O'Reilly's Most Ridiculous Talking Points Memo
Reported by Chrish - July 24, 2007 -
The Talking Points Memo last night 7/23/07 was actually three parts, each one containing its own lie. Let's analyze.
"Now one of the few areas in which the folks have not demonstrated their power is energy. After months of me pounding the oil companies for cutting back on refining oil into gas — therefore inflating gasoline prices — the oil companies are finally admitting it. Of course, they're making the usual excuses, but the bottom line is Americans are not cutting back on energy consumption. So big oil feels it's immune to public pressure. That is our fault."
I take issue with his "after months of me pounding the oil companies..". He's mentioned it a few times but has hardly, hardly done any kind of comprehensive investigative reporting. God forbid O'Reilly do an actual expose of corporate malfeasance. His "journalism" consists of drive-by smears and hit and run take-downs; when his lies are exposed, he drops the subject and finds another target. His complacent viewers are none the wiser.
O'Reilly reported some numbers that are so ludicrously skewed as to immediately prompt suspicion:
"NBC News is taking a pounding because ethical standards over there have collapsed. News consumers have left in droves. Last Thursday, for example, CNBC averaged 176,000 viewers for the 24 hour period. MSNBC: 215,000. Those numbers are atrocious, embarrassing. Add to that the problems Brian Williams is having, and a have a full throated debacle.It's stunning GE, the parent company of NBC, does nothing. But it's great for FOX News, CNN, and ABC News.
By the way, with the debut of the FOX News Business Channel in October, you can wave goodbye to CNBC in my humble opinion."
The only people who will watch FBN are us and people who want their propaganda served with a generous helping of T&A. But what is he talking about with those Thursday numbers? TVNewser reports quite a different scenario. And as for NBC Evening News and Brian Williams? #1, with numbers that O'Reilly can only dream of:
For the first time in 12 weeks, NBC Nightly News has won the ratings race. The Brian Williams broadcast outdrew World News with Charles Gibson by 290,000 total viewers. (With almost 7.5 million viewers, triple O'Reilly's good nights.)
Keep talking, O'Reilly. You're doing for Brian Williams for what you've already helped do for Keith Olbermann.
I saved the biggest best piece of propaganda for last: O'Reilly said
"One of the great things about America is that most of us understand right from wrong. The secular-progressives are trying to blur that, but they're losing.Last week, we reported on jetBlue sponsoring a conference by the far left hate site The DailyKos. And so many of you protested to the airline, that they dropped their name from the website. People like Carol Grover from Maine and California's Michael Francek told jetBlue that doing business with people who traffic in hate filled diatribes is unacceptable.
U.S. corporations have an obligation not to reward bad behavior. And sometimes consumers have to remind them of that obligation.
By the way, the latest from the Kos Web site has a posting calling for the violent overthrow of the government. Great."
First, the post he appears to be refering to calling for "violent overthrow" (sounds like a bunch of scary anarchists, doesn't it?) is here, and revolves around this premise:
"Things are coming to a head. The neocons appear confident that they have stacked the Justice Department, so that US Attorneys won’t enforce Congressional subpoenas.And then, in a layered defense, that they have stacked the Court, so it won’t support the principles of transparency, accountability or oversight. Or even precedent.
Failing there, they seem convinced that Bush pardons can ensure the safety, impunity and loyalty of the top thousand henchmen. It all seems good for the next 18 months. But thereafter?
[...]
I have long forecast that our nation-saving breakthrough may only come from a rebellion in favor of the law and Constitution, on the part of the skilled professionals in the horrifically abused civil service, intelligence community and US Officer Corps.
In this particular case, an appointed US Attorney -- or even a civil servant, non-appointed DEPUTY US Attorney -- might gather the courage to defy his or her screeching/tyrant boss and make the test case, by serving enforcement papers upon Harriet Meiers and others who have been subpoenaed, in obedience to the legal and constitutional powers of Congress.
Ponder it.
The spectre that the Bushites have most to fear is such a rebellion in favor of law (my emphasis), in even one small part of the professional caste, spreading to other parts. Already the biggest victim of the monsters – the military Officer Corps – is roiling with so much anger that they may refuse, when the inevitable order comes down, to create political distractions by attacking Iran. If the CIA likewise were to report to Congress (as it is legally obliged to do) that the pretexts are bogus...
...well, that’s just one example of a situation in which sworn protectors might show the guts and brains that we hired them for.
As for people letting companies know that they should not do business with organizations that spew hate-filled diatribes (known alternately as "Talking Points"), we agree, That's why we've compiled a list of advertisers for the O'Reilly Factor and urge concerned readers to not just contact said advertisers, but to share the list and urge like-minded friends and family to do something to get the divisive, hurtful hate-mongering to stop.
