On the day after submitting this article
to Online Journal, Bill O'Reilly, in his Talking Points Memo
says that he "made a mistake."
"I was wrong when I said that Americans who continue
demonstrating against the war once the
shooting begins are being un-American...People
who lawfully dissent should never be labeled un-
American...I will call those who publicly
criticize our country in a time of military crisis, which this is,
bad Americans and it is my constitutional
right to make that judgment and you are free to agree or
disagree. You can call me a bad American
for making that judgment."
First, it is not the word, "un-American,"
that people take umbrage with. You may call me un-
American all that you like, and I, Sir,
will merely consider the source. What is offensive beyond
description is your admonishment that if
we continue to speak out against an unnecessary and tragic
waste of human life after the killing begins
you will consider us "enemies of the state," and use your
power as a primetime broadcast journalist
to "spotlight" us. This would be an extraordinary abuse
of your power, if you had any.
I understand that the folks at FOX are all
atwitter that you are the highest rated talking head on cable.
I've seen the ratings. A whopping
2.8. The fact is that the ratings for all talking head shows are
a bust.
I remember, a short time ago, when anything
less than a 10.0 would get a show pulled from the air before
its next scheduled broadcast. Perhaps
these shows would do better if they provided a lot more useful
information, and a lot less attitude.
Second, we are not in a military crisis
that is not of George W. Bush's making. Iraq poses no
immanent threat to this country, and neither
the CIA nor the FBI believe that Saddam has any
relevant links to terrorist organizations.
Neither the White House, nor the Department of State have
made any serious effort, un-tinged by black
comedy, to persuade Americans of the need to risk
World War III. Essentially what we
get from Bush in Washington (or is he vacationing again in
Crawford?) is, "Trust me, I'm your President
[sic]." Every administration in our nation's history has
made their case for war to the American
people by either showing irrefutable evidence, or
manufacturing bogus evidence. George
W. Bush is not even competent to do the latter. He appears
before the entire world as a spoiled child
throwing a temper tantrum.
And as for you, Mr. O'Reilly, I would never
call you a "bad American" for proudly stating your opinion
before the American public. That,
Sir, is your unalienable right, and for you to put out your opinion
for public consumption makes you a good
American. However, for you to attempt to silence others,
and for you to fail to gather competent
opposing sentiment and all of the conflicting information that
would enable the rest of America to come
to informed conclusions makes you a very bad broadcast
journalist, a very good fascist, or both.
Shame on you! And shame on FOX.