O'Reilly calls for arrest of Air America staff
Talkshow host Bill O'Reilly says FBI should arrest the "clowns" at Air America Radio for being traitors, according to Media Matters.
From the June 20 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: And when he [Durbin] went out there, his intent was to whip up the American public against the Bush detainee policy. That's what his intent was. His intent wasn't to undermine the war effort, because he never even thought about it. He never even thought about it. But by not thinking about it, he made an egregious mistake because you must know the difference between dissent from the Iraq war and the war on terror and undermining it. And any American that undermines that war, with our soldiers in the field, or undermines the war on terror, with 3,000 dead on 9-11, is a traitor.
Everybody got it? Dissent, fine; undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they're undermining everything and they don't care, couldn't care less.
If you didn't know, you'd think some fascist state-sponsored media were employing O'Reilly, wouldn't you?
Oh'really?
Posted by: mudkitty | June 22, 2005 at 07:32 PM
Fox isn't a fascist state-sponsored media organization?
Who knew?
Posted by: Hippodameia | June 22, 2005 at 07:46 PM
Can you imagine the shitstorm that would occur if the FBI actually went and arrested Al Franken for, I dunno, sedition?
I kinda hope they listen to him.
Posted by: Steve Brady | June 22, 2005 at 08:11 PM
Someone points out that Bush could be arrested under international law, so Bill threatens the left with arrest.
Boy! Who didn't see that coming from a mile off?
If they'd claimed that Bush was at risk of heart disease, Bill would discuss Micahel Moore and how FAT he is.
We already saw what happens when you attack his lack of a military record.
Conservative playbook bullet points:
1. Play the man, not the ball.
2. Attack your opponent wherever YOU are weakest.
3. If you can't get your attack out before theirs, make sure yours is louder and goes longer.
4. They have an 'agenda'. We have 'principles'.
5. "Family Values, Traditional Values and Moral Issues". These mean nothing, so use them as often as you can. They're like talking points for idiots.
Bill is using tactics 2 and 3.
Posted by: Railroad Stone | June 22, 2005 at 09:13 PM
His intent wasn't to undermine the war effort, because he never even thought about it. He never even thought about it.
Oh hell, now O'Reilly's telepathetic. If you see me in the grocery store, I'm stocking up on aluminum foil to make hats.
Posted by: pansauce | June 22, 2005 at 09:38 PM
Is there a way to undermine this criminal war? I wish I knew what it was.
Posted by: C. Schuyler | June 22, 2005 at 10:24 PM
This is the best commentary on the war that I have read to date:
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/06/honest-conversation.html
Posted by: Flint | June 22, 2005 at 10:51 PM
1. Play the man, not the ball.
Nothing much to add, just wanted to give props for that turn of phrase in a political context, being a big hoops fan myself...
However, I will say that listening to AirAm today, I heard the amusing tidbit about William O'Reilly and gay marriage. Namely that on a recent show he just made some shit up out of thin air apparently about a non-existent Swedish study that allegedly showed the "collapse of marriage" in Sweden since gay marriage...
How does anyone ever take anything this guy seriously! Hell, it's even getting hard to parody him...
mojo sends
Posted by: vanmojo | June 22, 2005 at 11:23 PM
Railroad Stone...
Good post of the play book but he actually is invoking another basic play...
6. If Fearless Leader's conduct is ever called into question, wrap yourself in the flag and scream, how dare you attack our brave men and women in uniform."
7. If your opponent doesn't back-up and apologize, immeadiatly break into the loudest rendition of "freedom isn't free" to drown out his explainations.
"Freedom isn't free
It costs folks like you and me
And if we don't all chip in
We'll never pay that bill
Freedom isn't free
No, there's a hefty fuckin' fee.
And if you don't throw in your buck 'o five
Who will?"
GOP user warning... what ever you do don't stop singing loudly because they might ask you if you have signed up to go fight the war you insisted on having. This is a good time to exit the room or at least get other supporters to sing it in rounds for as long as possible.
Posted by: Flint | June 23, 2005 at 12:59 AM
Railroad Stone...
Good post of the play book but he actually is invoking another basic play...
6. If Fearless Leader's conduct is ever called into question, wrap yourself in the flag and scream, how dare you attack our brave men and women in uniform."
7. If your opponent doesn't back-up and apologize, immediately break into the loudest rendition of "freedom isn't free" to drown out his explanations.
"Freedom isn't free
It costs folks like you and me
And if we don't all chip in
We'll never pay that bill
Freedom isn't free
No, there's a hefty fuckin' fee.
And if you don't throw in your buck 'o five
Who will?"
GOP user warning!
What ever you do don't stop singing loudly because they might ask you if you have signed up to go fight the war you insisted on having. This is a good time to exit the room or at least get other supporters to sing it in rounds for as long as possible.
Posted by: Flint | June 23, 2005 at 01:01 AM
Texas State Television Strikes Again!
Nothing like an ideological purge every once in a while. And this is the kind of stuff we want replacing PBS?
Posted by: Desert Island Boy | June 23, 2005 at 01:07 AM
There IS a way to undermine the war. Encourage parents to keep their kids away from army recruiters. It is simple. The strike is already on, informally. Recruitment levels are plummetting. And they are going to get worse. Pretty simple, eh?
If you starve the beast, it dies. This is the simplest tactic yet, and the beauty of it is, it is being self-organized, as the realization has sunk in household by household that the war was hatched by a liar and is being continued out of the elite's vanity and paniC.
So, here's how to undermine this lunatic war. Don't go. A simple message. A stake through their vampiric hearts. Now, arrest me.
Posted by: roger gathman | June 23, 2005 at 01:44 AM
Not that he deserves a serious response, of course, but the illiteracy surrounding the use of "treason" drives me nuts. It's black letter law. Even if you could prove the Air America gang had "passed from the realm of thought into the realm of action" (Haupt v. United States, 330 U.S. 631) it still wouldn't amount to treason, because we've never declared war (and in the case of the War on Terra, we've never recognized a de facto political entity, same as with the Confederacy).
Posted by: doghouse riley | June 23, 2005 at 02:30 AM
It is amazing, isn't it? Has there ever been such a dedicated volunteer propaganda machine for the Party like this before?
Posted by: Katherine | June 23, 2005 at 04:53 AM
Volunteers as in "do you want to get blowned up or do you want to type non-sensical stream of conciousness rants from the safety of your mom's basement?" volunteers.
Patriots of the great nation of cowardice and moral retardation.
Posted by: R. MIldred | June 23, 2005 at 07:00 AM
Don't you get the death penalty for treason?
Posted by: mudkitty | June 23, 2005 at 09:36 AM
Yes, you do get the death penalty for Treason. In fact, it is the only crime so deliniated in the body of the U.S. Constitution.
mojo sends
Posted by: vanmojo | June 23, 2005 at 09:38 AM
For the record, vanmojo, there is no death penalty for treason mentioned in Art. III, sec. 3.
"The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted."
Whatever that means.
Say, in all the criticism of Fox News, has anyone, even the looniest lefty, ever suggested that anyone there ever be prosecuted on criminal charges? Discounting the loony left, has any paid on-air personality ever criticized Fox by calling for the incarceration of its staff?
Posted by: Grumpy | June 23, 2005 at 10:04 AM
So what the hell does it mean? "Forefeture during the life of the person attainted?" Language was different during the time of the writing of the constitution.
Anyway, I've always said that republcans want me dead. Ie. The platform of the republican party states that abortion is murder. Having had 2 abortions, that makes me a double murderer in their eyes. And what do murderers get? The death penalty!
Posted by: mudkitty | June 23, 2005 at 12:05 PM
You only get the death penalty for treason if your treason leads to death these days.
That said, treason isn't really a particularly vital charge anymore anyway.
Posted by: Eli (creepandblink) | June 23, 2005 at 12:32 PM
In fact, there have been been fewer than fifty cases of treason as delineated in the constitution in the nation's history, including some from the Whiskey Rebellion, Fries's Rebellion, the Dorr Rebellion, John Brown's raid, and resistance to application of the Fugitive Slave Law.
Mudkitty: What that means is that your kids or other heirs can't be punished for your treason, basically - it seems basic now but was a genuine concern at the time.
Posted by: Eli (creepandblink) | June 23, 2005 at 12:44 PM
"Corruption of Blood" means that your children cannot be held accountable for your crimes. The other stuff just means you are only accountable up until the end of your natural life. I have something equivalent to a law degree by virtue of having read hundreds of mystery novels. I think Robert K. Tannenbaum has a novel entitled "Corruption of Blood".
Posted by: Yorn | June 23, 2005 at 12:49 PM
Wow! That's something I never knew. I love learning.
Posted by: mudkitty | June 23, 2005 at 09:56 PM