Bill O'Reilly. First Class jerk and high-ranking psychopath? Maybe so....

Update:

One of my American FaceBook friends let me know today that this is an old story. she says four years ago but I still think it's intersting....

Ok, so to follow up on the Fox News is owned by the Republican Party post, here's this lovely but really not surprising tidbit.

Your favourite on-air psychopath, Bill O, as he's colloquially called, has a lawsuit pending against him for harassment.

O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit

It seems the uber moralistic, opinionated firebrand of The O'Reilly Factor lacks a working moral compass. If you haven't seen his epic meltdowns, of which there are reported to be many but of which only one is on YouTube, check it...

Even better, said suit has been brought against Bill O, The Bill O'Reilly News Corp, Fox News Channel, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and Westwood One Inc. for Quid Pro Quo sexual harassment, and sexually hostile work environment.

It should be noted that the woman who brought the suit, Andrea Makris, is a well respected journalist whose work includes GW Bush's campaign (and no, that in itself should not prejudice the case despite that she helped a monkey win an election...).

The core of the suit is that Fox and Westwood are rife with sexually regressive idiots, the key person being Bill O.

According to excerpts from Ring Surf," Andrea Makris says O’Reilly forced her to have telephone sex against her wishes. He accuses her of making two lewd telephone calls. Mackris’ lawsuit asserts that during a phone conversation this August, O’Reilly suggested she buy a vibrator and was clearly excited. Before hanging up, she said, O’Reilly told her, I appreciate the fun phone call. She contended he made a similar call Sept. 21, ending that one by saying, Next time you’ll come up to my hotel room and we’ll make this happen."

I hear the Republican party is trying to remake its image in the wake of the catastrophe that was the McCain campaign and the train wreck that is Sarah Palin (and her now x son-in-law-to-be and his mother, who was charged with drug prodcution and posession about six months ago... so much for vetting the candidates).

I'm pretty sure their representative, Robert G. Kaufman, author of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine, admitting that the party owns FOX news (yes, perhaps metaphorically) and that their "host" being the poster boy for full on 18/20 on the analysis scale for psychopathology isn't helping.

All that is interesting and hilarious in a sadly ironic way but the question still remains: why is Bill O still on air???

FOX News is owned by the Republican Party. Big surprise

This will not come as a surprise to anyone - neither humans nor Bush/GOP supporters alike:

The GOP (Grand Old Party for those of us who don't care enough about them to find out what the acronym used to mean) owns FOX Media.

Big surprise hey?

"Robert G. Kaufman, author of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine: Moral Democratic Realism and American Grand Strategy, published in 2007. In a ten-minute presentation, Mr. Kaufman posited five "core principles" that Republicans must embrace if they are to succeed "when Obama fails."

Kaufman stated:

"The fifth thing that Republicans have to do is understand the problem of communicating in a world where much of the television media, particularly, is hostile...If I had to recommend one single thing that the Republicans should be doing to help articulate the message, it is to acquire another television network so that there is not just FOX, but multiple sources of alternative information that will do a much better job than we did in 2008 to keep things honest."

I love the "keep things honest" part of that quote... hilarious.

If you watch FOX for anything other than entertainment - and it's a pretty poor source of that - you need serious debrief and, after that, therapy.

And to my much loved J-school Theory prof.... I told you it's owned.... The only way to keep the rocks from being upturned is to make sure anyone who intends to investigate can't.