As I mentioned previously, I don't watch The O'Reilly Factor very often. On Friday though, I noticed in the tease for that night's episode that both Marco Rubio and Glenn Beck would be on. So I did my little back and forth trying to catch just those segments and avoid the usual grandiose bloviating that O'Reilly is famous for.
Much to his dismay, when O'Reilly asked Beck who had won Thursday's debate, Beck replied Rubio and Cruz. Beck pointed out once again that Trump is noticeably weak on policy questions. As O'Reilly pushed Beck to anoint Trump the presumptive nominee, Beck pushed back as he had with Hannity previously.
Beck pointed out that Trump simply isn't a conservative and never has been. He went further, calling Trump a "progressive" something O'Reilly dismissed out of hand. Beck countered by pointing out that progressives believe government is the answer to everything and the answers to big problems are even bigger government. He said that Trump agreed with that, noting that Trump's answers to the country's problems aren't the dysfunctional over-reaching government but rather the wrong people are running the government.
O'Reilly was beside himself, finally pointing out that Bernie Sanders was, in fact, a progressive. Beck stammered into the camera, agreeing, and then waited for the implications of what he just said to dawn on O'Reilly. Naturally it did not happen. Nothing's going to get through that arrogant self-assuredness.
Beck pointed out how he's been right about so many things that O'Reilly has dismissed him on, from the caliphate to Obama, etc. Naturally O'Reilly wasn't going to admit Beck was right even though any open-minded person should be able to see Trump for what he is.
As I've said before, a number of FOX's on-air talent are totally in the tank for Trump -- Greta, Eric Bolling, Hannity . . . they all fete Trump for their own reasons. I believe O'Reilly wants Trump to be the eventual candidate for a simple reason -- ratings.
He's admitted as much, talking about how Trump is ratings gold to hosts and O'Reilly is all about the ratings. He doesn't care who runs the country and what they do with it. He's insulated by his wealth. Whatever pitfalls and tragedies strike you and me, O'Reilly will have his millions and his comfy lifestyle and his place on television to tell us how smart he is. He spews this bullsh*t about how he's all about protecting the people, but he really doesn't care. If the causes that bring him notoriety also help folks, that's wonderful, even more good press. But at the end of the day, he only cares about himself.
I've said repeatedly that informed voters must take things with a grain of salt, understand who's telling you stuff and wonder about their motivations. Conservative pundits, bloggers, and tv hosts are no different. There's plenty of resources out there, check things out for yourself, don't trust any of them.
[aside] I had hoped Beck's website would have a clip of his appearance on The Factor Friday, but it doesn't at the moment. If he puts one on there, I'll embed it here.
Update:
Okay, here it is. It's not the entire segment, but you can get an idea of what Beck was saying and how O'Reilly was trying to stick up for Trump throughout:
Okay, here it is. It's not the entire segment, but you can get an idea of what Beck was saying and how O'Reilly was trying to stick up for Trump throughout:
Also, Beck had to back pedal about his claim that Trump had voted for Obama in that segment. He did so, but also offered a bit of illuminating background on why he believes Trump did, in fact, vote for Obama (from his Facebook posting):
"1. He was a registered democrat when he cast the vote. Trump had been a registered democrat for 7 years by the time the 2008 election came around.
2. This doesn’t guarantee that Trump voted for Obama of course. However, registered democrats in New York voted for Obama by a 91% to 8% margin. So, if Trump was in that 8%, he was quite the outlier.
3. He remained in the democratic party for almost another year after casting the vote.
4. In the decade leading up to the vote, he was a dedicated Democrat, with the only exception being his flirtation with the Independence (Reform) Party in 1999-2000. Incidentally, in this period, large parts of his platform were considerably to the left of Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama. In fact, I don’t believe even Bernie Sanders has ever proposed a wealth tax on what is in your bank account.
5. In the year leading up to the vote, he spoke favorably about Hillary Clinton, telling Wolf Blitzer “I think Hillary would do a good job." Obviously, it is theoretically possible for someone that thinks Hillary would be a good president to vote against Obama. But to paraphrase Donald: “Not a lot of Republican votes come out of blue state democrats that support Hillary Clinton.”
6. He was among the fiercest critics of the Bush administration. Yes, now it’s hard to believe that he would have voted for Obama, but in 2008 he had spent several years speaking just as negatively about Bush. He called him “a terrible president, perhaps the worst president in the history of this country.”
7. It’s not just that he called Bush a “disaster” many times. It’s why he called him a disaster: Iraq. He called the invasion of Iraq “one of the worst decisions ever made” saying it would have been a “wonderful thing” if he had been impeached because of the war. In fact, he was arguing for the war related impeachment of Bush just two weeks before he cast his presidential vote.
8. Given his opinion on Iraq, consider Trump’s available choices as he looked back: one candidate on record opposing the war, one candidate on record passionately supporting “one of the worst decisions ever made.” Why wouldn’t he vote for Obama?
9. Similarly, given his opinion on Iraq, consider Trump’s available choices as he looked forward: one candidate on record saying he would end the war, the other on record saying he would escalate it. Why wouldn’t he vote for Obama?
10. He continued to praise Obama after the election telling Larry King “Here's a man that not only got elected, I think he's doing a really good job.”
11. He gushed about Obama in his 2009 book: “His comments have led me to believe that he understands how the economy works on a comprehensive level. He has also surrounded himself with very competent people, and that’s the mark of a strong leader.”
12. He supported Obama’s first main policy push, the stimulus, saying it was “what we need” while praising Obama’s for “building infrastructure, building great projects, putting people to work in that sense.”
13. He supported Obama’s efforts to fix the banks including to potentially “nationalize” them. “I do agree with what they're doing with the banks. Whether they fund them or nationalize them, it doesn't matter.”
14. Looking back at this period, he described himself as Obama’s "biggest cheerleader."
15. Trump’s argument is that he raised money for McCain, so obviously he supported him. Is this really a standard Donald feels comfortable with? Does that mean he also supported John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer?
16. Immediately following the passage of Obamacare, while even moderate republicans coalesced around its repeal, Donald Trump made a maximum donation to the campaign of Harry Reid. Reid was one of the few vulnerable democrats able to hold on to power in the Tea Party wave election of 2010.
17. Speaking of the Tea Party wave, put yourself in that moment again. Hope for constitutional preferences was renewed. Hundreds of thousands of people were gathering all across the country and in Washington DC for Restoring Honor. Conservatives celebrated the biggest wave in a century. One month after that election, Donald Trump gave $50,000 to Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.
Do I believe Donald Trump voted for Barack Obama in 2008? Yes. Yes, I do."
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