O'Reilly Slams Will Ferrell And Adam McKay For Video Featuring 2-Year-Old

This is the video in question. I've linked it before. It's sorta funny, not hilarious, and goes on for too long.

O'Reilly descended even further into buffoonishness by "standing up for the 2-year-old folks" in questioning the severe mental trauma this little girl (Adam McKay's daughter) experienced in making the video. First he argued about it with Geraldo, who suggested, rather common-sensibly, that the girl 1, had no idea what she was saying and 2, would probably quickly forget the whole thing and 3, would probably not start shooting heroin with Lindsay Lohan next week simply because she screeched the word "bitch" in a skit.

O'Reilly would have none of it. He knew that these nefarious Hollywood types had put this young girl into grave psychological danger. He cited as evidence Factor voters and Factor emailers supporting him 3-to-1 or so. Then he had on one (1) hand-picked child psychology expert who warned us all of the dangers of "aggressive language" in a child's behavioral development, and how the lessons she'd learned in making the video might spill over to her conduct in preschool and life generally. Oddly enough, he did not have on an expert to challenge his position and to offer the rebuttal, "Are you fucking out of your mind, Sir?"

I realize that stories about Hollywood Babylon make for good ratings, but honestly, I can't recall being more embarrassed to have O'Reilly vaguely "on my side" in recent memory. Turning this non-issue into another Ludicrous-style crusade is, in my humble opinion, A Pander Too Far.

Instapundit's been hyping The Dangerous Book For Boys. I haven't read it (I live it), but I imagine a big part of the book is the idea that we should calm down a bit regarding children's safety. I'm all for protecting children, but there comes a point at which the Child Protection Police become not only nutty but creepy. At some point they push a little too hard, and their real agenda is exposed: They're not so much interested in controlling risks for children as in controlling the behavior of adults, using the children they claim to care so much about as cute cudgels against their opponents.

"For the children" is just as transparent a rhetorical catspaw when coming from Bill O'Reilly as Hillary! Clinton.

Anyway, here's hoping Hot Air or someone else YouTubes this. It was just embarrassing. I'd say O'Reilly jumped the shark, but we all already knew that. By this point he hasn't merely just jumped the shark, he's embraced jumping the shark not as a desperate ratings-scrabbler but as good, solid Polk-winning programming, and has re-conceived the show as The Bill O'Reilly Shark Jumping Spectacular.

By the way, this was on last's night show, not tonight's. Tonight I imagine he's covering the lastest Missing Girl Story for twenty minutes under the guise of criticizing the media for overcovering the story.

posted by Ace at 09:28 PM

| Access Comments