The whole "Left appeased Hitler" thing would make a great meme were it not completely flipped from the truth. It was the Right pre-WWII that appeased Hitler. Chamberlin was a Conservative; Republicans were isolationist. It was the Xian Right in Europe that collaborated. The non-Communist Left wanted to take on Hitler first and did, in fact, in Spain. Stupid, Lying or Both? I report, you decide!

The people who were saying that Hitler wasn't such a bad guy and what business of ours was it to get involved in the whole Europe thing were.........Republicans.

My God, Bill O'Reilly is just the stupidest man alive. Anybody who takes him seriously must be a Toby Keith fan.

Actually it was the right wingers of the 30's such as Ford, Prescott Bush, Watson etc. that thought Hitler was "not such a bad guy". I don't recall reading about "liberals" feeling that way. My father spent time in Spain with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade contesting the Fascism sponsored by Hitler. He paid a large price for it after he returned. I think it was the guys that thought Hitler was not such a bad guy that were taking out their wrath.

It is worth remember that Bill O'Reilly belongs to the party that kept the United States out of the war against Hitler for over two years. FDR did everything in his power to assist Britain, Canada and the few other countries that continued to stand against Hitler after the summer of 1940. I strongly suspect that, were O'Reilly writing in 1939, he would be one of those saying that Hitler was not such a bad guy.

I am new to Salon but an old time O'Reilly fan. And although I readily acknowledge that he can come across as shrill and intolerant in his interviews with other media outlets (he's not much fun to hear speak) he makes excellent points as a populist and justice & truth seeker. Of course, he's biased but as an enlightened and 'truth seeking' media outlet, you should be aware of the fact that he is just a typical product of the New York media culture that goes by this adage: one is not taken seriously as a journalist unless he or she is ripping into someone or something. And being loud and rude-seeming just comes with the territory. Not everyone in the media there is like this, to wit Ted Koppel, but that is the culture there and he is a product of it. His TV show serves a very useful purpose as a politically agnostic watchdog and muck-raker (e.g. he doesn't care who he rips). So your thinly veiled sarcasm of his so-called smear merchant blacklist is, at best, silly and comical and at worst, jealous seeming and demeaning of yourselves.

Best comment ever off

Comment #20

Q: How many Bill O'Reillys does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: Five

One to scream about the pinheads in Washington who let the light go out

One to claim that the "far left" wants to keep children in the dark

One to make obscene phone calls to an employee while no one can see him

One to b*tch about the "lightbulb assassins" who tried to make the light go out sooner

And one to scream "shut up!" at the other four.

Regarding Pete Josenhans letter praising O'Reilly's journalistic style, I have to comment. Even though I came to the page to register my amusement directly about Bill, I have to take time to thank Pete for standing in as the David Brooks of the comment page to let us liberals know how to act in our best interest.

I feel so lost without sufficient guidance from one of the "adults" on the right.

Of course I hadn't taken time to understand Mr O'Reilly's journalistic style before calumnizing him as a complete shill and idiot. My bad.

I so did not recognize the subtlety of his NY style over substance and apologize for my half-baked opinions...even if they're right (in a lefty sort of way). I'm sure you knew he was a private school kid from the burbs.?

Gosh Pete, who do you think we should run in the next election?

This guy is one of the worst Right-wing attack dogs in the Media... what makes him so bad is that he doesn't even know how far right he is. In Bill's world, there's no questioning US policy: if it comes from the administration, it must be good.

Where's the real analysis Bill? Is there any grey matter up there?

Americans in general and Republicans in particular love to trot out the "he would have shrugged at Hitler" trope. It seems to me that Americans did, in fact, do a fair bit of shrugging at Hitler between 1939 and 1941; not to mention harbouring a fairly strong pro-fascist wing of the Republican party. America First, anyone? Lindbergh? Gore Vidal? Gerald Ford?

Anyway, America....stop it!

Gosh, War Room, I've been a pretty devoted follower, but if you can't even rile O'Reilly, I may have to either heat up my trenchant Comments to help the Cause or go see if the Daily News or the St. Pete's Times have even cooler blogs.

Anyone who would be seen with Katie Couric has got to have loofah between the ears. Admittedly I didn't see the Blessed Coo Event of Bill 'n Katie, but I am still willing to bet my hut that Katie was perky and that none of her questions could be represented by an icepick in a rebus.

I sometimes revel in smug realization at the limited scope (an area over which activity, capacity, or influence extends; Merriam-Webster) of conservatives and other closed minds among the enlightened. People of open mind are not cowed by repetition of ideas or invocations of power. Someone like O RLY will probably never understand or care to understand nor be able to accept the objections to their 'cause'. Their focus is too narrow.

"These pin-heads running around going, 'Get out of Iraq now' don't know what they're talking about," he said. "These are the same people before Hitler invaded in WWII that were saying, 'He's not such a bad guy.'"

You're right as usual, Bill. I've often talked with my friends about all those damn 80-year old traitors running around the place.

O'Reilly stopped making sense (if he ever did) years ago.