The Mendacity "Factor"
Bill O'Reilly has quite a following among the far-right wing of the Republican Party. His program, amusingly called, "The Factor," is the highest rated cable "news" show in the 8 PM (eastern) time slot.
I had (admittedly, not too often) wondered how he had managed that. By way of an answer, I had assumed that a large segment of the American listening public was in tune with O'Reilly's agenda, that being, essentially, that everything the current occupant of the White House and his cronies say is true, and anyone who disagrees is a traitor. But as it has turned out, that was an undeserved put-down of the American people.
I had read Al Franken's book -- I forget the name -- in which he claimed to have broken the Factor's code; he could tell when O'Reilly was lying and when he wasn't -- if his mouth was moving he was lying. But I put Franken's claim down to petty envy. O'Reilly, by being nothing more than a bullying nincompoop had obtained more success than Franken had with his barbed, and sometimes barbarous wit.
I have to confess that until last evening my opinion of O'Reilly was formed on only one actual viewing of his performance. He was interviewing the Commissioner of the IRS, trying to get to the bottom of some issue that was enjoying its 15 minutes in the spotlight. O'Reilly had an opinion that differed from the Commissioner's, and the way he managed to "win" the ensuing debate bordered upon brilliance. He would pose a question to the Commish and then let him answer ... after a fashion. If the first five or six words sounded like the Commissioner was going to make a point negative to O'Reilly's position, the Factor would loudly interrupt, supported no doubt by the technicians who were in control of the volume mixer backstage. If the Commissioner was about to say something mealy-mouthed and indecisive, O'Reilly would let him talk and then hop in to repeat the man's mealiest and most meaningless words, just to make sure, don't you see, the audience had heard correctly. It was theater of the absurd at its best. Nothing made sense, and wasn't supposed to.
But last evening I watched The Factor again, lured by what the program trailers claimed was to be an interview with Bob Woodward in which O'Reilly would put the quietus to the distortions of Woodward's latest book, State of Denial. For those of you who have been camped out in the inaccessible reaches of the Blue Ridge for the past week, let me explain. Woodward, God forbid, had claimed that the current occupant of the White House and his accomplices had from the beginning been in a "state of denial" regarding the lack of progress of the war in Iraq. Instead of telling us the truth, the CO et al had been spinning the war as a success story. This, of course, was a theme that would be absolute anathema to O'Reilly and his highest-rated followers. The ads pimping the show had repeatedly used the word "spin" in referring to Woodward's book. That fit well with The Factor's subtitle, which is something like, "the no-spin place" -- the exact words elude me.
O'Reilly started out by asking Woodward, "What would be the headline of your book?" Woodward answered, without so much as a blink of an eye, "The title says it, the administration is in a state of denial." O'Reilly seemed to roll a bit with the answer, but took it like a man with a purpose. He switched to his main argument. After getting Woodward to admit that the war hasn't yet been lost -- we're still there fighting -- O'Reilly then claimed that there are people "out there" who want to see us lose, and [State of Denial] is aiding and abetting these (he didn't say, but meant) traitors.
And that was the worst possible tack O'Reilly could have taken. Throughout the remainder of the interview, Woodward pounded home the point that the American people do not like being lied to, finally asking O'Reilly himself to answer a question: "Why doesn't he [the current occupant] just tell us straight-out that things are going badly?" O'Reilly answered: "He can't do that," elaborating by explaining that the [CO] cannot seem to be defeatist, that he must, in essence, serve as a cheerleader for the war effort.
Woodward pounced. "If he would make a speech in which he repeated his 9/11 strength, that it's going to be rough but we will prevail, if he would tell the American people the truth [he didn't say, for a change, but should have] his ratings would soar." O'Reilly muttered an unintelligible reply, and then signed off to interview none other than Miss Ann Coulter, a part of the show I missed (seeing as how I had switched to a cartoon channel).
O'Reilly's interview with Woodward finally revealed to me that Al Franken got it right right. The secret of O'Reilly's success rests firmly upon his ability to lie, and the most egregious lie of all is the one bleated in his sub-title, "the no-spin zone" (maybe that's the right wording). He had, in defending the CO's repeated lies to the American people, said straight-out that the CO cannot tell the truth about the war, that he must "spin" the truth into a pep talk. This not only undercut O'Reilly's primary lie -- "no spin here" -- but cast the CO in a role so unpresidential we ought, out of justice to real presidents, ask for a refund of the salary we have been paying the current occupant for the past five-going-on-six years.
Oh, and yes, we ought also to change the rating scheme we've applied to O'Reilly's show. Make it the highest rated cable farce in the 8 PM (eastern) time slot.
I had (admittedly, not too often) wondered how he had managed that. By way of an answer, I had assumed that a large segment of the American listening public was in tune with O'Reilly's agenda, that being, essentially, that everything the current occupant of the White House and his cronies say is true, and anyone who disagrees is a traitor. But as it has turned out, that was an undeserved put-down of the American people.
I had read Al Franken's book -- I forget the name -- in which he claimed to have broken the Factor's code; he could tell when O'Reilly was lying and when he wasn't -- if his mouth was moving he was lying. But I put Franken's claim down to petty envy. O'Reilly, by being nothing more than a bullying nincompoop had obtained more success than Franken had with his barbed, and sometimes barbarous wit.
I have to confess that until last evening my opinion of O'Reilly was formed on only one actual viewing of his performance. He was interviewing the Commissioner of the IRS, trying to get to the bottom of some issue that was enjoying its 15 minutes in the spotlight. O'Reilly had an opinion that differed from the Commissioner's, and the way he managed to "win" the ensuing debate bordered upon brilliance. He would pose a question to the Commish and then let him answer ... after a fashion. If the first five or six words sounded like the Commissioner was going to make a point negative to O'Reilly's position, the Factor would loudly interrupt, supported no doubt by the technicians who were in control of the volume mixer backstage. If the Commissioner was about to say something mealy-mouthed and indecisive, O'Reilly would let him talk and then hop in to repeat the man's mealiest and most meaningless words, just to make sure, don't you see, the audience had heard correctly. It was theater of the absurd at its best. Nothing made sense, and wasn't supposed to.
But last evening I watched The Factor again, lured by what the program trailers claimed was to be an interview with Bob Woodward in which O'Reilly would put the quietus to the distortions of Woodward's latest book, State of Denial. For those of you who have been camped out in the inaccessible reaches of the Blue Ridge for the past week, let me explain. Woodward, God forbid, had claimed that the current occupant of the White House and his accomplices had from the beginning been in a "state of denial" regarding the lack of progress of the war in Iraq. Instead of telling us the truth, the CO et al had been spinning the war as a success story. This, of course, was a theme that would be absolute anathema to O'Reilly and his highest-rated followers. The ads pimping the show had repeatedly used the word "spin" in referring to Woodward's book. That fit well with The Factor's subtitle, which is something like, "the no-spin place" -- the exact words elude me.
O'Reilly started out by asking Woodward, "What would be the headline of your book?" Woodward answered, without so much as a blink of an eye, "The title says it, the administration is in a state of denial." O'Reilly seemed to roll a bit with the answer, but took it like a man with a purpose. He switched to his main argument. After getting Woodward to admit that the war hasn't yet been lost -- we're still there fighting -- O'Reilly then claimed that there are people "out there" who want to see us lose, and [State of Denial] is aiding and abetting these (he didn't say, but meant) traitors.
And that was the worst possible tack O'Reilly could have taken. Throughout the remainder of the interview, Woodward pounded home the point that the American people do not like being lied to, finally asking O'Reilly himself to answer a question: "Why doesn't he [the current occupant] just tell us straight-out that things are going badly?" O'Reilly answered: "He can't do that," elaborating by explaining that the [CO] cannot seem to be defeatist, that he must, in essence, serve as a cheerleader for the war effort.
Woodward pounced. "If he would make a speech in which he repeated his 9/11 strength, that it's going to be rough but we will prevail, if he would tell the American people the truth [he didn't say, for a change, but should have] his ratings would soar." O'Reilly muttered an unintelligible reply, and then signed off to interview none other than Miss Ann Coulter, a part of the show I missed (seeing as how I had switched to a cartoon channel).
O'Reilly's interview with Woodward finally revealed to me that Al Franken got it right right. The secret of O'Reilly's success rests firmly upon his ability to lie, and the most egregious lie of all is the one bleated in his sub-title, "the no-spin zone" (maybe that's the right wording). He had, in defending the CO's repeated lies to the American people, said straight-out that the CO cannot tell the truth about the war, that he must "spin" the truth into a pep talk. This not only undercut O'Reilly's primary lie -- "no spin here" -- but cast the CO in a role so unpresidential we ought, out of justice to real presidents, ask for a refund of the salary we have been paying the current occupant for the past five-going-on-six years.
Oh, and yes, we ought also to change the rating scheme we've applied to O'Reilly's show. Make it the highest rated cable farce in the 8 PM (eastern) time slot.
posted by Benedict S. at 9:30 AM
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