In a discussion of recent comments made by Michelle Obama, Bill O'Reilly took a call from a listener who stated that, according
to "a friend who had knowledge of her," Obama " 'is a very angry,' her word
was 'militant woman.' " O'Reilly later stated: "I don't want to go on a
lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts,
that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels
-- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's
legit. We'll track it down." (emphasis added)
His so called apology is inadequate because he
seems to be saying that his comment was taken out of context and he completely
ignores the qualifier "unless". He seems to be saying that because Ms. Obama's
comment's were political than the "unless" was not statisfied. First,
O'reilly did just say that there should not be a lynching. Second, Lynching is not
appropriate under any circumstances there is no "unless" and O'reilly's
so-called apology is unacceptable.
Bill O'reilly of Fox News
Radio and television has overstep the bounds of decency by
implying that he would find the lynching of Michelle Obama
acceptable. President Bush last week said
that displaying a noose "is not a prank and lynching is not a
word to be used in jest". I agree.
Given the long and
terriorifying history of lynching in this country,
O'Reilly's comment, even as a metaphor, was offensive and
indecent.
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Summary: In a discussion of recent comments made by Michelle
Obama, Bill O'Reilly took a call from a listener who stated that, according
to "a friend who had knowledge of her," Obama " 'is a very angry,' her word
was 'militant woman.' " O'Reilly later stated: "I don't want to go on a
lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts,
that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels
-- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's
legit. We'll track it down."
During the February 19 edition of his nationally syndicated
radio show, Bill
O'Reilly took a call from a listener who said of
Michelle Obama, "I just wanted to say that I think Michelle Obama is an
angry woman -- is speaking, I think, with her real voice for the first
time." O'Reilly and his callers were discussing Obama's
recent
comments,
which included her assertion that "[f]or the first time in my adult
lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." When O'Reilly
asked the caller, whom he identified as "Maryanne,"
"You're basing that on what?" she replied: "Well your
representative asked me not to talk about this, but I have a friend who had
knowledge of her and said to me months ago, 'This is a very angry,'
her word was 'militant woman.' " O'Reilly then
responded, "What I want you to do then, Maryanne ... I want you to
stay on the line. ... Because it's not fair to Michelle Obama for you ... because we
don't know who you are, and we don't know who your friend is, but
we want to know. We want to know, OK. But it's not fair at this point for you
to say, 'My friend said X and Y,' because we just don't know. But if you would give us your information, we would like
to talk to your friend. And then whatever your friend tells us, we'll track it
down. We'll do it in a fair and balanced and methodical way."
He later added, "If indeed Michelle Obama is angry about something, if
she has a history, we would like to know that, and then we can put it into some
kind of context so that we can be fair to everybody."
O'Reilly then stated:
O'REILLY: You know, I have a
lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton, for all of these people.
Bill Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper
where everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go
and bludgeon them. And, you know, Bill Clinton and I don't agree on a lot of
things, and I think I've made that clear over the years, but he's trying to
stick up for his wife, and every time the guy turns around, there's another
demagogue or another ideologue in his face trying to humiliate him because
they're rooting for Obama.
That's wrong. And I don't want to go
on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard
facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really
feels -- that America
is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track
it down.
From the February 19 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: Maryanne, Woodbury, Connecticut: What say you, Maryanne? Maryanne --
CALLER: I'm here.
O'REILLY: -- you're on
the air.
CALLER: Here I am.
O'REILLY: OK.
CALLER: I just wanted to say that I
think Michelle Obama is an angry woman
-- is speaking, I think, with her real voice for the first time. And --
O'REILLY: But how do you -- what do you base that on? You're basing that on what?
CALLER: Well, your representative asked
me not to talk about this, but I have a friend who had knowledge of her and
said to me months ago, "This
is a very angry," her word was "militant woman."
O'REILLY: All right. What I want you do then,
Maryanne, if -- I want
you to stay on the line.
CALLER: OK.
O'REILLY: Because it's not fair to
Michelle Obama for you --
CALLER: Oh no, all
I'm saying is --
O'REILLY: -- because we
don't know who you are, and we don't know who your friend is, but we want to know. We want to know, OK. But
it's not fair at this point for you to say, "My
friend said X and Y," because we just don't know. But if you would give us your information, we
would like to talk to your friend. And
then whatever your friend tells us, we'll track it down. We'll do it in a fair and balanced and
methodical way. That's
how we're going to
cover this campaign --
all of them, all of them. So
stay on the line, give
us your information. If
indeed Michelle Obama is angry about something, if she has a history, we would
like to know that, and then we can put it into some kind of context so that we
can be fair to everybody.
You know, I have a
lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton, for all of these people. Bill
Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper where
everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go and bludgeon them. And, you know, Bill Clinton and I don't agree on
a lot of things, and I think I've made that clear over the years, but he's
trying to stick up for his wife, and every time the guy turns around, there's
another demagogue or another ideologue in his face trying to humiliate him
because they're rooting for Obama.
That's wrong. And I don't want to go on a lynching party
against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is
how the woman really feels. If
that's how she really feels --
that America
is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down.
"What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack
has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.
And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that
direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and
disappointment. I've seen people who are hungry to be unified
around some basic common issues, and it's made me proud."
Copyright @ 2008
Vernellia Randall. All Rights Reserved
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