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Bill O’Reilly Channeling His Inner Donald Trump
Mr. O’Reilly loses it in this interview, asking questions, then refusing to allow George Will to speak, and finally repeatedly shouting insults at Will to keep him from speaking. “You are a hack!”
Here’s the George Will column that drew mighty Bill’s ire. Poor Mr. O’Reilly. I think Megyn Kelly has deeply unnerved him…
Published in Entertainment, Literature, Politics
I’m literally laughing out loud as I recall it. Priceless.
That’s because for Will the deepest offense is not against truth or history or the American people or even Reagan himself, or his memory, it is against him and his group including his wife, none of whom are being interviewed.
I think you are to some extent right–but surely, not altogether. These people do have a claim to first-hand experience most people do not. They also have a claim to be part of the ruling class, which is now much maligned, but is not without merit. Actually, their demerits themselves have to be judge in light of their merits & what those merits show about what politics really is. They’re not as good as they should be by their own standards, so to speak, or those implied in their actions, & now & then claimed by deed or speech.
I would of course like to see very populist types take offense at this grave-robbing & destroy Mr. O’Reilly’s career in a git of democratic outrage. But I do not expect it. I would like to see his audience to turn their face away. But I do not expect it. Maybe that’s part of what the exalted types know-
Maybe, but does Will’s motive matter? Either he has the better argument or he doesn’t. Will has done at least two good things: shown O’Reilly to be a fraud, and shown him to be a fool. I take him at his word that his anger arises from O’Reilly’s having done the Left’s work for it. He was manly enough to meet O’Reilly on his own ground and has done what a lot of others would like to have done, but didn’t.
Of course it matters! Dissecting Will’s motive is part of the fun. Otherwise it’s just good guy vs. bad guy, winners or losers.
This way, I can feel superior to both of them…
I think Will was part of the establishment aligned against Reagan until Reagan won the nomination and then Will flopped into the Reagan camp.
Aha! Well, enjoy!
There is a difference and it is that people like Will on our side are damaging the country more than the people like Bill. Will is a status quo politician who is a HUGE bulwark for the excuse-making of the GOP leaders and many conservatives.
I would agree with the latter part, but not the former. You seem to believe, get rid of the Wills & those behind him who actually are authorized by the people to wield power & things will improve. I am far more skeptical of that opinion than you seem to be–if I understand your position correctly.
No, the system as it is set up now would replace Will with another member of the elite. My big problem is that our guys don’t push the panic button to get things to change. They are rich and have things that work well for themselves and just aren’t the right type of people to solve our problems. They are incrementalists and “getting the message just right” people instead of wanting to burn the place down.
I think the best you can reasonably hope for is something like Reagan-Bush, not burning the place down. There is no way to govern for a conservative movement without an establishment.
I am, of course, for much stronger institutions to make sense of the grassroots & to give them a way to negotiate with the establishment from a better position-
Government needs to be limited in some way. We have principles in our Constitution but the left has destroyed faith in them over the years.
Those principles are threatened in some way simply because of democracy. Those principles require a very small government–there is no majority of the electorate for that. You have to find ways to first get coalitions that get how to govern & to persuade an electorate–cutting government comes second in this order.
Of course, getting Congress to take some of its powers back & to start fighting can & should be done now. It may take a while, but there are victories that can be scored or prepared now. My long-term view, if it makes sense, is not supposed to paralyze action meanwhile. But it does mean that a government costing around 15% of GDP would be something for your grandkids to see…
Here, this is a guy people like you need to know! Pomocon Mr. Pete Spialikos. He wants more influence for conservatives & better political calculation & action all around, including a tougher Congress now.
TT, don’t you see why I insist that it is the media that must be brought to heel? We need them to help with getting the electorate persuaded and stop preventing it. It is the incestuous relationship that the MSM has with the Dems that is at the heart of every major intractable problem. Republicans and conservatives need to brace the media and point out their un-professionality — at least we must decrease their influence. Only during elections — right now — are our guys able to have this fight. This very fact is the single reason that democracy is so valuable.
Who is going to stop the media?
Lots of people can start local institutions, at least after a few become successful.
Who can take on DC?
If your minimum requirement is doing more than Reagan did in eighter years of gov’t before you win any elections…
Anyone who knows how to do something to get people even a little away from the spectacles & moralism view of politics that DC sells to conceal the self-interest of the rulers & their minions–anyone, they should do it. Thinking about ways to do it is good, too. If I can help with some ideas–unlikely–or improvements to ideas–not as much of a howler–sure, I’ll take the time.
But I do not see anyone who can do it. The beast is there. St. George is not. Dunno how to summon him.
Work with what you’ve got to get more is my basic orientation here. These systemic problems–the media!–look intractable otherwise.