An American Idiot

It's almost silly to bash Bill O'Reilly for his bullying distortions. The man, like Rush Limbaugh, is a propagandist. If you're smart, you understand that. If you're stupid, you don't -- and nothing will convince you otherwise.

Often, like any clever liar, O'Reilly sprinkles in just enough rational statements to make him appear momentarily objective. Of course, he isn't. His mind -- picture a black-and-white TV -- lacks nuance to an astonishing extent. He responds to the Iraq mess by asking this question: Do you want us to win? It's a simpleton query designed to elicit a simpleton response. He responds to criticism of the president by asking this question: Do you think George Bush is evil? Again, a simpleton query designed to elicit a simpleton response. Unless you immediately answer "yes" to the first question and "no" to the second, you're an un-American lunatic.

Worse, maybe, is the way O'Reilly twists words. During an interview with retired U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright last month on his FOX-News show, O'Reilly slandered the 29-year veteran, accusing her of being anti-American because she criticized some of the Bush administration's practices in Iraq and in the "war on terror." Nothing, of course, could be more patriotic than speaking out against abuses within your own country. O'Reilly appears unwilling to accept that fact, either because he's too dumb or because he knows the value of his shtick to TV ratings. Watch the segment. It's a case study in how to bully and distort (fortunately, Col. Wright stood her ground admirably):




Which brings us to O'Reilly's newest target: Bill Moyers' brilliant documentary on the American media's complicity in making the Bush administration's case to invade Iraq, a case that appeared false to many of us at the time and a case that has since been proven to be either wrong or a lie.

In "Buying The War," Moyers shows how the major establishment media outlets -- including the New York Times and Washington Post -- played along with the administration in the buildup to the invasion. To demonstrate the mood, Moyers included two snippets of O'Reilly making statements that suggest anyone who criticizes the war effort will have to bear the consequences. From a transcript at truthout.com:

Bill O'Reilly (Fox 2/26/03): "Anyone who hurts this country in a time like this. Well let's just say you will be spotlighted."
Bill O'Reilly (2/27/03): "I will call those who publicly criticize their country in a time of military crisis, which this is, bad Americans."

On his show this week, O'Reilly acknowledged those quotes looked bad. But, he said, they were taken out of context. He then played the full quotes. To me, there was no significant difference. Moyers carved out the essence of O'Reilly's comments, leaving the excess verbiage behind. Nothing wrong with that.

In a typical fit of arrogance and pique, O'Reilly sent one of his people to do an ambush interview with Moyer. Because O'Reilly is a propagandist, I have no idea if the information presented in the interview was accurate. In it, Moyers appears to have said things in a Rolling Stone interview -- things that have nothing to do with the integrity of the documentary -- that he denies saying. Essentially, he said, on tape, that the O'Reillys of the world are slimey. Maybe because he was generalizing, he didn't think his words should apply directly to O'Reilly. Maybe he thought the interviewer was referring to his documentary, not the Rolling Stone interview. I don't know. I do know it was irrelevant. O'Reilly -- did I mention his arrogant spite? -- condescendingly suggested Moyers' age (72) might have something to do with his apparent forgetfulness during the interview.

The bottom line, of course, is that Moyers is right: O'Reilly was -- and is -- part of the machine that produced the disaster in Iraq. Quibbling about quotes won't change that.