-
Elijah Harper, R.I.P.
May 18, 2013 | 1 comment
-
That’s a Lot of Caca in Caracas
May 16, 2013 | 7 comments
-
Canadian PM: Keystone XL Pipeline “Absolutely Needs To Go Ahead.”
May 16, 2013 | 2 comments
-
Has Obama Done Sufficient Damage Control With The IRS?
May 15, 2013 | 8 comments
-
Liberals Surprisingly Re-Elected in British Columbia
May 15, 2013 | 1 comment
The Spectacle Blog
I just watched Bill O’Reilly’s interview with President Obama on the Superbowl pre-game show.
The only time O’Reilly really pressed Obama was on who he thought would win the Super Bowl. While O’Reilly did question Obama about Egypt and Obamacare, the President spun O’Reilly’s questions like Ben Roethlisberger spirals a football. Obama stayed on message and O’Reilly did not challenge Obama’s assertions such as when the President reiterated that “if you like your health care, you keep it.” Tell that to employees of McDonald’s.
While the interview was part of the Super Bowl pre-game show a more apt setting would have been before a softball game because O’Reilly most asked softball questions (i.e. What’s the worst part of your job? What has surprised you most about the job? How have you changed as a person?). Katie Couric or Matt Lauer could have just as easily asked those questions. Now I’m not looking for O’Reilly to yell in Obama’s face. I just wish he would have challenged Obama’s talking points more assertively.
I should note that O’Reilly mentioned at the end of the interview that he would be asking the President more questions which will air tomorrow night on The O’Reilly Factor. Perhaps he’ll be tougher in that segment but he certainly won’t have the audience that he did this afternoon. I think President Obama got what he wanted out of this interview.
View all comments (63) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/02/06/thoughts-on-obama-oreilly-inte
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Inside the Gates of Eden
- Her Unrequited Letter
- The Continuing Crisis
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
louisc| 2.6.11 @ 5:31PM
Obama is probably counting on O'Reilly incessantly replaying the interview as he always does: How many times did O'Reilly replay his appearance on The View?
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.6.11 @ 5:40PM
ORiely likes Obama because Obama hates the oil producers.
Oreily hates the oil producers because they earn too much profit. I quit watching him long ago.
Michael David Hotard | 2.6.11 @ 6:08PM
O'Reilly did not ask him any questions about about Obama and Salazar's still not allowing any permits to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.
EQV| 2.6.11 @ 5:40PM
Obama needs the Bubba vote for 2012 - and he just got it. O'Reilly proved once more to be a useful idiot.
How many times does Obama get asked tough questions - never. This was O'Reilly's chance to redeem himself, and he blew it. O'Reilly will go down in history as one of the many appeasers who allowed Obama to skate. Disgusting.
Note how Obama would not disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. And O'Reilly didn't catch that? Does he not have a brain in his head anymore? How could he not know that Obama insisted that the Brotherhood attend his speech in Cairo, and that he may well have met Brotherhood members in secret while there?
We are in for some horrible times in this country - and in the world.
arlan cohen, M.D.| 2.6.11 @ 8:08PM
Obama made no comment about the Muslim Brotherhood because their current estimated support is about 5-7% of the voting population, according to news sources, and he is relying on the Egyptians themselves to marginalize another faction that would, like Mubarak, impose severe restrictions on personal freedoms. He can't pretend to intrude or control Egyptian politics by what he says beyond very general statements; his overt condemnation of any one faction now could well cause reaction in favor of that faction by Egyptians who don't want to be told what to do by the US, and who recall our support of Mubarak.
Michael David Hotard | 2.6.11 @ 5:42PM
I did notice that when O'Reilly question the President on if he (the President) would not want the Islamic Brotherhood involved in the new Egyptian government, the President's responded with silence before O'Reily proceeded to the next question.
Jim Lane| 2.6.11 @ 6:13PM
Good grief. Must politics be 24/7? It's game day. Relax (if you are capable) and enjoy the game and its commercials
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 2.6.11 @ 8:15PM
Yes, it must be politics 24/7/365, or at least until we destroy the Democratic Party, and take this Country back from the brink of destruction, then maybe there will be time for football. Plus the destruction of the Democratic Party is my New Year's resolution too, and I wouldn't want to break that. Now this word you speak of, relax, no I am not capable of it yet, but maybe after my resolution is kept, then maybe I will be!!
wodiej| 2.7.11 @ 7:48AM
Well what are you doing on here if you are only interested in your football game?
Rogue Elephant| 2.6.11 @ 6:26PM
Glad I didn't waste my time watching it.
Jim Lame| 2.6.11 @ 6:43PM
Good grief. Must Obama be on TV 24/7? It's game day.
Kenny| 2.6.11 @ 7:51PM
Bill O'Reilly is a drip ... and he proved it again tonight.
arlan cohen, M.D.| 2.6.11 @ 8:03PM
To say that O'Reilly likes Obama is like saying that the Koch brothers like the EPA. At every turn, O'Reilly interrupted the president, responded with his own contrary opinion, as though they were equals, and went on to the next question without giving the president a chance to respond. O'Reilly apparently thinks that people watched the interview to hear O'Reilly's views,not the president's. They can hear O'Reilly's views on Fox; this interview was the mark of a profound narcissist. "How do you deal with people hating you?" "The majority of people oppose the health care bill?" A series of questions that make assumptions that are either false or in dispute, not journalism, advocacy. Does anyone with a brain feel that when a couple of years pass and people with kids are used to having them covered until they are 26 if they need it; used to no longer having to stay at jobs they hate in order to have health insurance; used to not worrying about becoming impoverished because they get sick with a pre existing illness that precluded health insurance; used to not having to pay the health costs of people who buy no insurance then get treated at an ER at public expense, because of the required purchase of insurance....that these people will want to go back to the way it was? Particularly after it becomes clear that the bill lowers the deficit while it lessens suffering?
O'Reilly was rude and self-promoting, the only excuse being that he had to compress a discussion many complex issues into 15 minutes.
arlan cohen, M.D.| 2.6.11 @ 8:11PM
Hey, Tex
I guess you don't know that Cohen is a Jewish name. You are truly a man of the world!
I guess if you want to use your brain to analyze political problems, in Texas, you become the enemy.
Patriot| 2.6.11 @ 10:22PM
Sorry, Doc, I haven't seen any evidence of you using your brain.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.7.11 @ 7:42AM
Arlan,
I know cohen is a Jewish name. Heh, I just wrote that to pith you off. .....and get you to spout off some more as you have below.
Now we know exactly who and what you are, ie: one of the "useful idiots" of the communists, (pardon the shorthand).
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 2.6.11 @ 8:32PM
Seriously, you cannot be a real Doctor, but if you really are one, I hope you have "great" malpractice insurance, because you're going to need it. If you're really as dumb as you sound to me, believing all the Administration's lies about this monstrosity, now Law, like lowering the deficit (Ha!!), you must screw things up all the time. You're the exact Doctor that inspires all those lawsuit/malpractice commercials you see on TV every night. Did you ever notice that when you walk into your waiting room, all your patients try not to make eye contact with you, they pretend to be talking on the phone, or pretend to be asleep? That's because nobody wants to be next!! Sorry Doc, but somebody had to tell you!!
arlan cohen, M.D.| 2.6.11 @ 9:09PM
That response is as dumb as the guy who called someone with a Jewish name Muhammed.
My medical practice is flourishing, without malpractice lawsuits. My office hours are always full, and have been for decades. Most of the lawsuits against doctors I see are well deserved; I know facts are irrelevant to people with your brain power, but check out the published studies on malpractice: only about 1/12 episodes of malpractice are sued on, and only half are paid on.
You know zero about me, but that doesn't keep you from having disparaging opinions. You express opinion and emotion entirely without any knowledge: typical of the portion of the electorate that speaks its thoughts and feelings without the thoughts passing through a functioning brain. I suspect you are a Palin fan, a Tea Party supporter, a Republican from birth.
I have treated many patients who have no insurance, and will always treat anyone who needs me, regardless of payment. I've also been trained at, and been a professor at medical schools which treat people who have no insurance, and seen what happens when people without insurance can't afford care, and don't get it, and get sicker or die; I've had patients who stay in dead end jobs because if they leave, they lose insurance; I've had patients who had to seek insurance for life threatening conditions, and can't get it because of that condition, and who get sicker or die because of it. And the funny part of this is, that the people who hate this bill don't seem to understand that they, and no one else, is paying for Emergency Care when the people who "choose" not to be insured have to be cared for.
Most doctors with a heart and a brain support this health care bill. Sorry,someone had to tell you this
Patriot| 2.6.11 @ 10:25PM
Most doctors and most Americans DON'T support ObamaCare. Repeal and defund the unconstitutional monstrosity--that's the ticket.
tallanh| 2.7.11 @ 5:24AM
Actually, more people either favor Obamacare as it is, or favor making adjustments to it, rather than repeal it...
From http://www.cbsnews.com/stories.....1893.shtml
"Ahead of a vote on repeal in the GOP-led House this week, strong opposition to the law stands at 30 percent, close to the lowest level registered in AP-GfK surveys dating to September 2009.
The nation is divided over the law, but the strength and intensity of the opposition appear diminished. The law expands coverage to more than 30 million uninsured, and would require, for the first time, that most people in the United States carry health insurance.
The poll finds that 40 percent of those surveyed said they support the law, while 41 percent oppose it. Just after the November congressional elections, opposition stood at 47 percent and support was 38 percent.
As for repeal, only about one in four say they want to do away with the law completely. Among Republicans support for repeal has dropped sharply, from 61 percent after the elections to 49 percent now."
Patty| 2.7.11 @ 11:04PM
Rasmussen is a much more reliable poll and it shows a great majority of Americans are against ObamaCare. Sorry.
ObamaCare's goin' down, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Mojo MD| 2.6.11 @ 9:23PM
Lullabys, your politics affects your mentation. You have NO IDEA what medicine is all about. Sadly your words are representative of what constitutes Republican discourse these days.
Patriot| 2.6.11 @ 10:26PM
Mentation? I thank the good Lord above you're NOT my doctor!
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.6.11 @ 8:08PM
Hey, Cohen muhammed
Go sit down.
Wesley Mouch| 2.6.11 @ 9:34PM
Hey Ken why don't post a link to your book again.
Todd Pollard| 2.6.11 @ 8:17PM
It make me almost want to throw up watching Orelly interveiw Obama. How can Orelly lower hisself to even interview this looser. Look at Obama, this guy is on drugs. Watch his eyes. You can see he is lieing every time he open his ugly black mouth. Notice how he sneers at Orelly you can see how much better he think he is
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 2.6.11 @ 8:40PM
There's a new rule here at American Spectator, no drinking and posting, you racist bastard!!
Patriot| 2.6.11 @ 10:28PM
The jerk's a troll. Go away loser Leftist.
bert| 2.6.11 @ 8:43PM
Not another brain dead Obama internet drone pretending to be Doctore seeling the latest pack of LIES. A real MD knows Obama care is meant to destroy private insurance and crush any independent MD pracrtices under a sea of new rules and regulation.
arlan cohen, M.D.| 2.6.11 @ 9:15PM
In 1965, Ronald Reagan gave his speech, in which he said that a pending bill would destroy organized medicine. He said the bill was "socialized medicine in disguise." He said "If this bill passes, someday, our children will look back to the time before the passage to remember the last time that men in America were free." The AMA opposed this bill.
That bill was Medicare. Medicare not only did not destroy organized medicine, or "regulate" medical practice, but it wound up being a financial windfall for the medical profession. Now you hear the same false rhetoric about the health care bill. It is as though no one remembers the past.
It pains me, as a doctor, to see patients who become sicker because they cannot afford insurance, or lose their insurance when the lose their jobs, and cannot get it if they have a pre existing condition. I don't dispute that if you have more money, you will be able to afford more things. But isn't basic medical care, enough to preserve life, something that we should all want for all of our fellow Americans? Is that a brain dead concept?
Mojo MD| 2.6.11 @ 9:30PM
As a doctor, what I am worried about is the FEMA concentration camps. And the death panels. Mandatory abortions & gay marriage probably. All of which are more likely than private insurance EVER being destroyed. What the hell kind of a goofball thinks private insurance is going to outlawed in the US. Put the bottle down.
arlan cohen, M.D.| 2.6.11 @ 9:42PM
Mandatory abortions? Are you nuts? Have you heard Obama, like Clinton,say that abortions should be safe, legal, and infrequent? Where in the current law is there any such provision?
Death Panels? Where? Because there is provision for giving advice about durable medical powers of attorney? I have seen great suffering and grief in families where a loved one is given endless end of life care, being on ventilators for weeks, all because the wishes of the sick person were never ascertained. How can the provision of information that is designed to let older patients (like me) make informed decisions while they can be called "death panels?"
You know, just because you can say the words doesn't make the opinion in those words true. To the extent you buy the propaganda without looking at the facts, you disable yourself.
Patriot| 2.6.11 @ 10:32PM
"Death Panels" is a metaphor for rationing of health care, which will surely happen like it already does in England and Canada. No thanks.
It's too late--ObamaCare is already dead in the water. You know it, too; that's why you're whining.
The refudiator MD| 2.7.11 @ 8:48PM
we have always had rationing. Currently it is by money & what your insurance will cover. After obamacare goes into effect you will have rationing based on money & coverage. The death panel stuff comes from the provision to pays us to discuss living wills which we already do, but for free.
Patty| 2.7.11 @ 11:07PM
I don't want a faceless, authoritarian government deciding who can live and who should die. That's also part of the Death Panel meme.
The government screws up everything and they have no business in healthcare.
The refudiator| 2.8.11 @ 6:50AM
too late. Decisions at CMS drive everything. CMS wants EMR, you get EMR. Medicare isn't covering a wart removal, neither is BCBS. You have government run healthcare now & is has been this way for a very long time.
Jeb| 2.8.11 @ 10:07PM
Wrong, libtard: It's never too late. You Commies will see.
Congressional defund/repeal and SCOTUS will save us from the horrors of ObamaCare.
Thank God for patriotic Republicans!
mortimer| 2.6.11 @ 11:20PM
I find it hard to understand how adults who believe things like "death panels" or glenn beck statements on healthcare in canada or europe, can function in a intelligent american society. people who watch and believe glenn beck's astonishing claims and ridiculous conspiracies should be studied by teams of sociologists and phychiatrist so curious americans can know what their mental malfunction is. is it simply very low IQ in combination with the ability to be frightened and led easily???? do most americans with pychological histories also follow glenn beck??? is no one curious about this phenomona??
Hillary| 2.6.11 @ 11:44PM
Why does Obama launch predator drones that mutilate and kill many so innocent Muslim women and children?
Can you explain Obama's cruelty?
mortimer| 2.7.11 @ 12:50AM
AIPAC..next question
Hillary| 2.7.11 @ 4:57AM
Are you saying Obama is a mind-numbed robot? You better adjust your tin-foil hat, the black helicopters are on the way.
mortimer| 2.6.11 @ 11:43PM
fox news viewers have a mean annual income of 20-50 thousand I would estimate (WEALTHY REPUBS/CONSERVE S ARE AWARE OF FOX NEWS CLAIMS BUT BEING SUCCESSFUL IMPLIES INTELLIGENCE AND CRITICAL THINKING AND A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE MECHANICS OF RETORIC AND PROPAGANDA THEY UNDERSTAND FOX NEWS IS GEARED TOWARDS THE MASSES WHO NEED TO BE CONVINCED TO SUPPORT POLICIES THAT BENEFIT THE WEALTHY ,LIKE HAVING PEOPLE WHO MAKE 20-50K ACTUALLY PROTEST THE LOWERING TAXES ON PEOPLE MAKING LESS THAN 250K AND SUPPORT TAX CUTS FOR PEOPLE MAKING 1MILLION+ AND OF COURSE PUSHING WARS FOR THE NEOCON AGENDA (READ ISRAEL)
mortimer| 2.6.11 @ 11:43PM
SORRY BOUT THE CAPS
Hillary| 2.6.11 @ 11:45PM
Caps are the least of your offenses, clown.
A Balrog of Morgoth| 2.6.11 @ 11:51PM
My God. It's full of...........Libtards
pq| 2.7.11 @ 12:56AM
Seriously, there are a lot of people on this site who need to own the fact that they are racist and homophobic.
pq| 2.7.11 @ 12:56AM
Seriously, there are a lot of people on this site who need to own the fact that they are racist and homophobic.
Hillary| 2.7.11 @ 4:59AM
Like you? Mortimer for sure. The troll's a real Nazi.
tallanh| 2.7.11 @ 5:35AM
How would Americans feel if the government stood by doing nothing while 9/11-style attacks were repeated every 2 months? The Institute of Medicine (a branch of the National Academy of Sciences) has found that at least 18,000 Americans die needlessly every year because of the system of healthcare delivery that was in place prior to Obamacare. That is like 9/11 every 2 months. ( Actually, it is worse, since updated figures indicate that the annual death toll is more like 25,000. 9/11 every 6 weeks.) Despite their hypocritical rants, the Republicans have supported death panels for decades. Every time an insurance company denies coverage because of a pre-existing condition, that is a death panel at work. Every time an insurance company produces some lame technical excuse to drop someone from their roles, or to deny a claim, the people who make those decisions are operating potentially as a death panel. Back when Clinton was making his attempt at reform, Newt Gingrich was asked by a Democratic House member what the Republicans would offer in terms of ideas for reform. Newt's answer was that there would be no ideas offered. Instead, Republicans would "defeat" all reform efforts and retake power in the next election. In the intervening years when Republicans were in power, reform was not even whispered as a consideration. Today, Republicans are up to their same old tricks. People who could be alive today are dead because of this attitude, and the only ones who have benefited are the insurance company executives with their well-padded bank accounts, and their lackeys in the Republican Party.
Patty| 2.7.11 @ 11:11PM
The profit margin in the health insurance industry ranks far below most other American industries.
That's just your first lie which puts the lie to the rest of the BS you spewed. Save your phony scare tactics; they pale in comparison to the real horrors of ObamaCare.
wodiej| 2.7.11 @ 8:02AM
I used to like to watch O'Reilly's show sometimes but his arrogance is stifling. Since O'Reilly didn't really ask tough questions, the interview just seemed like something for O'Reilly to brag about.
Instead of giving away healthcare and all the welfare tax credits from the IRS, why don't we really do something to help the impoverished? The only thing that really works and that is self-sufficiency.
People can debate all day long about helping those in need. But many of those "needy" people just need more accountability to take care of themselves and less handouts.
The war on poverty is the longest war in history. The majority of welfare recipients are capable of working but won't. Why? Because they get hundreds of dollars each month to live on and thousands more each spring in welfare refunds from the IRS.
I ask you-how many people on welfare are on the road to success?
If you want to help someone, then encourage them and show them how to help themselves. If you enable them to continue their dependency, you are part of the problem-not part of the solution.
Granted there are many things we need to do in this country to get it back on the right path. But increasing government intervention is not one of them.
mortimer| 2.7.11 @ 5:53PM
I always found it obsurd that some people believe somehow the citizens on welfare are "getting over" or scamming the system as if being on welfare could be considered a "good deal" by anyone. I've always believed that republicans are the least intelligent citizens, I used to wonder if they believed the ludicrous statements they made or they just didnt like blacks/hispanics ect, but I believe they are just high functioning morons that are easily led and repeat anything their are told so long as they admire the person who told them, Is it just me or do you watch glenn beck and just marvel at the neccasary ignorance his fans have to posess for a man/show like beck to exist??
Patty| 2.7.11 @ 11:15PM
If Obama is so intelligent why is he continuing George Bush's policy of launching predator drones at innocent Muslim women and children?
Doesn't sound too smart to me. Neither do you, doofus.
JimH| 2.7.11 @ 9:01AM
Didn't see the interview. I did hear the one deny being a redistributionist. O'Reilly either forgot or chose not to mention BO's spread it around comment during the campaign.
A Balrog of Morgoth| 2.7.11 @ 9:56AM
Has a new batch of Libtards just hatched or something?
Patty| 2.7.11 @ 11:15PM
Their stench must have given them away.
mortimer| 2.7.11 @ 11:38PM
you guys a basically morons right?
Patty| 2.8.11 @ 1:12AM
You guys a basically stenchy smell right?
mortimer| 2.8.11 @ 1:59AM
PATTY lets hear your case against universal healthcare,I am really curious
Jeb| 2.8.11 @ 10:09PM
Patty doesn't give a fig what an asshole like you thinks about our healthcare. Go away clown.
Lin| 2.8.11 @ 2:08PM
I thought O'Reilly was rude and interupted the President before he could barely answer the question. If O'Reilly didn't like the sound of the answer, he would interupt. I think President Obama handled himself very well. I think I would have walked out! I feel President Obama is trying to do the best for this country. We may not agree with all the policies, but the American people never agree completely with any President. But he was elected by the American people and deserves to be treated respectfully. Just my opinion.
Jeb| 2.8.11 @ 10:13PM
O'Reilly interrupted so he could get a word in edgewise because Obama wouldn't stop talking and would use all the time up.
Obama deserves the same amount of respect he gives his adversaries--none!
Kim| 2.9.11 @ 1:11PM
Funny how the liberals on here use fact and the conservatives just call names and get mad and offensive. They throw words around like "death panels" like mindless drones - repeating the phrases they have heard from the angry talking heads at Fox News. You people would be well advised to actually educate yourselves and research these political discussions before commenting. But that would be reasonable - and you fantatics are anything but reasonable. Odd that most of you claim to be Christians. Ninety percent of the comments from these people that supposedly follow the teachings of Christ - pervert his word and wishes on a daily basis. Sad, really.