Bill O'Reilly Strikes Back At Sarah Palin: ‘Interviewers Who Want Answers Must Interrupt’

Glad O'Reilly finally decided to get back at Palin on what was clearly a diss last time he tried to interview her. Not that the woman will see this as constructive criticism, more reason to see what happens if Palin ever comes back on "The O'Reilly Factor":

Bill O’Reilly has what one would, generously, call a combative interviewing style. He gets straight to the point and refuses to waste time on answers that don’t directly refer to his question. And he owns this with pride, calling out the “left wing loons” on Friday that criticized him for interrupting President Obama during his Superbowl interview, and expressing frustration at how hard it is to get Sarah Palin to give a straight answer.


“TV interviewers who want answers must– must– interrupt their guests,” O’Reilly argued, welcoming guest and fellow interviewer Chris Wallace to talk about their interview style. But before giving Wallace the word, O’Reilly took a moment or two to address the art of conversing with Sarah Palin. “I don’t want to have to interrupt Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or anything. I asked Sarah Palin a direct question,” he noted. “She didn’t answer.” Not only did she not answer, O’Reilly continued, “the governor wanted to give a speech she has given literally fifty times before.”


With that off his chest, Wallace got his turn, agreeing that the dynamic with a political interviewee is often that “they view your question as a departure to the answer” they have been trained to give. When they are forced to leave their talking points, he continued, it makes for a far more fascinating interview. On this point, both Wallace and O’Reilly agreed, though Wallace believed there was a serious political element to how the audience reacts to an interview. “If you’re interrupting someone they don’t like,” he posited, “they’re all for it. If you’re interrupting someone they like, they get ticked off at you.” O’Reilly seemed skeptical that it was so purely political though, and reiterated that he didn’t “want my time wasted on propaganda.”

AP: Same-Sex Marriage Bill Dies in Maryland, 'a Deeply Catholic State'

Newsbusters.org:

Yesterday the Associated Press reported "Maryland gay marriage bill dies with no final vote." The article begins:


A bill to legalize gay marriage in Maryland fell short Friday after supporters failed to find enough votes to overcome Republican opposition and misgivings by some Democrats in the deeply Catholic state.


Just in case any readers missed the point, seven paragraphs later:


Some predicted that, if passed, the measure would have been petitioned to referendum in the deeply Catholic state.


Message received. But why does the AP writer characterize Maryland as deeply Catholic?


In 2009, the Gallup Organization produced an analysis of religious identity based on more than 170,000 interviews conducted earlier in the year. 24.3% of adult Americans identified themselves as Catholics. In Maryland, it was 21.9%, less than the national average. The Free State's percentage of Protestants and other Christians is 54.9, more than double that of Catholics. Overall, more than half the states have a greater percentage of Catholics than Maryland does.


Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. According to Gallup, each of those states has a higher percentage of Catholics than "deeply Catholic" Maryland. Yet that's not mentioned. Perhaps it's because that fact doesn't fit in with the preferred mainstream media narrative.

Bill Maher To Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison: The Qur’an Is A ‘Hate Filled Holy Book’

Maher may be a condescending, liberal prick, but give him credit for having balls on this one:

The emotion shown by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) at Rep. Peter King’s (R-NY) Muslim radicalization hearings garnered much attention, and we have a feeling Ellison’s appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight will get its share of play as well. Maher and Ellison had an interesting conversation about Islam (Ellison converted in college) – but perhaps most interesting were the harsh words Maher had for the radical element of Islam…an opinion he had no problem sharing to Ellison’s face (or the screen it was on, anyway).


Ellison, who was raised Catholic, said he was drawn to Islam initially due to a message of “inclusion and “social justice,” and spoke of the need for “religious pluralism” in society. It was smooth sailing at that point – Maher even said “right on.” But then, Maher went off on radical Islam, deeming “the threat, potentially, from radicalized Muslims…a unique and greater threat” – one, he said, that’s in its “medieval era.” In addition, he cited “trying to get nuclear weapons” and a “culture of suicide bombing.”


But that paled next to Maher’s criticism of the Qur’an, which he called a “hate-filled holy book…which is taken very literally” by radical Islamic terrorists. Ripping suicide bombers is one thing…maligning the holy book for the entirety of Islam is quite another. Ellison, of course, disagreed, saying Maher was “lumping together things that shouldn’t be lumped together,” and that terrorists “take things out of context to do what they want to do” – in fact, that “terrorist rhetoric” has little to do with religion at all.


Maher allowed that the “vast, vast giant majority of Muslims aren’t the problem,” but added that with terrorists, “it just takes one.” Maher also seemed unconvinced of Ellison’s Qur’an defense, even as Ellison cited a passage that claims that taking one life is akin to killing the whole world, and saving a life is like saving the entire world: “Am I getting the wrong translation? ‘Cause that’s what every Muslim always tells me.” Video of the segment below, via HBO. Maher’s no stranger to criticism of Islam, but this was another level.

Michael Moore Is A Hypocrite: "Supports" Wisconsin Union Workers, But Doesn't Use Union Workers For Films Or Offer Health Insurance

Do as I say, not as I do:

With the spotlight on Wisconsin's union thugs rampaging across the state, one wonders why it took propaganda filmmaker Michael Moore so long to put himself in front of the news cameras to take some of their publicity for himself. But this weekend, Moore finally glommed onto the cameras making himself out to be a great supporter of the union's efforts in the Badger State. Once again, though, Moore proves to be a hypocrite. It was Moore, after all, that excluded using union workers in one of his recent films. Some supporter of unions!


Filmmaker Moore attend a recent Wisconsin pro-union rally and regaled the crowd with an address saying, "Madison is only the beginning."


"We're going to do this together. Don't give up. Please don't give up," Moore told the protesters, who have swarmed the Capitol every day for close to three weeks.


Oh, he's a great supporter, right? But let us drift back only a few years to 2009 when he was filming his last bomb, Capitalism: A Love Story. During that production we found that Moore didn't hire union stagehands (the IATSE) for his film.


According to his agent, Ari Emanuel, Moore claimed that he used non-union labor because the stagehands union doesn't "respect documentary filmmakers" or some such thing.


It made the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) mad enough that they refused all the free tickets Moore tried to offer them when the movie debuted. Yet here are these teachers in Wisconsin now falling all over themselves because Moore came publicity seeking in front of them. For shame that their institutional memory is so shallow, eh?


That wasn't the only time that Moore made a film snubbing union workers, either. Back in 2000 Moore directed a music video for the band Rage Against The Machine and non-union workers were also used in that production.

Liberal Actress Julianne Moore To Play Sarah Palin In New Movie "Game Change"

InsideTV.ew.com:

Oscar nominee Julianne Moore has landed the starring role of Sarah Palin in HBO’s adaptation of the bestselling book Game Change.


Moore (Boogie Nights, Eagle Eye) will take the sure-to-be-buzzed-about role of the Alaska Governor and vice presidential nominee in the HBO film.


Game Change is directed by Jay Roach and written by Danny Strong, who previously teamed for HBO’s docudrama on the 2000 election drama, Recount. It’s based on the book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin following John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Can't help but wonder how and why Moore got the part. Certainly not because she looks like Palin. I mean, did she secretly campaign for the part just so she could ridicule her? Or was she picked solely based on talent? Moore is an unabashed liberal and a huge fan of The One. Moore also lacks class and has little dignity in that she has no problem taking on risque roles that require her to appear nude or kiss other women. With Moore's far-Left views and this just being conservative-hating Hollywood, somehow I can't picture Palin getting a fair representation in this flick.

Wisconsin Senate OKs Governor's Proposed Limits On Collective Bargaining For Public Workers

Listen, I don't know if union bosses are as out-of-hand and self-serving in Wisconsin as they are here in NYC, but can one imagine the outrage by the MSM if GOP congressman had pulled the same stunt and fled their state for 3 weeks just to avoid a vote?

Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday night to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers after discovering a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats.


All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's so-called "budget repair bill" - a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.


The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday split from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, which spends no money, and a special conference committee of state lawmakers approved the bill a short time later.


The lone Democrat present on the conference committee, Rep. Tony Barca, shouted that the surprise meeting was a violation of the state's open meetings law but Republicans voted over his objections. The Senate then convened within minutes and passed it without discussion or debate.


Spectators in the gallery screamed "You are cowards."


Before the sudden votes, Democratic Sens. Bob Jauch said if Republicans "chose to ram this bill through in this fashion, it will be to their political peril. They're changing the rules. They will inflame a very frustrated public."

The Day Sarah Palin Kneecapped Feminism

Great article by Barbara Kay over at the National Post:

The feminist revolution began as a necessary reform movement, but unfortunately evolved into a marxism-imbued, revolutionary one. Second-wave feminism’s focus soon shifted from women’s equal rights (which are limited to those defined by law) to women’s interests (which are limitless), as perceived through a victim’s lens.


For decades, the people that instruct our children; mould our lawyers, social workers, psychologists and health professionals; train our judiciary; control (and misinform) the domestic-violence industry; shape the views of journalists; and counsel politicians: All have been marinating from early youth in feminist correctness.


The consequence has been a culture that, if not overtly man-hating, is always man-blaming — in which, to our collective detriment, the rights of boys and men (especially fathers) are scanted for the sins of a few, and their contributions to the family and society trivialized.


That changed on September 3, 2008, when Sarah Palin accepted her vice-presidential nomination at the Republican convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Her speech electrified the nation.


Before 39-million viewers, Palin was the first public figure to openly and successfully ridicule the hitherto untouchable Barack Obama. She also was the first American woman to campaign for high office by paying homage, but no ideological dues, to the Sisterhood. This Alaskan small-town huntin’, fishin’ God-fearin,’ abortion-hatin’ mom of five showed that a woman can break through any glass ceiling she wants without the imprimatur of the feminist politburo.


Feminists watching Palin’s stunning performance knew a stake was being driven through their movement’s heart. They went ballistic. Feminist blogger Jessica Grose wrote on her Jezebel web site: “When Palin spoke on Wednesday night, my head almost exploded … What I feel for her privately could be described as violent, nay murderous, rage.” Judith Warner wrote in The New York Times that Palin was an “insult to women.” Comedian Sandra Bernhard riffed on YouTube: “Turncoat bitch! You whore in your cheap f***ing … cheap-ass plastic glasses.” Academic Wendy Doniger opined, “Palin’s greatest hypocrisy is her pretense that she is a woman.”


And who can forget Canada’s very own Heather Mallick — then of the CBC, now of the Toronto Star — who watched Palin with “my mouth open, my eyeballs drying out, my hand making shaky notes.” From those “shaky notes” emerged a stomach-turning attack on Palin’s “pram-face” daughter, Bristol, followed by the advice: “Turn your guns on [Bristol’s boyfriend] Levi, ma’am.” (And liberals say conservative discourse encourages violence!)


You may love Sarah Palin or you may hate her. You may admire her courage and values, as I do, but hope she does not run for president in 2012. However you feel about her, she has altered our cultural landscape, and inspired a formidable cadre of women entering politics: women whom conservative American cultural critic Kay Hymowitz identifies as “Palinite politicas” and “Mama Grizzlies.”


In her Winter 2011 City Journal article, “Sarah Palin and the Battle for Feminism,” Hymowitz points out that not only are 55% of self-identified Tea Party members are women, but a majority of its national and state co-ordinators are, too. Republican women are entering the House of Representatives and governors’ mansions in record numbers. They see themselves as “feminists,” in the broad sense. But the Palinite politicas aren’t urban, coastal, upscale Ivy league elites like our reigning feminists. They come from the South, the Midwest and the West. Many of them are businesswomen and techies — not academics, journalists and state-funded policy-mongers. They are less interested in which sex folds more laundry or changes more diapers, and far more consumed by conservative, gender-neutral issues such as freer markets, lowered deficits and reduced government.


Hymowitz calls them Mama Grizzlies because they celebrate, rather than repudiate, their biological natures. Mama Grizzlies see men as different but complementary to women, and therefore as collaborators, not adversaries. Sarah Palin’s Down’s Syndrome-afflicted child and military-serving son — whom she speaks about proudly at public events — aren’t an anomaly in this circle of unapologetically maternal women. Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, founder of the House Tea Party caucus, has nurtured 23 foster children over the years.


No wonder feminists mired in the superannuated shibboleths of revolutionary feminism are shocked. As always happens with utopian revolutions, its pendulum, propelled outward by theories and ideology, can only swing so far from human nature’s permanent verities, and cause so much social damage, before corrective populist movements force it back to the middle.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Ousted By NPR Board Of Directors

Liberals love to claim that there isn't such thing as a liberal bias in the media, but something conservatives like to refer to as "facts" keep telling a different story. Rich, smug, pompous, snobby and white liberal elites like Vivian Schiller dominate the upper branch of the mainstream media landscape, therefore they're the ones controlling what you see and read on NPR as well as CBS, NBC, ABC and any other member of the MSM. Thus, FOX isn't an "arm of the GOP" so much as it just makes up for huge liberal bias. That and when you take into account that only 20% of America consider themselves to be "liberal" is why FOX dominates the ratings time and time again:

Well it is officially a bad week for individuals named Schiller who used to work for NPR. First there was Ron Schiller, who was caught in a hidden camera video sting making negative comments about conservatives and Tea Partiers, and now NPR’s Media Reporter David Folkenflik has revealed via Twitter that CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation to Ron) has been forced out by the board at NPR because of this controversy.


NPR released the following statement:


“It is with deep regret that I tell you that the NPR Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Vivian Schiller as President and CEO of NPR, effective immediately.


“The Board accepted her resignation with understanding, genuine regret, and great respect for her leadership of NPR these past two years.


“Vivian brought vision and energy to this organization. She led NPR back from the enormous economic challenges of the previous two years. She was passionately committed to NPR’s mission, and to stations and NPR working collaboratively as a local-national news network.


“According to a CEO succession plan adopted by the Board in 2009, Joyce Slocum, SVP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, has been appointed to the position of Interim CEO. The Board will immediately establish an Executive Transition Committee that will develop a timeframe and process for the recruitment and selection of new leadership.


“I recognize the magnitude of this news – and that it comes on top of what has been a traumatic period for NPR and the larger public radio community. The Board is committed to supporting NPR through this interim period and has confidence in NPR’s leadership team.”


Schiller has had a rough few months given the numerous controversies that have surrounded NPR under her watch. Last year Schiller received criticism for her handling of former NPR commentator Juan Williams, who was fired from the public radio outlet after making candid comments about Muslims at airports. Since then, Williams has become a very vocal critic of his former employer and seemed to fan the flames of anger towards the federally funded outlet that had for a long time flown under the radar of public opinion media.


The most recent controversy, which appears to have been her undoing, was a hidden camera sting produced by James O’Keefe, the controversial independent filmmaker, that arranged a lunch between Ron Schiller, a former development executive, and two actors hired to act like Islamic philanthropists. The video reveals Schiller dismissing an uneducated conservative base, and while he had no hand in editorial matters at NPR, the video revealed to many an elitist point-of-view that seemed impolitic for an ostensibly unbiased media outlet that receives Federal funding.

RELATED: Juan Williams Responds

Why Bill Maher's Racist Humor Gets A Pass From The Left

Not that most conservatives didn't already know that white liberals get a pass when they make racist remarks, but this article is still a must-read on how Bill Maher being the biggest culprit of the Left's hypocrisy regarding race:

Not unlike many young people with access to HBO and an interest in progressive politics, I used to watch Real Time With Bill Maher religiously. It was one of the few places I could turn to that reflected the views I wasn't getting from the 24-hour news channels. The direct and confrontational debate format left little room for the shilling of political talking points, and outright lies would not be tolerated.


It was a place where the truth would be unearthed, and Bill Maher served as the ultimate soothsayer. Hyperbole aside, Maher's freedom from the constraints of the 24-hour news cycle and traditional journalism introduced me to a world of progressive politics that at the time I didn't know existed.


But it's important to remember that Maher is a comedian by trade, and his first goal is to make people laugh. It's also important to note that his style of comedy is often ribald and can border on offensive, since Maher does not shy away from using racial and sexual stereotypes that are typically used to demean.


Lately he has come to depend on this style of joke to bring home laughs in a way that distracts from the insightful sociopolitical commentary he has to offer. Moreover, he has forgotten the first rule of comedy: Be funny. It simply wasn't funny when Maher suggested that he wanted President Obama to act like a "real black president" in his handling of the BP oil spill last summer by flashing a gun in the face of its CEO and asking, "We got a motherf---ing problem here?!"


It's a comment not too far off from when Bill O'Reilly was surprised that black people in a Harlem, N.Y., restaurant weren't screaming, "M-fer, I want more iced tea!" Both comments reflect inaccurate and damaging ideas about the way "real" black people behave, but more outrage was reserved for O'Reilly because Maher was "just joking." And maybe because these sorts of comments are a major part of his shtick.

Undercover Video Leads Tea Party To Call For An End To Government Funding Of NPR

Now that this is out can NPR stop pretending like they're not biased?:

According to Fox News’ report on the undercover video organized by conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe, some Tea Party groups are calling for an end to government funding of NPR. The video footage shows former NPR senior executive Ron Schiller (who announced last week that he would be leaving NPR to act as director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program and Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence Program) and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional giving, at a meeting with two men from a fictitious, supposedly Muslim Brotherhood-backed organization. During the meeting, Schiller makes several negative remarks about Tea Party members, referring to them as “xenophobic,” “racist” and “gun-toting,” as well as saying that liberals are generally more “fair and balanced” than conservatives.


USA Today is also reporting that Mark Meckler, the national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots (one of the largest groups within the Tea Party movement) points out that, in the video, Schiller “candidly admits” that NPR does not need federal funding before calling NPR a “clearly biased news organization that is out of touch with Americans.”


NPR has since released a statement saying they are appalled by Schiller’s comments, “which are contrary to what NPR stands for.”

RELATED: NPR Plays Damage Control, Distances Itself From Ron Schiller

Obama To Restart Guantanamo Bay Trials After Two-Year Ban

In other words Campaigner Barry sees the world a lot differently from President Barry, but of course he'll blame it all on the GOP because that's what liberals do:

President Barack Obama reversed course Monday and ordered a resumption of military trials for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, making his once ironclad promise to close the isolated prison look even more distant.


Guantanamo has been a major political and national security headache for the president since he took office promising to close the prison within a year, a deadline that came and went without him ever setting a new one.


Obama made the change with clear reluctance, bowing to the reality that Congress' vehement opposition to trying detainees on U.S. soil leaves them nowhere else to go. The president emphasized his preference for trials in federal civilian courts, and his administration blamed congressional meddling for closing off that avenue.


"I strongly believe that the American system of justice is a key part of our arsenal in the war against al-Qaida and its affiliates, and we will continue to draw on all aspects of our justice system – including (federal) courts – to ensure that our security and our values are strengthened," Obama said in a statement.


"Going forward, all branches of government have a responsibility to come together to forge a strong and durable approach to defend our nation and the values that define who we are as a nation."


The first Guantanamo trial likely to proceed under Obama's new order would involve Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. Al-Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, has been imprisoned at Guantanamo since 2006.

Politiks As Usual: In The News 3/7/11

Opposition Repels Onslaught As Libyan Government Declares Victories

NASA Scientist Finds Evidence Of Alien Life

The House Moves To Defend The Law The President Won't

Union Power - Symptom Of What Ails Us

The Oscars: Class Warfare Wins Best Liberal Issue

Mexican President Joins Obama In Calling For 'Comprehensive Reform' In Legalizing U.S. Illegals

Ad Campaign: God Not Needed For Fulfilling Life

NYTimes Hit Piece On Glenn Beck: FOX May Not Renew His Contract

ABC's Andrea Canning Reveals She Was 'In A Fog' During Charlie Sheen Interview

Michele Bachmann: Dems Hid $105 Billion In Obamacare

What We're Talking About When We Talk About Big Government

College Degrees Won't Shield Blacks From Unemployment

Chris Wallace Takes On Westboro Baptist Church Member

While I agree with SCOTUS's decision to protect their rights to free speech, these people really are sick:

Mediaite.com:

As a result of the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church and their recognized First Amendment right to stage anti-gay protests near military funerals, Chris Wallace interviewed Margie Phelps, the church’s attorney and daughter of founder Rev. Fred Phelps. Although happy with the Court’s decision, Phelps still thought it likely that the nine Supreme Court Justices were going to hell, and was confident that President Obama would be going there as well.

Phelps rattled off one crazy statement after another, including that American soldiers are worse than Al Qaeda terrorists and that “the president is going to be king of the world before this is all said and done, and he is most likely the beast spoken of in the Revelation.” Wallace’s technique of just asking questions rather than demonstrating any anger was actually effective in allowing viewers to develop their own increasing outrage at Phleps’ responses. Phelps repeatedly concluded that any positive event was “God’s will,” while events she viewed less favorably were a “curse.” Therefore, it’s hard to conclude, from her perspective, how she would categorize her portrayal in this interview.