After observing how Bill O'Reilly reacted to David Corn's allegations that O'Reilly lied about his coverage of the Falkland Islands conflict, I hope NBC News feels vindicated in its response to Brian Williams. Why? Because O'Reilly's desperate flailing and hilariously short fuse are making Brian Williams and NBC News look like the adults in the room.
Taking Williams off the air was absolutely the right move because this is how a serious news anchor and his serious news division should behave in the big boy leagues. Conversely, O'Reilly taking the bait and vocally protesting the Corn allegations is amateur hour, and only lends more visibility to the Mother Jones bombshell. Good job, Bill.
O'Reilly, on the other hand, reminds me of how smear-merchant Chuck C. Johnson behaves whenever The Daily Banter or Little Green Footballs publishes articles that expose how completely hackish and incompetent he is. His first reaction is almost always to throw a temper tantrum on social media, not realizing that it only makes things worse for him. For example, when he asked us to remove licensed photos of his face, we replaced his photos with, shall we say, less flattering images. Or when rumors circulated that Johnson allegedly pooped on the floor of his college dorm, Johnson inexplicably kept the rumors alive when he threatened to sue anyone who repeated them, stupidly amplifying the story. This is what O'Reilly is doing. He's pulling a Chuck Johnson.
On the other hand, while NBC News has done an admirable job with handling the Brian Williams fracas, its cable news network is a mess. Before we continue, I hasten to preface that I like MSNBC. When I criticize MSNBC... CONTINUE READING