‘Papa Bear’: Or, how I learned to stop hating and respect Bill O’Reilly

I don’t hate Bill O’Reilly.

Honestly, as a liberal, I feel like I have to abhor the guy at times. The amount of snarky comments from my friends about him gave me the impression that I must at least dislike the man, if not curse him to the ninth circle of hell. Quite frankly, I’ve found that I far from dislike him. In fact, I respect him. As red-faced as he can get while screaming at a guest about how wrong he or she is, there is something I find quite endearing, and borderline admirable, in Papa Bear. 

His conviction is what draws my dad to O’Reilly’s show. If you ask my dad where he gets his information, he will proudly tell you Fox News. This often makes me want to tear my hair out when I debate with him at the dinner table, as Fox is the only reputable source in his opinion. However, when he turns on Rupert Murdoch’s — media tycoon and owner of Fox News — personal mouthpiece, he usually goes straight for “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Now, as much as I may respect O’Reilly, it doesn’t mean I think he is right. So when my dad starts pumping up the television volume in a passive-aggressive attempt to have me hear “No Spin Zone,” the lovely moniker Bill uses for his own program,  I tend to jump up from wherever I am in the house to confront him. 

Needless to say, no one’s opinions end up changed, whether the topic O’Reilly is highlighting is welfare or rap music. But, still, my dad has always insisted I should sit down and watch the show with him. “If you are such an open-minded liberal, why don’t you watch Bill O’Reilly as much as that idiot?” (That idiot being Jon Stewart).

So, Dad, since I always send you the links to my articles, I decided I owed you one — what, with the whole co-signing-my-student-loans favor you did me — and decided to finally sit down and watch Bill O’Reilly last Thursday.

I settled in a bit early, catching the tail end of another program — some talking heads profiling a woman who eats cereal out of a bath tub. The cereal program was quite the appetizer for my main course, and soon Bill was dominating the screen, announcing what was going to be on “The Factor” tonight. On the menu was Ferguson, Mo., and Michael Brown, cyber security and Deflategate. What a show, I thought, as Bill went into his “Talking Points” on “race and corruption.”

During this segment, Bill used the grand jury’s lack of civil rights charges against Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown shooting as proof that the protesters, whom Bill called “rioters” or “looters” throughout the segment, should apologize for their actions, whether they looted or not. Bill also used this as an opportunity to attack Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader, calling him a charlatan and saying the Ferguson protests were “another terrible entry on Sharpton’s resumé.” 

Bill said, “You can’t convict a fellow American of anything unless you know the facts.” 

Then, he folded this point on Sharpton’s lack of respect for judicial authority into the success of the judicial system in the conviction of a New York politician, Sheldon Silver, for corruption. For O’Reilly, Silver was a legitimate criminal who deserved the negative attention, unlike all of the criticism that has been leveled at Darren Wilson following the shooting of Michael Brown. Bill gloated over the charges, also making sure to call Silver a “vile human being.”

Personal insults aside, I thought Bill had something of a point. Maybe Americans do judge too heavily on emotion and circumstance, rather than fact. But then, in the immediate follow-up to these talking points, Bill let such emotional judgments slip right past him.

He then had Rev. Jacques Degraff and Richard Fowler, an attorney and radio talk show host, respectively, on the show to argue with Bill about the lack of civil rights charges against Darren Wilson. As clips of looters breaking into convenience stores played, O’Reilly sounded off triumphantly. For O’Reilly, the local grand jury had not convicted Darren Wilson, and the Justice Department would also not convict Wilson, so all of the protest had been meaningless. The two guests begged to differ. 

As Fowler said, “The federal investigation was about whether or not Darren Wilson violated Michael Brown’s civil rights.” The investigation had not, however, examined the conduct of the prosecutor of the Ferguson case, Robert McCulloch, of wrongdoing. So, with the prosecutor still not cleared of misconduct, there was no reason for protesters to  apologize, as O’Reilly had wanted.

Bill countered that the Justice Department investigation would have uncovered any problems in the prosecution of the case by McCulloch. His guests emphatically disagreed, and what could have been an interesting discussion on race in America became a shouting match. O’Reilly started yelling “no it’s not!” at Fowler and Degraff. They countered that they were indeed right. Then the host dropped “you guys are wrong! You are just wrong.” Right before my eyes, the perfect O’Reilly screaming match developed. The overly emotional judgment that has driven Bill to call so many “pinheads” was back.

As it would turn out, for all his bluster, O’Reilly was dead wrong. The Justice Department has only looked at Wilson and the Ferguson Police Department. And the police department investigation was still ongoing.

It’s tough, after seeing examples of spin in the “No Spin Zone,” to say I still respect O’Reilly. But whenever I feel ready to write him off — like I wrote off Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh — I think of the times he’s called out Karl Rove for being a Republican shill, like over the VA mess or Rove’s own prediction skills. Or I think of how affably he handles his many guests’ appearances on “The Daily Show” or, even better, his debate with Jon Stewart. My dad and I sat silent before my laptop, watching the two titans of television duke it out, with each of our hero-worshiping tendencies in the balance. The fact that O’Reilly had the guts to go onstage in a college auditorium to debate a comedian reminds me that, deep down, he is a man of some decency. Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh couldn’t engage a noted liberal like Stewart in such a candid fashion. Bill seems to embrace the chance to. No matter how condescending he is, I do think O’Reilly is looking out for “the folks.”

That doesn’t mean I need him looking out for me. I can handle that just fine. But keep being you, Bill. The world needs a few blowhards, and you are my second-favorite one.

Stephen Caruso writes on varying topics, such as economics and social issues. He is also the Layout Editor for The Pitt News.

Write to Stephen at sjc79@pitt.edu.