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Bill O'Reilly Attacks JetBlue and Gets Grounded
Posted Jul 17th 2007 12:38PM by Cenk Uygur
Filed under: Power Line, Media, Young Turks, Religion, Pope Benedict, Video, Bill O'Reilly
Filed under: Power Line, Media, Young Turks, Religion, Pope Benedict, Video, Bill O'Reilly
The primate error on Fox's part (the one you see in the video above) is not that big a deal, it's just funny. The real problem with O'Reilly's buffoonish attack against Daily Kos and Jet Blue is that it is based on pure fabrication, propaganda and ironically, spin! What happened, I thought it was the no spin zone?
Here's how O'Reilly spun this story out of whole cloth:
Daily Kos is a mainstream, liberal website that is the biggest political blog in the country. It is manyfold bigger than the largest conservative blogs. It is five times larger than the largest conservative blog/website, Newsbusters. It is over eight times larger than the venerable Powerline. And it is bigger than the top eight conservative blogs combined, according to blogads. Ouch. Who's mainstream now?
What O'Reilly did was take commenters from Daily Kos and pretend they were writing for the site. As you can see here, the commenters on the blogs are not the writers of the blog. They do not produce the content of the site and the site is not responsible for the crazy things they often say. Most blogs are open and allow the public to comment in any way they like, including the Newsbloggers here at AOL.
O'Reilly pretended these random, public commenters were the only thing on the site and that they spoke for all of Daily Kos. That is not only preposterous, it is a lie. Anyone who knows anything about blogs knows that's a lie.
For example, in my last post here on AOL someone commented:
"who cares...muzz on muzz killings have gone on for eons....every dead muzz is one less terrorist!!"
Does he speak for me? I am Muslim, so according to Bill O'Reilly, am I advocating my own death? Can I say that Newsbloggers at AOL argues that all Muslims (or muzzes as this gentleman so eloquently puts it) should be killed because they are all terrorists?
Obviously that's absurd and grossly misleading at best. O'Reilly does this to smear all liberal websites as extreme. It's a familiar trick. Everyone they disagree with is "extreme" or "radical" and they are "mainstream." These are clever talking points used to spin and smear. What happened, I thought we were in the no spin zone?
Then, they ambush this poor CEO coming out of his apartment and ask him absurd questions to which there are no reasonable answers. What is he supposed to say -- actually the Pope is a primate, technically speaking? This is also the height of irony because this is the same tactic that Fox News Channel has repeatedly criticized Michael Moore for using. Except Michael Moore has his facts straight before he goes in for an ambush interview.
By the way, notice that they couldn't get a real reporter to do this story. So, they had to send Jesse "Dirty" Waters, the intern producer to do it. Couldn't they find Stuttering John? Was he not available for the gag?
You can see the whole painful O'Reilly segment here. At one point, O'Reilly says he'll never fly Jet Blue again. Jet Blue should use that in their advertising. Their slogan can be: We promise you won't run into Bill O'Reilly if you fly with us.
There's no way they don't increase sales. In fact, I'm going to go out of my way to get a Jet Blue ticket next time. You can buy tickets here.
Fox News Channel has no shame. If you really want to boycott someone because they support malicious lies and hateful propaganda, you would do a lot better to boycott Fox News Channel, not Jet Blue.
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Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 8)
16. #15 Audrey - you believe O'Reilly? I guess you believe in the tooth fairy and easter bunny too..have at it.
David S. at 6:17PM on Jul 17th 2007
17. 'I like cake. And now that I've written that, then it must be true for everyone who writes for, works on, or comments in Newsbloggers. We're all pro-cake now."
And just to pare that down for you a little, chocolate cake with chocolate icing only. And two scoops of rocky road ice scream. So, its extremist cake, if you will.
sydney at 6:21PM on Jul 17th 2007
18. Boycott JetBlue. Fly American.
Kent at 7:41PM on Jul 17th 2007
19. Don't like Bill? Try sendahole.com.
Fred at 7:48PM on Jul 17th 2007
20. What O'Reilly did was present comments made on the Daily KOS as examples of the type of commentary that goes on there. He did not attribute the comments to the bloggers themselves.
The major failing of the Daily KOS (in the O'Reilly clip) was the failure of the moderators/owners of the Daily KOS to monitor and remove comments which are so far out of line.
Honestly, if someone commented on one of your posts: "I agree with you, and further I think we should kill all the Mexicans; and nuke Los Angeles just to be sure we got all of them", would you let it stand, or would you take it down?
biccat at 7:59PM on Jul 17th 2007
21. It's going to be a long night for the U.S. Senate.
Senate Republicans are threatening to filibuster a bill by Senators Levin and Reed that would require President Bush to begin troop withdrawal within 120 days, with most coming home by April 2008.
But Senator Majority Leader Reid has decided that he's not going to let them just make a threat and walk away -- he's going to make them stand up in front of the American people and show them just how much they want to stay in Iraq. A few Republicans have started to say the right things, but we don't know whether they actually have the backbone to stand with the American people and vote the right way, and the threat of a filibuster gives them all the cover they need.
Now, let's not kid ourselves: they can filibuster, and we probably won't have the votes to stop them. But if Senate Republicans are against ending the war, then they should show it by voting against the legislation -- a straight-up-and-down vote on a bill that the majority of Americans support. That's how a democratic government works.
Instead, they're threatening to block the vote, and we're going to force them to explain themselves in front of the American people.
SANDY at 8:22PM on Jul 17th 2007
22. It appears to me that the Young Turks are about as absurd as the O'Reilly attack on the CEO of Jet Blue. Their seemingly serious "expanation" that the Pope is an "Italian Primate" is so juvenile it hurts. It is apparent to me that neither O'Reilly or you really know anything about Jet Blue's CEO or the company itself. You and O'Reilly should know that he is a highly conservative person and a person who would never knowingly denigrate anyone.
mrdocuman at 8:28PM on Jul 17th 2007
23. Oh but of course.... IF O'Reill is saying it, it has to be right and true.... After all he is the no spin zone guy. And when we here the same things over and over again, sort of kind of like talking points.... well, when we here them often enough they become true. Even when they are not!!!
Just like all that comes out of our white house!!
I hear and I obey...MASTER.
BL at 8:42PM on Jul 17th 2007
24. Bill O'Rielly is such a HYPOCRITE. He is a pig and he paid ,millions of dollars io keep it a secret. He is trash. He is exactly what he claims to detest. A big phony. PERV.
Pat at 8:43PM on Jul 17th 2007
25. Bill Falafel O'Really is a melanoma waiting to happen. I hope it happens soon.
Bubba S. at 8:48PM on Jul 17th 2007
26. I hear jetblue has a new logo now. I'd say it's absolutely spot on.
http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/jetjoe.jpg
David at 9:00PM on Jul 17th 2007
27. Michael Moore thinks that Cuba's healthcare system is better than ours in the U.S.?
That's really getting the facts straight?
90% of Cuban Americans are Republican.
Half of them came here for the quality of our healthcare. The other half for good old freedom.
I disagree with Bill O'Reily about some things, but, by and large, he's getting the right thing out there.
If you want to expose wrongness, why don't you talk about China?
If you have a child, it's a law that you must be made sterile.
The news today is that they've outlawed co-ed dancing - as that increases the birth rate.
China also has a thriving business of selling human organs from executed prisoners. And, they execute a lot of people. Why don't the bleeding heart liberals make mention about that? Maybe Michael Moore could make a movie about how great China is.
All of this and your going after O'Reilly?
This blog is partisan politics - nothing substantial is here.
Jim at 9:24PM on Jul 17th 2007
28. bigdaddydon-
Are you implying that primates are NOT created by "god"?
And, yes we (humans) are primates. Where were you during biology class?
doug at 9:44PM on Jul 17th 2007
29. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Pope is a Primate (capital p). From their site:
"In the Western Church a primate is a bishop possessing superior authority, not only over the bishops of his own province, like the metropolitan, but over several provinces and metropolitans. This does not refer to episcopal powers, which each bishop possesses fully, but to ecclesiastical jurisdiction and organization, especially in national churches."
I must add; What a bunch of maroons!
tom at 10:57PM on Jul 17th 2007
30. Cable News is dying and people like Billo are the reason why. Who wants to listen to some old man whine and rant about how much America sucks?? If you cut through his spin and really listen to him that is all he is ever saying. My country sucks and this is why I hate Americans. I think most people caught on to that long ago. I have never heard a guy who hates America and Americans more than this pretentious gasbag does. I always wonder when I see a clip from his or some similar show what the family life must be like for the average viewer who sits night after night listening to Billo then following it up with Sean Hannity. Somebody needs to do a study and figure out how many divorces Fox News has caused. Honey lets spend a romantic evening at home whining about our country.. I laugh when somebody says he gets two million viewers ( which I'm betting he never does) My response is always yes and 298 million of us have better things to do. I am two thirds of one percent of the population... Hear me roar!!!
steve at 11:02PM on Jul 17th 2007