Bill O'Reilly issued a surprising Talking Points segment Thursday night, where he urged conservative attendees at CPAC not to "bash" President Obama.
"There are two kinds of political attacks," O'Reilly said. "The personal, meant to diminish the human being and criticism of policy, meant to persuade people, the person in power is doing a bad job. Of course, there's nothing wrong with policy criticism or satire. That's a hallmark of America. But the personal stuff is cheap. And we're seeing more and more of it....
"There is no question that President Obama is having some big problems," he continued. "All the polls show that. So is he a legitimate political target. But if CPAC makes a weekend out of bashing Obama, it will be making a big mistake."
O'Reilly urged attendees to focus on policy solutions instead.
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Full Transcript below:
Now, here's the question. Does Obama bashing accomplish anything? "Talking Points" became disgusted when President Bush was attacked every two minutes by the left. I mean, it got to the point where good people simply had to walk away from that. Even if you think Mr. Bush was doing a bad job, the personal attacks on him were vicious and accomplished nothing.
So what's the difference with President Obama? Well, there are two kinds of political attacks. The personal, meant to diminish the human being and criticism of policy, meant to persuade people, the person in power is doing a bad job. Of course, there's nothing wrong with policy criticism or satire. That's a hallmark of America. But the personal stuff is cheap. And we're seeing more and more of it. There are times when people have to be called out. You may remember my interview with Congressman Barney Frank. But that's unusual. Most of the time, we and you can get your points across without being cruel.
"Talking Points" does not mean to lecture. We've made mistakes here as well. And there is no question that President Obama is having some big problems. All the polls show that. So is he a legitimate political target. But if CPAC makes a weekend out of bashing Obama, it will be making a big mistake. In order to regain power in America, conservatives must come up with solutions to complicated problems. And that's what they should be doing at the Washington convention. And that's "The Memo."