Bill O’Reilly began The O’Reilly Factor last night with one of his “Talking Points Memo”s, this one about the death of Ted Kennedy. Listing Kennedy’s pros and cons as the host saw them, he said at one point, “The Senator held up the Sex Offender and Registration Act in 2006 until the Factor reasoned with him. Once he was on board, it quickly became law.” (The quote occurs about 2:15 into this clip.)
Huh? What does that mean? We know from watching O’Reilly that “the Factor” means “Bill O’Reilly.” So he seems to be saying that he made Kennedy see the error of his ways on this issue, and that Kennedy then followed O’Reilly’s instructions (i.e., “got on board”). Why does this sound both self-aggrandizing and false?
Look, I’m not someone who thinks the second a person dies, everything bad or misguided he or she has done should be forgiven and never spoken about. And it didn’t surprise me at all that the very first thing O’Reilly brought up about Kennedy in his “memo” was Chappaquiddick.
Excessive sentimentality is irritating, too. Over on MSNBC, I got heartily sick of Mike Barnicle’s self-glorying stories about how Ted Kennedy helped Mike through Barnicle’s highly controversial journalistic-ethics problems. (The real message of Barnicle’s yarns was “Look at me, I have powerful friends.”)
But to go on TV and claim you changed a guy’s mind on an issue when he’s not around to verify that that’s what happened? That just stinks.
Fortunately, there was also last night on the show a comedy routine between O’Reilly and guest Glenn Beck — hilarious stuff about how “far left loons” are the only people offended by Beck having called President Obama a racist — and so it was momentarily easy to forget O’Reilly’s opening salvo.
Well, not really.
Disgusting. O’Reilly has no shame and the fact that people listen to his show and believe him is sickening and sad.
It’s funny, I feel the same way about people who trust this president. (not saying that you are one of them of course)
Newsflash. Not one pundit on TV has “shame.” Not Olbermann, not O’Reilly, not Beck, not Hannity, not Colmes. None of them. The reason that they’re still on air is a testament to how stupid people really are.
You are the stupid one!
Yo Mama?
Don’t forget Maddow, Matthews, that Ed D-bag on msnbc, Whoopie Goldberg, Joy Behar, Baba Wawa, Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric, Brian Williams, I could keep going.
What would we do without you Ken! thank you for the enlightenment.
Go to a real news site. Seriously Ken, I came here to have a couple of “gay” moments while at work and find out about the new Twilight movie and I get this political nonsense! I already check CNN three times a day. I don’t need to see this crap here!
EW is so in the tank for Obama. BIG DEAL. The guy should have been charged with murder and lived out his days a convicted felon. How much did monitor MSNBC’s tears for Tony Snow??? I don’t think Mark Sanford KILLED anyone, but Keith Olberman can’t let that go–he must have to change his underwear at least three times a show. EW is such a sad, pathetic joke now.
Well put Cheila. O’Reilly’s talking point was a FACT. Something EW knows very little about.
RPM, just putting the word fact in capital letters like you did, doesn’t make it so. I’d love to see your proof to back up what O’Reilly claims. This guy is a habitual liar so i’m surprised someone as intelligent as yourself would be unable to see that.
Sooo…why are you reading the site?
Exactly!
While the loss of Tony Snow was tragic, I don’t know that he was on quite the same plane as Ted Kennedy. Bad comparison.
And EW is an entertainment site. Who comes here for non-entertainment news?
Wait, I’m confused…who did Obama kill now?
I’ve never heard anyone accuse Obama of that. Cheila seems to be confused. Oh, and Cheila, MSNBC did indeed pay tribute to Tony Snow. I’m sure FOX’s tribute was bigger, but that’s because he was employed for years by FOX.
How ’bout you stop reading EW, then we won’t have to read your stupid opinions.
Ken, you’re one of those far left loons they were talking about. No wonder you didn’t think it was funny.
Wait, so now you’re claiming that Bill was trying to be funny?! Last time I checked, the Sex Offender law wasn’t a really humerous topic. You’re really trying to reach now aren’t you Chad?
Bill O’Reilly should just go back to harassing his female assistants!
EW stick to entertainment and stay out of politics. It cheapens your magazine when you take on an obvious liberal position on everything.
Yes, it is true. The fact that Bill O’Reilly is an insensitive, self-aggrandising, offensive, crowd-baiting fearmonger is obvious.
EW was reporting on TV converage of Ted Kennedy’s death. O’Reilly and Beck are TV stars, and therefore they and their TV shows fall under EW’s domain.
I agree that your comment re O’Reily’s remark about ‘The Factor’ influencing Kennedy to get’on board’ is self-aggrandizing. However, I feel that the rest of his comments were ‘fair and balanced.’ How about the liberal media showing some balance re Obama?
Teddy, kill yo self. Twice!!
I liked the article, Ken, and thought you made good points. O’Reilly is always all about him, plus he twists details to suit him, so no surprise there. And whenever anyone famous dies, people swarm to tell “personal stories”. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
Thank you for pointing it out.
Hey Cheila why should Kennedy be charged with murder ? Just because you say doesn’t make it true.Glenn Beck must love you !!! p.s Comparing Tony Snow and Kennedy is just stupid.
Because he drove drunk and then drove his car off a bridge. Oh yeah, and he had a passenger. Just google Mary Jo Kopechne and you’ll realize why her family finally has a sense of justice after 30 years. Uncle Teddy got off easy because he was a Kennedy. Fortunately for him he was able to live another 30 years after that incident.
As usual, people read only what they want to read. Ken also castigated the folks over on MSNBC. I know that Edward Kennedy was not the person who has been lionized over the past few years.
But O’Reilly says he got Kennedy to “get on board” on a certain bill, and Kennedy apparent kowtowed and obeyed. Kennedy isn’t around to refute that. O’Reilly was using Kennedy’s death for self-aggrandizement.
Edda, why don’t you Google something called Chappaquiddick. Let me give you the Cliff’s notes: in 1969, on the way home from a party Kennedy, with a woman not his wife,drove his car into the lake, swam to shore and NINE hours later got help for the poor girl he left behind. Her name was Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy should have been charged for her murder. But because of his money and power – nothing happened.
Man do I HATE Republicans…just reading these comments…what a flaming bunch of a-holes!
The sentiment is the same for you whiney, liberal communists.
OH MY GOD DO PEOPLE NOT HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO? Sorry that needed to be in caps
Love,
a whiny liberal commie
Chris, I’d rather be a liberal communist than to be a Nazi like yourself. And what about Laura Bush getting away with killing her boyfriend when she was 17! She was driving when she caused his death. Google it!
Laura Bush wasn’t drunk, d-bag. Maybe you support driving while being intoxicated but I do not.
Chris, you’re right Laura Bush wasn’t drunk. She was driving and approached a stop sign. (She had a friend in the car who verified all this to authorities at the time.) Laura saw her ex-boyfriend, who had just dumped her days earlier, and Laura was angry at him. The guy was driving through the intersection, and instead of stopping at the stop sign, Laura hit the gas and rammed his car. He was thrown from the car and died. Her behavior was illegal then and now. It’s called involuntary manslaughter. Yet she was never charged with a crime.
Ted Kennedy was indeed drunk, but at that time the law didn’t consider drunk driving the same way we do now. Back then, being drunk was an excuse as to why someone wasn’t responsible for their behavior. Today, thanks in large part to MADD, we are smarter than that. But back then, the thought was that he wasn’t responsible because he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing. Teddy was charged with, and pled guilty to, leaving the scene of an accident. Had the accident happened recently, he would have been charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI/DUI. Thank God the laws have been changed and being drunk is no longer considered an excuse.
Maggie/Ken, I know you did not just accuse Laura Bush of intentionally going through a stop sign to kill her ex boyfriend. Please stay away from the voting booth next election season because it is people like you who make me wonder about the direction of this country. Unbelievable.
Why? Can’t handle the truth?
Ted Kennedy was a murderer and an evil person who stood for things that would ruin this country. So to listen to people praise him now is sickening. Bill O’ Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh simply tell the truth and a lot of you just can’t handle it.
Well Brandon, just don’t listen and don’t read these posts. Ken is entitled to his opinion just like your far right boys. Keep listening to sexual harrasser O’Reilly and drug addict Rush. You’ll be fine.
Don’t forget boozer/murderer Uncle Teddy Kennedy!
Oh, why does Jon Stewart have to be on hiatus for the next couple weeks?!!?