As the song from the musical, "A Little Night Music," goes, "isn't it rich, isn't it real" that Bill O'Reilly, an accused sexual harasser and purveyor of personal attacks, offers a "tip" on building character in children. While Bill's area of expertise clearly isn't child development, he does claim to be "looking out" for us and our children. One has to look no further than Bill's comment about how the cross dressing teen on "Glee," could encourage children to "experiment" in alternative life styles, to know the concern that Bill has for American youth and their parents. And because Bill is so concerned, he offered, on last night's "Factor," a helpful "tip" to ensure that your kids grow up right. As the title of the aforementioned musical says, "bring in the clowns."
After braying that today's schools don't offer ethics or civics classes anymore, Bill encouraged parents to teach their kids to follow through on what they say they are going to do. But one wonders if Bill O'Reilly practices what he preaches by following through on his threats:
"When you call us, ladies and gentleman, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene, or anything like that, Fox security then will contact your local authorities, and you will be held accountable." -March 2, 2006- The Radio Factor
"If any woman ever breathed a word, I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. I'll rake her through the mud, bring up things in her life and make her so miserable that she'll be destroyed." - Bill O'Reilly responding to Andrea Mackris after she reminded him the dangers of other women he harassed speaking out against him, page 11 of Police Report.
But one really wonders if Bill will, it his taxes are raised, follow through on this:
"If Barack Obama begins taxing me more than 50%, which is very possible, I don’t know how much longer I’m going to do this. I like my job but there comes a point when taxation becomes oppressive." (Oh noooo - and deprive American of the ultimate sagacity!)
Anyway, if you want "tips" on instilling character in children, just listen to Bill O'Reilly!
Not only is there the Mackris harassment/threat/payoff but we also found out that you have a fantasy involving getting a woman (other than your wife) drunk on wine (intravenously if necessary) so that she’ll do the nasty with you, you write disgusting tripe about adult men doing drugs with/having sex with 15 year old girls, your throw a tantrum in the workplace (“f*ck it! we’ll do it live”), you try to use the Nassau County Police Department to do a personal investigation into the man who stole your wife away from you, you registered as a Republican yet told the folks that you were an Independent, you claim the “fair & balanced” mantle yet you rarely ever go after the right the way you do the left (despite the mountains of evidence showing that the right deserves to be called out/held accountable on every one of your “Factor” shows) and you lie/spin and engage in personal attacks on a regular basis. BOR giving advice on ethics and character? Puh-leeeez.
But, O’Reilly certainly does exemplify what Sondheim meant by “clowns.” In a 2008 interview, Sondheim said he really should’ve called the song, “Send in the Fools” (he’d noted in 1990 that the use of “clowns” was a reference to the theatrical use of getting to the jokes when a show wasn’t going all that well).
