper's publication of controversial cartoon images of Jesus. But the poll O'Reilly touted as a "miracle" is actually an unscientific poll on the website of the university's campus newspaper, the Oregon Daily Emerald. The poll clearly notes: "This Daily Emerald poll is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole."
During the May 24 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly touted an unscientific Internet poll to claim that "the majority of the students on the University of Oregon campus agree with" O'Reilly's opinion that university president Dave Frohnmayer should be fired over his reaction to a student-run newspaper's publication of controversial cartoon images of Jesus. O'Reilly stated, "[T]he majority of students on the University of Oregon campus agree with me." He continued: "I prayed for a miracle that one newspaper would support my stance [on firing Frohnmayer]. ... I didn't quite get that miracle, but I got another one."
But the poll O'Reilly touted as a "miracle" is actually an unscientific poll on the website of the university's student-run, independent campus newspaper, the Oregon Daily Emerald. The poll clearly notes: "This Daily Emerald poll is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole."
Further, O'Reilly's position did not even garner a majority in the unscientific poll. The Daily Emerald's poll asked respondents: "What should be done about The Insurgent?" -- the student publication that published the Jesus cartoons. The poll offered four responses to the question, including, "The administration is doing the right thing by staying out of student business" and "Bill O'Reilly is right. Fire Frohnmayer!" At the time of his radio show, the poll results, according to O'Reilly, indicated that 38 percent of respondents felt Frohnmayer should lose his job because of the publication. In order to claim that a majority supported him, O'Reilly apparently added the 22 percent of students who felt "The Insurgent can't be shut down, but the administration should condemn its actions" to the 38 percent who actually agreed with him, although he erroneously claimed that this totaled "50 percent of the students." O'Reilly concluded: "[T]he majority of students on the University of Oregon campus agree with me, " ignoring his own repeated insistence that condemnation of the cartoons' publication was not enough. For instance, on the May 22 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor, as Media Matters for America noted, O'Reilly quoted a Eugene Register-Guard editorial that "praise[d] Frohnmayer ... for his appropriate, balanced effort to condemn deliberately offensive cartoons published in the campus newspaper while trying to help the public understand the important free speech principles involved in the debate." O'Reilly pronounced the editorial "garbage. It's just garbage, it's just garbage."
In previous broadcasts, O'Reilly baselessly claimed that the University of Oregon had allowed its students to "attack Christianity" but not "minorities," and repeatedly called for Frohnmayer to be "fired" for allegedly allowing the images of Jesus to be published. Additionally, despite O'Reilly's insistence that Frohnmayer has the authority to refuse funding to The Insurgent, Frohnmayer has stated that Supreme Court precedent would prohibit him from doing so.
From the May 24 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, with co-host Lis Wiehl:
O'REILLY: So anyway, the faculty and staff at the University of Oregon can't come to any conclusions about this. But the actual student body has. All right. In the Emerald, which is a newspaper on campus -- a legitimate newspaper -- they asked the question, "What should be done about this newspaper?" Ready for this? Ready for this? This is the, this is the best. Ready, Lis Wiehl?
WIEHL: Yes. What did the students say?
O'REILLY: "Bill O'Reilly is right. Fire president Frohnmayer" -- 38 percent. "The administration is doing the right thing by staying out of it" -- 33 percent. "The Insurgent can't be shut down, but the administration should condemn its actions" -- 22 percent. That's 50 percent [sic] of the students wanting to condemn the publication. Seven percent: "What's The Insurgent?" Those are the, those are the potheads.
WIEHL: That's good.
O'REILLY: So, but the majority of students on the University of Oregon campus agree with me, agree with me.
[...]
O'REILLY: All right. So 1-877-9NOSPIN. Look, I, the other night on TV, I prayed for a miracle that one newspaper would support my stance in this University of Oregon. I didn't quite get that miracle, but I got another one. Most of the students in this poll at the University of Oregon support me. That, I think, is a miracle. It's a liberal campus, it's in Oregon, which is the lowest churchgoing state in the union. The university's in Eugene, which is the lowest city in the country of churchgoers. And 38 percent of the kids, the Ducks -- it's the University of Oregon Ducks -- they say I'm right. Not only should the funds be pulled from this, but Frohnmayer should be fired, which he should.
[...]
O'REILLY: Well they are. At the University of Oregon tonight, there's a Senate meeting, the Student Senate, and we're gonna have a report tomorrow about what they do.
CALLER: OK.
O'REILLY: You know. And, and listen, right now, the kids are leading out there in Oregon. The kids are doing it. It's a miracle. I prayed for a miracle. Wasn't the miracle exactly that I played [sic] for, but I'll take any miracle here that's good.
Isn't it nice that in today's world we have people starving in many countries. We have wars raging in several countries with thousands of innocent civilians killed. We have fundamentalist Islamists and Christians seeking to destroy each other. We have people in positions of authority in the government and the press saying that the unprovoked use of nuclear weapons against a sovereign nation is not only possible, but might be necessary.
But this sorry excuse for a man is praying for a miracle. His miracle would be the firing of a college president. If God listens to right wing nut sacks like O'Reilly, then he is a god that deserves NOTHING but our scorn .
now has a new Ward Churchill; anything to keep the news away from George W.
" If God listens to right wing nut sacks like O'Reilly, then he is a god that deserves NOTHING but our scorn . "
At least He is a God that allows things like the "davinci code" to be made and published. Could you tell me what the result would have been if the book and movie had been titled "the muslim davinci code"?? Oh, wait, maybe you were talking about Muhammed and I thought you were talking about somebody else.
I think the "insurgent" publication is a joke and has no tolerance for others opinions. They only printed the Jesus pictures as "retaliation" to the printing of the funny muslim cartoons that caused a big rucous a few months ago. And the university president allowed them both. So, while BOR is wrong to seek a firing of the president, what he should be doing is seeking the removal of a violence-promoting publication.
After all, some of their commentators have decided that a nuclear, or should I say nucular, attack on Iran might be necessary. That says to me that fox News promotes violence. Are you going to tell us now that the right and Fox News are tolerant? Go peddle that stinking fish somewhere else, pal.
So the Muhammed cartoons were funny yet Jesus cartoons are offensive? I love the hypocracy of people like you. You think the paper is a joke and has no tolerance of other's opinions? What a coincidence...same is true of Fox News and Bill O' Reilly. By the way how is mock pictures of Christ violence-promoting? Are you saying that Christians are the same as Muslims? If that's the case than I guess they should also be a target in the "War on Terror".
I also love the fact that the faith of so many of you right wing nutjobs is so secure that a piece of fiction can cause such an uproar. I haven't seen this kind of reaction since the faith affirming "Dogma" was released. That one was great because it shook the foundations of Christianity by saying that Jesus wasn't an only child. Which isn't out of the realm of possibility. Besides...the "Muslim Da Vinci Code" couldn't cause this much fervor. Muslims acknowledge Muhammed's children.
He's trying to get a university president fired over a cartoon, devoting a surprising amount of airtime and effort doing it. Is anyone really concerned about this?
He's again citing one minute example of desecration as sign of a nationwide, secular war against all things white and Christian.
He also has to get in his punches about my state, Oregon, calling it "the lowest churchgoing state in the union." Well, you know what? People are still coming here in droves and housing is in huge demand because Oregon is great place to live. Portland is a city that others in the nation emulate. But don't try telling Bill that, his assertion, based on his church statistic, is that we're nothing but heathenistic potheads.
While I have no proof (as if that matters in an Internet post...or a discussion concerning Bill for that matter) I know in my gut that there has to be some fantastic hypocracy here.
I refused to tune into it, but I can just hear in my mind's ear Bill saying, "See, I told you they were less than human. Anyone who would get upset over a silly little cartoon is essentially stupid."
(I have no doubt that he would qualify the level of upset, however I also have very little doubt that he would have made some hair brained statement claiming some social Darwinistic nonsense based soley on their inability to take a cartoon for a cartoon.)
If anyone has any knowledge of any material that I can get my hands on that discusses this, that would be greatly appreicated.
...and just for the record, I don't even understand the basis for the call to remove him. If any apologists want to gleen out that logic, (I can't resist) I say to them, 'bring it on'.
Someone agrees with Bill O'Rielly!
Only he could turn 38% agreeing with him (and this is soon after the fact, the same "politics of the moment" that would've gotten O'Rielly thrown in prison) into a majority. He specifically said the president should be fired. 22% say the funding shouldn't even be cut.
And what if I think the president shouldn't be fired, but The Insurgent should be shut down? What if I think the president should be fired, but I've never heard of The Insurgent? I'm glad the paper admits the poll is completely unscientific.
As you may or may not know, Bill has another assault on the literary world with his book Culture Warrior coming out in September. Therefore I issue this warning:
1.) Bill will set up both Boogie and Strawmen such the U of O to attack.
2.) Christians and wealthy white people will be deemed to be under attack and Bill will expose it.
All this on O'Reilly Factor for the next 2 months!!
Bill's megalomania and narcissism ensure that nearly everything he does is an act of self-promotion and/or personal vendetta. Whenever he boycotts something or puts some periodical or newspaper on his "don't buy/don't read" list you can be sure that the reason can be traced back to some personal slight that Bill has suffered at the hand of some journalist. And every one of these "culture war" stories is just meant to hype his upcoming book. It started with the "War on Christmas"--which will surely have its own chapter--and it's been building up ever since.
Holy moly, that's the funniest nic I've seen here, or probably anywhere on the net. Flag me if you want for being off topic, but my god, that Seinfeld reference made me actually laugh out loud! Something I wish I did more of while reading MMFA (truth be known, I seem to be getting a lot more laughs in these days reading the troll's entries,... gotta love that 29%).
HOWEVER, in keeping with the topic, Bill rarely if ever speaks truth to anything. I don't get why the FCC wouldn't protect you Americans from the mis-information from a tabloid 'journalist' like BOR. The airwaves are supposed to be YOUR airwaves, not owned by corporations. But if the FCC gets its say, it's only going to get worse. All the while the wingnut talking points will still refer to the MSM as liberal, ignoring the fact the MSM has never dug deep into the BS dubya has been through (DWI, AWOL, coke head, Saudi connections, war-profitting friends, ultra-rich giveaways). The msm is as liberal as Enron. They do nothing but take jobs away from the middle class, and profit from endless war. They love quoting more jobs in their dying economy, despite most are low-level, minimum wage (or slightly better) jobs. They deride the indisputable fact that their economic winners are all rich, so much so, that they've been able to say they have a growth in average income, which is easy to say since the ultra-rich don't have to participate in your tax program.
The USA has always been a strong country, due to hard work and inovation. My fear, as your neighbour, is that your imminent economic collapse will sink me and my country as well. Please Americans, demand peace from your representatives.
Anything less makes you an accomplice to the war on freedoms and democracy.
I keep for O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, and all the rest of these idiots to either make sense or get fired. Doesn't seem to happen. Oh wait I forget I've also been praying for the Lions to win the Superbowl.
Oh, and Pete you should be happy about O'Reilly's assertions and statistics. Just shows that people in Oregon think for themselves and are a higher class of people than the mindless zombies that O'Reilly tries to lead.
the mind of mr. O'Reilly. This is a personal vendetta against the president of this university, who dared to argue AGAINST O'Reilly and his spin and smear. Anyone who does so is targeteted by O'Reilly in a smear campagne. O'Reilly clearly thinks he has the power to build or break people due to his influence on the media and on opinion making.
This is not the first time, and if I were the university I would sue O'Reilly (if possible for slander or something) because it will only become worse.
He is, after all, the former dean of UO's law school.
we know that those who are devotees of BO are not very astute. So most of the time he can get away with citing a poll like this. Second of all he is beginning to sound like Pat Robertson with his praying for a miracle about such a mundane topic like this which he feels is the most important issue of the day. He has been wrong on somany things and now getting called on them he will resort to a poll like this to "prove" he got something right.
One of O'Reilly's mistakes -- 38+22=60, not 50 -- actually works against his ideology. I believe that's a first.
"It's a liberal campus, it's in Oregon, which is the lowest churchgoing state in the union." So, its a liberal campus because its in a state with the least people going to church. Typical Billy to go from university to the church and eventuall step to "Not only should the funds be pulled from this [...]". Billy never heard of a church-state seperation and that people should choose whether they go to church or not.
Further, students are refered to as kids, which is denigrating, especially because most are >19/20 years of age.
"students and employees who have absolutely no connection to The Insurgent have been subjected to vile and vitriolic personal attacks from individuals and organizations around the country merely because of confusion with those actually involved"
Way to go Bill. That's looking out for the little guy.
"It's a liberal campus, it's in Oregon, which is the lowest churchgoing state in the union. "
How can O'Reilly play this religion card with a straight face? Dude, you got caught trying to have phone sex with a woman who wasn't your wife. Your moral authority is zip, zero. All right?
While this article does point out that the poll is "unscientific," they miss the larger point: O'Reilly REPEATEDLY states that this poll reflects the opinions of the student body at the U of Oregon. This is a bald-faced lie. Not only do you not have to be a student to vote, you don't even have to live in Oregon; I just voted, and I live in Minneapolis, MN. Here is the poll -- you could be in South Africa and still vote:
[link to www.dailyemerald.com]
(Hell, you can even vote as many times as you like!)
This is especially significant because these top-down religious organizations are known to tell their members to flood newspapers with letters to the editor and so on.
"O'Reilly is not the first to bring national attention to the issue. The New York-based Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights last month sent letters of objection to state legislators, higher education officials and Catholic leaders in Oregon.
Frohnmayer said his office has received 'several hundred' e-mails of protest about The Insurgent issue, most of them from out of state and sent at the Catholic League's urging."
[source]
I'm fairly certain we could conduct an online poll resulting in 38% of respondants asking for Bill O'Reilly to be fired -- and then we can all shout "IT'S A MIRACLE! PRAISE JESUS!"
Note this brazen hyprocrisy also:
"Moreover, in publishing the Jesus cartoons, The Insurgent was apparently responding to a rival paper's decision to publish controversial cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, which have sparked Muslim outrage and rioting in Europe, a fact that O'Reilly repeatedly ignored in his coverage of the issue."
[source]
The only way that BOR will be shucked to the dust bin if history is if the American people stop watching and listening to his shows. I stopped watching his show shortly after it was launched, when it became all too apparent that he was nothing more than a myth-bound GOP apologist hate-head. I simply rely on mediamatters to inform me of his latest smut and distortion of fact, and then I promptly chastise his network for continuing to promote his lies. I trust that all other free-thinkers do the same.
to war criminals ... Time to attack this creep for his words. The incident occurred during his interview [not really an interview] with Gen. Wes Clark.
Really? When the heck did this happen? Let me clue you folks in on something, while this is big news to O'Reilly, we here in Oregon haven't heard a peep about it. Students wanting Frohnmayer to resign, that is. The cartoons themselves have sparked editorals in the local Eugene paper, however.
I haven't seen them. I'm pretty certain there are many in Eugene who havn't seen them either. The university is a insular community, even if they think they aren't. The paper that ran them is available on campus and that's about it.
Eugene is a liberal town. It's what drew me there as a college student. It has remained true to that philosphy. It also believes in free speech. Last I heard that right hasn't been revoked, yet.
... get in the way of a good rant?
The real 'miracle' is that Bill has any audience left after so many disgusting, in-your-face displays of his massive, massive ego.
If you disagree with him and bleieve that 38 +22 = 60; you are obviously getting your information from a far left smear site. Wholesome conservative Christians all know that 38 + 22 = 50.