In Depth: Another Factor ambush interview…but who really ends up being ambushed?
Amanda Turkel writes in Think Progress about being ambushed by Factor producer Jesse Waters…
This weekend, while on vacation, I was ambushed by O’Reilly’s top hit man, producer Jesse Watters, who accosted me on the street and told me that because I highlighted O’Reilly’s comments, I was causing “pain and suffering” to rape victims and their families. He of course offered no proof to back up this claim, instead choosing to shout questions at me.
I expect O’Reilly to air this “interview” at some point this week, possibly as early as tonight. I have no expectation that he will show the entire altercation or give the entire story about what happened, so here is the full account, offering a glimpse inside the O’Reilly harrassment machine:
– The Stalking: Watters and his camera man accosted me at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, in Winchester, VA, which is a two-hour drive from Washington, DC. My friend and I were in this small town for a short weekend vacation and had told no one about where we were going. I can only infer that the two men staked out my apartment and then followed me for two hours. Looking back, my friend and I remember seeing their tan SUV following us for much of the trip.
Leave it to O’Reilly to turn something of a victory (being able to speak at the Alexa Foundation) into a defeat (sicking Waters on Turkel) after all the crap that’s gone on, most of which was O’Reilly’s own damn fault to begin with. Another example of the internal tone deafness of one William O’Reilly. Honestly Bill, at this point you deserve all the grief Olbermann tosses your way for this. Rather than do your bit for the Alexa Foundation and quietly move on to the next thing, you have to stand and pick a fight over something you really don’t have and never have made; a valid reasonable defense for your Jennifer Moore comments.
Seriously, FNC PR needs to sit O’Reilly down and give him a remedial Public Relations course. Because this is just the sort of thing that a seasoned PR person, who understands how things work and play out, would be able to easily see as more trouble than it’s worth, and therefore avoid. Not our boy Bill. He’s going to make his point no matter how badly it blows up in his face. But this isn’t the first time this has happened (see the now infamous “Bring Donahue Back” petition and the entirely predictable to anyone but O’Reilly blowback). And it probably won’t be the last…
March 23, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Spud has spoken!
March 23, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Well said. I hate these ambushes, no matter who it is being ambushed. I think O’Reilly and Olbermann are more alike as far as their egos go.
March 23, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Hey Bill, ever hear the term “quit while you’re ahead”? He had his apparent absolution by speaking at Alexa. What’s the point in bringing up his stupid and never explained comment again? KO can stop writing WPitW. O’Reilly is doing it for him.
March 23, 2009 at 1:28 pm
The part about how they were on vacation and couldn’t figure out how O’Reilly’s crew figured out where they would be (outside of trailing them from their home to their vacation spot) is creepy.
March 23, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Big time media people have the largest egos in the world. They spend all their time criticizing other people, but absolutely hate it when someone has the audacity to criticize them.
O’Reilly, and Olbermann, epitomize this.
March 23, 2009 at 3:27 pm
These ‘ambushes’ are just plain pathetic. O’Reilly should go back to Inside Edition if he calls this ‘journalism’.
March 23, 2009 at 3:36 pm
O’Reilly, and Olbermann, epitomize this.
Yup. Though for different reasons.
March 23, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Back in ’03, O’Reilly made a racially-insensitive joke at a fund raiser. All he had to do was apologize, since it’s not uncommon to say something stupid in an attempt at humor. But the left had picked it up, so he couldn’t do that. Instead, he tries to gin up a race story about a so-called ‘white prom’ somewhere in south Georgia. He’s call the Gov, berates his secretary, accuses everyone of hiding under the desk over a story that no one could give a damn about. He finally had Neal Boortz on by satellite, who then proceeded to nail him on his motivation for pushing the story.
I WISH I could find a clip for that, just a transcript. It was a thing of beauty. O called Boortz a vicious SOB (unabbreviated), and i swear there would have been an altercation had it been face-to-face.
March 23, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I have no expectation that he will show the entire altercation or give the entire story about what happened, so here is the full account, offering a glimpse inside the O’Reilly harrassment machine=====================================
Ok I just watched. I somehow think that Amanda knew how poor she did so she wrote this as a pre-emptive defense. As lost as she looked, I cant picture that she managed to turn the tables on the reporter. I also like the brave heart that she was there with. He disappeared rather quickley, didnt he? I bet he is also telling his friends how he opened his can of whoop-ass on the reporter.
March 23, 2009 at 8:14 pm
As I’ve said before, O’Reilly’s statement 3 years ago certainly could’ve been worded better.
However, attacking the charity, for their own hating O’Reilly motives was a really despicable thing to do.
And they can blab all they want about not trying to hurt the Alexa Foundation, but that’s EXACTLY what they were doing.
It is interesting that Turkey couldn’t remember what it was O”Reilly said and admitted that the only part of the piece she listened to was the part she “highlighted”.
March 23, 2009 at 8:31 pm
proudred – I just caught the replay, and I think it’s fair to expect a person who runs an internet website, is on vacation and has The O’Reilly Factor’s producer chasing them down to look “lost.”
bigred – Hurting the Alexa Foundation may or may not be an unintended consequence of going after O’Reilly’s speaking engagement, but it is pretty weak to make that direct charge, let alone be mixing it up with the person who runs a website. O’Reilly is punching way down on this and comes off looking like an insecure clown.
March 23, 2009 at 8:40 pm
To anyone who is still reading:
I think we have an entirely different take on this story after tonight.
I’ve read what everyone has said on this, and on other posts, and agreed that maybe O’Reilly went too far. But what about Wendy Murphy’s appearance tonight – she COMPLETELY sided with him and shared his outrage over the way Alexa herself and O’Reilly were treated, by “Amamda” AND by NBC News?
Wendy Murphy is non-partisan, I believe, and seems to make it her life’s mission to advocate for victims. So her defense of O’Reilly lends huge credibility to everything he’s said, IMO. What say you?
March 23, 2009 at 8:50 pm
But Wendy Murphy is an activist, and activists are often known for overlooking verbal flubs from people supposedly ‘on their side’. Not unlike GLAAD or whoever overlooking Bill Maher’s ‘homo’ comment.
March 23, 2009 at 8:52 pm
But Wendy Murphy is an activist, and activists are often known for overlooking verbal flubs from people supposedly ‘on their side’. Not unlike GLAAD or whoever overlooking Bill Maher’s ‘h@mo’ comment.
Repost due to moderation flag.
March 23, 2009 at 9:39 pm
His remark “3 years ago” remains indefensible, and was not “poorly worded”. There’s no not-poor way to describe a young girl in the manner he did. He implied that the clothes she wore got her killed. I can’t believe people are still debating this. If you think he was right, admit it, instead of brushing it off as misspeaking or whatever.
March 24, 2009 at 2:07 am
BushLeaguer & Joe…I’ll admit that BOR’s words were wrong & that particular line of questioning should have been avoided.
As I’ve previously stated, successful non-profits (like the Alexa Foundation) rely heavily on any local or national “big name” celebrity with their charter.
However, you can’t tell me that KO didn’t realize that by talking about BOR & the Alexa Foundation that he was not going to hurt Alexa. He knows that he has a strong liberal following that would act upon his words. If Wendy Murphy’s reporting is true & I have no reason to doubt it, Alexa has been assaulted again This time by left wing zealots.
Alexa was attempting to turn a terrible negative into a positive & now by her quitting she is unable to provide assistance to other rape victims. What a damm shame.
March 24, 2009 at 6:41 am
Missy, Wendy Murphy is on the Alexa Foundation board. Not an impartial or unbiased source on this. Still the news that Alexa had to quit her job shows just how out of control the protests were and that getting O’Reilly at all costs damaged others.
March 24, 2009 at 7:22 am
Joe, I’ve said repeatedly, O’Reilly’s comments 3 years ago were stupid.
But the reaction from Olbermann & his cronies was worse.
Missy is right. You need to watch the segment and think about the impact their stupid protest had on Alexa & this worthwhile charity.
March 24, 2009 at 10:07 am
That’s crap. You’d have to go a long way to say something worse than O’Reilly did. Alexa brought this on themselves. BOR has a history of sexual harrassment and victim blaming, yet they supported him anyway. If their first priority was helping rape victims, they wouldn’t have blown off O’Reilly’s comments. Did they really think the press and public were going to shut their eyes just because it’s a good cause? When a good cause compromises their mission statement to this degree, it brings their stated mission into question.
All this whining about e-mails and phone calls and threats is pathetic. We’re supposed to believe it’s Olbermann’s fault for reporting the facts, not the facts themselves that caused the outcry. If Bill had made ANY attempt to backtrack about his description of the girl and the name-calling of her and her friend; if he had made ANY attempt to refute his statement about the boy “having fun” being held captive and raped for years, the furor may have died down enough for him to do his gig without drama. NOTHING from Bill, NOTHING from Alexa except claims of victimhood, which in this case is more than a little ironic.
March 24, 2009 at 11:03 am
“NOTHING from Alexa except claims of victimhood”
How dare those rape victims try to play the victim.
March 24, 2009 at 11:04 am
“You’d have to go a long way to say something worse than O’Reilly did.”
^Keep trying Joe. You’re getting closer.
March 24, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Alexa brought this on themselves
Careful Joe, you’re blaming the victim here. You’ll have to square that with carping about O’Reilly blaming the victim.
Joe, they had to hire security for that event because of all the threats. Alexa had to quit her job. How much damage has to be done before you’ll stop trying to rationalize this?
March 24, 2009 at 1:04 pm
And I can say this because I’ve consistently said O’Reilly has to clear the air on Jennifer Moore. O’Reilly was wrong. But so are the lunatics who took a holy war to the Alexa Foundation because O’Reilly went to speak there.
March 24, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Ok joe….where the apology for your insensitive comments toward rape victims????
You keep demanding O’Reilly give one.
Why don’t you read Spud’s comments VERY CAREFULLY, man up, admit YOU are wrong, and apologize.
While you’re at it, maybe you should send a donation to the Alexa Foundation.
March 24, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Yeah, the victomhood comment was out of line. I apologize. I don’t agree with the e-mails and phone calls to the foundation. I have stated before that KO overdid it, but I don’t recall him asking people to contact Alexa. I have no defense for any bloggers that did so – it was wrong. I just think it’s unfair to claim Alexa was completely innocent here. They knew about BOR’s comments and decided it didn’t compromise their mission. I think it did.
March 24, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I would like to add, I felt this was over and hoped the e-mail/phone nutjobs had moved on, too. O’Reilly brought it back up as a defense of himself, even supplying the original transcript on his website, which I conclude to mean he has no problem with the remarks and stands by them. He did the event and raised some money. If he was never going to revise his comments, he should have left it there.
March 25, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Agreed. But then O’Reilly never was fast on the uptick about those sorts of things if you know what I mean…