Bill O'Reilly On DailyKos: Part I

Bill O'Reilly recently had this to say about the website DailyKos:

• "This is hate of the worst order. It's like the Ku Klux Klan. It's like the Nazi party. It's no different."
• "That website traffics in hate, as do the Nazi websites. No difference."
• "The website sells hate, as does the KKK and the Nazis. The comparison is valid."
  

Really? No difference?

Apparently, all of this stems from a few user comments O'Reilly found on the website regarding Dick Cheney, the pope, etc.

So let's look at what remark about the pope O'Reilly found so offensive:

"The pope is a primate."

Hm. That seems pretty mild to me. Hardly worthy of labeling someone a Nazi.

Also, it's completely accurate and true. On two levels, no less. Let's look at the definition of "primate":

pri·mate /ˈpraɪmeɪt or, esp. for 1, ˈpraɪmɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[prahy-meyt or, esp. for 1, prahy-mit] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	Ecclesiastical. an archbishop or bishop ranking first among the bishops of a province or country.

2.

any of various omnivorous mammals of the order Primates, comprising the three suborders Anthropoidea (humans, great apes, gibbons, Old World monkeys, and New World monkeys), Prosimii (lemurs, loris, and their allies), and Tarsioidea (tarsiers), esp. distinguished by the use of hands, varied locomotion, and by complex flexible behavior involving a high level of social interaction and cultural adaptability.

3.	Archaic. a chief or leader.

---

[Origin: 1175–1225; ME primat dignitary, religious leader <>prīmāt- (s. of prīmās), n. use of L prīmās of first rank, deriv. of prīmus first (see prime); (def. 2) taken as sing. of NL Primates Primates, as if ending in -ate¹]

—Related forms

pri·ma·tal, adjective, noun

pri·ma·tial /praɪˈmeɪʃəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[prahy-mey-shuhl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation, pri·mat·i·cal /praɪˈmætɪkəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[prahy-mat-i-kuhl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Taxonomically, the pope is a primate, just like you, me, gibbons, lemurs, etc. Ecclesiastically, the pope is also a primate, insofar as he is the head bishop of his country. That is simply a 100% accurate statement.

Oh, and here's a video of O'Reilly's producer ambushing and reprimanding a Jet Blue executive for sponsoring a DailyKos forum (YearlyKos):


It's very important to make a distinction here that O'Reilly himself failed to make: these are user comments, not writings from the website itself. That's a rather huge detail to gloss over, and O'Reilly probably misled his viewers into seeing DailyKos as a fringe group of hateful crazies who want to murder Tony Snow. That's pretty much the definition of spin. Actually, let's look up the definition:

spin
noun
1.	a swift whirling motion (usually of a missile)
2.	the act of rotating rapidly; "he gave the crank a spin"; "it broke off after much twisting"
3.	a short drive in a car; "he took the new car for a spin"
4.	rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral [syn: tailspin]
5.	a distinctive interpretation (especially as used by politicians to sway public opinion); "the campaign put a favorable spin on the story"
verb
1.	revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis; "The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy"
2.	stream in jets, of liquids; "The creek spun its course through the woods"
3.	cause to spin; "spin a coin" [syn: whirl]
4.	make up a story; "spin a yarn"
5.	form a web by making a thread; "spiders spin a fine web"
6.	work natural fibers into a thread; "spin silk"
7.	twist and turn so as to give an intended interpretation; "The President's spokesmen had to spin the story to make it less embarrassing"
8.	prolong or extend; "spin out a visit"

Yepp. It's number seven.

And, just to put this "hate" thing into perspective, here's a video of O'Reilly getting really really angry:


And while we're at it, here are a few comments that O'Reilly's viewers left at DailyKos after watching the FOX News segment:

• "U/R A DIRTY RECTUM LICKING COMMIE SLIME MAGGOT! BORN FROM KARL MARX'S ROTTING FECES."
• "You...suck beyond belief. Hurry up and die."
• "I have never seen so much hate you would embarrassed Nazi’s

  Why can’t people like you just make a living, instead of hating everyone else?

  Are you all muslims?

  I just say fuck you, asshole"