Bill O'Reilly -Thoughts?

[August1991]

IMHO, he is knowledgeable about America - slightly right. He knows America.

Economics? He is often wrong.

World affairs? He has a typical American view..

 

[August1991]

If foreigners want to know what Americans think, O'Reilly is a good source.

[Scott75]

4 hours ago, August1991 said:

IMHO, he is knowledgeable about America - slightly right. He knows America.

Economics? He is often wrong.

World affairs? He has a typical American view..

 

I've never been a fan, but I imagine that some of his criticisms of the left were right.

[August1991]

1 hour ago, Scott75 said:

I've never been a fan, but I imagine that some of his criticisms of the left were right.

If I were a foreigner and wanted to know what Americans think, I would listen to O'Reilly. (I'd get rid of my Embassy except as a travel agency, lobbyist.)

If I were an American who wanted to know about the world, foreign affairs, finance, economics - O'Reilly is usually wrong.

[Scott75]

47 minutes ago, August1991 said:

If I were a foreigner and wanted to know what Americans think, I would listen to O'Reilly. (I'd get rid of my Embassy except as a travel agency, lobbyist.)

If I were an American who wanted to know about the world, foreign affairs, finance, economics - O'Reilly is usually wrong.

I don't think that's fair though- I think O'Reilly may represent some on the right, but few if any on the left.

[August1991]

On 2/21/2025 at 5:08 AM, Scott75 said:

I don't think that's fair though- I think O'Reilly may represent some on the right, but few if any on the left.

Disagree. O'Reilly is a good example of what many Americans think.

He is clueless about economics, world affairs. But if any foreign embassy wants to know what Americans think, O'Reilly is a good source.

[Scott75]

12 hours ago, August1991 said:

On 2/21/2025 at 4:08 AM, Scott75 said:

I don't think that's fair though- I think O'Reilly may represent some on the right, but few if any on the left.

Disagree. O'Reilly is a good example of what many Americans think.

I agree that he's a good example of what many Americans think. A 2008 Zogby poll found that he was the second most trusted news personality, after Rush Limbaugh, who has an even more conservative base than O'Reily, but I think it's good to remember that they still account for pretty small fractions of the total numbers:

**

Survey respondents named Rush Limbaugh (12.5%), Bill O’Reilly (10.1%) and Tom Brokaw  (8.5%) the most trusted names in news

**

Source:

https://www.imao.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/media_project_poll_info.pdf

I think  what's even more important is that people like O'Reily and Limbaugh are only representative of certain -type- of Americans. I think the following quote from O'Reily in 2006 says a lot:

**

"It's the traditionalists who really want to keep the country pretty much the way it is," O'Reilly said. "Against the secular progressives who want drastic change. … They control the media." 

**

Source:

https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2465303&page=1

I'd disagree with him that progressives control media, but I certainly agree with his view that he is against progressives, at least of the social type.

 

I think a poll done in 2009 provides further evidence that conservatives are his main base. It didn't give an option for progressives, which is a shame, because I have thought of myself as progressive. Moderate can mean many things, but in O'Reily's case, I doubt it includes many progressives. Here's the poll results:

**

A Pew Research February 2009 poll found that 66% of his television viewers identify themselves as conservative, 24% moderate, and 3% liberal.^[6]

**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_Bill_O'Reilly#cite_note-1

Edited February 23 by Scott75

[August1991]

On 2/23/2025 at 9:07 AM, Scott75 said:

I agree that he's a good example of what many Americans think.

Amazing post.

Such is our world - circa 2025.

[SpankyMcFarland]

A relative lent me this to read which I eventually got round to with great reluctance. I was surprised to find out how well-written and interesting it was and how graphically it described the awful events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. O’Reilly did have a co-author. 

 

Quote

https://www.google.ca/search?q=killing+the+rising+sun&sca_esv=dd7a44d3a29c5988&hl=en&sxsrf=AHTn8zq3U-8cb0JpTE_I0yfyCQBX73sP6A%3A1741987533116&source=hp&ei=zZ7UZ-W5A9-a0PEP9r3wuA4&iflsig=ACkRmUkAAAAAZ9Ss3UFUATGDgKoocbM-l3U_pL25hnr2&ved=0ahUKEwil1PGgwYqMAxVfDTQIHfYeHOcQ4dUDCBo&uact=5&oq=killing+the+rising+sun&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IhZraWxsaW5nIHRoZSByaXNpbmcgc3VuMgUQLhiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHkjDOFCXD1jtNHABeACQAQCYAYIBoAGcEaoBBTExLjExuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIXoALhEqgCCsICBxAjGCcY6gLCAgcQLhgnGOoCwgIEECMYJ8ICCxAAGIAEGJECGIoFwgIOEC4YgAQYkQIY1AIYigXCAgsQLhiABBjRAxjHAcICChAuGIAEGCcYigXCAgoQABiABBgUGIcCwgILEC4YgAQYxwEYrwHCAhEQLhiABBjHARiYBRiaBRivAcICCBAuGIAEGNQCwgILEC4YgAQYkQIYigWYAwjxBRIQNND2Pvt2kgcEMy4yMKAH37EC&sclient=gws-wiz

Some who contributed to this Wiki review were less impressed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_the_Rising_Sun

Edited March 14 by SpankyMcFarland

[August1991]

On 3/14/2025 at 5:28 PM, SpankyMcFarland said:

A relative lent me this to read which I eventually got round to with great reluctance. I was surprised to find out how well-written and interesting it was and how graphically it described the awful events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. O’Reilly did have a co-author.

.....

I have not read any of O'Reilly's books.

And true, he has a co-writer.

====

He strikes me as the American equivalent of English-Canada's Pierre Berton.

Years ago, in Quebec, we had Robert Rumilly.

Edited Sunday at 02:16 AM by August1991