O’Reilly , if you want the best right-wing fiction

by PETE MAZZACCARO

I was overwhelmed by one question after finishing conservative loudmouth Bill O’Reilly’s new book, Who’s Looking Out for You (Broadway Books, $24.95). After 212 pages I couldn’t figure it out… Why would publishers put out a book so completely bereft of focus, insight or even the occasional flare of style? For a man who hosts the most watched so-called news show on the Fox News Channel, “The O’Reilly Factor,” the lack of depth in Who’s Looking Out… is breathtaking.But then I don’t have cable, so I’m not exposed to what must be an equally breathtaking talk show.

Perhaps payola is the explanation. O’Reilly’s book hit number one on the New York Times best seller list for non-fiction, supplanting his much publicized nemesis, comedian and Democratic activist Al Franken’s Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Franken, whose book focuses on the untruths of the majority of conservative shills like O’Reilly, would chuckle about the book’s non-fiction classification.

Quick payoff is an easy explanation for a book like O’Reilly’s, which must be one of the most self-aggrandizing and senseless books not written by Dr. Phil. Clearly this is simply a celebrity vehicle.
However, O’Reilly should get some credit. He’s popular for a reason. Like the other non-intellectuals in his trade, Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, O’Reilly has deftly tapped into mainstream white angst and fashioned himself a champion of the populist cause, the cause of the disenfranchised majority who feel their position is being eroded by powers beyond their control.

As Norman Mailer recently pointed out in The New York Review of Books, not much has gone the white man’s way in the last 30 years. In the wake of the women’s movement and the dwindling presence of white sports heroes, Mailer argues the white man’s ego has been battered in a big way.

This is definitely true for working class white men. With the rise of the tech and knowledge industries and the exportation of blue color jobs to Asia and Latin America, the average white male is in a rough spot. In his book, O’Reilly wants to speak to these people, whom he likes to call “The Folks.” And no one is looking out for the folks anymore, O’Reilly claims.

He knows his audience believes this, and he attacks the working class demons. Hilary Clinton (a woman so powerful she is a gasp! presidential contender) is a favorite. O’Reilly on Hilary: “I have pounded this woman into pudding because she is definitely not looking out for you unless you are a member of one of her voting blocks” (page 65). Also worth demonizing: double-crossing (usually liberal) politicians (often personified by Jesse Jackson whom O’Reilly never tires of “investigating”), political correctness, intellectuals and the wealthy (an odd target for a mega-millionaire like O’Reilly).

O’Reilly attacks with large brush strokes these alleged enemies of “the folks.” Like most anti-intellectuals, he is not interested in the complexities of gray but rather driven by a nearly medieval sense of good and evil. And like any good non-thinker, he often compares life to battle. His tactic is to rabble-rouse and pass it off as thoughtful opinion
An example of O’Reilly’s invective: “Trust-fund babies and corporate weasels are not allowed to read this book. If you try, I will find out and come to your house … I will seize your copy of the book for disobeying the rules. What would a child of privilege need to waste time with my words? … This book is for everyday Americans who are fighting the good fight”(page 27).
Much of O’Reilly’s book contains similar arguments delivered in a folksy prose, without a shred of insight.

Take big government. O’Reilly’s staggering analytical skill concludes: “Those who run the federal government make a lot of promises but deliver very little, because the system is designed not to aid the individual. In the year 2001, the federal government spent nearly two trillion dollars. Who the hell can keep track of that much money? The answer is nobody” (page 34).
In the next paragraph, O’Reilly looks deeper: “Let’s be realistic here. The country simply cannot look out for you because a) there are 300 million “yous” in the U.S.A. and b) it basically doesn’t want to.” Stunning.

Now poor, un-analytical commentary is annoying. But what makes O’Reilly’s book particularly revolting is his consistent self-referential writing. He takes on the “elitist media” (who, by the way, are definitely not looking out for you) and others who disagree with him, often reprinting interviews with people he calls “pinheads.” A charge he usually makes while, out of the other-side of his mouth, he accuses others of having no real argument and engaging only in name-calling.

For example, during an argument on the O’Reilly Factor, excerpted in his book, O’Reilly “lets (Pittsburg Post-Gazette editorial page editor Michael) McGough have it right between his politically correct eyes.” McGough’s paper defended a TV show that filmed prison inmates playing rock music in jail.

O’Reilly had a woman on the show whose sister had been murdered and felt prisoners should not get face time on TV. McGough suggested O’Reilly had exploited the woman, so in the spirit of debate, this is what O’Reilly tells McGough on-air: “We gave this woman a voice. That’s something you and your stupid newspaper would never do, you pinhead” (page 99). Score one for the little guy!

When not attacking institutions he detests with vague language, or personally trashing guests foolish enough to appear on his show, O’Reilly likes to analyze his impact in the media. Rarely does he reflect on anything he has said or mistakes made. When he does have a regret, he is usually able to deflect blame to corporate media and its alleged allegiance to leftist causes.

For the real skinny on O’Reilly

If you’re looking for a really entertaining and profound work based on O’Reilly and his talk show, pick up The Oh Really ? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly (Seven Story Press, $8.95). Written, or rather reported by Peter Hart, of the media watchdog group FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting), The Oh Really? Factor painstakingly documents gross untruths and misrepresentations made by O’Reilly on his show. Often these gems are presented in a quote from O’Reilly taken from his talk show, followed by a paragraph titled Oh Really?
O’Reilly: “With all due respect, professor, you know and I know that drug addicts are not thrown into prison. It is the dope dealer who goes” (6/3/02)

Oh Really? That’s an odd claim. In California alone, the state’s Department of Corrections reported in April 2002 that 8.000 people had been admitted to prison for simple drug possession in 2001.

The point of Oh Really? Factor is that O’Reilly can hardly claim to be a newsman. He consistently and recklessly dismisses facts. Hart also argues that O’Reilly has no grounds to claim he’s not conservative, a point O’Reilly argues in Who’s Looking Out… O’Reilly says he’s independent. But would an independent say “I’ll submit to you that George W. Bush is the closest modern president to what the Founding Fathers had in Mind,” or, “I’m telling you that President Bush is doing what Jesus would have done.”

Hart has provided us with an invaluable service in The Oh Really? Factor. O’Reilly is not just a commentator ; he is, despite his “No Spin Zone” claims, an unrepentant spinner and Republican Shill. Now if he would only try to get his facts right…