Musings 82--Words can hurt...

Fox News talking head Bill O'Reilly spews as much hate speech as anyone on the planet. The comments he made about San Francisco voters are well over the line of fair comment and criticism, which is the journalistic standard for such comments.

Here is the O'Reilly quote: (Also, see link)

O'REILLY: Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I'm not going to give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I'm the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, "Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead. And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.

Now, I may not be the sharpest nail in the bag, but I know that this is way over the line. O'Reilly is always talking about "giving aid and comfort to the enemy" when someone criticizes the war in Iraq. He is also big on throwing around the term, "un-american." Well, there is nothing more "un-american" than saying that Al Qaeda should blow up a national landmark because of a ballot referendum.

I'm usually not one to jump on the band wagon for firing people, but Bill O'Reilly has definitely lost his mind. It has been rapidly happening over a period of time. He is nuts. By calling on Al Qaeda, even if it were a joke--which it was not, to blow up Coit Tower, O'Reilly has committed treason against his own people. He should be chastised in a most harsh way.

To my way of thinking, it is not the people that are against military recruiting in schools in San Francisco that are "un-american." It is the leading commentator of Fox News--Bill O'Reilly. Words can hurt. Yes, we have freedom of speech, but no one has the right to yell fire in a crowded building. O'Reilly yelled fire and death and destruction. Now he is saying that it was satire. Well, I know a bit about satire, and this is not it. He was angry, and he let his mouth overload his ass.

Between Mr. President's "Bring'em on" quote and O'Reilly's kill San Francisco folk, it makes one ponder if Al Qaeda is listening. Apparently they were listening to Mr. President because we have lost many more troops since his comment than we lost before. If the Coit Tower goes up in a blast, will Mr. O'Reilly feel any responsibility for it? These are Americans that live in San Francisco. If something happens, we will all know who planted the idea.

Fair and balanced...I don't think so.