At this point, to get angry over the stupidity that bursts from O'Reilly's piehole is a waste of time. He's not an elected official, so he's not accountable to us. Those in his choir don't care what we have to say and we already know the guy's an imbecile. Talking about all of his faux pas, although amusing, seems to be on par with celebrity gossip.
But his latest odyssey into fuzzy logic has definitely raised an eyebrow. Not because of what he said as much as it's a sentiment I've seen propagated too many times without being sufficiently countered. To start, let's take his quote about antiwar "secular progressives" at the NY times:
"It is beyond disappointing this campaign is not succeeding, but I'm still praying for a miracle, as a stable Iraq makes the world a safer place. I believe that prayer is not being shared in some precincts here in America, but of course I could be wrong." (Source)
The same has been said about peace demonstrators and liberal activists couched in less guarded language from the likes of Limbaugh and Savage just to name a couple. If we follow O'Reilly's thinking to it's natural conclusion we can only arrive at one place. If Progressives cheer with every car bomb in Fallujah, then Conservatives applaud with each attack on domestic soil. Madrid, London, New York. Those would have been political godsends. Think about it, they've got the most to gain. Broader public support (see Bush's approval ratings after 9/11), heightened nationalism, and a calcified enemy presence. All ideal conditions for manipulation en mass.
If O'Reilly and the rest want to play this game then they must accept the converse as being true. It is time to end intellectual hypocrisy in national debate.
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