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Bill O’Reilly Responds To Michelle Obama’s DNC Speech: Slaves Who Built White House Were ‘Well-Fed And Had Decent Lodgings’

Posted by Ellen -7859.80pc on July 27, 2016 · Flag

OReilly_slaves.png

Ever on the lookout for ways to counteract African American “grievance,” Bill O’Reilly dropped into his praise for Michelle Obama’s DNC speech the fact that slaves who built the White House were “well-fed and had decent lodgings.”

In her speech, Mrs. Obama said:

"That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves -- (applause) -- and I watch my daughters—two beautiful, intelligent, black young women—playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.  (Applause.)  And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters—and all our sons and daughters—now take for granted that a woman can be President of the United States." 

Obama was talking about progress toward a more perfect union, not the treatment of slaves. But O’Reilly felt the need to emphasize to his viewers that she was talking about the country “in a positive way.” Because on Fox, Michelle Obama’s patriotism is regularly questioned.

But even so O’Reilly felt the need to make America’s history a little more white-friendly. In his Tip of The Day segment, he said the following:

O’REILLY: As we mentioned, Talking Points Memo, Michelle Obama referenced slaves building the White House in referring to the evolution of America in a positive way. It was a positive comment. The history behind her remark is fascinating. George Washington selected the site in 1791 and, as president, laid the cornerstone in 1792. Washington was then running the country out of Philadelphia.

Slaves did participate in the construction of the White House. Records show about 400 payments made to slave masters between 1795 and 1801. In addition, free blacks, whites, and immigrants also worked on the massive building. There were no illegal immigrants at that time. If you could make it here, you could stay here.

In 1800, President John Adams took up residence in what was then called the Executive Mansion. It was only later on they named it the White House. But Adams was in there with Abigail, and they were still hammering nails, the construction was still going on.

Slaves that worked there were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor. So, Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working as well.

Now, you might be surprised to know that I don’t think O’Reilly’s remark about the slaves being well-fed was objectionable on its face. I think it’s an interesting factoid, assuming it’s true. Nor do I think O’Reilly meant to be insulting. But, as one of my former colleagues said about O’Reilly’s now-infamous surprise at the well-behaved black patrons at Sylvia’s restaurant in Harlem, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

And just like O'Reilly's Sylvia’s remarks, this one is wildly insulting and tone deaf. It’s completely irrelevant to what Obama was talking about and, far more importantly, it does nothing to mitigate the immorality of slavery itself. Do you think a single African American would feel better about the fact that the White House was built with slave labor knowing they were well-fed and worked alongside some free laborers?

And whether O’Reilly meant it that way or not, the implication was, “Blacks didn’t have it so bad as they want you to think.” And that happens to perfectly jibe with O’Reilly’s intentional messages about African Americans.

Watch it below, from the July 26 The O’Reilly Factor.

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Leslie Tyson commented 2016-07-29 08:43:24 -0400 · Flag
John McKee, you seem like a reasonable person as well, but why do you think that the democratic party is trying so hard to make this a black/white thing. When both candidates are white. I saw a news advertisement where they had Hillary in a room of women, that looked to be majority of black women but had white women there too, in this news ad the black female speaker was talking to Hillary about food, and Hillary pulls a bottle of hot sauce out of her purse & the black female speaker says you like hot sauce on your food in a shocked tone, and Hillary says “Oh yes girl, I carry my own personal bottle of hot in my purse everywhere I go”. Now I know by your writing that you & hopefully most of America is smart enough to see through that B.S. That is just one example of this B.S. campaign to try to make her look like just another common person that truly cares & understands the black community. Meanwhile she uses her rich, white, over-privileged, high powered, secret connections to escape criminal prosecution while running for the presidency of the U.S.A. Just stop for one second & listen to that last sentence. She is under criminal investigation while trying to become president of our country.
John McKee commented 2016-07-29 00:57:41 -0400 · Flag
Leslie Tyson, you sound like a reasonably nice person who has spent way too long bathing in the bullshit of racist family, friends and workmates. Think for yourself, maybe for the first time ever.

Imagine how it would affect you if, every day, people crossed the road rather than walk past you; if you had to explain to your children why they were not allowed to go to their little friends’ houses; if you were turned away from apartments and jobs way too often to be ‘just a coincidence’. Imagine if you were looked at with suspicion if you walked through an unfamiliar neighbourhood and regularly stopped by police on the flimsiest of grounds.

Life for coloured people is not the same and they know out-and-out racism when they see it. “Look at my African American” was not only a crass and insensitive way to refer to a man who turned out to be a Republican candidate, but it was only possible because he stood out like dog’s balls in a sea of lily-white faces.

I believe there were 18 black faces at the Republican Convention, 5 if you don’t count the tame ‘house n…..s’ bought and paid for by Fox and the rest of the frothing-mouth RW media. I doubt that there were many more people of Hispanic extraction, either new arrivals or third generation Americans.

Trump ONLY appeals to racists, cowards and haters. Take a look at Hillary’s crowd and feel the difference.
Leslie Tyson commented 2016-07-28 16:19:00 -0400 · Flag
I saw where eyes on Fox commented on my post, saying that Trump said racist things about blacks & let’s roll the footage as proof, but the funny thing is when you go to the page, the video doesn’t work. It just has a picture of Trump and a bunch of quotes that “they say he said”. Plus one of the quotes is hey look at my African American over there. If that is what passes as a racist comment these days, then you are way too sensitive. He was just pointing out the fact that everyone is trying to say he is a racist, but look there is actually an African American here to support him. There are actually more starting to support him now that they are starting to see through this racist B.S. Even the president’s brother says he will vote for Trump.
d d commented 2016-07-27 19:35:01 -0400 · Flag
Btw, on the subject of BOR’s “well-fed and had decent lodgings” quip, it appears that the so-called liberal media have gotten under BOR’s very thin skin.

As per his website, it sounds like he’s pissed about the “vicious attacks from the far left media deceivers”. On tonight’s show, he’s going to “show us what was actually said”. Um, we heard what you actually said, BOR. Then BOR, Mr. Spinmeister and Race Hustler Extraordinaire, is going to “talk about the state of the media in America.” Bwaaah!

Guests will be Geraldo Rivera & Eric Bolling
d d commented 2016-07-27 18:39:45 -0400 · Flag
Michelle Obama’s speech was perfect just as it was. There was no need for BOR to nit pick/add on with regards to what she said. But he just couldn’t help himself – he saw an opportunity to play history teacher and downplay the plight of the slaves at the same time and he took it.

I find his use of the word “participate” (when talking about their work building the White House) to be interesting. Participate sounds so cheerful, friendly and willing. They were slaves – they were told what to do and had no free will to do otherwise. Even if BOR wasn’t intending to be provocative in his remarks, he should have known better than to say what he did. It simply wasn’t necessary – and now he’s stepped in it. Again.
mlp ! commented 2016-07-27 17:54:02 -0400 · Flag
“I know we can say Trump is racist, but Trump hasn’t said anything racist against black people.”

Some people just don’t get it, and won’t EVER get it.
Whatever are this creatures going to do when Hillary takes office as President?
Eyes On Fox commented 2016-07-27 16:26:37 -0400 · Flag
Leslie,

Lets run the tape:

“The Collected Quotes of Donald Trump on ‘the Blacks’”
http://gawker.com/the-collected-quotes-of-donald-trump-on-the-blacks-1719961925

Which might explain why The Donald says stuff like “Look at my African American over there! Look at him. Are you the greatest? You know what I’m talking about?”

In swing states Ohio and Pennsylvania Trump polls 0% of the black vote. How is that even possible? Nationally he soars to 1% according to Quinnipiac (6% NBC/WSJ/Marist).

That doesn’t mean they’re turn out for Hillary but she is over 80%.
Vince McCleary commented 2016-07-27 16:08:19 -0400 · Flag
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/27/1553247/-Abigail-Adams-DEBUNKS-Bill-O-Reilly-s-claims-slaves-who-built-the-White-House-were-Well-Fed?detail=facebook
Leslie Tyson commented 2016-07-27 15:50:01 -0400 · Flag
Michelle Obama said at the democratic national convention that you should not let anyone tell you this country isn’t great, but earlier in her husband’s term as president, she gave a speech talking about how she herself was not proud of her country, but now all of a sudden she wants to talk about how great it is. That is a joke. All she, her husband, the Clintons, & all the other democrats are doing, is just trying to play the race card to try to win this election for the democrats. They couldn’t care less about the American people or the long term consequences of their actions on this country. It is all about winning this election at any cost as long as a democrat wins. You know that they were just sitting around the Whitehouse saying, how can we possibly get people to vote for this lying, white, rich, over-privileged, female criminal as the next president? Well a lot of women will vote for her just because she is a woman. True, but that might not be enough to win the election. We need a back-up plan. We need to figure out how to get the black people to vote for her like they did with Obama. I know we can say Trump is racist, but Trump hasn’t said anything racist against black people. I know but all you have to do is say it & without any real proof, they will still believe it. Then blacks will vote for her, & whites won’t speak-up against her or for Trump because they too will be labeled a racist. So yes that will work. Let’s turn this into a black/white thing. But Hillary isn’t black & Trump isn’t racist. That doesn’t really matter, all you have to do is say Trump is racist & Hillary loves the black community. Even if it is not true, don’t worry about the truth. Trust me this will totally work. They will eat this racism crap up like it is candy.
Eyes On Fox commented 2016-07-27 14:26:30 -0400 · Flag
I suspect New Yorker Bill was drawing from the NYT article on the same topic.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/michelle-obama-white-house-slavery.html?referer=

It appears, in part, from the article conservatives are having kittens over what Michelle said Monday night at #DemsInPhilly.

If you single out blacks in any context [except black on black crime] you’re a lib playing the race card who’s dividing America. ‘Cause we just know #DemsInPhilly, which is bending over backwards to be inclusive of so many groups ignored, abused, or forgotten like blacks, Hispanics, the disabled, women, etc., isn’t uniting America. No, only politically correct white conservatives who don’t make their fellow conservative white brethren uncomfortable are.

Bill, I’m loving the irony!
w d commented 2016-07-27 12:58:14 -0400 · Flag
“Well fed and had decent housing…”

Well, I mean, what more do “they” want… their freedom -?

This is just more proof that the ultra rich view all people as commodities that can be bought and sold to fit their own fancy.
doors17 commented 2016-07-27 12:49:01 -0400 · Flag
Tonight on The O’Reilly Factor: Bill explains that they had beds in Auschwitz.

This is a Factor you and your family DON’T want to miss.
marco commented 2016-07-27 11:52:16 -0400 · Flag
Pity he didn’t check out historical documents for his books as vigorously as he did to play semantics with Michelle. The building the slaves were constructing was called the Executive Mansion. Doesn’t she know that when the name changed to the Whitehouse, the real true slaves weren’t pounding nails, only the subcontractor’s slaves, while the owners were skirting the laws by hiring them out. They may or may not have been given two helpings of pig guts. Bill delivers that unoriginal mind f***ing message to blame the Obamas for any and all race problems. They should be in Chicago telling black people to get a job, get married, stop having kids and stop whining about discrimination. Bill must remind all conservatives their hatred for the Obamas is the uniting bond of conservatives. There was nothing to criticize about her speech. All those little pea brains at Fox must have had meetings for hours to think of this one. I’m embarrassed that these only true patriotic republicans show such disdain for the country they (don’t) love. At least Mrs. Trump recognizes a heartfelt speech when she hears one.
scooter commented 2016-07-27 11:47:34 -0400 · Flag
Arrogant racist privileged prick. O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, the Triumvirate of Hate. Can’t wait for all of these feckless bastards to lose their jobs.
Eyes On Fox commented 2016-07-27 11:41:06 -0400 · Flag
“In addition, free blacks, whites, and immigrants also worked on the massive building. There were no illegal immigrants at that time. If you could make it here, you could stay here.”

True since slavery wasn’t made illegal until the Civil War so nothing wrong with their immigration status, eh Bill? 👍

Bill is just putting the #BlackLivesMatter crowd in their place. Like most conservative whites he’s tired of blacks complaining about minor slights like slavery and unequal justice when his white brethren are not getting their due.
truman commented 2016-07-27 09:59:17 -0400 · Flag
Bildo is writing a new script for “Roots” to be shown on Fux Noise. Kunta Kinte and the other slaves will be living in high-rise condos on the plantation, wearing designer jeans to pick cotton, and drinking lots of m-f-ing iced tea while sunning themselves in the fields.
Jan Hall commented 2016-07-27 09:30:38 -0400 · Flag
Even if the Slaves were ‘well fed", I doubt that any of them had as big a blubber belly as Bill O’Reilly Jr. I’m sure a nineteenth century slave laborer burned quite a few more calories than a 21st century Bigoted Bloviator.
David Lindsay commented 2016-07-27 09:04:56 -0400 · Flag
….and Mrs.Lincoln had the best seat in the theatre! So I don’t know what you’re griping about.








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