Ever had a boss hit on you?
All this hot sex talk made me watch O’Reilly for the first time today. I was kind of surprised. He didn’t come off as as much of pure party-line idealogue as I’d been led to believe. He allowed some dissenting opinions to be aired without screaming them down, and he actually lobbed a few probing questions at the guy who made that new anti-Kerry documentary. I only have this one show to go by, and it wasn’t informative or entertaining enough that I’m going to watch it again, but I don’t understand why he of all peaople is such a polarizing figure.
Ever had a boss hit on you?[/quote]
No, but in the last 21 years I’ve been involved in a good number of situations where I counseled an employee who felt they were being harassed, and sat in about 7 or 8 sexual harassment hearings, and 6 of those were boss/subordinate hearings. Of the 4 where the finding was for the person claiming harassment, not once did I hear anything like someone agreeing to sit and listen on the phone for 30 minutes while the other person spoke in an unacceptable manner. Without a doubt there were situations where the person being harassed felt under pressure to “take it”, but usually in situations where it was difficult to walk away.
I don’t know what happened, but I don’t believe that a woman would sit and listen to someone talk dirty for 30 minutes when all they had to do was either tell them it was unacceptable and hang up or even make an excuse to hang up (“I’m sick, gotta go to the bathroom, etc”) And it sounds like O’Reilly’s lawyers are the ones asking the judge to force her to produce any tapes of the calls.
Granted, I’ve never once seen O’Reilly, as FoxNews isn’t available in Canada (yet – it’s supposedly coming), but I’ve read elsewhere that in the past few months he’s been shifting to the center slightly, and other conservative commentators – Michael Savage most notably – have actually started denouncing Bill. The speculation is that perhaps O’Reilly knew this was coming, and he’d better start building some bridges before it’s too late.
O’Reilly has been a huge critic of many of Bush’s policies, to the point that several members of the Bush cabinet refuse to go on his show. He’s trashed many Republican senators and congressmen. But he also trashes a lot of liberals, which brings the liberal ire. He can also come across as a real blowhard, but I’ve found the most criticism of him seems to come from people who’ve spent the least time listening to him (I rarely watch the TV show, but occasionally listen to the radio show.)
What Lackey said. The TV show is the best target for his critics because he has very limited time tto squeeze his views and his guest views in when he has multiple segments in each show. If he feels like he is not getting in his share or disagrees strongly with the guest and perceives he is giving him the run around he goes into overdrive. I think the TV show is more like O’Reilly concentrate and I rarely watch it either.
The radio show is two hours, one topic per hour and the first segment every hour has a guest from one or the other side of a topic often times. Many believed he would not excel in this format, but he is quick witted and quick with retorts to almost any opposing view. I think he is good and piecing bits of info together on the fly and loading the cracks with filler to form an opinion. Sometimes he’s full of shit. SOmetimes he will change his mind in the middle of the hour (not often). Overall, he does his homework and knows a lot of crap. He loves to hear himself speak and he could go on for four hours I believe.
There is no balanced radio show on, but he is as close as I can find at the moment that is actually entertaining. He claims impartiality, but would obviously prefer Bush, but I still think he does a good job of putting forth both sides and defends Kerry when callers call in with the same old GOP party line.
I know I sound like a fanboy, but I think people knee-jerkedly call him a right wing dick because A) He’s on Fox and B) the only time they have seen him is clips of him shooting his mouth off like an obnoxious prick. Now if you hate everything he stands for and espouses and think he is a right-wing dick, then, well that’s cool with me.
If you guys think O’Reilly is bad, you should try listening to Michael Savage sometime. Holy moly, I’m surprised the guy hasn’t had a massive brain hemorrhage on air.
He presents himself as fair and balanced, but he isn’t all the time. He has obvious conservative political leanings. It’s not suprising that people focus on that stuff when there’s such a disconnect between what he is and what he says he is. It’s like Michael Moore claiming to make documentaries. Or at least failing to deny he makes documentaries. Although I guess that comparison’s not the best, as O’Reilly isn’t as bad as Moore.
O’Reilly is conservative and anti-Liberal. He is not Republican. This has been your education for today.
I don’t know what happened, but I don’t believe that a woman would sit and listen to someone talk dirty for 30 minutes when all they had to do was either tell them it was unacceptable and hang up or even make an excuse to hang up (“I’m sick, gotta go to the bathroom, etc”)
Were all of the sexy phone calls 30 minutes, or just the one she says she taped and transcribed?
Caught him on an off day. Try that video of him and Jeremy Glick.
He’s basically a backlash culture warrior - the living embodiment of Thomas Frank’s theories.
Savage is a vicious little ball of hate and venom. I can’t believe people actually listen to him.
– Xaroc
Erik isn’t alone.
FLASH: FOXNEWS ‘O’REILLY FACTOR’ averaged 3.3 million viewers Thursday night, a double digit increase over his ratings from September… ‘If anything, this lawsuit is driving viewership,’ one FOX insider mused…
I watch him from time to time. Last night I watched to see if he was going to address the brouhaha. He had a brief comment up front, something to the tune of, “I really want to talk about this, but the lawyers just won’t let me. I really must respect the lawyers. Thanks for all your nice letters though.”
The most painful part of the show, though, was his unbelievable fawning over Ann Coulter. Och. That was just awful. In the past he’s been pretty harsh with her, and is pretty steadfast in saying she is too strident to be effective. Last night he was all, “Boy Ann, wouldn’t you say that you and me are the biggest targets out there right now?” It was like he was trying to win over a new little friend.
Disgusting.
“Say hello to my little friend.”
-Amanpour
Did the same on the radio show the other day. I think he is just a horny middle-aged man. He just has a huge stage from which to flirt from. Kinda like David Letterman does, but Bill’s is a bit more uncomfortable to watch as his just may have a hotel room key behind it.
Ever had a boss hit on you?[/quote]
You weren’t asking me, but: yes, and was let go a couple weeks later after turning her down. But it didn’t involve 30 minutes of HAWT CHAT and a hang up.
He’s Calculated in a way that no other political figure is.
He’s plays the Ultimate Middle card, and has fooled Americans into believing it. That’s his audience, the “I’m tired of partisan politics in America” moderates.
He’s the most dangerous conservative in America right now, because as the country grows more partisan (or believes they are growing more partisan) stock in O’Reilly rises. O’Reilly and his viewers become JUSTIFIED, and he seems to be all the more relevant in this “partisan America”.
Rush Limbaugh galvanizes the Right, prepares them for war like a general urging on his troops. Bill O’Reilly pulls the Middle over to the Right. He is Fox incarnate, they of “We report. You decide”, of “Fair and Balanced”.
As a Demagogue, an Ultimate Middle follower, a cog in the Conservative Think Tank Machiavellian machinations, and a calculated political opportunist, he stands for everything wrong in American politics today.
You should have seen her on John McEnroe’s little talk show. They had a fairly civil conversation until she said we were going to be attacked if John Kerry was elected, and then he cut her off, plugged her book, and then went to commercial.
I love it when these people book Ann and have no idea what they’re getting. If they want political correctness, they’d have better luck with Mike Tyson.
On topic though, I don’t know what you people are expecting, in a society where numerous Politicians and Professional Athletes are fawned over even after they’re convicted of sexual harassment and adultery. Is Bill O’Reilly really going to be fed to the wolves here? Will the Fox News Channel drop him, even if his ratings hold (assuming he’s convicted)? Of course if they have tapes, he’ll have a much harder time trying to shake the image.
But that girl needs to be smacked upside the head for trying to extort [i]$60,000,000[/i] for this. I can think of only one person that could possibly be her attorney…
