Fox News conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly has proved once again that he seriously - SERIOUSLY - needs some sort of a psychological evaluation and perhaps subsequent treatment. A part of me wanted to watch his recent interview with Ted Turner, but another part of me just has difficulty watching O’Reilly for anymore than a few minutes here and there. I was, however, quite intrigued to see that he had Turner as a guest on his O’Reilly’s show, “The O’Reilly Factor.” One of the other reasons I chose not to watch the show was because there was virtually no doubt in my mind what O’Reilly would say. Obviously, Turner is a leftist. But, one of the many, MANY differences between O’Reilly and Turner is that O’Reilly is delusional or an outright liar since he refuses to admit he is a right winger and runs his show to appeal to a right-wing audience. O’Reilly, coming from the O.J. Simpson school of denial, tries to portray himself as a common man who speaks to people who are right in the middle of the political spectrum. Quit laughing.
Think Progress documented one of the exchanges between Turner and O’Reilly about the far right-wing lean of Fox News as a channel. Clearly, Mr. O. was not having that (obvious as it is to normal, unbiased people).
Here’s how Think Progress had the transcript from the Turner-O’Reilly:
O’REILLY: Right and I’m a nice guy. Well, maybe that’s overstating. I’m an honest guy, who’s just trying to do the best I can. But, you know, I think that you underestimate Fox News and its appeal to traditional Americans.
TURNER: That’s true. And I also said in there that I knew that that was our most vulnerable spot before I even went on the air with CNN that a right wing network would pose a threat because not only was CNN pretty much in the middle but so were CBS, NBC, and ABC. And you’re right. The far right did not have a voice.
O’REILLY: You can’t possibly think that Fox News is a far right operation? I mean, because it’s not.
TURNER: I do.
O’REILLY: Oh, come on. I mean, maybe coming from a Jane Fonda point of view it is, but come on.
TURNER: Well, I was married to Jane Fonda.
O’REILLY: I know. I mean, but how can - I’m a far right guy? I mean, the far right hates me.
You either don’t watch or you’re so far left.
See, it’s OK for O’Reilly to label people as being on the far left and to call them all kinds of names. But, boy, if you label him as he is (a right-wing guy) … he loses his mind. As Think Progress points out, and as I have said and written many times, look at the “analysts” that Fox News parades onto its sets: Bill Kristol, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Mike Huckabee (they gave this guy a show), Glenn Beck (as an analyst and probably soon a show of his own, too), Bill Bennett, Dick Morris (who has an ongoing vendetta against the Clintons and now all liberals) and others. Worse, these individuals are never counterbalanced with an equally strong liberal. Why? Because Fox News pushes a right-wing agenda that does a masterful job of integrating conservative opinion with factual news (to the point that viewers have no idea they are being fed right-wing propaganda). When O’Reilly is gone from the show, pay attention to who hosts. Conservatives are substituted in for him and we are left with the likes of Laura Ingraham and John Kasich - right wingers. Bill is right, some right wingers may hate him, but for him to try to portray himself as anything but a right-wing guy is, in the simplest of terms, crazy.
Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/10/billo-fox-far-right/
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