O'Reilly claimed Edwards is "actually lying" about Fox News' treatment of Democrats
SUMMARY: After playing a clip of
John Edwards asserting that "Fox News
... has a clear and long history of bias against Democrats," host Bill O'Reilly
responded that "John Edwards has been on the Fox News
Channel 33 times," and that, in reviewing those interviews, "[n]ot once could I
find anything insulting, demeaning, or disrespectful to the senator." In fact,
beyond Edwards' treatment while a guest on Fox News, O'Reilly himself and
numerous other Fox News personalities have repeatedly made "insulting,
demeaning, or disrespectful" statements about Edwards and other Democrats.
During the August 7 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, after playing a clip of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards asserting that "Fox News ... has a clear and long history of bias against Democrats," host Bill O'Reilly responded that "John Edwards has been on the Fox News Channel 33 times," and that, in reviewing those interviews, "[n]ot once could I find anything insulting, demeaning, or disrespectful to the senator." O'Reilly then asked Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers, "So he's actually lying, is he not?" When Powers responded that Edwards was "making a broader claim against Fox," O'Reilly repeated that "he was on 33 times and treated with complete respect." Similarly, on the August 9 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, discussing how "some of the Democratic candidates have been attacking Fox News," O'Reilly questioned why they "want to make enemies -- particularly a guy like John Edwards, who is treated very well here, 33 times he was on." O'Reilly continued: "We pored over the transcripts. There was never one time that this guy was unfairly treated while he was on this network." O'Reilly went on to assert that the Democrats' attacks on Fox News "might come back to bite them in the you-know-where."
But beyond the question of how Edwards was "treated" during his various appearances on Fox News, O'Reilly himself and numerous other Fox News personalities have repeatedly made "insulting, demeaning, or disrespectful" statements about Edwards and other Democrats.
Additionally, during the August 9 program, O'Reilly referred to Fox News as "far and away the highest-rated cable news outfit," and asserted, "[W]e're growing while the others are disintegrating." In fact, a recent comparison by the blog TVNewser of the three cable news channels' ratings in June 2006 and June 2007 found that CNN and MSNBC's audience grew at a greater rate over that period than that of Fox News. According to TVNewser's analysis, CNN's prime-time viewership increased (across all age groups) by 17 percent and its all-day audience by 10 percent. MSNBC's prime-time viewership increased by 38 percent and its all-day audience by 34 percent. Meanwhile, Fox News' prime-time viewership increased by 10 percent and its all-day audience by 8 percent.
Media Matters for America has documented numerous instances of O'Reilly and other Fox News hosts, correspondents, or guests making "insulting, demeaning, or disrespectful" statements about Edwards and other Democrats.
O'Reilly on Edwards
- On the June 8 edition of Fox News' Your World, in response to host Neil Cavuto's false claim that Edwards used the controversy surrounding celebrity heiress Paris Hilton's recent jail sentence to accentuate his "Two Americas" campaign theme, O'Reilly referred to him as "the biggest phony in the world." O'Reilly later asserted: "[H]e doesn't really want to chase down the bad guys in Iraq, but he wants to put Paris Hilton in jail."
- On the June 4 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly asserted that "John Edwards looks dopey" for his statement during the June 3 Democratic presidential debate: "What this global war on terror bumper sticker -- a political slogan, that's all it is, all it's ever been -- was intended to do was for George Bush to use it to justify everything he does." O'Reilly commented: "The good news here is that most Americans in both parties understand that Muslim extremists want to kill us and will if they get the chance." In fact, just before making that statement, Edwards stressed the threat of terrorism and discussed his strategy for preventing it.
O'Reilly on other Democrats
- In an August 1 interview with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd (CT), which aired on his August 2 radio and cable television shows, O'Reilly called Dodd a "propagandist" and stated, "I don't have any respect for you," after Dodd noted that O'Reilly previously "talk[ed] about Al Qaeda attacking San Francisco and blowing up San Francisco."
- On the May 7 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly cited a flawed poll to assert that "35 percent of Democratic voters believe that President Bush stood by and allowed 3,000 Americans to die on the streets." O'Reilly repeatedly referred to this as "madness," and claimed, "Sane people do not make that kind of leap."
- On the January 30 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly stated that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "just look[ed] like a zombie" during part of President Bush's 2007 State of the Union address.
Fox News on Edwards
- On the August 3 edition of Fox News Radio's The John Gibson Show, the program's executive producer, known on air as "Angry Rich," claimed that Edwards "whored his wife's cancer as a fundraising gimmick." He also went on to call him "a fraud" and "a pansy." Host John Gibson referred to Edwards as "the Breck Girl," "Silky," and "the biggest fraud running for president." On the August 7 edition of the program, "Angry Rich" described the statement as "a poor choice of words," although he did not apologize for the remark and went on to say of Edwards: "That doesn't mean he's not duplicitous, which he is."
- On the May 24 broadcast of Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity asserted that Edwards -- whom he referred to as the "$400 haircut man" -- is "not really viewed as somebody that is up to the task of understanding the nature in the battle in the war that's being waged against us." As evidence, Hannity pointed to a video of Edwards fixing his hair prior to a televised interview and the fact that Edwards recently spent $400 on a haircut.
- Hannity & Colmes hosted right-wing pundit Ann Coulter on March 5 to explain her reference to Edwards as a "faggot" during her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. On that program, Coulter claimed that the word "isn't offensive to gays. It has nothing to do with gays. It's a schoolyard taunt, meaning wuss. And unless you're telling me that John Edwards is gay, it was not applied to a gay person."
Fox News on other Democrats
- On the July 22 edition of Hannity's America, teasing a segment on "the mysterious death of [former deputy White House counsel] Vince Foster," host Sean Hannity asked: "Did a close friend of Hillary Clinton commit suicide, or was it a massive coverup?" During the segment, Hannity asserted that on July 20, 1993: "Vince Foster got in his car and drove to Fort Marcy Park in Virginia. And he supposedly walked through the woods, and depending on which version of the story you believe, he took his own life." He also claimed that "[i]n the minds of some," questions regarding the contents of Foster's files following his suicide "may have provided a motive for foul play." In fact, Foster's death has been conclusively determined by several investigations to have been a suicide.
- On the July 2 edition of The Big Story, Kellyanne Conway -- the CEO and president of the polling company inc., who, according to the biography posted on her company's website, "has provided commentary on over 1,000 ... television shows" -- suggested that Clinton would take "revenge" against the more than 250,000 people who have donated to Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) presidential campaign. Conway said: "[T]hese are 250,000-plus people who are willing to publicly go against the Clintons. That's remarkable to me because, you know, Hillary Clinton ... puts a lot of energy into revenge."
- On the January 17 edition of The Big Story, host John Gibson addressed an InsightMag.com article which asserted that Sen. Clinton was responsible for spreading information that Obama "spent at least four years in a so-called Madrassa or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia." After claiming that Clinton "has reportedly outed Obama's madrassa past," Gibson told Republican strategist Terry Holt: "Now, we have heard about dirty politics before. Republicans aren't involved in this one." Holt responded: "This was either a despicable act by an absolutely ruthless Clinton political machine -- we know that they are capable of doing this. But I also thought, you know, it wasn't directly linked to Hillary Clinton." Holt then speculated that Obama himself could have been behind the story, saying that "if you took a page out of the Clinton book and you are really shrewd and you were Barack Obama, you might want to put this out yourself so that you could deal with it early in the political campaign and get it over with."
- On the October 31, 2006, edition of Hannity & Colmes, Republican pollster Frank Luntz smeared House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), saying, "I always use the line for Nancy Pelosi, 'You get one shot at a facelift. If it doesn't work the first time, let it go.' "
- On October 1, 2004, chief political correspondent Carl Cameron posted a fake news story on FoxNews.com which falsely attributed quotes to 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and Sen. John Kerry (MA) in an attempt to ridicule him over a manicure, which Cameron reported he received the day before. The quotes included statements from Kerry asserting that "Women should like me! I do manicures," and referring to himself as a "metrosexual." Later that day, Fox News issued a retraction and an apology, and the fake story was removed from the website.
From the August 7 edition of Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: Now for the top story tonight: attacking Fox News as a political strategy -- smart or dumb? Listen to this.
EDWARDS [video clip]: Fox News, I think, has a clear and long history of bias against Democrats. We have to stand up to them. I mean, hey, it's time to put a stop to this.
RETIRED GEN. WESLEY CLARK [video clip]: According to O'Reilly, diplomacy is like having a chat. But of course, then, he's never done diplomacy.
DODD [video clip]: It means standing up, by the way, when things get tough. Standing up to Bill O'Reilly, by the way, when he comes after Daily Kos.
O'REILLY: Joining us now from Chicago, Laura Schwartz, and here in the studio, Kirsten Powers. Both are Fox News analysts. You know look at --- this is so hollow, I have to laugh. [Slurred Dodd imitation] You stand up to me every week. You're not that tough, are you?
POWERS: I know, I know, it's -- It is kind of -- that's kind of silly. You're not that important, Bill. Why would anyone care about you?
O'REILLY: Of course, I'm not that important. John Edwards has been on the Fox News Channel 33 times -- 33, all right? -- before he became Mr. Far Left Guy. He used to be Mr. Moderate Guy, but now he's Mr. Far Left Guy. Thirty-three times. Not once could I find anything insulting, demeaning, or disrespectful to the senator. So he's actually lying, is he not?
POWERS: Well, I think he's making a broader claim against Fox --
O'REILLY: But he was on 33 times --
POWERS: I know.
O'REILLY: -- and treated with complete respect.
From the August 9 edition of The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: In the "Campaign 2008" segment tonight, as we reported earlier this week, some of the Democratic candidates have been attacking Fox News.
[begin video clip]
EDWARDS: Fox News, I think, has a clear and long history of bias against Democrats.
DODD: It means standing up, by the way, when things get tough, standing up to Bill O'Reilly, by the way, when he comes after Daily Kos.
CLINTON: Now, I was very proud of my campaign, standing up and really calling O'Reilly out.
[end video clip]
O'REILLY: Yeah. Now, the question is: Is all of that a wise thing to do? Here now, a wise man, Dick Morris, the author of the best-selling book Outrage, doing very well. OK, now --
MORRIS: If she wanted to call you out, she could show up on your show.
O'REILLY: Sure. She could do a whole bunch of stuff --
MORRIS: This chair is available.
O'REILLY: -- rather than pandering to those people. But we're going to remember all that. You know, I understand what they're doing, trying to get the far-left people to like them and vote for them in the primaries. I mean, it's obvious. But you know what's interesting? The only one who didn't do it -- Obama. Obama has not trashed Fox News.
MORRIS: Obama is kind of more of a class act. The big problem that Hillary has got right now is that she has to go after special interests, because she is awash in their campaign contributions. And she's getting flayed for that by Edwards and Obama. So she can't attack drug money, because she's taking it. She can't attack insurance money, because she's taking it, but she can attack you and Fox News.
O'REILLY: But where does that get her? I mean, this is by far and away the highest-rated cable news outfit. OK? And we're growing while the others are disintegrating.
Why do they want to make enemies -- particularly a guy like John Edwards, who is treated very well here? Thirty-three times he was on. We pored over the transcripts. There was never one time that this guy was unfairly treated while he was on this network.
Why do they want to do that? Don't they understand that that might not -- that might come back to bite them in the you-know-where?
"We pored over the transcripts. There was never one time that this guy was unfairly treated while he was on this network."
Maybe I should take this to mean Bill can't recognize what mistreatment means. Bill, YOU'RE BIASED!
If anyone pored over the transcripts it was some poor intern who could be intimidated to find what the boss wanted.
Could you imagine what being a college intern at Fox would be like. Of course, they would probably be from some place like Fallwell's Liberty University or Robertson's Regent University so they would probably fit right in.
"Transcripts" kinda misses the point... they've run that video of Edwards combing his hair in slow-mo with the song "I Feel Pretty" at least a dozen times that I've seen... And I only see Fox at the gym on weekends.
O'Reilly and Morris. They must honestly think people are rock stupid.
Really sad to say but there is a willfully stupid demographic comprising Fox's core audience member. Nothing that any of us can say will ever sway them. They hate being called stupid though, so I recommend that approach. Shame them into change.
"They hate being called stupid though, so I recommend that approach. Shame them into change."
I wish it was that easy. For the strategy to work they would have to be capable of shame.
b.o. and his old world ideas are B.S. Most people with at least 2 brain cells bumping into each other realize that. Those that believe also believe their ancestors were dinosaur wranglers. They will eventually die off and be burried next to the inquisition perpetrators. Shame is like reality to these folks. Flat earthers are getting ready to crawl back into their holes come 09. Their noise is equivelent to flatulence. One assails the olfactory glands, the other the frontal lobes. b.o. can't handle the truth as we have seen. Case in point: Rivera.
But many of the Fox viewers belong to what Stephanie Miller of Air America calls "our 80 year old mother club." How many people who watch Fox are oldsters who were actually once Democrats but saw thier world changing and just wanted the simplicity and surety that the pundits on Fox provide? Perhaps our parents and many others just got tired of keeping up with it all.
As much as we we ridicule the average Fox watcher (and generally rightly so!) let us not use the righty approach and throw out blanket statements that oversimplify the situations.
this is a test:
please, all those in MMFA's vast audience, close your eyes and try to imagine Bill "poring over transcripts"! Can you picture it? I bet you can't.
Smart move, John Edwards! Expose Fox for the propaganda machine it is whenever you can.
The internet has democratized information. Naturally, O'Reilly is scared. Fox News, and all MSM, are losing their grip on the flow of information.
Yup, the 40-somethings are gonna come on with a serious world conciousness because of all their internet exposure. The old guard is taking it's last throws of the dice in the Middle East and keeps coming up craps. We'll be left to pick up the peices if we survive their last rolls. I pray we'll be ready for it.
I totally believe Bill O. They were pouring over the transcripts. It was just they were pouring black tar so they could not find the bias. But seriously my co-workers came over because I was laughing so hard.
Still, it looks like Fox News' Edwards-bashing is not much different than the other networks.
Funny. As the transcript reads, in the very process of b.o. pitching for the benign and even affable feeling, he and the rest at "Fox News" have for the various Democratic candidates, he and his friend dick are insulting and even threatening (however veiled) those same candidates:
o'reilly: "...attacking Fox News as a political strategy -- smart or dumb?"
"...this is so hollow, I have to laugh."
"He used to be Mr. Moderate Guy, but now he's Mr. Far Left Guy. ...Not once could I find anything insulting, demeaning, or disrespectful to the senator."
"...some of the Democratic candidates have been attacking Fox News ...Is all of that a wise thing to do?"
"She could do a whole bunch of stuff -- rather than pandering to those people. But we're going to remember all that. You know, I understand what they're doing, trying to get the far-left people to like them and vote for them in the primaries."
"Why do they want to make enemies ...Why do they want to do that? Don't they understand that that might not -- that might come back to bite them in the you-know-where?"
Funny... if o'reilly were a defendant in a criminal trial, I've have told him that if there's nothing to the charges, then he doesn't need to take the witness stand... that if the prosecutor's charge is weak and unsubstantiated, then there's no reason to respond to it.
Just keep your big mouth shut, is what I'd have told bill.
Kirsten Powers is a good little O'Reilly suckup. Where did she come from anyway?
Yeah, FOX keeps calling them liberals. Stop lying, FOX!
I just wish John Edwards would give back the money he took from News Corp, then maybe I would take him seriously.
And uncle Rupert hosted/threw a fund raiser for Hillary, if I remember correctly....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12762092/The money he got covered the payment for a book he wrote, and it came from a subsidiary of NewsCorp that has nothing to do with the biased Fox News.
Can't you see the difference between a book advance from a non-partisan book publishing company and a campaign contribution from a partisan part of the business? You see no difference between campaign contributions and income for work performed?
Edwards asked other Democratic candidates to return campaign donations. Payments for a book that the publishing company made money off is not equivalent to donations, and in any event, Edwards gave that money to charity.
Thanks for repeating this information yet again. Somehow it keeps bouncing off the brainpans of the deliberately ignorant.
Faux news has always intermingled opinion with news coverage, yet B.O. has yet another weird discussion on their fairness.
John Edwards should return the millions he made from Fortress Investments - one of the nation's largest predatory lendin firms. Edwards makes money off the poor (this fact cannot be denied by even the most ardent Edwards supporters) and spends his campaign contributions on $1200 Torrenueva haircuts. And yet, people think this guy isn't a phony! As PT Barnum said, "there's a sucker born every minute."John "more of a woman than Hillary" Edwards is as big a phony as Mutt Romney.
“John Edwards should return the millions he made from Fortress Investments - one of the nation's largest predatory lendin firms.”
Why?
“Edwards makes money off the poor (this fact cannot be denied by even the most ardent Edwards supporters) and spends his campaign contributions on $1200 Torrenueva haircuts.”
Why do you care how he spends his money?
I love family guy and the simpsons, and, i hate fox news and Rupert Murdereroch.
man, i guess i'm a phony tooo...
Ohh I see, so if Edwards gets a book deal from some subsidiary company of news corp (like he would know that), and then calls on people to return personal campaign donations from RUPERT MURDOCH, then he's a phony.
Is campaign donations, the same as a private book deal? I must be lost, i thought an advance on a book was personal income, irregardless of its origin.
DTRAIN, please forgive me. I agree with you completely, but I'm gonna bust your balls over nothing. I say this because I'm a little OCD about a very few things in life, and one of them is "irregardless;" I don't know why I'm willing to break the "if I understand the meaning, it's OK" rule of internet use, but for this "word" in particular, I can't stop myself: It's "regardless," or "irrespective." Not both.
Othewise, I love you man. I'm on your team. Sorry Y'all!
"I'm on your side..."
It sure doesn't sound like it. Seems like your on the grammar nazi side to me. Thanks for the correction, you know, seeing that this is a f*ckin spellin bee and all....
ASS.
DTrain, that was pretty harsh, considering Kevino's very polite post.
OK, "irregardless" is a pet peeve of mine too. I have a co-worker who uses it all the time, especially when he;s trying to impress people in a meeting. He'll start several sentences in a row with it.
I think Kevino's point was, it's not a word. In fact, if you break it down, it means the exact opposite of what your intent is.Not like "ain't", where you know it's not a word, but it works.
Everybody who posts here has had spelling and grammar mistakes pointed out.I've had those, factual errors, and misuse of phrases noted.I've done the same to other people.Not that big a deal.
Think of it this way;Some of your friends won't tell you you have a chunk of food in your teeth for fear of making you self conscious. That means you walk around for hours with that thing on your teeth.
Real friends tell you "Hey, get that f*cking stuff outta your teeth!"
We've all been on both sides of it, and Kevino was about as far from an ASS as anybody could be.
Sorry to butt in.I also get bugged by "for all intensive purposes" and "apropos" used for "appropriate". Lighten up, I like you too.
POLITE ?? If he UNDERSTOOD WHAT I MEANT, which he made it CLEAR THAT HE DID. Then why go ahead and correct me anyway? Sorry, I guess I'm not perfect like you HBL or KENPUNKO.
YOU 2 CAN KISS MY ASS
"Your co-worker uses it alot when trying to impress people..."
Was that the TONE of my original post? READ IT AGAIN. Was I trying to be HIGH AND MIGHTY and impress people like you 2 are? WHO was I trying to impress CRATEL? CLEARLY, I was just responding to someone who brought up Edwards book deal and called him a phony after he said to return campaign contributions from murdoch. Pet peeve my ass. MY pet peeve is elitist punks like you who go around trying to nit pick peoples post about every little grammar or misspelling mistake. Its not a word, SO WHAT?! is ALOT a word? No, its a common misspelling that everyone uses. irregardless is another example of that. Next time you make ANY LITTLE MISTAKE, YOU BETTER BELIEVE I WILL BE THERE TO CALL YOU OUT AND EMBARRASS YOU IN FRONT OF EVERYONE ELSE.
Lighten up, Francis.
DTrain derailment
Edwards book deal
(Edwards' book deal)
murdoch
(Murdoch)
peoples post
(people's posts)
misspelling mistake
(spelling mistake)
Its not
(It's not)
Etc. and etc. I'd cut you some slack, DTrain, but you've come so completely unhinged here that you're begging to get this done to you.
The underlying point is that what each of us is doing is using the medium of writing to get our ideas across. We should all want to do a good job of it. We've all made mistakes, but some of us are mature enough not to go ballistic when someone politely points it out.
DTrain
He said that he knew he shouldn't be doing it, but he was going to do it anyway because it's a pet peeve of his.
That's not being an ass.
Now, what you've done here can fairly be described as you being an ass.
There is no where for BillO to hide anymore. He is being exposed everyday. I bet he could not even sexually harass without the woman laughing at him. He is looking older and tired as each day passes.
It's another example of the infamous strawman argument.
John Edwards didn't say that he had been treated badly when he had been on FoxNews.
O'Reilly then says "well, he wasn't mistreated when he was on FoxNews."
Strawman.
Let me see if I understand this: John Edwards is lying because in none of the 33 times he's being on Fox Noise has he being treated with disrespect? I guess by those standards Fox News has NEVER insulted Hillary because every time Dick Morris is ON, Hillary is not!
How can they get away with this?! According to BillO's standards it doesn't count if you insult and disrespect democrats behind their backs, including all the innuendo and disrespect that he and Morris exhibit in the very same segment that tries to convince people that they are very respectful of them!
Old O'Reilly is rife with the lies
Of the type that good folk despise
His rants - not inspired
Hoary truth not required
Independence is merely a guise
You forgot to mention when O'Reilly and Fox hired a helicopter to fly around Edward's house and then interviewed his Republican neighbors and aired their most insulting comments. "He's finished," O'Reilly concluded. What is that if not a smear job? How would O'Reilly like a helicopter flying over his house?
Josh Marshall over at TPM has a wonderful video compilation of "[f]ibbing goof Bill O'Reilly" (as Josh refers to Billo) and Fox News being fair to Edwards and the Democrats. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/016477.php
So now Edwards is a liar Bill?You do realize you contradicted yourself almost immediately right?
Somehow the thugs at Fox "News" cannot seem to adjust to the fact that everything they say and do is recorded for all to see and hear. I suspect they would be much more comfortable in a world where you say something and then it is your word against the viewer's or hearer's word what you said. Even if Fox "News" cleans up the worst gaffs, YouTube has it before the trolls can clean up the mess. Welcome to the real world sucker.
Unfortunately, BilldO's target audience doesn't remember anything before what he's saying right this second.
They don't need to research or check videos or transcripts either, BO will save them the trouble by telling them what really happened.
If there are two things that BillO might know something about its:
1) sexual harrassment and
2) lying
What can one say about Bill? Although those who did the "pouring over" missed a few small items, see link to clip above, how can anyone blame poor Bill for his report. He is to busy ranting about nonsense to pay attention to detail. Don't you people know that the mission statement of Fox News is DUH!!. That is it plain and simple.
Also to be considered is: Why are the Cons soooo interested in framing the elections for the Dems? Always giving advice to candidates, Always letting Dems know who is naughty and who is nice and especially, who looks good. Too bad for Fox that two(2) women aren't running for President...they could have a special above cleveage.(Bill could and would want to host that one).
Sad to see the demise of the Repulan Party via the Fox News Channel, the Limbaughs and the Coulters. It was a great Party at one time but this Party has been crashed by a bunch of bums.
Bill, maybe you and Passe Miller can change your act and try working on the Republan Party to help rebuild it between now and next October. I do not want to see the demolition of the letter R. Youse guys got to get your act together..... I lied, I can't wait for the letter R to be removed from all keyboards. Bill, you a$$hole rating is still at 100%
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
The Clinton's hire this political hitman (Morris) whom could not control himself any better than the president, and was caught giving pillow talk to a street walker! He gets fired, disgraced, and tossed to the curb by the Beltway, and who picks his sorry frat boy booty up, FOXNEWS!!
If Hannity, O'Reilly, Gibson, and pathetic horn-dogs like Morris are your line-up of political pundits, and "correspondents," very loosely speaking, then whom else than a organization blinded by an agenda to promote would accept these scoundrels as experts!
Sanitize yourselves Republicans, come out of your dark-smelly place you find yourself and help the Democrats stay true to restoring democracy from the fascism we are currently desending into!
Remember the Greatest Generation that saved America from the last Fascist's attempt at power during the Great Depression and WWII? They must have been a grandparent, a parent, a spouse, or sibling that spent their blood to preserve democracy, so why do Republicans forsake democracy when they finally get into power?
When will the real patriots in the Republican Party come out of their slumber, and save us from themselves? Should we wait, or send a message in '08 that may well be the last opportunity afforded us for a very long time to come.
Freedoms are earned with the blood of patriots, lost with fear of cowards & scoundresls, so whom shall you account yourself with!?
SAVE DEMOCRACY, BE A GOOD AMERICAN BEFORE YOU ARE A REPUBLICAN AND VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Aren't we still using O'Reilly here to obfuscate the reality that Edwards used Fox News when it suited him. Did he not appear frequently as a guest on the network and then quickly turn around and demonize Fox to pander to progressives? Most of the "attacks" on Edwards occured after he decided to break from his relationship with Fox News. I think this goes to the issue of his credibility. There are other Democratic candidates who are more consistent on the Fox issue.
I cannot believe that MMFA actually fell for a classic BillO dodge. Edwards did not say he had been demeaned or insulted, he said FoxNews has a CLEAR AND LONG HISTORY OF BIAS against Democrats. Of all organizations, MMFA is best positioned to give the Dems factual data to prove beyond a doubt that this is true, in sound bites if necessary. It is the bias, not the insults that matter. O'Reilly made Edwards look like a whiner, and you bought into it by accepting BillO's frame.
To see how much of a liar and propagandist O'Reilly really is just look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNcV1S2H-3QSometimes it's actually more insidious the mere insulting of people. Look at the way that the issues are framed, the way that the questions themselves are put forward. The liberals are always, ALWAYS on the defensive. As for the "liberals" that O'Reilly, et al utilize on their shows, have you noticed that they're almost always either shrill, mamby pambish, or exceedingly ineffectual. And when they do on occasion make a decent point or two (Jane Hull on a recent O'Reilly broadcast), the son-of-a-bitch will either shout them down or cut their mike. It's extremely dispicable, I'm tellin' ya'. For more O'Reilly depravity, please check out paranoiacstoogetalk.blogspot.com.
I have to stand up for my principles. Criticizing the media is simply beneath contempt. O'Reilly would not resort to that kind of tactic and he calls out Pinheads whenever they try to get away with it. Show Papa Bear some respect. Being a a Culture Warrior is a tireless, thankless, almost pro-bono job, but he is the one is looking out for us and battling the Powers of Secular Progressivism, but he does it because he loves us maybe even more than Jesus.
On this site and in the media I’ve seen Conservative after Conservative express a vehement hostile dislike for Edwards for his alleged phoniness, and maybe and just maybe as an after thought they will throw in a well I think Romney is a phony too. I suspect that mentioning Romney is only done as a cover not to raise the question that maybe this anger toward Edwards is more about the issues Edwards raises. Moreover, if you count the volume of the conservative anti-Edwards focused posts against the volume of those railing against Romney's phoniness posts you will see that there is no comparison. Yet if you're honestly assessing what these two guys are alleged to be phony about I'd say that Romney's is much more serious than Edwards. Whatever Edwards is or isn’t it doesn’t negate the serious issue of addressing methods to reduce poverty in this great nation of ours. Whether you believe Edwards to be a hypocrite because he lives what you consider an extravagant lifestyle while speaking on poverty is you’re personal belief but entirely irrelevant to the issue. Edwards' stance on this issue has been constant through out his career as opposed to Romney's ever changing stances on issues. In summation at least Edwards is consistent and committed to his issues and you can't say that about Romney so the fact that I don't see the same degree of contempt being expressed against Romney who appears to adopt stances that are expedient to get votes from targeted voters shows a little phoniness and hypocrisy among the Conservative posters that tear Edwards a new one every chance they get. So the next time Romney says something rediculously phony like how his sons chose not to join the military and fight for a cause that he and his sons (since they are trying to get him elected) sincerely believe in because getting Romney elected is somehow equally important to fighting the Islamofacists or whatever the Republicans call them from week to week, I want to see you go after Romney with the same venom you spew towards Edwards.
"I suspect that mentioning Romney is only done as a cover not to raise the question that maybe this anger toward Edwards is more about the issues Edwards raises."-Lynn
These Republican posters rarely ever counter the actual plans Edwards proposes.
They can't.
So they blast him as a person as if the kind of deliberation one puts into a haircut is even remotely related to the way one studies the effects of a minimum wage hike or foreign policy. It's ridiculous and weak; wingers should be ashamed to so blatantly expose their partisan bias.
His main platform is about putting people before profits, his is about honoring the work of laborers. He's gonna put people to the task of fixing our crumbling infrastructure and he's gonna make sure our contributions are justly compensated with healthcare and a living wage. And this pisses-off the rightwing of the Republican Party because he's not gonna continue giving the elites a free ride on the backs of working men and women.
That's economic populism and it happens to make sense to millions and millions of Americans.
Lynn and Roundhouse, thanks for those two very thoughtful posts.
Wait, Wait, Wait...
O'Reilly is probably being accurate here.
Edwards was never "unfairly treated while he was on the network".
They just wait until he is not "on" the network, then insult him