Bill O'Reilly - What A Joke

This was the year that satire has changed the politics forever. Let me say that again. Satire has changed the 2008 race and politics forever. I said it again because that's pretty much the title of my book - "How Satire Changed 2008 and Politics Forever" - that I should have finished on inaugural day 2009. Besides disqualifying me from moderating the next debate, it defines the foremost difference between this election and any other.

Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Andy Borowitz, David Letterman. They've all played their part with immense help from the candidates.

But no one of them is more amusing than Fox's top clown, Bill O'Reilly. Just hearing him say how objective he is. How he has no horse in this race. How it's those (other) conservative talkers are the liars. Funny stuff. But this week he dealt out a sketch that would have had Saturday Night Live writers green with absurdist jealousy, finding pure Factor comedy magic as at the same time Bill made sure that the microscopic, last iota of any credibility that might have hidden somewhere under his immense ego and incivility, surely and embarrassingly, left the building.

And he did it with side-splitting panache.

Abbott and Costello were sent spinning in their READ THE REST OF THE HILARITY RIGHT HERE

Award-winning TV writer, Steve Young, is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" (www.greatfailure.com) and blogs at the appropriately named steveyoungonpolitics.com

Comments

[rob112552]

09:36 PM on 10/06/2008

O'Reilly is particularly dangerous because he claims to be fair and balanced. It's a lie, of course. For the last month or so on his TV show he has been discussing with various guests like Dennis Miller and Dick Morris what McCain has to do to get elected. Hardly fair and balanced to me!

[4real]

07:14 PM on 10/06/2008

Bill O'reilly IS a joke...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0298mCqdBOw

[Barticus]

05:20 PM on 10/06/2008

"Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Andy Borowitz, David Letterman."

It appears that some vandal has inserted the name Andy Borowitz into a list of fine comedians.

[troika]

11:40 AM on 10/06/2008

FAUX NOISE channel will always be outraged at the mundane things. They have nothing else to go by in terms of real journalism. With Billo, Hannity, Greta and all the morning bunch chattering heads what do you expect?

[raker]

08:29 AM on 10/06/2008

Everything my conservative friends know about the world they learned from Bill O'Reilly. When we talk politics, they know nothing about most issues of the day, and when they speak they parrot O'Reilly's talking points. I insist that we can't talk politics if they continue to quote O'Reilly - I want to hear their ideas, not his. And that's when the conversation ends. That's all they've got. I think the problem isn't really O'Reilly, it's our conservative friends and neighbors in his vast audience.

[rabiabidabi]

06:45 PM on 10/06/2008

You are absolutely correct. We are mentally lazy and when some uptight and white loudmouth asserts, with clear authority, the "facts," we are completely informed and ready to go forth and with our testicles intact.

[Decipherer]

07:03 AM on 10/06/2008

Good post, and quite accurate. It's high time that the likes of Bill O'Reilly and others became the focus of our laughter and not pure, white-hot hatred. Somewhat like the way Mel Brooks has dealt with Hitler and the Nazis over the years.

Anyway, I would like to make a point that seems to have eluded many observers who have berated the bail-out bill that passed last week. People like O'Reilly, Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin, and many others have stated, wrongly, that it was larded-up with "pork," also known as "earmarks." Well, the fact of the matter is there were no earmarks in that bill, but rather a whole host of other legislation (energy, disaster funding, etc.) that had passed in one house or the other but was awaiting action before Congress was to adjourn, also last Friday.

Putting all these loose ends together made legislative sense, and in reality, made it all but impossible for the House to vote the measure down. You can debate the merits of that tactic, but the final bill was not "pork-laden" as people on the right and left have complained.

Let's make sure we have all the facts, or as many of them as possible, before drawing conclusions.