Bill O'Reilly calls for gas conservation a la French boycott
Reported by Chrish - April 23, 2006
Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo Thursday 4/20/06 urged viewers to cut back on gasoline usage to send oil companies a message, and he declared that he would never buy Exxon-Mobil products again because of the exhorbitant monies paid to outgoing CEO Lee Raymond.
O'Reilly reminds viewers that "The Factor boycott of France impacted that country greatly." But Media Matters has consistently shown those claims to be fabrications.
O'Reilly can see which way the wind is blowing and understands that to keep his appeal with "the folks" he has to pretend to care. He even goes so far as to say "Power to the people! We are being hosed here. And the oil fat cats are lapping up the dollars."
He is being disengenous, trying to misdirect our ire from the corrupt cronies at the top who make our energy policies and determine how much talent and money goes towards new and alternative sources, to the executives who, according to his vaunted free market philosophy, are richly rewarded for delivering fat profits to stockholders.
And as a bonus, when people do curtail gas consumption because of the price per gallon, watch O'Reilly claim credit!
His sincerity was undermined at the end of his populist plea when, at the end, he misread his prompter and asked us to "buy less glass, gas, please."
