Political views of Bill O'Reilly
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American political commentator
Political views
Political affiliation
On The O'Reilly Factor and on his former talk-radio program, Bill O'Reilly has focused on news and commentary related to politics and culture.
In a 2003 interview with
I'm not a political guy in the sense that I embrace an ideology. To this day I'm an independent thinker, an independent voter, I'm a registered independent... there are certain fundamental things that this country was founded upon that I respect and don't want changed. That separates me from the secularists who want a complete overhaul of how the country is run.[8]
Domestic politics
O'Reilly has opined on many domestic issues. O'Reilly said the
O'Reilly has been critical of former
In 2002, O'Reilly had criticized Democratic Senator
After criticizing the overturn of Snyder v. Phelps by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, O'Reilly offered on March 30, 2010 to help Snyder pay the US$16,510 in court costs while he prepared an appeal to the Supreme Court.[12][13]
2004 presidential election
During the lead up to the
Although O'Reilly has never officially endorsed any candidate, he did advise his audience not to support Democratic South Dakota senator Tom Daschle in his Senate re-election bid on his radio program, saying that, "[W]ith all due respect to the senator, we don't have any respect for him at all. And we hope he loses in South Dakota. And I -- really, I stay out of all these races, but you guys listening in South Dakota, vote for the other guy."[18] Daschle would lose the 2004 Senate election in South Dakota to John Thune.[19]
2008 presidential election
In the
O'Reilly has also criticized Republicans. When speaking to
"Culture War" and domestic politics
O'Reilly has taken to using the abbreviation "S-P", for "
Liberal thought, however, can be a good thing. Progressive programs to help the poor, fight injustice and give working people a fair shake are all positive. But libertine actions damage a just society because actions have consequences. Kids who drink and take drugs are likely to hurt themselves and others. But obviously, the SPs do not make judgments like that.[23]
In his book Culture Warrior, O'Reilly called President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. examples of liberals who were also traditionalists, also citing current US Senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Evan Bayh of Indiana as liberal/Democratic "traditionalists".[page needed]
Foreign politics
Immigration and border control
O'Reilly has supported stricter
The Iraq War
O'Reilly initially supported the invasion of Iraq. Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America on March 18, 2003, O'Reilly promised that "If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean [of weapons of mass destruction]...I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."[26] In another appearance on the same program on February 10, 2004, O'Reilly responded to repeated requests for him to honor his pledge: "My analysis was wrong and I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'm not pleased about it at all."[27] With regard to never again trusting the current U.S. government, he said, "I am much more skeptical of the Bush administration now than I was at that time."[citation needed]
O'Reilly has questioned the
Shi'iadeath squads.Again, I don't know. With all America has sacrificed in Iraq, though, it seems reasonable to let the end game play out. If things are getting better, don't derail the train.
But the anti-war crew is now fully invested in defeat. So the struggle at home is becoming even more vicious. Iraq is a shooting war. America's a political war. Both are driven by hatred.[28]
O'Reilly called the Iraqi people a "
In an interview with White House Press Secretary (and former Fox News colleague) Tony Snow, O'Reilly said that the United States cannot win given the circumstances of Iraqis not supporting the effort:
You can't win. No one could. No nation could unless the Iraqi people turn on all the terrorists. And they're not. They're not, Tony.
O'Reilly went on to say that the country was corrupt and compared the situation to the American support of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War:
It's like South Vietnam. It's the same thing. There were a lot of South Vietnamese helping us. A lot fought and died on our side but there wasn't enough of them to prevent the
communists which were more united.[30]
O'Reilly would go on to praise General David Petraeus for reducing American casualties and advancing American objectives with the 2007 troop surge:
The cost has been great. We all know that. In suffering and cash. And the Iraqi government is still a mess. But General Petraeus, backed by a brave and professional U.S. military, has restored much order, largely defeated the Iraqi Al Qaeda thugs, and at least given the good people of that country a chance to prosper. General David Petraeus is "The Factor" person of the year by a wide margin.[31]
During The Rumble with Jon Stewart, O'Reilly admitted that "We should not have gone to Iraq. Afghanistan we had to."[32]
Terrorism
O'Reilly has endorsed an aggressive
In my opinion, it is immoral to allow terrorists to kill people when you can stop them. If you capture someone who knows the inner workings of a terror outfit, you make life very uncomfortable for that person within boundaries set by Congress.
But let's stop the nonsense here. America's not a bad country because it
9/11.The
ACLUcan't stop any wrongdoing. They're all lost in a fog of misguided indignation, crazy with hatred for Bush, but we the people must take a stand here. This isn't a game. This is life and death. And if you don't believe it, I know scores of people right here in New York City that will tell you about their dead loved ones.Waterboarding should be a last resort, but it must be an option.[36]
He has also said that detainees should be judged under
He has been critical of politicians such as Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and private citizens such as financier George Soros for wanting to try terror suspects in civilian courts.[37]
O'Reilly has said that both political parties in the United States are "playing games" with regards to the war on terrorism:
...both the
right and the left are playing games to some extent. Certainly, Al Qaeda remains dangerous, but the only way to hit them is to invade Pakistan. Do the Democrats want to do that?On the other hand, it would be a tragedy if after all the blood and treasure Americans have sacrificed, Al Qaeda has not been badly damaged.
America should be united in fighting these savages, but we're not. Ideology has poisoned a reasoned, disciplined approach to defeating the
jihadists. America's great strength, diversity of thought, can also be a weakness. And Al Qaeda knows it.The old saying goes, "United we stand, divided we fall." Well, we're divided.[38]
George Soros
O'Reilly has accused billionaire businessman, investor and political activist
This, ladies and gentlemen, is ultra dangerous. Most Americans have no idea who Soros or Brock are. They will only know what they see on TV, smear stuff against McCain. And the pipeline extends directly to NBC News, which will publicize every piece of slime Brock can create. Only one word describes this: despicable.[43]
O'Reilly alleged that
you know, you've got to admire Soros for coming up with this organization. I mean, you know, he's made billions by doing this in business, by being in Curaรงao and Bermuda and France, where he was convicted of a felony. And he knows how to do this. He knows how to move the money around and use it to gain influence. And now he's set his sights on changing the basic fabric of this country.[45]
The organization to which O'Reilly refers is the
ACLU
O'Reilly has been critical of the
O'Reilly alleged hypocrisy on the part of the ACLU for stating that New York City's random searches of bags in the public transportation as a breach of personal rights, but requiring people entering their New York headquarters to consent to a bag search.[47]
O'Reilly asserted that the ACLU is now a political organization rather than an advocacy group, taking positions and cases based on politics rather than
He has come down hard on the organization for its actions on behalf of the North American Man Boy Love Association (
of a young boy:Now many of these people subscribe to a philosophy of relativism. That is a theory which says there's no absolute right or wrong. All moral values are relative. What's wrong for you is not wrong for your neighbor if he or she doesn't think his or her actions are wrong. That's what the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is all about. Those loons believe it's OK to rape kids because they want to.[48]
The ACLU defends NAMBLA's freedom of speech surrounding their publications and has said that the legal blame in the murder should go to who committed it.[49]
The ACLU has said that they sometimes have to defend "unpopular" speech or speech that they don't agree with, including the Ku Klux Klan's, saying their only "client" is the Bill of Rights.[50] O'Reilly alleges the ACLU "cherry picks" its cases to promote a left wing agenda while not supporting causes of free speech that conservatives support in his criticism of the ACLU defending live sex shows in Oregon.[51]
O'Reilly decried the group's criticism of The Minutemen, claiming the latter were only engaging in a form of protest, a right the ACLU defends. O'Reilly alleges that the organization is protesting the Minutemen because they are going against the ACLU's agenda.[52][53]
O'Reilly accused the organization of having an
O'Reilly criticized the ACLU for suing
It would be impossible for the Boy Scouts (search) or any children's organization to admit
straightkids together and some sexual activity occurred. Well, parents could sue for millions, same way parents could sue if the Scouts put boys and girls together and underaged sex occurred. As far as the atheist issue is concerned, the Scouts say no specific belief in God is necessary, only an acknowledgement of a higher power. And that power could be nature. Come on. The whole discrimination thing is bogus.
Part of the Boy Scout Oath begins, "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country" and the final point of the Scout Law reads, "A Scout is reverent," with the Boy Scouts' of America official explanation being that "a Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others."[55] However, the bylaws of the organization specifically state that Scouts must "respect the religious beliefs of others" and "in no case where a unit is connected with a church or other distinctively religious organization shall members of other denominations or faith be required, because of their membership in the unit, to take part in or observe a religious ceremony distinctly unique to that organization or church."[56]
O'Reilly argues this is a liberal definition of what God may be, allowing diversity for anyone believing in a higher power to join.[citation needed]
He went on to compare the ACLU to
Now the ACLU is free to come to your town and sue the heck out of it. And believe me, that organization will. The ACLU doesn't care about the law or
Panzers. It'll find a way to inflict financial damage on any concern that opposes its secular agenda and its growing in power.
He later went on to criticize the Boy Scout leadership for not standing up to the ACLU.[57]
On October 16, 2006 at Mount Pleasant High School in Michigan, a student stood up publicly in the cafeteria and called the principal of the school "a skank and a tramp." In addition to this, the student called the school administrators Nazis and questioned the sexuality of the vice-principal. The school suspended the boy for 10 days, an action that brought a lawsuit by the ACLU. O'Reilly criticized the ACLU for defending the remarks as satire when he saw it as hate speech.[58]
Social views
Abortion
O'Reilly supported
O'Reilly strongly condemns doctors who provide legal abortion services. Since 2005, he has repeatedly referred to physician and abortion doctor George Tiller as "Tiller the baby killer" on his Fox News prime time show, claiming that there must be "a special place in hell" for him. In May 2009, Tiller was murdered by anti-abortion radical Christian terrorist Scott Roeder.[60]
O'Reilly ardently condemns the practice of
Once again, this isn't about a women's [
reproductive rights. This is about late term abortions for just about any reason.[61]
Education
O'Reilly supports the discussion (but not the advocation) of
O'Reilly has said that there is a lack of leadership among the traditionalists and this has emboldened the secular-progressive cause. He consistently says that using religion to justify public policy is wrong:
Right now, religious people are the ones speaking out for traditional values. But America does not forge public policy based on religion. Thus as soon as God enters the debate, the secularists win.[64]
Gun rights
O'Reilly supports the Second Amendment.[65] O'Reilly supports some forms of gun control, such as gun registration.[66][67] However, he has cast doubt on the effectiveness of gun control.[68]
Health care
O'Reilly opposed the
...[G]overnment-run health care would be a disaster, featuring long waits for treatment and an enormous rise in taxation. But there should be government oversight on private insurance companies and strict guidelines about abusing customers. There can be compromise and effective government control of medical care abuse in the USA. It is possible. But if Michael Moore's plan ever gets traction, pray hard you never get sick.[69]
LGBT issues
O'Reilly's stance on LGBT issues has been evolving. [citation needed]
On October 27, 2004, he was quoted saying: โI've been saying that all along, that if you open the door for gay marriage, then you have to have the polygamists and the triads and the commune people and everybody else, right?โ[70]
O'Reilly supports
To this culture warrior, gay marriage is not a vital issue. I don't believe the republic will collapse if Larry marries Brendan. However, it is clear that most Americans want heterosexual marriage to maintain its special place in American society. And as long as gays are not penalized in the civil arena, I think the folks should make the call at the ballot box. Traditional marriage is widely seen as a social stabilizer, and I believe that is true.[72]
On March 26, 2013, O'Reilly stated "I support civil unions, I always have. The gay marriage thing, I don't feel that strongly about it one way or the other. I think the states should do it." O'Reilly then said, "The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals ... 'We're Americans, we just want to be treated like everybody else.' That's a compelling argument, and to deny that you've got to have a very strong argument on the other side. And the other side hasn't been able to do anything but thump the Bible.[73]
O'Reilly discussed a story surrounding around a teenage lesbian couple being elected as the "cutest couple" in their school yearbook. He stated that he believed that this couple was elected by the students to "tweak the adults" and to "cause trouble". He explains further here:
High school kids, they experiment. They experiment all over the place, they have a chip on their shoulder. They do things just to get a reaction, just to rebel. Parents might say "We don't want to normalize homosexuality in a public way in an academic setting among minors. We don't think that reflects how we feel about it".[74]
O'Reilly is known to favor adoption by a same-sex couple since 2002.[75]
O'Reilly is opposed to the School Success and Opportunity Act (Assembly Bill 1266), which extends gender identity and expression discrimination protection to transgender and gender-nonconforming K-12 students in public schools. O'Reilly described the law as "madness" and "anarchy" on Fox News Channel.[76]
Just before the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law banning homosexuals from openly serving in the military, he appeared on the Tonight Show and called the law "nonsense" and said he didn't understand why the President, in his role as commander in chief of the armed forces, simply didn't sign an executive order rescinding it.[citation needed]
US legal system
He regularly criticizes jurists in controversial cases as "
Jessica's Law
O'Reilly is a self-professed proponent of stricter penalties for
O'Reilly has been particularly critical of the
He criticizes many politicians who oppose
Entertainment media
Film industry
O'Reilly has been very critical of the U.S. film industry for producing films featuring violence and human suffering, such as the
It's the most violent movie ever made, featuring brutal dismemberments and a scalping close-up. And you should see the raves this movie is getting from the pinhead critics. And who's lining up to see it? Children, that's who.[83]
O'Reilly severely chastized billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, for his support of Brian De Palma's film Redacted that portrayed the rape of an Iraqi girl by American soldiers. O'Reilly claimed that the film would be used as a recruiting tool by terrorists.[84]
Music industry
O'Reilly has criticized the
Every educator that I've talked to, and I've talked to hundreds, say that the kind of gangsta rap that Ludacris traffics in has debased the culture, made it more difficult for them to teach children and indeed, led children into anti-social behavior.[85]
In 2007, O'Reilly had a dispute with
In May 2015, O'Reilly blamed the decline of American religion particularly the declining numbers of American Christians on hip hop music citing the genre as "pernicious entertainment" and an adducing factor for contributing to the decline. O'Reilly remarked that people of faith are being marginalized by a secular media and pernicious entertainment and rap industry often glorifies depraved behavior causing the minds of people who consume the music as the least likely to reject religion."[87] American rapper Killer Mike subsequently criticized him for his remarks calling O'Reilly "full of more shit than an outhouse" and then mocked him while he was a guest Real Time with Bill Maher.[88]
Several rappers and hip hop producers have appeared on The O'Reilly Factor. Rapper Cam'ron and hip hop entrepreneur Damon Dash appeared on the program to defend their supposed corruption of young people, to which Damon Dash responded:
So, if you know there is negative in something, try to find the positive as opposed to always talking about the negative. That's the thing I don't understand, why we're criticized so hard within hip-hop. No one talks about the jobs we create, no one talks about the things we do within our community, and no one talks about the businesses we've done, how we've opened the doors and shown people that it's cool to be smart, it's cool to be a CEO, and it's cool to not take advantage but to reap the benefits of all your labor and to do it fairly.[89]
Bill O'Reilly has also interviewed Marilyn Manson on the topic of being a "dangerous" influence on U.S. youth. O'Reilly asked Manson if he thought his work encouraged kids to have sex, homosexuality, use drugs and profanity. He also asked Manson whether his songs encouraged suicide or not. Marilyn Manson answered that in his view the songs were about getting through those feelings, and that ultimately people make their own decisions.[90]
News media
O'Reilly believes the American news media is corrupt and often criticizes it for not reporting topics that hurt the liberal agenda. He has often stated that he is the only one in the media holding people accountable on both sides. In June 2007,
O'Reilly has criticized the media for not highlighting
Doing the math, Ms. O'Donnell says something 100 times more offensive than Ms. Coulter, in my opinion, yet there's no coverage about it. But there's no left wing media bias in this country. Oh no![92]
O'Reilly has criticized journalists who donate to political parties after a report stated that nine out of 10 journalists donated to Democrats or liberal causes; he has said this has resulted in news media tilting to the left.[93]
O'Reilly says that news coverage about positive improvements for American and Iraqi objectives in Iraq have been largely ignored. He conjectured that the ignoring of the positive news took place to help a Democrat win a presidential election.[94]
O'Reilly has asked his viewers and listeners to not patronize the following media outfits, saying those organizations "have regularly helped distribute defamatory, false or non-newsworthy information supplied by far-left websites":[95]
- The St. Petersburg Times
- MSNBC
- The New Yorker Magazine
- Newsday
- U.S. News & World Report
- St. Louis Post Dispatch
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Syracuse Post-Standard
- Kansas City Star
- Roanoke Times
- Barre Montpelier Times Argus
- Chicago Sun Times
Television news
In an interview with commentator Bill Maher, former CBS News anchor Dan Rather accused Fox News Channel of receiving "talking points" from the Republican controlled White House. O'Reilly criticized Rather heavily, responding that Rather did not offer any evidence to support the claim. O'Reilly cited his defense of Rather during the Memogate incident:
As you may remember, I defended Rather in the Bush
National Guarddebacle. I said Rather did not intentionally put on a bogus story. He just didn't check it out, he was too anxious for the story to be true.Now many of you criticized me for that defense, but I'm a fact-based guy. And there's no evidence Dan Rather fabricated anything. It was sloppy reporting that did him in.
But now the fabrication word is in play again. If Dan Rather has evidence of White House dictums coming to FOX News employees, he needs to display that evidence. We are awaiting his appearance. We'll let you know when it is.[96]
O'Reilly has gone after
CNN journalists were prominent among those critical of O'Reilly when he stated that he "couldn't get over the fact" that a largely
O'Reilly scolded MSNBC and CNN for not providing coverage of the ceremony that awarded Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy the Medal of Honor during their primetime shows. O'Reilly said that "[O]n their prime-time broadcast last night, CNN and MSNBC just said no to Lieutenant Michael Murphy and his proud family," that the networks "despise the Bush administration and believe anything positive like American heroes in war zones, detract from their negative assessment of the administration" and that they should not claim to support the troops and ignore their heroism.[99] MSNBC and CNN had covered the events during their daytime programs.[100][101]
NBC News and MSNBC
O'Reilly has criticized NBC News and their affiliated cable service MSNBC several times for their coverage of the war in Iraq, claiming that it is biased toward the war's opponents.[102][103] He later called NBC News the most "anti-military news operation in the country," when he cited an example of NBC correspondent William Arkin that called American troops "mercenaries."[84]
He also criticized the network of trying to downplay the War on Terror in the wake of American casualties in Iraq.[104]
Robert Greenwald, who had directed the controversial documentary Outfoxed that criticized O'Reilly and the Fox News Channel, put together an event of homeless veterans criticizing O'Reilly for calling John Edwards dishonest when Edwards asserted that there were about 200,000 homeless veterans. O'Reilly denied Edwards claim, stating "They may be out there, but there are not many of them out there, OK. So if you know where there is a veteran sleeping under a bridge, you call me immediately, and we will make sure that man does not do it."[105] After government statistics supported Edwards[citation needed], O'Reilly then said that there was no linkage between the economy and homeless veterans and claims that Veterans Affairs has up to 150,000 beds ready for them every night.[106] O'Reilly felt Greenwald's event was a "contrived" situation after O'Reilly's producers had interviewed some of the homeless veterans whom were protesting and found out that some did not actually hear O'Reilly's comments. O'Reilly blasted NBC's Steve Capus and the New York Daily News for covering the event and claimed that Capus did not know about the nature of the event.[107]
O'Reilly called NBC hypocritical for putting supporters of legalizing prostitution in the wake of Democratic Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer resigning his post after allegedly engaging in the act in an effort and felt they would not be as defensive if a Republican had gotten in trouble.[108]
Although he praised the late Meet the Press host Tim Russert in the past,[109] O'Reilly criticized Russert for what he saw as a misinterpretation of what were seen as potentially racially insensitive comments by former President Bill Clinton. In his comments, Russert challenged Senator Hillary Clinton about her husband's remarks regarding Senator Barack Obama, when Mr. Clinton referred to Obama's position on Iraq as a "fairy tale." O'Reilly said that Russert "should have known better" and realized the former President's comments were regarding Obama's Iraq policy and not his entire candidacy.[110]
Tape doctoring incidents
O'Reilly would join in the criticism of others when NBC News was found to have doctored tapes on multiple occasions. The first was about accused killer George Zimmerman that portrayed Zimmerman as having a racial motivation.[111] He also criticized veteran news correspondent Andrea Mitchell for her reporting of a doctored tape of Mitt Romney to portray him as out of touch.[112] After the Sandy Hook Shooting, O'Reilly and others criticized MSNBC's Martin Bashir of dishonesty when Bashir only played a part of the entire tape that portrayed the father of a victim being heckled when the entire tape showed the audience only saying something after he made it clear he was looking for an answer.[111] O'Reilly criticized MSNBC host Rachel Maddow showed a tape of Senator John McCain portraying him as insensitive to the plight of a person who lost a family member to gun violence. Although Maddow did readily admit the tape may have been doctored, O'Reilly criticized her nonetheless for airing it knowing that it could have been edited.[113]
Press
O'Reilly has accused the print press of purposely misquoting him and using their hard news pages to further their editorial points of view. He has said that print media is too liberal and attacks opposing viewpoints.[114]
In 2003, O'Reilly criticized the
O'Reilly has accused the media of being hypercritical of President Bush's handling of
The New York Times
O'Reilly frequently criticizes The New York Times, accusing them of omitting information that would be damaging to left-wing organizations and causes.[117]
On March 15, 2007, The New York Times ran an editorial titled "Immigration Misery" that had claimed a "screaming baby girl has been forcibly weaned from breast milk and taken dehydrated to an emergency room so that the nation's borders will be secure." Upon further investigation, the only two babies admitted to the hospital in the area of Bedford, Massachusetts (where the raid took place) were due to dehydration because of pneumonia and not as a result of being "forcibly weaned." O'Reilly alleged that the information in the editorial was falsified and claimed The Times wanted to promote illegal immigration in order to make the illegal immigrants into legal US citizens and register them as Democrats.[118]
He accused The Times of promoting NBC News over ABC News.[119]
On June 2, 2007,
So The Times wins both ways. The paper diminishes the War on Terror by putting it on page 37, but if something bad ever happened, it can attack President Bush.[121]
O'Reilly has accused the paper of being deceptive about television ratings for The O'Reilly Factor against that of MSNBC during the same time slot, citing that the paper felt that MSNBC was "competitive" with his program when O'Reilly's ratings were significantly higher.[122]
O'Reilly has questioned the paper's interpretation of violence statistics among veterans of the military. His contention is that the paper is out to disparage the military as being overly violent after returning home from deployment in the War on Terror.[123]
O'Reilly criticized the paper for running an article alleging Senator
In May 2009, O'Reilly severely criticized the paper as "corrupt" for dropping a story about a possible violation of campaign laws by ACORN and the Obama campaign. O'Reilly claimed that sworn testimony before Congress by a former ACORN employee, Anita Moncrief corroborated the story. O'Reilly stated:
Strong evidence suggests the paper killed a story linking ACORN to some Obama people. Instead they ran a general piece stating ACORN has a left-wing bias, knowing that story would be largely ignored while the Obama connection would not be.[125]
In response, the New York Times ombudsman, Clark Hoyt stated it "was a normal and reasonable editorial decision" not to run the article. He said the Times had run four other stories on ACORN. The story in question had remained unpublished because Anita Moncrief had not provided independently verifiable proof. In addition, The Times ombudsman stated that Moncrief had not given sworn testimony to Congress as claimed by O'Reilly, and that she had credibility problems, having been fired from Acorn for employee theft.[126]
Internet media
O'Reilly has accused a few liberal political websites of "distorting the truth" and "engaging in hatred":
There are no rules. These people will do and say pretty much anything to harm people with whom they disagree politically. The trend started back in the
bloggers are operating, throwing dirt all over the place. Now they're not all bad. Some of these bloggers are good, accurate watchdogs. But there are plenty of awful ones.[127]
He has criticized the
In summer of 2007, O'Reilly said that the entire field of 2008 Democratic presidential candidates (aside from Senator
As we have been reporting, a group of far-left bloggers has succeeded in frightening most of the Democratic presidential candidates and moving the party significantly to the left, at least in the primary season. The lead intimidators are
Media Mattersand the vicious Daily Kos. These people savagely attack those with whom they disagree. And the politicians don't want to become smear targets. So most of the Democratic candidates have agreed to speak at the Kos convention this coming weekend, something that is beyond shameful.[129]
O'Reilly has compared the
Environmental issues
O'Reilly generally supports the notion of a clean environment, although he has said that he is not entirely certain that
Economic views
O'Reilly is a frequent critic of government
O'Reilly has said French unemployment and subsequent riots are the "common effects of socialist thinking". He claims the French unemployment rate is high because of entitlements sanctioned by the French government, and that these entitlements make employers hesitant to hire young employees for fear that they will be required to give benefits to underperforming workers.[138]
He says he supports income-based affirmative action as opposed to race-related affirmative action.[139]
Trade with hostile countries
O'Reilly has been critical of companies doing business with countries that are hostile to the United States. O'Reilly criticized
Free markets, profits, and the oil companies
O'Reilly questions the free market by suggesting that the oil companies need an excuse to raise prices thereby overlooking the fact that in a free market, oil companies have the right to increase prices so as to increase profits or for any other reason. Rather than praise oil companies for their record profits, O'Reilly has been critical of oil companies, claiming their record profits are evidence that they have
Protectionism
In a May 8, 2006 article published at the Jewish World Review, O'Reilly said, "There is no question that illegal workers deliver more profit to business than American workers do. A Harvard study says that the employment of illegal foreign workers has driven down wages among American high school dropouts, the lowest labor pool rung, by 7 percent."[144]
Idyllic civilization
Bill O'Reilly on his show The O'Reilly Factor has expressed the view that "if everybody followed the teachings of Jesus Christ, [...] we'd have peace on earth, [...] everybody would love one another, and we'd almost be an idyllic civilization."[145]
Ethanol
O'Reilly claims that the United States is not doing enough to make itself independent of foreign oil, stating that "There's no way the ethanol industry could be dominated by five mega-companies. I mean corn and sugar cannot be carteled. The oil racket is simple: We control the marketplace, and you have to buy from us. ... If Brazil can develop an ethanol industry that makes it completely independent of foreign oil, then the USA can."[144]
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- ^ "Limbaugh Holds onto his Niche โ Conservative Men". Pew Research Center. February 3, 2009. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
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- ^ Gross, Terry (October 8, 2003). "Bill O'Reilly". Fresh Air from WHYY (npr). Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
- ^ O'Reilly, Bill (2001-07-13). "talking Points: Condit Should Resign". Fox News.
- ^ O'Reilly, Bill (2004-03-10). "Right Man for the Job?". FOX News.
- ^ The Tonight Show, May 20, 2002.
- ^ Marine's dad ordered to pay protesters' court fees Archived April 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lamothe, Dan (April 6, 2010). "Snyder-Phelps fight has many twists, turns". Marine Corps Times. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
- ^ "Redefining the Democratic Party". billoreilly.com. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
- ^ Scoop Independent News: A Message from John Kerry - 19 November 2004
- ^ The Radio Factor, November 29, 2004.
- ^ "Exclusive! Sen. John Kerry Enters the 'No Spin Zone'". Fox News. 2006-06-30.
- ^ The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, July 21, 2004.
- ^ "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 2004". clerk.house.gov. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
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