How loathsome is Fox's totemic Bill O'Reilly? Bill O'Reilly is so loathsome that he's too disgusting even for Geraldo Rivera.
Warning: if you watch the video you will never again be able to feel as smug about Geraldo. He has a name for what O'Reilly does, and it's one of the right ones.
The latest Fox up-and-comer is Rachel Marsden who did duty with O’Reilly and shows up on Fox’s “Red Eye”. She became known up here in Canada for serial stalking, email bombing, washroom graffiti and questionable claims of sexual harassment. The target of some of this was a swimming coach at Simon Fraser University, who was fired and then … rehired.
She appears to share O’Reilly’s anxiety about the hazards of unsupervised brown people. On Red Eye she suggested that Pakistan cricket fans focus less of cricket and “a little more on hygiene”.
I see these people as performers. Political stand-up comedians. Kind of like ranters in Speaker’s Corner. O’Reilly is such a living caricature that he is now almost a parody of himself. I say give them rope. The damage they do is mostly self-inflicted. Coulter’s “faggot” and “death threat” excesses for example. Arianna Huffington’s idea of getting Coulter banned just adds to the allure – the bad girl notoriety. They crave negative attention.
aidan says something I’ve also been saying for a while: unless it really is a crowded theater, let Coulter et al cry “fire” (or “faggot”) all they want. Give them the same amount of attention you’d give some drunk standing on a street corner talking to a lamp post. None. Don’t engage them. Don’t respond. Don’t give them the attention they desire.
And don’t appear on their channels. It baffles me why progressives so hungry for face time that they’ll go on the tube with O’Reilly or Hannity or Scarborough and let themselve be punching bags. Don’t they have better things to do?
A commenter on TVNewser suggest that the whole thing was staged, no more genuine than pro wrestling. O’Reilly and Geraldo certainly kissed and made up rather quickly.
Geraldo’s “see, this proves we’re fair and balanced” comments lend credence to the theory.
OReilly is so disgusting I like to watch him to remind myself how an extremist look like.