Bill O'Reilly and San Francisco, part deux

Bill-zilla,
hat tip to monk.

i was in kansas city and missed part one, but here's a link to the audio of the controversial spot on his radio show that started it all. the transcript is below, but suffice it to say that o'reilly launched into a bit of a tirade against my fair city for putting a measure on the ballot last week that would urge city schools to reject military recruiters from campus recruitment.

and because i couldn't have said it any better, here's today's follow-up:

O'Reilly vies for "Best Editing" Emmy.

On last night's O'Reilly Factor, Bill defended his previous statement regarding an attack on San Francisco. How? By completely editing it out. O'Reilly claimed that his statement was merely a "satirical riff."

To prove his point, O'Reilly played the audio clip from last Tuesday's Radio Factor:

"I hate to be pickin' on you guys in California. I hope you don't take it personally. One lady did yesterday. It isn't about you, the individual Californian, it's about how crazy your state is. In San Francisco they're voting on two initiatives. One would ban military recruiting. Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I'm not gonna give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I'm the President of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little Presidential podium, and I say, 'Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not gonna get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead."

O'Reilly chose that moment to end the clip. Here's what he decided to leave out:

"And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead. "

When one of his guests questioned the editing of the most controversial lines, O'Reilly claimed it was because the clip was too long. How convenient.

You might as well show a documentary about the KKK and stop when they leave the meeting with white cloaks and torches. Are they all going for a nice walk? We can only assume.

via Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O'Reilly, Intl.

o'reilly is not only defending himself but also going on the offensive, claiming that his rant "needed to be said."

What I said isn't controversial. What I said needed to be said. I'm sitting here and I'm looking at a city that has absolutely no clue about what the world is. None. You know, if you had been hit on 9/11 instead of New York, believe me, you would not have voted against military recruting. Yet the left-wing, selfish, Land of Oz philosophy that the media and the city politicians have embraced out there is an absolute intellectual disgrace.

via ThinkProgress (full transcript and audio)

i guess it's left-wing, selfish, squirrely politicians who drafted the anti-discrimination laws... my in-house attorney (i.e. wifey) tells me that the root of the on-campus recruiting problem stems from anti-discrimination code. schools have rules that say that organizations who support discrimination on its face are not allowed to recruit on-campus. the government does just that -- supports discrimination on its face. thanks to president clinton, we have the lovely don't-ask-don't-tell policy and well, if you tell you're toast. but i'm sure mr. bill doesn't want to make this a gay issue. lord knows that would only fan the flames.

Mayor Newsome had a few words of his own in response:

I've never been impressed with what he's had to say, and I'm not impressed now. Consider the source. Remember, this is the guy who wanted me arrested after (San Francisco sanctioned same-sex marriages last year). He never let his opinion get in the way of the facts.

i like this Newsome guy more and more.