O’REILLY

Virginia Postrel thinks Bill O’Reilly is an obnoxious jerk:

Contrary to his image as some kind of conservative ideologue, O’Reilly is just a long-winded cab driver with a TV show and no real interest in policy, ideas, or facts.

Indeed. And, Sam Smith has mathematical proof. Sort of.

FILED UNDER: Media, , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Steven says:

    Not to mention that he really isn’t a conservative ideologue.

  2. John Lemon says:

    Yep. The only reason people think of him as a conservative ideologue is that he hates Clinton. His view of immigrants (Buchanan-esque) gives conservatives a bad name.

  3. Settin’ up straw men and knockin’ them down is Mr. NoSpins game. Yawn…but I do have a question for the ‘true conservatives’ – with the White House, the Senate and the House of Reprehensibles under the control of the Party of Lincoln, why’s the Fed budget so huge?

    Maybe this is why?

    “Companies that reduced their U.S. tax bill by incorporating overseas did $1 billion worth of business with the federal government last year, an Associated Press computer analysis of federal contracts showed.

    The Bermuda-based consulting company Accenture Ltd., a spinoff of the former Big Five accounting firm Arthur Andersen, was the biggest federal customer. It got $662 million in contracts between Oct. 1, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2002, mostly from the Transportation Security Administration. The engineering firm Foster Wheeler Ltd. received $293.2 million. Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd., which boasts that its equipment helped carve Mount Rushmore, received $7.6 million…”

  4. James Joyner says:

    Mis–Well, hell, they got one big govt. contract to build that stupid mountain carving–and they never finished it!

    And it doesn’t pay to cut the budget. While most of the country is fairly conservative socially, most want free stuff from the government.

  5. John Lemon says:

    Lil’ Missy,
    Would those companies have stayed in the US had Al Gore been president, Tom Daschle been Senate Majority Leader, and Dick Gebhart (Streisand spelling) as Speaker of the House?

    Plus, I guess I buy your (implicit) argument for reducing the top marginal tax rate on corporations so that they decide to stay and we get at least some tax revenue from them. Eh?

  6. JL,

    I am no fan of those pols you listed, and I think the tax code is basically party-neutral in its insanity.

    BUT, I would deny any FedContractBucks to any company involved in such blatant tax avoidance. You want to change the code, change the code. Otherwise, pay or no play.

    It’s like welfare reform – no money if you don’t play by the rules…