O'Reilly Does Vermont!

Not a pretty sight.

That's why I never watch Bill O'Reilly's "O'Reilly Factor"  on Fox "News."

I'm embarrassed, frankly.  Like O'Reilly, I'm a grown-up Irish-Catholic kid from the New York of the 1950s-60s.

But you've got to catch the ambush he aired last night of Vermont House Judiciary Chairman Bill Lippert [in shirt & tie] in the Statehouse cafeteria by a Fox crew the other day.

Look for "Talking Points: The Truth About Vermont." 

Outstanding "team defense" by the members of the Vermont House and Senate who were in the Statehouse cafeteria at the time.

Said O'Reilly to the nation:

“Remember, in Vermont, Sen. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. U.S. Sen. Pat Leahy is very liberal and Gov. Jim Douglas, although a Republican, is a very weak leader.”

I'm sure Gov. Douglas and the entire Vermont Republican establishment appreciates your compliment.

Hey, Billy Boy, our Lite-Gov's a Republican, too, and he flies jets. Maybe you could mention him next time?  "Limp-wristed?"

And what about our only congressman?

Peter Welch is likely offended by your gross omission.

Do come back soon!

Makes us all even prouder we live here!

Comments

[Tom]

Here's a nifty idea: "Scottrade," an online brokerage house, is a heavy advertiser on O'Reilly. Give Kelly Doria a call and tell her you will NEVER use her company as long as it advertises with O'Reilly (314) 965-1555 x1231). Tell her you don't do business with companies that promote hate.

[Bob]

Can we ask (demand) that comcast not broadcast O'Reilly until he apologizes? Also, for this stunt, Bill-O was named "worst person in the world" again by Keith Oberman on MSNBC's Countdown javascript:msnvDwd('00','35fe435e-db57-44b7-b778-48837b3494c8','us','Source_Countdown','c1149','msnbc','','18665806','Worst Person: Bill O\u2018Reilly')

[vermonter]

Experts agree: O'Reilly is a pig.

[cresmer]

I love all the folks in the background telling the camera crew to get lost. Thanks for linking to this. I wouldn't have watched it otherwise.

[tom kom]

I see alot of fools think we are doing so great in vt, the highest taxes , the worst schools, we have welcome home sign for all pedophiles, Troopers fly over our homes and spy on us, state has judges that believe the rights of a serial pedophiles are more inportant than the safety of our kids, we give more money to farmers every year how about retraining the farmers so that they can make a living with out a hand out, we complain about the conidtion of the lake and reward the farmers that are the bigest cause of the condition...our beautiful state rape a kid get a house arrest..grow some pot go to prison for 10 years keep up the good work

[R.S.]

Why is Vermont one of only a few states in the country that has NOT adopted Jessica's Law??
Yeah, O'reilly is crude but let's think about what he is saying because it's true!
I have two beautiful children and it scares the crap out of me that we live in a state that does NOT care about our kids!!!
It seems as though our esteemed judges care more about the SLIMY child molesters than they do our kids! Once a pedophile ALWAYS a pedofile, these animals cannot be cured, they should be castrated and thrown in jail to rot for all eternity!!
Pedophiles beware, come near my kids and I will take the law into my own hands and you will wish you were never born, lord knows Montpelier won't do anything to help

[DV]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTnsgWyxjZM

I don't waste my money on cable TV, and I've watched Fox News a grand total of maybe 1 hour. I was stunned by Bill O'Reilly's performance. It struck me as a bizzare form of entertainment, certainly not news. It's garbage, and I wonder how it might be turned into compost.

[one_vermonter]

You can't compost waste like O’Reilly. It has to be put into dry cask storage and stored on the banks of the Connecticut River.

Nuclear Crap.

[one_vermonter]

You can't compost waste like O’Reilly. It has to be put into dry cask storage and stored on the banks of the Connecticut River.

Nuclear Crap.

[professor crabby ph.d.]

Yes thanks for linking to this—fox isn’t something I go out of my way to watch
That said, I was amazed how well spoken BOR was—I mean I’ve seen him a few times and normally he’s screaming over a guest and looks so stupid here he seems less like a troglodyte. I was also impressed by his reporter who did not get flustered and kept to his question. I was unimpressed and a bit embarrassed by the house frau in red who waved her arms around like some idiot –the reporter is asking a question in a polite respectful manner—telling him to go home is rude and looks low level to me. Lippert seemed ok to me. Isn’t he an out gay man? If so, I am surprised that BOR didn’t find a way to make a point of that—actually I was surprised that BOR supports trans rights! Did that surprise anyone besides me? That means Jimmy D is further to the right than BOR on that topic--

[Kool-Aid Drinker]

Granted, child predator issues are of great concern, and they should be. However, why is the same attention not paid to the millions of children living without health care, or living in poverty? Be nice to see O'Reilly quit referring to single-payer health care as "socialist medicine" and start examining the good this plan would do to help protect kids from diseases--other than child predators. Also, there are way too many kids living in abject poverty, but this is a blip on the radar to the screaming FOX banshee. Correct me if I'm wrong too, but wasn't O'Reilly himself harassing some young female intern (or employee) that worked for him? Might explain why he works so hard on this issue. Absolving some guilt maybe.

[anonymous]

Falafel and loofahs (at least that's what he called them) were major elements of his harassment of a young female staffer.

I believe his attention to this issue is more of a "doth protest too much" nature. By loudly and publicly pretending to want to protect the vulnerable from predators, he thinks he's giving himself cover. It's similar to Republican Mark Foley using his role on a committee on child pornography as cover for his games with young Congressional Pages.

Hypocrite, thy party is Republican.

[RS]

Hey Anonymous,

Remember these words? (I did not have sexual relations with that woman)
(Mary Jo Kopechne?)who was there to help her?
Need I go further..................
Get off your holy than thou attitude, the far left is just as bad as the far right, they're ALL liars and cheaters and would screw their own mother to get elected!
Hypocrite, thy party is Democrat as well.......

[vermonter]

Hear, hear to RS. Politicians are, by very definition, liars. Clinton lied just as much as Bush or anyone else does. Some are smoother at it than others, and some choose to lie about dumber things, and some get caught more often. But they all lie and tell us what they think we want to hear or what they can get away with saying. I would argue that they are politicians specifically because they are a particular type of accomplished pathological liars. Every single day, they go out of their way to seek out cameras and microphones so they can brazenly spew out statements that they know are half-truths, misleading, incomplete, or totally taken out of context. And if we are of a particular mind (liberal, conservative) to be receptive to the particular brand of lies that a particular brand of politician chooses to tell us, we actually vote for them! Yay! He told me what I want to hear! I'm voting for him! Republicans tell certain kinds of lies and Democrats tell different kinds of lies. But they're all lying. And, of course, we reward them by actually voting for them when they tell us the lies we want to hear, whether it's "poor people are lazy" (conservative lie) or "corporations are evil" (liberal lie). Left-wing "spin" is just as bad as a right-wing spin.

It'd be nice to say that Vermont is above this, but we're not. The dominant political party in the Legislature this session shamelessly engaged in a massive and shocking spin campaign (i.e., lying) to curry public support for their favored legislative priorities at the end of the session.

[act60]

I have to say I totally agree with Vermonter. This blog post is just as much of an attack as O'Reilly's. Peter, your response to O'Reilly is way off. Bernie is a socialist and Leahy is very liberal. I would also agree that Douglas is a weak leader but that is more of an opinion statement than a fact. By quoting O'Reilly you put yourself into the same camp as him. By quoting him you are trying to rev up the emotions of Vermonters. If you wanted to take the higher ground you would have pointed out that O'Reilly tied the passage of the transgendered protection bill to Jessica's Law. These are two totally different issues. O'Reilly was clearly tying them together to rev up his supporters. In essence you and O'Reilly are doing exactly the same thing.

[Jarred]

Out of curiosity, has anyone bothered to compare Jessica's Law with the legislation against sexual crimes the legislators chose to pass instead? O'Reilly chose to focus solely on the fact that the minimum mandatory sentence was only five years. But surely both laws cover more than minimum sentencing. How do they compare in all other areas?

Also, I find it interesting to note that while O'Reilly chose to focus on the low minimum sentencing, he neglected to mention that victim advocates are often opposed to minimum sentencing, too. Or would he simply claim they "don't really care" about the kids either, despite the fact that they're acting as their advocates in such cases?

[RH factor]

An even better reason to tax republicans more and more. Someone please call the IRS they are raping my daughter!

[Diane]

Bill Lippert is not at all concerned about anyone's 'rights' but his own and his ilk. Frankly, this is disgusting, and Jessica's Law would mandate appropriate sentencing. How can Lippert proclaim that he passed legislation protecting children? Lippert is another sad example of the twisted, narcisitic personality disorder types consumed by their own needs. Vermont has became a bastion for ultra-liberals, and the fundamental protection of the most vulnerable of the population is ignored. Instead, Lippert comes out (no pun) in favor of legislation that supports what many consider a deviant lifestyle. This is what is wrong with many; those, who are in the minority, constantly attempt to push their own agenda on the majority. Sickening, really. Vermont just ain't what it used to be. Sad. These people are not native, but transplants who are no better than flat-landers. Obviously, for all the bravado about Bill O'Reilly, it is obvious that very few of these contributors actually watch the show. Try it sometime.