Bill O’Reilly has a new front in the War on Christmas: two nativity scenes in Guantanamo Bay. Unfortunately for O’Reilly, he was no match for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's Mikey Weinstein, who successfully lobbied to have them removed. Let’s just say that the segment ended with O’Reilly cutting Weinstein's mike and proclaiming that his having covered “four wars with a pen” was comparable to military service.
O’Reilly was scornful from the beginning. Apparently, he took the loss of the nativity scenes personally, even though they were more than 1,400 miles away. He was also peeved that Weinstein would not reveal who had complained. O'Reilly seemed to feel he had some kind of divine right to the information, that the complainers owed it to him to come forward and that they must be cowards if they didn’t.
You could tell that O’Reilly was fighting to keep his temper because first he told the seemingly unflappable Weinstein to “Calm down, calm down.” But before long, it was O’Reilly who was yelling, “It’s a national holiday!”
Near the end, Weinstein asked if O’Reilly had ever served in the military. No, O’Reilly said, he had not. That’s when the fireworks started.
WEINSTEIN: When you’re in the military, it’s not like working at Fox or at Costco. It is an incredibly tribal, adversarial, communal and ritualistic place. There are Department of Defense directives, instructions and regulations in place that absolutely make this clear that this was wrong.
O’REILLY: It was a cowardly decision by the base commander… because this is a depiction of a secular holiday that was signed into law. That’s what it was. And if somebody’s offended by it, I want to know why. And your guys don’t have the courage to stand up and tell me. That’s the fact.
WEINSTEIN: Bill, please don’t call our members of the military cowards. The majority of them were Christians. Because if you want to start getting ad hominem, at least they joined the military and they’re prepared to fight. …They understand what their rights are. And your Christian personal rights will always be trumped by the civil rights of your fellow Americans.
O’REILLY: You know what? Mr. Weinstein, you just - and with all due respect to your parents – are just a bloviator. You don’t answer the questions and I’ll tell you what: I covered four wars with the pen! (He defiantly held up his pen)
WEINSTEIN: You’re an aggressive bully and an arrogant idiot!
O’REILLY: …Cut him off, he’s a jerk. I covered four wars with a pen, OK, Mr. Weinstein? So don’t impugn my courage ever again. You’re a weasel.
With all due respect, Bill, covering a war, or even four wars, is a far cry from fighting in it or serving in the military. And no matter how brave you may be, I think soldiers have a much bigger right to decide what’s appropriate for the military than you do. No matter what kind of pipeline you think you have to Father Christmas.
The only coward is Billy who sits behind his desk while he sends Intern Jesse to the field to confront Billy’s enemies.
Billy is an arrogant, thin-skinned, hot-head who can’t take criticism. Like a coward, he cuts the microphone of his guests.
Billy also has issues with some staffers at this fraudulent “news” network. His battles with the Second Floor suits is infamous. It gets so bad that Nixon trainee Ailes has to intervene.
NOTE TO BILLY
Since you are a so-called ‘christian’ why don’t you discuss adultery on your show.