Why watch O’Reilly?

On a rough estimate I would say that out of 100 minutes of the Bill O’Reilly program, seven minutes are worthwhile, 68 minutes are worthless, and 25 minutes are infuriating.

Conclusion: spending one’s time watching O’Reilly is a big net negative.

- end of initial entry -

July 21

Mark P. writes:

As infuriating as it is to watch Fox News as they step over conservative dollars to pick up right-liberal pennies, I still cannot forget the great service they performed in largely destroying the credibility of the liberal media. The entire nation used to sit watching Walter Cronkite, CNN and others, believing that what they were watching was unvarnished truth. Then Fox came along and tapped into the conservative sentiment of a nation, and ripped half the population away from the Cathedral. For that, people owe Fox a great debt of gratitude.

Dan T. writes:

I wait for another shoe to drop on this topic, often checking for a “MORE … ” link at the bottom of the paragraph because, admittedly, I watch at least some of O’Reilly most evenings, and as a constant reader of amnation.com I was hoping you would elaborate. Bloviation (a word I learned in the ’60s as a teenager from Tony Randall, of all people) is certainly the word of the day everyday, the conversations pedestrian, the host often impatient and overbearing, and the goofiness over the top. However, I almost always find his opening remarks actually carry a great deal of merit and common sense and that his self-described “traditionalism” is crudely but consistently employed in his arguments in those exchanges where it applies. There’s a well-populated bandwagon of detractors out there whose quibbles I understand, but on balance I’d say, for what’s offered up as political conversion on television these days, his substance is meager but his compass is usually true.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 20, 2012 07:54 PM | Send