“People love train wrecks. People want us to do more of it because it’s good for the ratings,” said host Barbara Walters during an Oct. 18 segment of "The View" (1997-Present).
The comment was in response to the Oct. 14 fireworks where co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off the stage following conservative Fox host Bill O’Reilly’s comment that “Muslims killed us on 9/11.”
The brief controversial segment made entertainment headlines and like most other infamous “train wrecks” of the past, it was widely viewed on www.youtube.com.
I did not have to search very long for it.
As the saying goes, “Controversy sells” whether O’Reilly is right or not. From a personal standpoint, I don’t agree with him, despite his on-air apology, if he offended anyone to the audience, Walters, and hosts Sherri Shepherd and Elizabeth Hasselbeck seconds after Goldberg and Behar walked off. O’Reilly clarified that when he said “Muslims attacked us on 9/11” he didn’t imply “all” Muslims.
Regardless, I still take a majority of what O’Reilly and other right-wing conservative pundits say today that include Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh with a light grain of salt.
“He (Bill O’Reilly) loves this,” Walters said. “He loves to pull your chain. He loves to get you angry. This is just what he wanted.”
Sure, sometimes these conservative commentators are correct. I do, however, find that some of what they say is too far over the top and uncalled for.
I may not care the least for the job President Obama is doing so far for the country, but I am not going to call his policies “Jackassian” as Rush Limbaugh has said in recent weeks on his radio show. He is still our president.
First Lady Michelle Obama is a beautiful woman with a lot of class. To this day I still don’t understand why conservative talk show host Tammy Bruce said in reference to her during a March 23, 2009, radio segment that “We got trash in the White House.”
I am starting to think some of them are just as bad, if not worse, as a majority of today’s liberal Hollywood elite who instead of doing what they are paid to do and entertain audiences, they put their foot in their mouths once too often and offer personal opinions on serious matters when half the time, they may not even know what they are talking about. They just antagonize opposing guests and callers to get them upset and get audiences wanting more.
What’s unfortunate is, as Walters said on the Oct. 18 segment, we do live in a country right now “that’s full of rage” and that’s from both sides of the political spectrum.
We don’t know how to have serious discussions with one another “without fury, without rage, without screaming, without obscenities, without walking off.”
The fact is if none of this went on with no hope of seeing any fireworks on live television or the radio, no one would watch and listen.
On-air “train wrecks” always generate ratings and for less than 15 minutes, the O’Reilly/Behar-Goldberg walk-off was a much talked about Internet sensation.
©10/23/10
The comment was in response to the Oct. 14 fireworks where co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off the stage following conservative Fox host Bill O’Reilly’s comment that “Muslims killed us on 9/11.”
The brief controversial segment made entertainment headlines and like most other infamous “train wrecks” of the past, it was widely viewed on www.youtube.com.
I admit it. I am a sucker for a good “train wreck.” The View’s O’Reilly controversy is one of a series of past verbal smack downs I have enjoyed watching.No sooner after viewing that segment on YouTube I searched for the Fox host confronting Democratic congressman Barney Frank on the financial crisis on "The O’Reilly Factor" (1996-2017).
I did not have to search very long for it.
As the saying goes, “Controversy sells” whether O’Reilly is right or not. From a personal standpoint, I don’t agree with him, despite his on-air apology, if he offended anyone to the audience, Walters, and hosts Sherri Shepherd and Elizabeth Hasselbeck seconds after Goldberg and Behar walked off. O’Reilly clarified that when he said “Muslims attacked us on 9/11” he didn’t imply “all” Muslims.
Regardless, I still take a majority of what O’Reilly and other right-wing conservative pundits say today that include Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh with a light grain of salt.
“He (Bill O’Reilly) loves this,” Walters said. “He loves to pull your chain. He loves to get you angry. This is just what he wanted.”
Sure, sometimes these conservative commentators are correct. I do, however, find that some of what they say is too far over the top and uncalled for.
I may not care the least for the job President Obama is doing so far for the country, but I am not going to call his policies “Jackassian” as Rush Limbaugh has said in recent weeks on his radio show. He is still our president.
First Lady Michelle Obama is a beautiful woman with a lot of class. To this day I still don’t understand why conservative talk show host Tammy Bruce said in reference to her during a March 23, 2009, radio segment that “We got trash in the White House.”
Just because Bill O’Reilly says 70 percent of Americans don’t want the mosque built near Ground Zero does not mean all Americans say, “Muslims attacked us on 9/11” and condemn an entire religion. We were attacked by extremists and those are the ones America has to continue to watch out for.Mad magazine may have been parodying the recent box office flop "The A-Team" (2010) on their website at www.dccomics.com/mad/ when they used O’Reilly’s likeness as Hannibal, Sean Hannity as Face, and Glenn Beck as Mr. T calling them “The A-Hole Team” with the comment at the bottom of the poster saying “They love it when a rant comes together.” As a result of O'Reilly's comment, I am beginning to wonder if some of these conservative pundits really are “The A-Hole Team.”
I am starting to think some of them are just as bad, if not worse, as a majority of today’s liberal Hollywood elite who instead of doing what they are paid to do and entertain audiences, they put their foot in their mouths once too often and offer personal opinions on serious matters when half the time, they may not even know what they are talking about. They just antagonize opposing guests and callers to get them upset and get audiences wanting more.
What’s even sadder is some followers stupidly believe them instead of taking what they say and do for what it is, entertainment. Bill O’Reilly is as much an entertainer as the ladies of The View.I don’t agree with what Goldberg and Behar did in storming off the stage. If I had been in their place and was that infuriated, I would have stuck around and debated O’Reilly further (both did come back on stage a few minutes later). I do, however, respect their justifications on why they left. They are as much as entitled to their opinion and do what they want as Bill O’Reilly.
What’s unfortunate is, as Walters said on the Oct. 18 segment, we do live in a country right now “that’s full of rage” and that’s from both sides of the political spectrum.
We don’t know how to have serious discussions with one another “without fury, without rage, without screaming, without obscenities, without walking off.”
The fact is if none of this went on with no hope of seeing any fireworks on live television or the radio, no one would watch and listen.
On-air “train wrecks” always generate ratings and for less than 15 minutes, the O’Reilly/Behar-Goldberg walk-off was a much talked about Internet sensation.
©10/23/10
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