Bill O'Reilly

Independents and Republicans are free to vote in next Tuesday’s Indiana Democratic primary – the latest do-or-die test for Hillary Clinton. And Independents and Republicans – along with a healthy dose of Archie Bunker Democrats and a scattering of masochistic liberals – also constitute the core of Bill O’Reilly audience. So, in a way, her appearance on his show Wednesday night was a logical exercise in voter outreach.

But that’s only if you ignore history.  read more »

Bill O’Reilly, the Republican spokesman, is leaving the communication firm he founded nine years to join a firm headed by former Rudy Giuliani aides George Lence and Cristyne Nicholas.

O’Reilly’s Midtown-based firm had lately specialized in Republican clients running against the Republican establishment: they handled conservative Republican John Faso’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign, when most of the George Pataki-centric party establishment was pulling for Bill Weld. That year, the firm also handled the campaign of K.T. McFarland, a latecomer to the Republican Senate primary race who ultimately lost, but not before she blasted Rupert Murdoch's media empire for their coverage of the race.

O’Reilly, a relative of William F. Buckley, is leaving the firm in the hands of its co-founder, Susan Del Percio.

O’Reilly’s email is after the jump.  read more »

John Koblin meets twins who blog, discovers that a Ron Paul party distracted Times reporters on deadline, and witnesses an interesting moment involving Hillary Clinton, Bill O’Reilly and a girl with red hair.

PENACOOK, N.H.—A little after 10 this morning, Hillary Clinton hosted a rally at a high school gym here. She had an unexpected guest.

The first question in a Q. and A. session was from a young girl with red hair. Bill O'Reilly, she said, had asked her how quickly troops could leave Iraq, and wouldn't the Senator have a better answer for him than she?  read more »

While we're linking to end-of-year lists ... here's Inside Cable News' awkwardly introduced "list of the hottest and not hottest cable news related stories for 2007."

Almost every prominent cable-news personality, from Campbell Brown to Maria Bartiromo to Shepard Smith, makes it onto the list one way or another -- with one obvious exception: Bill O'Reilly. Guess this year the FNC anchor was neither hot nor not hot, but just sort of ... luke warm.

Director Brian DePalma—whose new film, Redacted, opens this Friday—is not very happy about the way the movie has been treated in the months since he completed the project. The film tells the true story of an Iraqi girl who is raped and killed by American troops.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Mr. DePalma says, “I would expect it, because the film shows an aspect of our troops that has not been shown before. You're going to get a very negative reaction from the right wing. I was more surprised that the film was accepted to every film festival. That's never happened for one of my films."  read more »

Eliot Spitzer is making his second trip to Washington D.C. today, to explain his decision to back off his plan to allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses.

Spitzer will make the announcement flanked by New York’s Democratic congressional delegation, which almost uniformly opposes a related aspect of that driver’s license policy: the federal Real ID Act.

The long-term political question is going to be whether this will be the beginning of a second act for Spitzer, in which he finally regains control of a governing agenda that's been getting away from him since he took office. Short-term, though, the question will be whether this will really allow him to step away cleanly from the licensing issue at all. Certainly, his Republican opponents will do their best to see that the controversy lingers.

More after the jump.  read more »

Here's Republican strategist Bill O'Reilly's take on the Kelly for Mayor mayor boomlet that found expression in the Times and on the opinion page of the Daily News over the weekend:

“All the buzz about Ray Kelly shows how eager New Yorkers are to keep the city moving in the same direction. There is definite fear out there about handing the keys to City Hall back to a career politician. The past 16 years have been a wildly successful experiment for New Yorkers; they have shown that extraordinary individuals from outside the normal political process can do the job better."

Which I imagine is also a neat preview of the argument John Catsimatidis or whoever the main non-Democrat is going to be if Kelly doesn't run.  read more »

"Stephen Colbert" has become one of the most richly textured characters on television. Sadly, none of that makes I Am America (And So Can You!) worth reading.  read more »

Hillary Clinton may have gone after Fox pundit Bill O’Reilly, but it hasn't translated into an all-out ban on his show.

A Fox official just sent out word that Clinton's top aide, Howard Wolfson, is scheduled to appear on O’Reilly’s show tomorrow, discussing Daily Kos and Jet Blue’s sponsorship of the group’s annual meeting.

The email from Fox:

Programming note: Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's Communications Director Howard Wolfson will appear on The O’Reilly Factor tomorrow (Tuesday 8PM ET Fox News Channel) to discuss the daily kos/ yearly kos/jet blue sponsorship.

UPDATE: A reader contacted me to say there's another way to view Wolfson's scheduled appearance on the show. It is not a departure of Clinton's criticism of O'Reilly, but rather, a continuation of it, since Wolfson is going there to defend Daily Kos.  read more »

The issue of whether or not to ease restrictions on obtaining driver licenses got some press during the gubernatorial campaign, a little bit afterwards and even more today.

Immigration advocates, who say the tough measures unfairly turn state officials into INS agents, and critics who say that loosening the requirements would help terrorists, both point to remarks Eliot Spitzer and his spokesperson made during the campaign as the reason they've mobilized.

But sources close to Eliot Spitzer, as of yesterday, maintained that there are no plans at all to change the requirements for getting a license. Depending on your interpretation, either the governor is backing away from something he once intended to do, or the seal-the-borders group opposing an imagined measure is ginning up a scare -- and getting a bunch of attention -- for nothing.

UPDATE: Bill O'Reilly, a consultant who helped organize yesterday's press conference by the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License opposing any prospective looseing of license requirements, just sent me the following email:

Because Governor Spitzer can undo the safeguards by executive order, it could happen any day, and a recent op-ed by opponents of license reform in Gotham Gazette hinted that it might happen soon. The Coalition has no choice but to speak out now, before license security is compromised, because it's a lot easier to prevent something bad from happening in Albany than to try to get fixed after the damage is done.

-- Azi Paybarah

If you missed Bill O'Reilly's appearance on the Stephen Colbert Show last night, here's a snippet of the exchange towards the end.

BO I'm not a tough guy. This is all an act.

SC You're breaking my heart.

BO You know, I'm sensitive, I'm -

SC If you're an act, then what am I?

More of that surreal interview here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's Senator Marty Golden with some family members of people killed on September 11th at a press conference urging Governor Spitzer not to ease requirements for getting a driver license. The issue flared up briefly during the gubernatorial campaign, with Spitzer's spokesperson telling the AP that restricting access to licenses "does nothing to improve security." Critics said that the changes would help illegal immigrants and terrorists.

With Spitzer settling into office, immigrant advocates are now wondering not if but when he'll get around to making those changes.

When one speaker was asked during the press conference today what Spitzer said that he found objectionable, he was handed a piece of paper and read a quote Spitzer made to reporters from Asian media outlets back in June:

"Change the policy. It's that simple. DMV's policies could change and they should change. I don't believe and never believed that limiting access to a drivers license which as you rightly point out is necessary to; you need a license to move to go to a job to earn an income and saying to people that we will limit the opportunity seems to me to be the worst way, a backwards way to accomplish anything."

The guy who handed him the paper, incidentally, was Bill O'Reilly (pictured above in the fedora), a consultant hired to work on this issue by the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License. O'Reilly works for the firm that consulted for John Faso in the governor's race, and seems to be making good use here of the fruits of Faso's oppo tracking.

UPDATE: Spitzer's office just issued the following statement to the Times-Union:

"This is a complex issue which we are reviewing carefully. Before moving forward with any proposal we would do an exhaustive review all security related maters."

-- Azi Paybarah

At the Core Club launch party for 02138--the magazine dedicated to the unity of the Harvard experience--attendees fell neatly into separate categories. Magazine staffers walked around wearing square pins affixed to their lapels, with their names and "02138" engraved on them. Their flacks hovered, making sure that Bill O'Reilly was ushered in with the appropriate amount of warmth ("Bill!"). Members of the magazine's "Harvard 100"--a list mixing Harvard College dropouts with Harvard Business School grads with quickie Kennedy School students such as O'Reilly--seemed bemused at the attention, and at the two flat-screen televisions beaming their names, occupations, list numbers, and photographs in a constant loop. Tall, thin, beautiful women sipped white wine and didn't discuss where they'd gone to school. Men in dark suits said they were in "private equity." "All the girls here are 6 feet tall and dressed to kill!" one of them said.  read more »

• The Post finds the motherlode of real estate in Brooklyn's Prospect Lefferts Gardens. On the bright side, the neighborhood has no "available land for development." On the dark side, the golden $200,000-for-an-apartment price is fast on its way up. (New York Post)
• Hypocritically massive mansion of the day: Bill O'Reilly's gated Manhasset dreamland. He is, indeed, a man of the people. (Cryptome, via Gawker)
• Utility fees, insurance premiums and big bad taxes are forcing a hike in co-op maintenance fees. Another "killer" is heating cost, which means we should all follow the green example set yesterday by the Clinton Hill Apartments. (New York Post)
• Americans will spend an inappropriate $79 billion on their kitchens this year. But only the big spenders of "Manhattan's toniest ZIP codes" will get their very own Remains of the Day and/or Something's Gotta Give food space. (The New York Times)
• Why stop there? New Yorkers are plunking down $80,000 to get their fancy hands on Ron Arad aluminum rocking chairs. The nursery, of course, is also an It Room. (New York Post)
• The cost of New York City living is sprouting "unusually fast," raising our inflation to a 15-year record. Housing, which accounts for half--half!--of our cost of living, rose 5.6% since last year. Thank God for expensive kitchens and cradles. (The New York Times)
- Max Abelson
• 0 comments

You’ve probably seen this guy, Bill O’Reilly.  read more »

The Transom is surprised! Our progressive policies on child-rape are quite well known. So to have the Dayton Daily News lauded by retard-turned-pundit Bill O'Reilly for their sympathy to child-rapists is unhappymaking at best. What about our love of child-rape?

Mr. O'Reilly's complaint was that the News

"We never defended Judge Connor's decision to sentence a child molester to a year of house arrest and five years' probation," [Dayton Daily News editor Jeff] Bruce said Tuesday in a prepared statement. "What we said is that if the judge deserves to be removed from office, then due process should be followed—the same sort of due process that Bill O'Reilly relied upon when he was sued (for sexual harassment) and, ultimately, settled out of court."

O'Reilly was sued in 2004 by his former producer.

Fox News and Mr. O'Reilly, in their response, artfully set up Mr. Bruce with a fantastic defamation lawsuit when they called him "not an honest individual."

Radio host, political satirist and possible senate candidate Al Franken is having a fundraiser in Manhattan on March 9th for his Midwest Value Pac.

Now the only question is which gets a bigger laugh: jokes about Dick Cheney or Bill O'Reilly?

--Azi Paybarah

From Bill O'Reilly's syndicated column, Bush, Iran and the Press, January 12, 2006:

In a very under-reported story, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that Iran is resuming its uranium enrichment program, which is necessary to develop nuclear weaponry.

From Google News:

In O'Reilly's defense, 2,944 stories isn't that many.  read more »

—Matt Haber

In case, unlike Ryan Moses and me, you missed Fox's Bill O'Reilly interviewing the Governor last night, you missed some real comedy as Pataki was forced, against his will, into playing the voice of reason:

O'REILLY: The reason you don't have Jessica's Law here or tough mandatories against these people, is because of Sheldon Silver. It is because this guy, this assemblyman, is powerful enough to block it from even coming to a vote....Why haven't you been able to beat him? I mean you've got to bring it to the folks of New York. He does this because he's in the pocket of trial lawyers who don't want these tough minimums.

PATAKI: Well, I don't think this is trial lawyers. I just don't understand the basis for...

O'REILLY: Trust me on this. He works at a law firm. You know where he is.

PATAKI: That's different. We're trying to get workers comp reform, too, with the trial lawyers on the other side. I don't understand that at all.

O'REILLY: You think he's just a pure, evil SOB?

PATAKI: No. No, not at all.

O'REILLY: Then why is he blocking it?  read more »

PATAKI: I don't understand it. I think what he is trying to do is reflect the wishes of some of the people in his conference. And who they're protecting is beyond me.

Here's the first installment of a new Politicker feature: brief interviews via Instant Message, with whichever political notables are willing to participate. The interviews will be unedited, outside cleaning up obvious typos. New York State Republican Party executive director Ryan Moses was the first bold enough to try it. And given the week he's had, on this site and elsewhere, it only seemed fair:

benobserver: Tough week for the GOP?

[moses]: 12 months from election day I dont worry about one week [moses]: but agreed it hasnt been our best

benobserver: which did you enjoy more: Andrea Tantaros's article on Hillary or Bill O'Reilly's treatment of Shelly Silver last night?

[moses]: O'Reilly's although Andrea's a close second

benobserver: We haven't had a chance to talk to Weld about Decker yet. Is this going to bog down his campaign?

[moses]: I dont know enough about it but it seems to me like its just a couple people trying to make some noise to capitalize on his candidacy

benobserver: And, finally, a free association question: What springs to mind when I write the words benobserver: Tom Golisano?

[moses]: good question, we welcome all people to the GOP

benobserver: That's not an answer!

[moses]: it's my answer

benobserver: cool  read more »

[moses]: I will say that some in the party have said that just because you switch your party registation doesnt mean you become the standard bearer

At last, a chance to reintroduce the neglected Minarik Award!

Yesterday, Fox's Bill O'Reilly took a look at New York politics, with results so predictable they stray well across the border into parody:

Unresolved Problems Segment: Picking out bad politicians Guest: Author Steve Malagna (sic)

"Of all the politicians across America, does one stand out as the very worst? According to Steve Malanga of the conservative Manhattan Institute, that dubious distinction may belong to Sheldon Silver, Democratic speaker of the New York State Assembly. Malanga listed a few of Silver's shortcomings.

"He works for trial lawyer firms, so New York State probably has the worst environment for lawsuits in the country. We also have a plague of insurance fraud, but can't get tougher laws. This is a very far-left Democratic Party in New York, so part of the ideology is that you don't increase any penalties."

The Factor added that Sheldon Silver has actually blocked laws that would penalize sexual predators.  read more »

"He stopped legislation that would have tracked the most dangerous sex offenders with electronic devices, and that would have mandated that communities be notified of sex offenders. Everyone should know that Sheldon Silver is blocking legislation that would protect children and be tougher on sex offenders.

"That's why we call this man the worst politician in office today."

Andrea Mackris, the former associate producer for Fox News Channel who made headlines by suing talki  read more »

You can read about Al Sharpton's attack on the Post, the Bush Justice Department, and various others elsewhere, but one scene after his press conference this morning said a lot.

After the Rev wrapped up and marched into the News Corp. building to face Bill O'Reilly, his press secretary, Rachel Noerdlinger, waved Post reporter Stefan Friedman through the crowd. Then Post columnist Robert George helped her through security and into the building.  read more »

Which was all a reminder of that Wayne Barrett point about how much Al and the Post need each other. From actual business relationships -- like the campaign against Nielsen ratings -- to general street theater, Al and Rupert really are one of those great New York love stories.

Whatever the tabloids find under their trees Christmas morning, it can't possibly be as fun to unwra  read more »

When MSNBC host Keith Olbermann offered Fox News producer Andrea Mackris $99,000 to pay off her repo  read more »

This has been a bloody and unpleasant couple of weeks at the Fox News Channel.  read more »

Sean Hannity, the 42-year-old Fox News star, says he gets no special kick from hammering the lefties  read more »

"The whole suggestion that I'm not contrite is just bullshit," Jayson Blair said.Mr.  read more »

Wednesday, Feb.  read more »

My moment had arrived.  read more »

Joe Scarborough, a former Republican Congressman from Florida and ubiquitous spokesman for George W.  read more »

"I'm not really surprised," Bill O'Reilly said. It was early evening on April 21, and Mr.  read more »

"I'm not really surprised," Bill O'Reilly said. It was early evening on April 21, and Mr.  read more »

Wednesday, Dec. 18Just think: A year ago, Rosie O'Donnell still had a TV show.  read more »

Wednesday, Mar. 27 Hel- lo , Oscar!  read more »

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 6"We very much hope that David Letterman stays at CBS," Leslie Moonves said.  read more »

Your correspondent begins his diary this year in Jacksonville, Fla.  read more »

When I used to think about–as everyone does–who should play me in a movie, I'd think of a young  read more »

Wednesday 17thCNN's new star, Paula Zahn, after some lean years on the CBS morning show and Fox News  read more »

Wednesday, June 27The nation's news networks have themselves a hot potato with the Chandra Levy case  read more »

Wednesday, April 4Yes, that's your Bush. And guess what?  read more »

You've probably seen this guy, Bill O'Reilly.  read more »

You've probably seen this guy, Bill O'Reilly.  read more »