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May 30, 2005

O'Reilly Calls For Decapitation of Editors

Apparently, the "no-spin zone" is not a no-blood zone.

Anyone who has listened to the right wing for more than about 30 seconds knows and realizes that the fundamental principles of democracy have no place in today's conservative movement. Conservative leadership considers itself betrayed by the Senate because a 200+ year old parliamentary procedure that protects the rights of the minority was upheld; you can get arrested in this country for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts; teachers have been suspended and fired for allowing their students to simply voice objections to Bush's war. It doesn't take anything more than the power of observation to understand that today's right wing endorses a McCarthyesque approach to dissent. It's rare that anyone who watches the conservative stormtroopers can even be shocked anymore by some of the things they say and endorse.

Leave it to Faux News talking head and shameless Bush apologist Bill O'Reilly to achieve that shock.

On his May 17 radio program, Bill O'Reilly called for the decapitation of the Los Angeles Times' editorial page editor Michael Knisley. Knisley's "crime," as far as anyone can tell, was criticizing the treatment of the Guantanemo prisoners.

"They'll never get it until they grab Michael Kinsley out of his little house and they cut his head off." And maybe when the blade sinks in, he'll go, "Perhaps O'Reilly was right."

O'Reilly also suggested that it was naive to believe that fulfilling the obligations of democracy -- practicing the ideals we preach -- might win America good will in the corners of the world where we have little to none.

"I mean that's like saying, well, if we're nicer to the people who want to KILL US, then the other people who want to KILL US will like us more."

Here is an excerpt from George W. Bush's 2005 State of the Union address:

>"In the long term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder. If whole regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that terror will stalk America..."

Wonder if O'Reilly will soon be calling for Bush's decapitation? I'm assuming not. Consistency in position and rhetoric are so much more complicated than simple demogoguery and calls for violence against any American not following the prescribed conservative line. Conservatives are not famous for consistency; they are well-known for demogoguery -- so I wouldn't expect either consistency or an apology from O'Reilly any time soon.

Posted by Christopher on May 30, 2005 11:09 AM

Comments

Well, gee...I guess that makes him just like the working class guillotine operators of the French Revolution. Who would've thought the neoconjobs would take their cues from a movement whose very antithesis is neconservatism?

Posted by: Brent at May 31, 2005 02:01 PM