Is Bill O'Reilly afraid of Michael Badnarik?

The Libertarian candidate's blog sets out the case, with lots of links. Still, Khalid Turaani, the founder of Arab-American Republicans Against Bush, manages to plug the LP's man on O'Reilly's time anyway.

Comments

[mr strauss]

In reply to:"I think the Bushies have their head up their ass on this."

I'm trying my best, but I can't think of any circumstance in which President Bush does not feel the comforting squeeze of his own anal-lips turtleneck-ing around his throat.

Oh, wait! I think that there was one Tuesday, like three months ago maybe, when Mr. President forgot to oppress and kill. I seem to remember him gasping for long overdue breath while a staffer wiped feces from his face. But I might be thinking of Scalia from that time he told the cops to return that stuff he had told them to steal from those reporters.

I just wasn't paying very much attention that day. So I'm not really sure.

[Mo]

Arab-American Republicans against Bush, how many people really fit that description? Two?

Actually, Arabs (and Muslims) as a group are traditionally a Republican voting group. They have traditional values and most Arab-Americans are Christian. There was a huge shift to the Repubs after GHW Bush's pushed on Israel to stop expanding their settlements.

If there is a big shift of Arabs and Muslims away from Bush, it will be felt. It may end up merely offsetting the shift of Jews to Bush, but it's not a trivial amount of voters, especially since the largest Arab population in the US is in Michigan, a populous, swing state.

[bigbigslacker]

This was a great program segment. I'm too cheap too buy cable (watched this at the girlies house - as if I'm not indirectly paying for her cable anyway) but this is the sort of thing that almost makes me pry the wallet open - almost. Watch the streaming video from the link if you haven't already. I get the impression some of the O'reilly bashers here have not seen it - its pretty interesting. I don't know what it is about the guy that gets yous guys so worked up - 'far as I know hes not the devil.

[mtc]

So--no spin, but a guest isn't allowed to mention a presedential candidate's name? That actually almost gives me hope, that republicans might actually have something to fear from Badnarik.

I think the best thing that could happen to that campaign would be the media starting to poke around asking if Badnarik could be Bush's Nader. I doubt anyone who is already going to vote for Badnarik would worry that their vote is a vote for Kerry the way Naderites are told to fret that they're really voting for Bush. But getting his name on the map could earn him votes enough to rasie eyebrows for the future of the cause/party, and this likely Badnarik voter doesn't really give a damn which way that might sway things between bush and kerry.

Well Doherty, you're up late and probably not doing anything useful, write up an article saying Bush's reelection is threatened from the "extreme right" (don't worry about the exact truth of that, it'll be a self-fulfilling prophecy once Badnarik's name is in the national spotlight), forward it to any friends you might have in the liberal media establishment, and let's get this thing going.

[Rob]

I have to hand it to Badnarik, though -- as of late he's had those U.N. and Zip Code issues brought up on NPR during an interview (by someone's email submission), and he explained the whole situation with grace and without skipping a beat -- it was a facetious and misinterpreted sentence from pre-nomination (you know, rough edges and hyperbole), and he DOES use Zip Codes. Not only that, many of the undecided callers subsequently praised Badnarik's positions and interviewing prowess. Good form.

In short, I'm sure the media's not even really going to bother with such petty things.

The O'Reilly Factor situation last night only gives his campaign more credence, in my opinion. I have a lot of people watching the Badnarik/Cobb/? debate in NYC on C-Span (Aug 31st @ 7pm EST) with potential wallets wide open.

[Rick Barton]

Ahmad declined to be on the program after he was denied the right to mention Badnarik's name on the show.

What in the Hell kind of a show is O'Reilly running with such a restriction?

Dean Ahmad is president of the Minaret of Freedom Institute. http://www.minaret.org/ Their mission statement says that they endeavor to "educate Muslims on the importance of liberty and free markets to a good society..." An article from the Minaret of Freedom Institute was the subject of a previous blog thread here. After looking at the site, it's quite evident that Dean Ahmad could teach Bush and Kerry much about liberty, both domestic and international.

The fact that these folks are going to the Badnarik campaign instead of Kerry shows that they have a good deal more principle than many politicaly spurned ethnic leaders. Arab Americans tend to be pro-limited government Republicans, but the Bush administration's insane interventionist ways have alienated them. Hopefully all principled Republicans won't suffer for the Bush administration's sins of big government here and hyper-intervention abroad.

[Mark Anderson]

bbs,
I think the two biggest things that gets me riled up about O'Reilly is that he is the pot calling the kettle black all the time. And it is so blatent that it is laughable. The second is when you call him on that, he starts yelling and acting like a fifth grade bully. The problem is that pointing this out almost gives him more credibility than he deserves. And you know what they say about arguing with a fool.

[Rick Barton]

I cannot stress enough, the abundance of interesting, scholarly articles on a very wide range of subjects that are to be found at the Minaret of Freedom Institute site. Check it out: http://www.minaret.org/

[Rick Barton]

More of O'Reilly's nonsense and lack of fair-play during an interview.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040719&s=coleweb

Also, I remember him one time defending the government intervening in the energy markets. Basically he said that; "energy is a national security issue" and that is the government's purview so, bye bye markets. He's called for bigger government on other occasions too. He's also been known to call opposition to the Israeli government, "anti-Semitism".

Does he still call himself a "conservative"? If so, he's an embarrassment to conservatives.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Welcome to the Rick Barton show.

[Douglas Fletcher]

And for my first guest, a man who needs no introduction -- Rick Barton.

[Gary Gunnels]

Rick Barton,

O'Reilly calls himself a "moderate" as I recall. He also says that he's an "independent" as far as political parties are concerned, but someone outed him as registered as a Republican not too terribly long ago. I call him a horse's ass.

[Tim West]

This is the second time O'Reilly has ducked Badnarik or someone who's a Badnarik supporter. Whomever he is getting his marching orders from in the RNC wont allow any sort of debate between them becuase they know O'Reilly would be crushed like a bug in any serious debate.

Serious debate about anything on his show may be an oxymoron, though. Not in my lifetime.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

O'Reilly is giving me a creeping feeling that there is actually a bigger asshole then Rush Limbaugh.

[Overlord]

Arab-American Republicans against Bush, how many people really fit that description? Two? If you took the gay Republicans, the conservative Democrats, the liberal Republicans, the pro-life Democrats and all the rest of the similar groups and crowded them into a 50,000 seat stadium, how many seats do you think would be left unfilled?

[joe]

I think the Bushies have their head up their ass on this. There are a significant (in this close electorate, anyway) number of anti-Bush, anti-big-government, anti-world's-policeman conservatives. What are the Republicans best off doing? Having them vote for Kerry? Having them stay home, and not cast ballots further down the ticket?

The GOP has absolutely no capacity for dealing intelligently with people who are even the tiniest bit out of the step with the party line.

[gaius marius]

did anyone expect differently? did anyone here think o'reilly was something else? i find this so utterly unsurprising as to be, i'm afraid, quite underwhelming.

political talk in the entertainment media should be recognized for what it is -- entertainment. o'reilly is a vaudevillian, and doesn't have the ability or fortitude to be more.

unfortunately, this is a condition that he shares with most politicians of today, simply because politics in democracy is necessarily entertainment. that millions should have difficulty telling the difference is, i suppose, equally unsurprising.

[dhex]

overlord - actually, i think there's a lot more than that, since the pervailing political opinion these days is "meh, fuck them all." an astute observance with sadly little place to go.

[Mark]

O'Reilly is an idiot. That much is given.
Still, I think this may not be a bad thing for the LP as a whole. Badnarik has some truly goofy ideas(blowing up the UN is one), a list of convictions for driving without a license, and is, in gerneral, not a good representative for the LP. Even a dolt like O'Reilly could embarass Badnarik and the LP in a very public way.
Perhaps its best for the future of the LP if Badnarik is ignored.

[zorel]

O'Reilly is an "average, working-class" American from "humble, blue-collar" background.

He said so (years ago when caught a couple of them).

Tim West,

Anyone dreaming of Badnarik 'crushing' the likes of O'reilly or Chris Matthews on their own shows need to watch the shows. They cut you off whenever they want, and shout whatever they want.

[zorel]

above post should have said, "He said so on his show (years ago when I caught a couple of them)"

there oughta be a preview function here 🙂

[Julian Sanchez]

Overlord-
I suspect any one of those groups would fill the stadium and then some. Take gay republicans: U.S. population's about 293 million. Make it 200 mil even to factor out folks to young to have any particular political opinions. Suppose about 5 percent of the population's gay, which is the number you often hear: that gives us 10 million. Only one of every hundred of them has to be a Republican to fill two of your stadiums.

[Josh]

I'm not worried that a vote for Badnarik is a vote for Kerry; I'm worried that a vote for Badnarik is a vote for Badnarik.

[James Anderson Merritt]

So Mark ([e-mail], in case there are other Marks here), do you actually KNOW that Badnarik has harbored a serious intention to blow up the UN, or is all you know based on what Badnarik has long been calling offhand, facetious comments, made back when he didn't expect to win the nomination, and didn't realize that his every pause and tone of voice would be subject to intense critical scrutiny?

He has been addressing the UN and the driver license issues quite reasonably for some time, it seems to me. Do you simply find his own explanations unconvincing?

[Mark]

James- It really doesn't matter whether or not he was serious, or whether his driver's license views are rational. Remember that we are talking about media appearances here. Do you really think MB will get the benefit of the doubt, or will he simply be made to look silly.

Back when I was a member of the LP, I took severe umbrage to comments that LaRouche was a Libertarian. Now, however, I suspect that the credibility level is about the same.

[Mark]

Make that "be made to look silly?"

[Fred Gillette]

Bill, Rush and Bob Novak should start their own Sunday morning talk show. They could call it Douchefest, USA.

But back to Khalid Turaani. Why would he want to get sucked into the vortex of the No-spin Zone. Nobody gets their message out on that show. And when Billy does agree with someone he has the most disingenuous expression on his face. Yep, Bill O'Reilly, World Class Douche.

[Kevin Carson]

Rick,

I was going to link that David Cole piece, but you beat me to it. For those unfamiliar with the story, it's about O'Reilly editing a clip just before the show to make it fit his talking points. Cole made the mistake of mentioning it on the show, and O'Reilly went ballistic. He told Cole he was editing out his reference to it, and never inviting him back.

But it's not like we didn't already know O'Reilly was a disingenuous whore. He says just enough negative stuff about Bush/Cheney to be able to make the "rugged independent" persona halfway credible. But if you pay close attention, you'll notice that all the "negative" stuff he says about Bush/Cheney is carefully selected to serve a strategic purpose.

For example, O'Reilly has repeatedly slapped Rummy and Dummy on the wrist for being taken in by the "bad intelligence" all those naughty CIA analysts gave them. In so doing, he diverts attention from the real issue: stovepiping and massaging of intelligence under the direction of Rumsfeld, Feith, and the OSP gang. O'Reilly's "criticism" of Bush couldn't have been better calculated to echo the administration's talking points if it had been written by Karl Rove (assuming it wasn't).

I don't think O'Reilly is an ignorant blowhard. I think he knows exactly what he's doing.

[joe]

Mo,

"If there is a big shift of Arabs and Muslims away from Bush, it will be felt. It may end up merely offsetting the shift of Jews to Bush, but it's not a trivial amount of voters, especially since the largest Arab population in the US is in Michigan, a populous, swing state."

The polls I've seen have shown no Jewish movement to Bush (roughly the same % as 2000), but a big shift of Muslims away from the GOP. As for Michigan, it remains to be seen whether the shift of union meatheads to Bush on war issues will be offset by Muslims fleeing him on those same issues. Of course, long term, I'd rather be on the Dems side of that trade.

[kevrob]

O'Reilly hosted the syndicated trash TV show, "Inside Edition," where they regularly featured stories considered off limits at the networks. To de-slime himself, after quitting that show he earned a masters at Harvard's Kennedy School. This proves that he isn't stupid, but does not preclude his being evil.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BIOS/cboreilly.htm

http://www.jumptheshark.com/i/insideedition.htm

Kevin

[bigbigslacker]

OK, maybe he is the devil:)