Tag: Tea Party

O’Reilly Flip-Flops on Falafel

April 6, 2011

 

I watched with much bemusement this evening as Bill O’Reilly defended the sleazy and seamy tactics employed by conservative activist James O’Keefe to catch NPR executive Ron Schiller with his pants down during a lunch with men he thought were representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood. O’Keefe had sent two operatives posing as members of the Islamic group to ostensibly discuss a donation to the news organization, but in reality, to ambush Schiller as he branded members of the Tea Party movement as racist, discussed pro-Israeli bias in the media, and opined that NPR would be better off without federal funding. With hidden cameras rolling during this meeting with the mendacious Muslim posers, these statements would cost Schiller and CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation) their jobs.

 

Now certainly these two hypocritical Schillers had it coming—their elitist and arrogant belief that everyone is beneath their enlightened consciousness and their laughable assertion that NPR doesn’t lean left made them ripe for a comeuppance, but exactly how low are “journalists” allowed to stoop to get a scoop? Should it not be a fundamental tenet of journalism, not to mention common decency, that people identify themselves honestly and not engage in deceptions?

 

O’Reilly doesn’t seem to think so. He blustered and pontificated that the ends justify the means and that the truth was paramount, and so lauded O’Keefe and his tactics. But it was only six years ago that O’Reilly himself was stung by a secret recording of a phone sex exchange he had with Fox News producer Andrea Mackris, who accused him of sexual harassment. The Fox News bloviator (to speak in his language), the married father of two children, who uses his bully pulpit to promote morality and Christian values, was caught on tape discussing crude sexual acts with Mackris, and in a classic malapropism from the Harvard grad (who never lets you forget it) discussed having Mackris rub his body with “that falafel thing.”

 

Apparently O’Reilly wasn’t so keen on clandestine recordings then as he went to great expense to smear Mackris and sue her for extortion. “This matter has caused enormous pain, but I had to protect my family, and I did,” O’Reilly explained after finally settling out of court by paying Mackris a sum reported in the millions. In O’Reilly’s world, true justice is conferred on those with the biggest checkbook.

Election Day Provides Forum for Americans to Display Their Stupidity…Again!

November 3, 2010

 

 

 

I should have known better. I really should have known better. I went to the polls yesterday buoyed by the thought that this might really be the day. Fed up with the entire political process, I had not voted in 26 years, my own form of protest to a rigged game orchestrated by a handful of insiders. But this election, I was convinced, would be different. Inspired by the Tea Party movement, the rallies in Washington, and widespread anger at town hall meetings across the country, I registered to vote and actually believed that this election would be the turning point. I thought this would be the moment where the American people would finally have the balls to pull a third-party lever and sweep out the entrenched life-long politicians who have run this county into the ground.

 

Alas, as is so often the case, I came away disappointed. Nothing has changed; the American people are as stupid as ever. We are, after all, talking about a country that made Friends and Cheers the most watched television shows for years on end, a country that actually pays money to go see Justin Bieber, a country that worships rapists like Kobe Bryant, and wife-beaters like Charlie Sheen and O.J., a country that goes along when “well-meaning” politicians ban cigarettes and trans fats.

 

Knowing all that, I suppose I should have suppressed my pie-in-the-sky dreams, and sat this one out as well, because in the end, my vote didn’t matter. I refused to tally a vote for a single Democrat or Republican, instead confining my research to, and voting for, the best candidate among the Independents, Libertarians, and other various contenders.

 

But I was a cry in the wilderness. In my state of California, with two races too close to call, EVERY SINGLE incumbent in the House was re-elected. 49-0…simply staggering.   This tally includes Maxine Waters, a life-long leech of the system who is now under investigation for ethics violations; Nancy Pelosi…enough said; Barbara Boxer, a career politician who has been at the helm for much of the state’s slide into bankruptcy. But it gets better…the tree-huggers of this wonderful state also put Jerry Brown back into the governor’s mansion…the same Jerry Brown who started draining state coffers as governor years ago by doling out untenable pensions to anyone who could fog a mirror. His track record of abysmal failure is astonishing, but he’s good enough for California. So much for the peasant uprising.

 

It was this way all across the country. In New York, of the 27 House races decided, 23 were won by incumbents. Charles Rangel, perhaps the most corrupt man in Congress, won with 80% of the vote. Both the state’s incumbent Senators won handily.

 

Other luminaries being sent back for more pork are the illustrious Harry Reid, the vile John McCain, and our favorite–the bloated, lisping pig from Massachusetts by the name of Barney Frank, who has run male prostitute rings out of his home, but who, more importantly, almost single-handedly caused the housing crash with his nefarious machinations at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

 

Two years ago, a fed-up American populace gave Republicans the heave-ho, but somehow they’ve become the saviors again, and in two more years, the cycle will repeat itself when the people realize the Republicans are still…well, Republicans. Nice work, America, now move along, Jersey Shore is about to come on.