News Hounds

O'Reilly Ambushes Athiest Guest

Reported by Marie Therese - December 6, 2005

O'REILLY, Talking Points Memo, 12-05-05:

As you most likely know, there is a very small minority of Americans who want Christmas out of the public square, but they've made big inroads into America's most revered tradition. However, Christmas is making a come back. Some companies who used to avoid saying "Merry Christmas" have reversed themselves. And all over the country, lawsuits are being filed to keep Christmas on public display.

That's not playing well in the secular progressive movement, which wants to diminish Christmas and all vestiges of Christian power. The SPs realize that to get gay marriage, legalized drugs, euthanasia, and other parts of their agenda passed, they need to marginalize religious forces. That is what is behind the assault on Christmas in the USA.

Over the weekend, some liberal newspapers stepped up to the plate. The Baltimore Sun said, "Groups such as the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State say Christmas is under no threat from them or anyone else."

Well, that's reassuring! Thank you, Baltimore Sun!

The Richmond Times Dispatch editorialized, "To hear some voices — Bill O'Reilly's, for instance — Christmas lies under siege. To refer to Christmas vacation as 'winter break' in no way demeans the occasion."

Of course not, Richmond Times. Not calling Christmas vacation Christmas vacation doesn't demean it at all.

But the absolute best comes from the most enthusiastic secular newspaper in the country, the New York Times, our pals. Editorial writer Adam Cohen, who met - never met a secular cause he didn't like writes, "The Christmas that Mr. O'Reilly and his allies are promoting - one closely aligned by retailers, with a smackdown attitude toward nonobservers fits their campaign to make America more like a theocracy, with Christian displays on public property and Christian prayer in public schools."

Of course, Mr. Cohen has no idea what he's talking about. I don't have a smackdown attitude toward nonobservers. They can do what they want. I don't care. I don't want a theocracy. And I don't want Christian prayers in public schools.

But Mr. Cohen is not interested in the truth. He wants to demonize. He wants Americans to believe this whole Christmas campaign is to promote Christianity.

What "Talking Points" is really promoting is respect, respect for a holiday that's celebrated by 95 percent of Americans. It's insane to diminish Christmas. It's also wrong.

Most Americans love this FEDERAL HOLIDAY and they don't want it tarnished by nutty far left fanatics. (jabs finger at screen, angry) Get that, Adam?

O'Reilly then went on to say that the "secular progressives" are going to lose the fight, based on the results of his lates BillOReilly.com poll, which shows that approximately 81,000 FOX viewers will not patronize store that refuse to say "Merry Christmas." O'Reilly declared a victory for Christmas based on the responses of what amounts to 0.0003% of the population!

O'Reilly later interviewed Mike Rivers, head of the Utah chapter of American Athiests, Inc, which is bringing a lawsuit in the state of Utah demanding that ten crosses, erected to memorialize fallen State Highway officers, be removed from the public lands upon which they are displayed.

O'Reilly started the interview off by stating that "the cross is an international sign of memorial. It's used all over the world even in countries like Japan and the Far East where very few people are Christian." When Rivers objected, O'Reilly told him he was wrong, saying "What do you mean 'you have found it not to be true'? It is recognized in war that a cross - that's why the Red Cross uses the seal and when - in tombs of the unknown soldier [sic] - they put crosses up to mark the memorial. What do you mean YOU found it not to be true? I mean, that's ridiculous. It's the international sign of memorial."

Rivers then said "I have not been able to find if there is an international sign of memorial." O'Reilly stated that Rivers was wrong, because there were crosses on graves in Europe. Rivers tried to point out that those crosses were placed above graves of actual people and therefore were not "memorials," in the same way that the roadside crosses in Utah are "memorials, but the subtle distinction was lost on O'Reilly, who really only had one agenda: Make Rivers look godless and stupid so his viewers wouldn't bother their heads with the possibility that he (O'Reilly) was actually talking through his hat on this topic.

He then showed various clips of headstones at Arlington National Cemetary that had small crosses engraved into them. He referred to the headstones as "crosses" rather than being more precise and saying "headstones with crosses engraved on them." Mr. Rivers clearly could not actually see what the viewing audience was seeing. Since O'Reily described the generic rounded headstones as "crosses," Rivers was misinformed and asumed O'reilly was describing actual sculpted crosses. So, Rivers was unable to answer O'Reilly effectively. In short he was ambushed.

According to an article at Slate.com:

The [Arlington National] cemetery overlooks the Potomac River and has more than 14,000 trees. Most graves are marked with simple tombstones. The major exception: the turn-of-the-century Officers Section, which is crowded with lavish markers. These stone angels, huge crosses, marble cannonballs--and even a cannon--were paid for by soldiers' families.

The Union had buried about 7,000 soldiers on the Lee estate by 1864, deliberately planting tombstones in Mrs. Lee's rose garden right up to the Lee house's back door. After the war, a freedmen's village was established on the Lee plantation, and included a hospital, a school, and a church. More than 3,800 former slaves are buried at Arlington under headstones that say either "civilian" or "citizen."

Arlington National Cemetery expansion, which pushed the freedmen's village out, may also claim a 24-acre plot of woods around Lee's old home. The parcel would add 10 years' worth of burial space. Also eyed for annexation is part of Fort Myer, adjacent to Arlington, and a parcel owned by the Department of Defense.

Robert E. Lee's son, George, sued the U.S. government in the 1870s for the return of the family estate. The Supreme Court upheld his claim, and the government paid him $150,000 for it. The general never returned to his plantation. He is buried in Lexington, Va., in Washington and Lee University's Lee Chapel.

With the exception of the Civil War monuments there are no sculpted crosses at Arlington. There are crosses, stars of David and other religious symbols used, but they are CARVED into the rounded, generic headstone. There are very few actual scultped crosses.

As for the Bloviating Billster's outrageous claims that he isn't engaged in a "smackdown" over the question of Christmas, just read through the various News Hounds posts on his campaign to save Christmas. He calls for boycotts of various retail stores and labels anyone who doesn't agree with him as anti-Christian, looneys, etc., etc. This guy is in a state of believing unreality!