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O'Reilly's the Big Winner

Posted Nov 5th 2008 3:41PM by TMZ Staff

Make no mistake about it: Barack Obama isn't the only one who hit the jackpot last night.

We're actually going to get serious on this one. FOX News Channel has got to be celebrating today. Bill O'Reilly can have a field day with the new Prez, and there may be no one else on that field to challenge him.

MSNBC's decision to cheer on Obama worked during the election. Keith Olbermann's ratings and demos are definitely up. But here's the dilemma: MSNBC has squarely taken sides and courted an audience that now expects good news about the Prez elect. That's somewhat true about CNN as well. But here's the problem with TV -- viewers get bored with cheerleaders, even if they agree with them.

So what's O'Reilly gonna do? He's already got a huge lead in the ratings. Will he go for the jugular? He actually took our call today and said, "We are going to be the watchdogs. We don't know what Obama is going to do. It's my job to explain every move he makes, but I'm not going to nitpick him."

Here's what's interesting -- O'Reilly doesn't really have to attack if MSNBC and CNN throw softballs. Being somewhat neutral could end up actually looking edgy, and viewers like edgy.

One final thing. O'Reilly actually told us he kinda blew it with Bush. He said he never looked at the way Bush was handling the economy until it was too late.

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Tags: barack obama, BarackObama, election, Fox News, FoxNews

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(Page 5 of 6) Previous 15 Comments | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

61. AMERICA LOVES PRESIDENT OBAMA.

Posted at 3:52AM on Nov 6th 2008 by the older lady that touched your girlfriend inappropriately back in the day and now she\\\'s bi-curious.

62. ***NEWSFLASH***

BILL O-REILLY'S BOYFRIEND IS NO LONGER A REPUBLICAN, BUT A LIBERTARIAN. HOW COME NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THAT?

Posted at 3:51AM on Nov 6th 2008 by the homeless illegal alien accessing the internet on a stolen laptop while sitting on the steps of The Kodak Theatre, right here

63. THIS IS THE VERY REASON I WATCH CNN AND MSNBC, FOXNEWS HAS PLUNGED IN THE RATINGS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT TRYING TO HEAR NEGATIVE COMMENTS ABOUT OUR PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA , SEN MCCAIN SAID IT BEST LAST NIGHT. THE REPUBLICANS ARE LOOKING MORE AND MORE IGNORANT, MOST OF THEM LOOK LIKE RACIST IDIOTS ESPECIALLY FOXNEWS.

Posted at 4:42AM on Nov 6th 2008 by tanya

64. The writer's assumption that Bill O'Reilly was "attacking" Obama prior to the election is extremely ignorant. He was fair to the man, and THAT is the reason his ratings are what they are, not because the right-wing audience is salivating for some Obama-bashing. Get a clue, TMZ. And if you already knew better, shame on you for twisting the facts on purpose. Honest journalism is dead.

Posted at 6:14AM on Nov 6th 2008 by Brendan

65. O'Reilly is a bald faced liar - eg. Paris Business Group.
He couldn't be neutral if he tried.
No Spin and all that bollocks. He is an ego maniac with a disgusting temper. "We'll do it live!!!!"
Gets beaten and wants a federal inquiry.
A truly disturbed character.


Posted at 4:48PM on Nov 6th 2008 by Andrew Burt

66. George W Bush is a phenomenal president, it was Clinton that drove this country into the ground he was the one the screwed the economy and pulled the troops out of desert storm before the effort was finished. If you want to blame someone for the downfall of the economy blame Slick Willy.

Posted at 7:14AM on Nov 6th 2008 by gw

67. As an independent--I love watching bill oreilly--you cannot get the straight truth from the other channels, abc, nbc,msnbc--glenn beck is great for the truth too!

Posted at 7:52AM on Nov 6th 2008 by Karen

68. Billy, your my "MAN"!!!!

Posted at 9:19AM on Nov 6th 2008 by TT

69. I find myself skipping some of the programs I like to watch O'Reilly. Sometimes I get ticked off at him but he does have an interesting show. He leans right but he can be objective which I like.

Posted at 9:49AM on Nov 6th 2008 by Reine

70. Once again, TMZ can't spell. They meant to write, "O'Reilly's the Big WIENER".

And note that "O'Reilly's" means "O'Reilly IS", not "O'Reilly HAS".

Posted at 10:55AM on Nov 6th 2008 by La torta de salchicha

71. 36. O"Reilly is going to do what EVERY FOX NEWS SHOW DOES,,,BE FAIR AND BALANCED!!! No one on FOX ever wiped Obama's ass and as a result their hands are nice and clean!!! .....unlike EVERY OTHER NETWORK OUT THERE!!!

Posted at 6:17PM on Nov 5th 2008 by noitall
=======================================================================================

Fox News isn't even remotely "clean". They've been continously wiping Bush's ass, and now their hands, bodies, noses, and tongues are covered with eight years' worth of Bush's diseased filth.

Of course they're going to go after Obama. They are ass-kissingly prejudiced in favor of the Republicans, and massively biased against anything and anyone that have anything to do with the Democratic Party.

I see nothing wrong with this. Press outlets have a right to be biased, and throughout American history, they have been. This is what Freedom of the Press is all about: we have the right to publish just about anything, even if it is strongly opinionated and goes against those who are in power.

What I don't like about Fox is the fact that they speak with a forked tongue. They _say_ that they are "Fair and Balanced", which is not true. If they were honest and just said, "We provide a conservative bias to balance out other outlets' liberal bias", I wouldn't have a problem. But they are too weak and cowardly to publicly cop to that, and instead, they just express that via innuendo, which is the hallmark of an ass-kissing weasel.

Posted at 11:25AM on Nov 6th 2008 by 9nv8qnk73jasdfg

72. FIX YOUR CONTENT FILTERS, TMZ!

Your software doesn't let the word "a.c.c.u.m.u.l.a.t.e.d" go through when written normally, presumably because it contains the letters "c", "u", and "m" next to each other.

Please tell the Intro To Data Processing interns who manage your site's software to improve the pattern matching in your content filters. It's trivially simple to write something that blocks the words "c.u.m" and "c.u.m.s" and "c.u.m.m.i.n.g" without blocking other words like "a.c.c.u.m.u.l.a.t.e.d". Just tell your staff to ask a _real_ computer programmer how to do this, if it's beyond their capabilities.

Posted at 11:34AM on Nov 6th 2008 by I hope this helps

73. 63. George W Bush is a phenomenal president, it was Clinton that drove this country into the ground he was the one the screwed the economy and pulled the troops out of desert storm before the effort was finished. If you want to blame someone for the downfall of the economy blame Slick Willy.

Posted at 7:14AM on Nov 6th 2008 by gw
===================================

You must be crazy! It was George H. W. Bush (the current President's father) who ordered that the troops to not go into Baghdad during Desert Storm. One of the reasons for why the current Bush was so hung up on going into Iraq is because he was obsessed with reversing his father's failure to do so.

Another piece of evidence for your craziness is the fact that despite his other faults, Bill Clinton BALANCED THE BUDGET. He worked with the Republicans and Democrats to do so. It was the current Bush who stopped working with the other party and was so weak in his personal convictions that he let his own party run up what is now likely to be a TRILLION dollar deficit.

All this information is easy to find in your libraries and on the internet.

... or maybe you're being facetious. It's hard to tell.

Posted at 11:42AM on Nov 6th 2008 by .

74. For all of the individuals who posted a comment in favor of the Bush administration, I have one question, are you in America? If so, are you affecting by rising oil cost, foreclosures, lost jobs, and a economy that is going down fast. If I recall when President Bush inherited the white house, he also inherited a surplus. However, he left a trillion dollar debt! This is ludicrous to suggest that this is an example of good leadership. The "world" wants America to change. America has spoken. And Americans who are of various race, religion, background, and economic status, have decided that Barack Obama is the right choice for the job. The world celebrated his victory. It don't want to suggest that many of the comments I read were "racist", I will however, say they are stuck in a time warp. The world is changing, and it is time for America to catch up! Period.

Posted at 6:00PM on Nov 6th 2008 by Brooklyn, NY

75. George W. Bush was a phenomenal leader? Your kidding right? Whom ever believes that...must live in a box. America has spoken, and they are not in that box with you. You are an island right now. The world celebrated with Barack Obama, and many of these comments, suggest that they like the racist, oppressive ideology that this country was litterally built on. Many of these comments are from educated people, and clearly you can see that, but all the degrees in the world can not hide racism. It is sad on many levels. This man was elected because he is smart, he is connected to "people", he appeals to the massive and not just one "particular" group. George W. Bush was the most unpolished, ignorant presidents I have known in my life time. He was more his "daddy's" son than he was a leader. Barack Obama came up the ranks, he is a true American story! People from all walks of life voted for him, obviously not for the color of his skin, however, for the content of his character. When Bush won his second term, across the world they burnt the America flag and his pictures. This man will heal this country and the world. Come into the new world, why you guys are sitting here crying and moaning about a historical moment in America's history, the world is rejoicing. "Think outside the box!' You may stumble on a new horizon that may offer a different perspective, and this may benefit you in some way. Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America, respect that, this is still your country. Barack was not elected because of his skin color, he was elected because the people believed he was the best option offered to them as a whole. Thank God American politics are done through a democratic process, because left up to some people this country would still have slaves. America is the most racist country in the New World, and that is a fact, it is time we get over race, because it is not about race, it is about ideology. You can hide behind the comments that question his experience, that say the negative thing that I have read, but underneath it all, your comments have no substance, it's racist! Tell Mr. O'Reilly, Ludicris said, "whatz up"! HA HA HA HA

Posted at 4:31PM on Nov 7th 2008 by Brooklyn, NY

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