Bill O’Reilly Congratulates Senator Al Franken

After a meticulous and prolonged recount, Al Franken has prevailed and will be Minnesota’s new senator. Although the defeated incumbent, Norm Coleman, is still threatening legal action to retain his seat, most observers give him little chance of succeeding. His legal arguments wouldn’t even produce enough votes to alter the outcome if he prevailed on every one.

There are, however, some determined holdouts, including the editorial page of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal. The Journal itemized what it considers to be grievous errors on the part of the state Canvassing Board. But, while most of their complaints were unfounded, misconstrued, or outright false, it was spread throughout the rightist press by folks like Rush Limbaugh and Joe Scarborough, who characterized it as a news report rather than the opinion piece that it was.

Another Journal disciple is Fox News kingpin, Bill O’Reilly. O’Reilly referenced the Journal’s story in his talking points memo and concluded that…

“Evidence shows that MN Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is not honest enough to run a clean election.”

Of course there was no such evidence in the Journal piece or elsewhere. The attack on Ritchie’s honesty was O’Reilly’s own invention and a trademark of his brand of personal assault commentary. But, as usual, he saved his finest vitriol for Franken himself. It’s classic O’Reilly:

  • “You don’t get any lower than that man, Franken.”
    – So, Charles Manson would be a step up?
  • “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in American politics – is this man maybe becoming a senator.”
    – Really? Worse than Joe McCarthy? Or Watergate? Or Monica Lewinski?
  • “It’s personal with me. He’s lied about me. He’s slandered me.”
    – Ah…Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter. He’s told the truth about you.
  • “The fact that he was even competitive […] depresses me about America.”
    – So it’s America’s fault?

O’Reilly is fond of hyperbole, so it isn’t surprising that he would blast Franken as the lowest and the worst of whatever delusion in which he is presently immersed. However, he is also fond of bashing what he’d call the “blame America first crowd,” so it is a little surprising to see him throw that sucker punch at America – but only a little. It is very much like O’Reilly to be a major league hypocrite. And it is similarly like him to turn against anyone he perceives as opposing his dementia.

O’Reilly has given up on America. They opposed the war in Iraq. They favor universal healthcare. They elected Barack Obama president. And now they have put his nemesis in the United States Senate. So O’Reilly’s message to the nation as Al Franken prepares to take his seat is, “Screw you, America. You make me sad.”

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5 thoughts on “Bill O’Reilly Congratulates Senator Al Franken

  1. For the record, another Murdoch publication, the Weekly Standard, editorialized that:

    “Coleman’s odds of overtaking Franken’s 225 vote lead in an election contest are quite long.” [and] “Coleman would have to pull off something close to an inside straight in the election contest if he’s to win.”

    So even Murdoch won’t consistently stand by O’Reilly.

  2. “The fact that he was even competitive […] depresses me about America.” Now he knows how I feel about his ratings…

    • Don’t be sad b8ovin. Remember that his ratings are the result of Fox aggregating all of the conservative viewers on one network, while everybody else is distributed across the dial. There are still way more people who do not watch O’Reilly than do.

      Also, for perspective, SpongeBob SquarePants gets twice as many viewers as O’Reilly.

  3. Thank you Mark for assuaging my low opinion of the American public (which DID elect Obama afterall). But on the other hand, most of SpongeBob SquarePants’ audience doesn’t vote, while most of RockHead ShitForBrains’ audience does. And considering that “The Hills” probably has a bigger audience (whatever demographic)doesn’t exactly raise my opinion by any great degree. I’m thinking my final verdict will be based on sales figures for Coulter-geist’s new book.

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