Despite "excellent question" from a "kid[]," O'Reilly did not acknowledge falsehood in his book
SUMMARY: On The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly was challenged by one of the "kids" who reportedly sent him mail "over the holiday," who asked him: "[I]n the first sentence of Chapter Three [in Kids Are Americans Too] you say the Constitution guarantees 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' Isn't that from the Declaration of Independence?" While O'Reilly praised the writer for asking an "excellent question," he did not acknowledge the false suggestion in his book that the phrase appears in the Constitution.
During the January 2 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly read a letter challenging his suggestion in his recent book, Kids Are Americans Too, that the phrase "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is written in the U.S. Constitution. In the letter, which O'Reilly said was from one of the "kids" who sent him mail "over the holiday," the writer, identified on-screen as Courtney Yong from San Francisco, asked: "Mr. O'Reilly, I really enjoyed 'Kids Are Americans Too' but in the first sentence of Chapter Three you say the Constitution guarantees 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' Isn't that from the Declaration of Independence?" O'Reilly did not acknowledge that his book makes the false suggestion that the phrase appears in the Constitution. Instead, he said: "Another excellent question, Courtney. The reason the Constitution was forged was to assure new American citizens the right to free life and access to pursue happiness in his or her own way. The Declaration was the statement; the Constitution, the instrument."
At the beginning of Chapter 3 in Kids Are Americans Too, O'Reilly wrote:
For openers, the Constitution guarantees all of us, in a famous phrase, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Fair enough. Who could argue with that? I want to live, and I bet you do, too. I want to be free; so do you. We both want to "pursue happiness" ... (Page 15)
In fact, as the letter writer noted, the "famous phrase" is found in the Declaration of Independence, which states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." By contrast, while the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments say that the federal government and the states respectively shall not deprive any person "of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," the Constitution does not contain the phrase "pursuit of happiness."
From the January 2 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: And finally tonight, the mail -- plenty of letters from kids over the holiday; lots of questions about Kids Are Americans Too, which turned out to be a very hot Christmas gift this season.
[...]
O'REILLY: Courtney Yong, San Francisco: "Mr. O'Reilly, I really enjoyed 'Kids Are Americans Too' but in the first sentence of Chapter Three you say the Constitution guarantees 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' Isn't that from the Declaration of Independence?"
Another excellent question, Courtney. The reason the Constitution was forged was to assure new American citizens the right to free life and access to pursue happiness in his or her own way. The Declaration was the statement; the Constitution, the instrument.
Hair splitting? I guess if O'Reilly didn't want this out there at all he wouldn't even have read the email, would he?
The letter itself identified the falsehood, as read by O'Reilly.
O'Reilly IS a falsehood, Tommy. Is there no limit to far far you will stoop to defend these right-wing lowlifes????
Yeah, Tommy-- and what about O'Reilly referring in his book to "the famous phrase" that doesn't exist? ( I love it!)
The kid nailed him, and he tried to change the issue and avoid the correction. He made an express written statement that was patently wrong and he didn't remedy the problem, he only patronized the kid.
When a news network's #1 pundit has to spin to avoid getting shown up by a child, the network becomes an embarassment unto itself.
But hey, this is FauxNews. Accountibilty is irrelevant.
Why then, didn't O'Reilly correct said falsehood when he had the chance?
The Constitution does not promise life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as you know, and I hope Mr. O'Reilly knows, the Constitution sets forth rules and guidelines for the laws created in the US. The Declaration, while an important document in the scope of the history of the United States, is nothing more, or less, than a nice press release telling King George to go and "f" himself, except with better phrasing.
You've got to ask yourself, why would a former history teacher be expected to know, history.
Remember, he still thinks he won a Peabody Award while doing "Inside Edition" - even though the show received that award AFTER he left.
...and he didn't remember he was a registered Republican while claiming to be independent either.
...and it wasn't a Peabody, either - it was a Polk award.
And the award wasn't a Peabody, it was a Polk.
O'Reilly is a liar, and a stupid, stupid man.
You're splitting them, too.
He can't admit to it, so he let's an e-mail speak for him? Is that really what you are so desperately grasping at?
O'Reilly clearly does not answer the question and does not admit that the statement he makes in his book is wrong.
Oh, for pete's sake, O'Reilly could have easily ignored the whole thing, he usually doesn't own up to any of his mistakes in any fashion....maybe this is progress for him.
But if this is the red meat O'Reilly "fans" can fork at today, by all means........
"...he usually doesn't own up to any of his mistakes in any fashion....maybe this is progress for him"
Tommy, he didn't own up to this one in any fashion.He explained to the kid who busted him that he (O'Reilly) was right, and the kid was wrong.He's a big puss who pre-empted others pointing out his stoopidity by making up a silly story to weasel out of it.
What progress ?
I think Bill brought it up because it's immortalized in his book and he needs to do his little dance to either make himself appear to be correct, or let us know 'what he really meant'.
This is not some minor statistical flub or a another display of Bill's ethnocentric prejudice. This is a grossly false statement about our nation's most treasured historical documents from a man who practically makes a living rendering judgment after judgment of who is American and who is 'unAmerican'.
This meat is very red and very tasty.
O'Reilly has no doubt caught some heat about his mistake. He's probably had people razz it him about it so, in his downtime over the holidays, he came up with a way to spin it without ever admitting to it being a mistake.
His error is also mentioned over in the Amazon.com review section of the book. O'Reilly should be ashamed of himself for getting it so wrong being that he constantly reminds us that he was a history teacher after all.
His reason or, as it would be more appropriate, his excuse was quite a fine piece of spin. I've always said that no one spins more in the "No-Spin" zone than O'Reilly himself.
Hair splitting?
No it just proves O'Reilly didn't pay attention in high school history class and neither did his editors.
It makes me wonder if anyone at William Morrow reads the garbage they get from Bill.
"The letter itself identified the falsehood, as read by O'Reilly."
And then O'Reilly falsely and condescendingly claims that the kid is wrong and that the book is right. Did you not look at the entire clip?
Tommy cannot hear you.
"Hair splitting?"--Tommy
C'mon Tommy. Admit it, O'Reilly's a fool. But, more importantly, why do you detest MMFA? Don't you think there is a need to set the record straight?
The letter itself identified the falsehood, as read by O'Reilly. - Tommy
First, let's cut BillO a little slack: It wasn't a falsehood, it was a mistake. Okay, more than a mistake, a great big blunder about something he should have known and if he didn't his editor damn well should have. But it wasn't a "falsehood," i.e., a lie.
The thing is, BillO should have simply said "You know, you're right. Good catch and we certainly will fix that in later editions."
But he didn't. Instead he tried to finesse the question by calling the Constitution the "instrument" to insure "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." So hey, he's saying, I wasn't wrong at all, it's just a minor technicality!
So while the statement in the book was flat out wrong, it was not dishonest. On the other hand, his response to the email was.
Larry,
Your post makes a great point, and I can certainly agree with your explanation......thanks for your reasonable take.
O'Rielly's book is a box of toilet paper with a decorative jecket, but I've got agree with Tommy here. This is splitting hairs. I don't credit O'Rielly with much, but he read the letter, that's enough of an acknowledgement for me.
Besides - How many letters did he NOT read, which addrssed the REAL falsehoods in that pile of tripe? He's still little more than a monkey that's been put in a suit an conveniently shaved, but on THIS LONE POINT, I don't think he did wrong.
O'Reilly is extremely harsh towards anyone he perceives to have made a mistake. He should be judged just as hashly for his hypocrisy.
Media Matters for Hillary is being extremely dishonest on this one. The Declaration of Independence does states that we have inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, it is the Constitution and its amendments, and not the Declaration of Independence, that guarantees those rights. O'Reilly could have worded things better, but what he wrote was not a falsehood.
I weep for a nation in which Bill O'Reilly's most recent tome, "Kids are Americans Too" is considered a "very hot Christmas gift this season".
But then I'm imagining some poor kid who wanted a Wii and got this crappy book instead. That's one more soldier for our side in the WOX.
I weep for a nation in which Bill O'Reilly's most recent tome, "Kids are Americans Too" is considered a "very hot Christmas gift this season".
In order to make O'Reilly's book a "very hot Christmas gift this season", you need to douse it with gasoline and light a match.
WK, if that doesn't create some future Warriors on Xmas, I don't know what will.But how did you miss this little bit of surrender and appeasement from BilldO ?
'...O'Reilly said was from one of the "kids" who sent him mail "over the holiday," ' (my bold)
Holiday, BilldO ??? Somebody a-scared to mention the Baby Jesus' birthday?
The Surge is working !
Can't believe I missed that.
My only excuse is that it's about 15 degrees today in the bunker outside the mall in NJ where I'm stationed and all of the words from each post aren't making it through my internet tubes.
Didn't we send you enough flags to burn, WK? we'll get some more out with the next shipment of wassail-bombs and puffy snowman body armor.
Bill O'Reilly is so boring. Come on it's Iowa Caucus Day. How about we talk about BILL Clinton instead...
Clinton defended his wife’s decision to compete in Iowa, a question that has been raised with increasing frequency as Sen. Clinton finds herself in a volatile three-way fight with Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.
“I think she needed to show she wasn’t afraid,” Clinton said. “I am pleased she did.”
Ah guess they figure she's gonna lose..Gotta love the spin ;-)
Boring? Are you kidding. What could possibly be boring about Bill O'Reilly being corrected by a kid from San Francisco, of all places. Oh the irony.
Hehehe...I don't know Tommy, sometimes I think MMFA holds grudges ;-)
Geez with everything going on out there MMFA has to dig up this nothing story about O'Reilly.
We all agree Billy-Boy is worse than scum, a liar, a pervert, & he doesn't know his history.
Now give us a good thread about somone more interesting!!!
That isn't "irony".
It's been long established that Tommy doesn't understand the definition of irony.
This is just silly, I guess MMFA needs OReilly covered and since he was on vacation they need to get that anti Oreilly juices flowing. This is as boring as it gets. Iowa Caucus day and we are talking about Bill OReilly. Sad.
Sue, do you think this could win O'Reilly an award of any type from no specific person in particular?
Come down off that hate horse, HBL.
HA HA HA!
If you want news, why not try a news site?
O'Reilly doesn't "admit" his mistake, he doesn't even let the email stand as is.
"The Declaration was the statement; the Constitution, the instrument."
This is the man who claimed US GI's massacred German soldiers at Malmedy. The only reason he read the little girl's email was so he could lecture her on how he was correct and she wasn't.
Personally, I am tired of the NEWS being made by some Iowans..Caucas all you want...Deibold has the true figures already waiting for election day. And since when does MMFA have to ignore Mr. Misinformation.
Tomorrow, Caucus Day is history...hooray. Maybe The Savage will reappear. And does anyone know of any nut that bought this book for their kids...Talk about child abuse.
Actually, I think Mr. Loofah/Falafel compounded his error in the broadcast answer to the "kid." I suspect that the "statement" he was thinking of, for which the Constitution was the "instrument", was probably the Preamble to the Constitution, not the Declaration of Independence. As we know, the Constitution was drawn up and ratified quite a while after the Declaration of Independence. And, as you correctly note, the guarantees described in the Declaration weren't even provided in the Constitution initially but were added later by amendments. Poor Billow. He gets things wrong so often because he's too cheap to pay fact checkers!
vonbargen9388:
Who taught you U.S. history? Blutto from "Animal House"?
For what reason do you wish to infer he was referring only to the Preamble? The amendments to the Constitution are part of the Constitution. If we are to be technical, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit..." are stated as values and rights endowed by the Creator that the British Government had infringed upon. The DOI doesn't do any guaranteeing. It only declares a separation and gives reasons to that end. The Constitution is the only document of the two which guarantees rights. If he were to say the DOI guaranteed those rights, he'd be wrong. Clear and simple. 'Of, by, and for the people' is taken from the Gettysburg Address. Would it be misleading to say that Constitution established a government 'Of the People, By the People, and for the People'? I mean, Lincoln didn't coin that turn of phrase until 87 years after the DOI.
Does anybody really think Bill has ever read the Constitution or Declaration of Independence?
C'mon, we're talking about Bill O'Reilly here.
Just looked at O'Reilly's book sales at Amazon. Not listed as a bestseller under any list anywhere. Thoroughly beaten out by the Harry Potter books, Golden Compass & the sequels, and Where the Wild Things Are.
If BilldO is getting his arse kicked by The Golden Compass, that's extra sweet. His declarations of victory over the evil S.P.s is as funny as those delusional end zone dances seen by the wingnut posters at this site.
I'm surprised you missed this HB.
I followed links on your link and reached a link for a free download of the book: "The Prophesied End-Time Revealed".
[link to the-end.com]
This sounds like my kind of book. I'm going to start on it as soon as I finish "Origin of the Species".
I'm going to start on it as soon as I finish(burning) "Origin of the Species".
There, I fixed that for you, King.
And thanks for trudging deeper into Monstermommy or whatever that site was. I had seen that Michael Ramirez cartoon a while ago, and the Mizterry site was a purely serendipitous discovery whils googling the cartoon.
I may have to order those books too.As a bonus, I now know how to say "click here to download" in Nederlanderese-ish.
Hey, which one of you tricked me into buying "Autumn for some dumb Patriarch in Columbia"? Wow, that is one dense book. I love to read and will rarely give up once started, but senor Marquez beat me up.
That pinhead o'riely must really hate America
Another excellent question, Courtney. The reason the Constitution was forged was to assure new American citizens the right to free life and access to pursue happiness in his or her own way. The Declaration was the statement; the Constitution, the instrument. Actually the Constitution was forged because the Articles of Confederation weren't working. O'Reilly's ghost writers, as he, should be better informed of their American history.
Perhaps O'Reilly believes that the Gettysburgh Address is the instrument that allowed and encouraged people to use a numbering system for their houses. :-)
Good point, Therick. I believe that's when Lincoln discouraged roommates from using separate house numbers in his "A house divided" speech.
This isn't such a big deal.
O'Reilly has been lying about kids for years, it's only a very small step for him to begin lying to them as well.
His editor(s) isn't(aren't) very bright either.
O'Reilly is a liar plain and simple. He often brags in public that the Factor has never had to correct a mistake. Yes, because O'Reilly does not admit to one. He simply obfuscates, misinforms, lies, spins the truth on and on.