Bill O’Reilly defends the bailout, and blames Bush

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Bill O’Reilly today launched into what sure sounded like a genuine tirade on his radio show today. It’s worth checking out, whether you like O’Reilly or not. He throws a good tantrum. Best I can tell, he was making these points:

If I had to guess, I’d say O’Reilly’s tirade against talk radio hosts was directed at Rush Limbaugh. (Among other things, O’Reilly said, ‘They’re rich, these guys -- big cigars, all of that!’)

I’m not certain what Rush has been saying about the bailout. I did catch a little of his show today, and he made a convoluted argument against the bailout that went something like this: There is a chance the bailout will be wildly profitable for the federal government, and Obama can’t be trusted with all that money; and you could restore market confidence faster by reducing capital gains taxes anyway.

I happen to enjoy talk radio. I think these two and a few others are very influential, but it’s hard to keep up with how they’re using their influence. These guys do very different shows. O’Reilly is trying to position himself as an independent arbiter of What’s Best For the Folks. He’s been very critical of Bush lately, and he’s threatening to be tough on Sarah Palin if she won’t come on his show.

Rush, on the other hand, is relentlessly, cheerfully, partisan, a Happy Warrior for the Right.

If any of you are regular listeners to talk radio shows, and have interesting bailout stories to tell (Who’s for it? Who’s against?), I’d be interested in hearing them in the comment section.

--Peter Viles

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