O’Reilly and Tiller…
TVNewser reports that O’Reilly will talk about murdered abortion doctor George Tiller tomorrow night. Meanwhile Salon’s Gabriel Wynant looks into his crystal ball regarding what O’Reilly may say.
When his show airs tomorrow, Bill O’Reilly will most certainly decry the death of Kansas doctor George Tiller, who was killed Sunday while attending church services with his wife. Tiller, O’Reilly will say, was a man who was guilty of barbaric acts, but a civilized society does not resort to lawless murder, even against its worst members. And O’Reilly, we can assume, will genuinely mean this.
But there’s no other person who bears as much responsibility for the characterization of Tiller as a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly thanks to the collusion of would-be sophisticated cultural elites, a bought-and-paid-for governor and scofflaw secular journalists. Tiller’s name first appeared on “The Factor” on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O’Reilly and his guest hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller is described as “Tiller the Baby Killer.”
My question: Will Olbermann weigh in?
May 31, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Is water wet?
May 31, 2009 at 7:47 pm
“But there’s no other person who bears as much responsibility for the characterization of Tiller as a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly thanks to the collusion of would-be sophisticated cultural elites, a bought-and-paid-for governor and scofflaw secular journalists.”
WRONG!
What about Tiller, who actually carried out these deplorable acts? O’Reilly just reported on them and brought Tiller to the nation’s attention.
It is unfortunate that Tiller was killed; pro-lifers (including myself) do NOT advocate murder, no matter how heinous the perp.
The best remedy to Tiller’s acts would have been through legislation. But now, some other Kansan will probably just pick up where Tiller left off.
May 31, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Takes a bow… and shouts “DUUUUUUH” at the computer screen.
Of course, the Salon article outrageously attacks O’Reilly, but never mentions a few key facts: such as Tiller’s “habit” of performing late-late term abortions, and the whole recent case against him. Salon mentions that O’Reilly talked about him “as recently as April 27,” and yet doesn’t mention the case! How is even possible?!
But don’t forget the moral of this article, “Don’t talk about someone, because if you do, someone might take it the wrong way and do something bad, and you’ll be responsible.” I just wonder, if something bad happened to O’Reilly… would this guy accept responsibility?
May 31, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I think it’s a safe bet that KO will devote a huge chuck of his show blaming O’Reilly and the rest of the Right for this murder..the rest of the Far-left blogs and MSM are already attacking the entire Pro-life movement.
When radical Arab Terrorist kill 3000 people..KO and the PC crowd tells us to be careful not condemn the Muslim world..but when one nut who may or not be a member of the Pro-Life movement kills one person..everyone from the Pope down is blamed for it….double standards anyone?..and I’m sure KO will also deliver a “Special comment” on the story if he thinks it has legs to help him bash O’Reilly. New Murrow indeed.
May 31, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Let’s talk about this from a television strategy point of view.
If Olbermann (and his producers) are smart… they’ll talk about it tomorrow… but wait until Tuesday to deliver the Special Comment. That will get the biggest bang for the buck. O’Reilly will pull in massive numbers tomorrow because people will want to see what he says… Olbermann would be foolish to go up against that.
But then again… NOT being foolish, isn’t really Olbermann’s strong suit.
May 31, 2009 at 10:27 pm
I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict it will be downplayed on Countdown. Most of us supporters of choice for women are queazy about late-term. I personally only support it in the rarest and most dire of circumstances, and I think most pro-choicers agree. I expect the story to be reported, then dropped. There may be more emphasis on Rachel’s show.
May 31, 2009 at 11:42 pm
My question: Will Olbermann weigh in?
Yes.
June 1, 2009 at 2:23 am
Of course Olbermann will weigh in – and as imnotblue said, he would be wise to hold off on a “special comment” (if he chooses to go that far) until Tuesday or Wednesday.
O’Reilly will be dealing with the accusations that his coverage somehow led to this the whole week.
June 1, 2009 at 3:53 am
DONG! This has been a Christian Warrior ALERT!
June 1, 2009 at 5:34 am
Of course Olbermann will mention it. In fact, I predict he will use his calculated, dead serious look. The one he uses when he decrees that O’Reilly has done something to show how “dangerous” he is. He’ll stare straight into the camera and say something like “for the sake of everyone, get this man off the air.”
June 1, 2009 at 5:53 am
Yes, the same Keith Olbermann who said that the “Republican Party is the leading terrorist group in America” and that “Fox News has done more harm than the KKK” will lecture us on how dangerous inflammatory rhetoric is in America circa 2009.
Indeed, words – like ideas – have consequences and there is legitimate concern about some of the ugly comments made by O’Reilly, Limbaugh et al. on a number of issues, not just abortion.
But Keith Olbermann is absolutely the last person on cable news to tell us this.
The last person.
June 1, 2009 at 6:04 am
Joe, you might be right… however as the Salon article shows… the information that Tiller performed late-term abortions isn’t really relevant to the story… at least, not to the people who want to smear O’Reilly.
Tiller is just an “abortion doctor,” according to them. What kind of doctor, his penchant or late-term abortions, the many many controversies surrounding him… all that isn’t relevant when you can just blame O’Reilly.
O’Reilly didn’t invent this guy… he didn’t find him, he didn’t elevate him to a status that he didn’t previously hold… Tiller was a known entity. But don’t expect any rational thought to get in the way of the hater crowd.
June 1, 2009 at 9:29 am
O’Reilly’s reports on Dr. Tiller were all legitimate stories. That is, he was using questionable and perhaps illegal tactics to circumvent existing law in order to perform late-term abortions. A completely separate story is that someone committed a murder.
Connecting the two serves only to politicise a crime and dampen free speech.
I can’t imagine Keith Olbermann taking the high road. Hope I’m wrong.
June 1, 2009 at 9:35 am
I think the real question would be, “What does Olbermann have to gain by ignoring, refuting, or not attacking O’Reilly for this?”
June 1, 2009 at 9:41 am
Most of us supporters of choice for women are queazy about late-term. I personally only support it in the rarest and most dire of circumstances, and I think most pro-choicers agree.
Does anyone really believe that women wait until their eighth month to have an ELECTIVE abortion? Women undergoing late-term abortion WANTED to have a child.
Hilzoy has some personal accounts here:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018420.php
June 1, 2009 at 9:42 am
Here’s another one:
http://iowaindependent.com/2565/open-letter-to-obama-a-personal-perspective-on-late-term-abortion
June 1, 2009 at 11:00 am
Two Soldiers were shot in Little Rock today by a gunman with an assault rifle..he was arrested a little later..one of the Soldiers died a little later..now we don’t know the motive for the shooting but can we go ahead and blame the entire Anti-war movement and people in the MSM like KO who talked against the war in Iraq?
June 1, 2009 at 11:16 am
.now we don’t know the motive for the shooting but can we go ahead and blame the entire Anti-war movement and people in the MSM like KO who talked against the war in Iraq?
it’s more likely to be one of those ‘sovereign’ militia people who think the federal government is about to take away their guns.
June 1, 2009 at 1:32 pm
“it’s more likely to be one of those ’sovereign’ militia people who think the federal government is about to take away their guns.”
Or someone from Texas who wants to secede from the Union and is anti-federal government.