Bill O'Reilly's arrogance and ignorance know no bounds.
The right-wing Fox News host was at his head-scratching worst with comments he made during this ridiculous exchange with Charles Krauthammer (a fellow right-winger who was forced to call out the Fox News show host for his stunning ignorance).
This from Crooks and Liars (along with the video):
I could go way back in history and point out all of the black men and women who have run for president, but O'Reilly's ignorance ignores even the last 30 years. Jesse Jackson running in 1984 and 1988 is so obvious it makes O'Reilly look appear ignorant on a scape to epic to believe.Krauthammer: It's not a strong field. Not being known now is not dispositive -- nobody had ever heard of Barack Obama at this time in the cycle.
O'Reilly; That's what they always said, but let me challenge you. Barack Obama, a black man. OK, I mean he's half black and half white, but his appearance is black. The first black to ever run, OK? Huge, huge advantage in a campaign. Enormous. The press loved him. LOVED HIM, alright? Promoted him, actively promoted him. NBC News actively promoted his candidacy and so did their parent company General Electric. HUGE advantages Nobody on that list has anything.
Krauthammer: All of that is true, although Jesse Jackson actually was the first who ran.
Enough of that, however.
Lets get to another point in O'Reilly's puzzling rant: His implication that Barack Obama was essentially elected president because he was black and he was loved by the media. This is an insult to Barack Obama and implies that Obama is some kind of affirmative action candidate elected president just because he is black.
Even Krauthammer later gave Obama credit for running a good campaign even as O'Reilly tried to portray the president as an affirmative action candidate.
O'Reilly's comment was absolutely pathetic.In 1888 Frederick Douglass was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention. Afterward during the roll call vote, he received one vote, so was nominally a candidate for the presidency. In those years, the candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency were chosen by state representatives voting at the nominating convention. Many decisions were made by negotiations of state and party leaders "behind closed doors." Douglass was not a serious candidate in contemporary terms.
In 1972, Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American major party candidate for president. She was a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination and participated in the Democratic primaries in numerous states.[1] She campaigned in 12 states and won 28 delegates.[2] In 1984 and 1988, Jesse Jackson was the first major party black candidate to run nationwide primary campaigns. He also ran as a Democratic Party candidate.[3]
In 1992 Alan Keyes was the first African-American candidate to run in the Republican presidential primaries.[citation needed] Keyes ran again, unsuccessfully, in 1996, 2000, and 2008. In 2004, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton ran as unsuccessful candidates in the Democratic primaries.
