Shop at Lowe’s
July 29, 2007
What, a corporation that reviews the ethics of the programs on which it advertises, and tells Bill O’Reilly to take a hike? Apparently so.
I wrote to Lowe’s and said how much I appreciate it. O’Reilly damages my country every time he opens his mouth. Well, probably not every time. Sometimes he’s probably just ordering coffee.
Categories: Advertising, business
You know, considering your stance on environmental issues, I’m surprised you would come down so hard on O’Reilly. He is one of the few ” conservative” news people that thinks the government should do more about MPG regulations, and he seems to think that SUV’s are the work of the devil.
Now I am not a fan of his and I probably have not watched his show in a couple years now. However, I do feel that he attempts to come across as an “independent” as opposed to a conservative.
Sorry, his advocacy for slight improvements in fleet mileage averages do not make up for his constant beating of the war-drums, the lies he tells about gays, atheists, and secular humanists in general, his shameless religion-pandering, and his meddling in the process of law. Or his opposition generally to civil rights, and his relentless characterization of all environmentalists as “leftist greens” and his endless ad hominem and straw-man attacks on liberals of every stripe. His show is a constant outpouring of fetid bombastic sludge from the strategy-tables of the smirking NeoCon party, which I refuse to call “conservative” as I understand the term.
He’s on at the gym where I work out, so I hear him often. I’m pretty sure I’m being quite fair about this – he really has earned everything I just said.
I’m glad to know this about Lowe’s. Since they’ve come to my town, I’ve liked them more than Home Depot (which my wife and I call “Home Despot” … it now seems more appropriate…) anyway. The staff seem more knowledgeable and helpful, the merchandise selection seems better … I dunno, it just feels like a better experience. It’s much further to drive to Lowes (10 miles vs. ~3), but now I have even more justification to do so.
DOF, you were being beyond fair on your assessment of O’Reilly.
O’Reilly is an independent
A few reasons why that statement shocks me: read one of Al Franken’s books, check out Media Matters, or Crooks and Liars. Just do a search for O’Reilly and your bound to find plenty of materials. I don’t think you’re going to find any independents working for Faux News.
If you need a source for disposing of the conspiracy that there is a liberal media bias, take a look at Al Franken’s book “Lying Liars…”
He put together a simple study to show there is no liberal media conspiracy. Media Matters has done the same every year for the last 3 years or so I believe. All the study boils down to is compiling data.
Thanks for the link in the post DOF, that was interesting. I am kind of surprised Home Depot takes a very lax approach with whom they advertise. Which is too bad, because I really like the way they treated me as a customer. Much better than how I was treated at Lowe’s.
I’m pretty sure he’d manage to screw that up as well.
“That’s not French roast, is it? I asked for Freedom Roast!!!” (throws cup at waitress)
And we all know that liberal bloggers/radio talk-show hosts/pundits never “cherry-pick outrageous statements”, right?
Why is it that when conservatives do something questionable, it’s made a big deal of; but when liberals do the exact same thing, or worse, it’s swept under the rug and ignored?
I can’t speak for the links that Webs posted but as a regular viewer of The Factor, I feel my comments were quite warranted. It isn’t just the occasional questionable statement – the guy’s a real piece of work.
No offense Webs05 but I would have to take any “study” by Al Franken with a grain of salt.
I think there is a biased in everyone. That is one of the reasons why have freedom of the press. We as Americans have so many resources to find information and make an educated decision as what to believe and what not to believe.
Personally, I think FOX news has the best show – Brit Hume’s show at 5:00 . I think he was one of the few “news anchor’s” who actually do their homework and actually hold people accountable for what they say. I have seen him jump on everyone in his round table for stating something in a rather misleading way. However, other shows on FOX News I can’t stand – O’Reilly being one of them. My biggest problem with O’reilly is his interviews or “debates” as he seems to think an interview must be. It bothered me when he would argue the most mundane point just so he could disagree with someone and he would leave them no room to debate. In the end, he would “win” the debate and the viewer essentially was given no real information as Bill missed the entire reason point of the conversation so he could look good.
I thought this was true until the whole Don Imus thing happened.
oops – I screwed up the blockquotes – Sorry!
And while we’re at it, MG, who’s sweeping anything under the rug? I and several of my friends have personally challenged some of my fellow liberal bloggers for their bombastic, divisive rhetoric. They ignore us, of course, as one might if one has thousands of readers and is challenged by much less popular bloggers, but we challenged ‘em anyway. And there are some very popular liberal bloggers – Chris Mooney comes to mind – who constantly promote the idea that insulting, exclusionary rhetoric is counterproductive.
This isn’t a “conservatives/liberals are worse than liberals/conservatives” thing, it’s a “Bill O’Reilly is a jerk” thing.
No problem, lastcall – I fixed it.
Glad to see you keep an open mind
But as I said check Media Matters for the same study.
I stand somewhat corrected – I inferred that you were coming down on all conservative news folks in general, not just Bill O in particular. I apologize for jumping in without re-reading what you said.
MG
I just re-read the article that you link to in your post. THAT’S where I got the idea that you were referring to all conservative media; the writer of that article singles out Bill O’Reilly in this case, but strongly implies that he’s “just one of the pack – they’re all the same”.
I can’t think of any TalkTV or TalkRadio commentators who are a whole lot better than O’Reilly, either. My idea of good conservative media is The Economist. My favorite liberal magazine is Mother Jones. Both are good examples of strong, responsible advocacy journalism. Neither pulls any punches.
I often disagree with Thomas Sowell but he is at least very substantive. And I very much miss the Republican party and look forward to its return. Someone is living in its house and raiding its fridge. (I started voting Democratic when Ronald Reagan appointed James Watt secretary of the Interior and the GOP has gone downhill from there to where we are now).
One way to gauge political spectrum might be to list 10 favorite pols. Hmm… that would make a good post. Have to think on it a little.
Current Pols or All-time Pols? hmmmmm……….
I don’t know. Maybe, last 50 years? Or?… I have a decent grasp of American history, but I’m no David McCullough.
Any other suggested parameters? Maybe “10 favorite” and “10 least favorite”. For me, Richard Nixon would be on both of those lists. Would that be cheating, to have one guy on both lists?
If he’s on both there should be a good reason given. I think it would be much harder though to come up with a true 10 fav and least fav. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on the results you want.
I think 10 fav and least fav, during your living years should be the major requirement. That tells us what someone has lived through and how that has shaped their opinions.
Hmm.. I’d say, include your parents’ generation because most of us are heavily influenced by our parents. To use my own example, the whole time I was growing up, it was “DwightEisenhower this” and “DwightEisenhower that”. We had books by him in the house too, and as a kid I read one of them.
But I’ll have to stick to US politicians, even though my dad was a huge Churchill fan. He was also quite a Lincoln historian but that was in neither of our lifetimes.
10 fave and 10 least fave works out to a heck of a long list, which forces getting right to the point on each one. No long flowery descriptions.
You’re right, it would be revealing to say why an individual could be on both lists.
Wow DOF. That is so interesting. I was out walking the dog thinking which list would I put nixon on. I probably would list him on the least favorite list for different reasons than you.
OK, I do think this would be a fun and interesting project. I’ll put up a post tomorrow proposing guidelines for readers who want to try it, and then get working on my list. But no “tagging!” That will be one of the guidelines. ‘Cause you gots to be some kind of political junkie to even consider coming up with a list of 20 politicians, let alone have anything to say about them in a concise fashion.
Question: is 10 of each too many? More people would participate if it were 5 each, and it would be just as revealing.
I would say minimum should be 5 with 10 being the max. Picking one or the other is too hard for me.
Sigh… typical Democrat