rejected Bill O'Reilly Bashes the Aarp
“ A few months ago, we were finalizing the marketing plan for "The O'Reilly Factor for Kids" book. And I told a publisher to pitch me to the AARP magazine, thinking the kids book would be interesting to grandparents looking out for their grand kids.
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But the magazine wasn't interested at all. OK, that sometimes happens.
But then I started researching the magazine and found the cover stories were all about left-wingers.... Now it is true the AARP backed the Bush prescription drug plan, but the organization now opposes any private Social Security investment, and even wants to raise the payroll tax, as well as taxes on gasoline. In short, the AARP has become a liberal organization. Did you know that? I didn't know that. ”
What psychologists commonly refer to as "cognitive dissonance," Fox calls commentary. Unable to accept rejection from AARP Magazine (maybe they didn't want to hype a kids book by a political fanatic facing sexual harassment charges!), Big Bad Bill lashes out at the seniors' lobbying org, the only way he knows how - disingenuously and viscously.
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| O'Reilly is just another feel-good children’s author. "And I told a publisher to pitch me to the AARP magazine, thinking ["The O'Reilly Factor for Kids"] book would be interesting to grandparents looking out for their grand kids." |
Aside from being a vicious loudmouth, O'Reilly is also a pervert, according to tapes made by an employee. Even the far right stays away from him now. It doesn't take communist sympathies to want to protect your octogenarian audiences from questions like, "Gramma, what's a loofah?"
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| AARP Magazine has a liberal bias! "But then I started researching the magazine and found the cover stories were all about left-wingers. Kevin Spacey, Cybil Shepard, Danny Glover, Billy Crystal, Lauren Hutton, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg. In fact, I couldn't find one article on a conservative or even a traditionalist in the AARP magazine -- not one." |
Funny, all those names have something in common--they're all movie celebrities. They make the cover of US Weekly and People all the time. But a quick survey of the magazine's web site proves O'Reilly just plain wrong. It has featured John McCain, Colin Powell, Tommy Franks, Nancy Reagan, William F. Buckley, Jr... Even a crank named Bill O'Reilly! (Scroll down) |
| Progressive taxation is Marxist! "[T]he AARP policy book ... says, 'tax revenue sources should distribute the tax burden according to people's ability to pay,' -- right out of the Marx handbook. 'Taxation should be progressive.'" |
Leaving aside the fact that progressive taxation is completely unrelated to Marxism (how can you tax people differently if everybody has the same?) -- that's just the usual red-baiting we expect from a demagogue like O'Reilly -- progressive taxation is actually the only income tax the U.S. has ever had, except for the Social Security payroll tax. Lincoln first came up with the progressive tax to pay for the Civil War, then Wilson implemented it under the 16th Amendment, ratified 1913. |
| "The AARP strongly favors the death tax, even though most polls show seniors are opposed to it." |
It all depends on how you ask the question. When asked, Do you favor eliminating the estate tax or simply reforming it to protect small businesses and family farms? the majority of seniors supported reform rather than elimination (58-37). Currently, only heirs to estates worth more than $1 million are taxed -- that's about 0.00006 percent of the population each year. Estates that included family farms and businesses accounted for just one percent of the money raised by the tax. |
What psychologists commonly refer to as "cognitive dissonance", Fox calls commentary. Unable to accept rejection from AARP Magazine (maybe they didn't want to hype a kids book by a political fanatic facing sexual harassment charges!), Big Bad Bill lashes out at the Seniors lobbying org, the only way he knows how - disingenuously and viscously.
Bill O'Reilly, by his own account, has responded to a polite rejection from the AARP to help him market his book by attacking the venerable support and lobbying group as liberal, progressive and "Marxist."
But aside from the obviously specious and petty remarks about the AARP, what is truly amazing is what O'Reilly reveals about his own politics.
For example, he deems progressive taxation as "Marxist." He just makes a little word-association between "progressive politics" and "progressive tax," puts it through the right-wing red-baiting grinder, and out comes an aristocratic apothegm caked in populist mud.
O'Reilly says, "We want powerful people to be honest about their beliefs and agendas. That's only fair. In life, we should all know where people are coming from." We ask Bill O'Reilly, as he promotes taxing work over wealth while hiding himself in populist rhetoric -- where are you coming from?
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