| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Bill O'Reilly Measuredly Takes Down Guest's Sympathy For Al-Qaeda |
| 2010-08-06 |
| Perhaps the most unsettling thing about this clip is that, despite being a cable news moment where a guest basically calls the host clueless while the host argues that members of Al-Qaeda want to kill Americans, the average vocal volume is maintained at a stable low. On tonight's Factor, Bill O'Reilly debated a lawsuit filed by the ACLU intended to defend the rights of Al-Qaeda suspects, and his guest didn't mince words on what he thought of his opinion. The guest was criminal defense attorney Scott Fenstermaker, who has experience with defending terror suspects. O'Reilly asked Fenstermaker what his problem with the drone attacks was, and he stated that said attacks on Pakistan and on suspects like Anwar Al-Awlaki were illegal. "It has not been ruled illegal by anybody but you, Mr. Fenstermaker," O'Reilly replied, which Fenstermaker refuted. Fenstermaker then argued that he did not believe that Al-Awlaki was the enemy, as there was no direct proof that he was part of Al-Qaeda, and that the entirety of the war was "problematic" because it was "waging war against civilians." He then upped the ante by saying that "our battles on Al-Qaeda are not necessarily well-directed," and that "I don't think Al-Qaeda is posing any threat to us now." After being asked several times whether he believed that Al-Qaeda was interested in killing him simply because he was an American, Fenstermaker replied, "I'm a bad example; I'm probably a hero to Al-Qaeda" and, after some pressing, told O'Reilly, "you don't have the first idea of what you're talking about" because he had not spoken to any members of Al-Qaeda. Surprisingly, this sentence did not instantly trigger a shouting match, though O'Reilly was shocked and temperately angry at the accusation, and, in a much more measured way than would typically be expected, disassembled Fenstermaker's argument. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 it's as alien to them as a speaking whale in Parlament. now why did you have to bring Michael Moore into this? |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2010-08-06 21:44 |
| #5 Any bets this will be a continuing saga? You don't challenge O'Reilly without a bullet-pointed battle plan to prove Fenstermaker wrong in response. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-08-06 16:20 |
| #4 I call it the Hollywood syndrome. People are so insulated from reality and/or so firmly believe in an alternate false reality. "If we just try to understand them - they wouldn't want to kill us.". |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-08-06 13:44 |
| #3 Give 'em enough rope and they hang themselves. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-06 13:30 |
| #2 I understand where he's coming from (That doesn't make him right) He's trained as a lawyer, if he saw somebody shoot sombody else in the head he'd say "You must prove it in a court of LAW" (or it doesn't count). I'll bet big bucks, his life has NEVER been in danger. (Proof is he mistakenly thinks No-one is EVIL. I call this "The Marie Antionette Symptom" so insulated from reality they CANNOT understand the facts, it's as alien to them as a speaking whale in Parlament. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-08-06 13:24 |
| #1 The guest was criminal I saw the bit#@slap. O'Reilly did a good job. What I don't understand is why these people |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-08-06 12:15 |