Monday, October 18, 2004

Spin This, Bill

I haven't really thought too much about the whole Bill O'Reilly sexual harassment controversy, except to conclude that it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. But, to be honest, I've got no real emotion need to see Bill go down in flames. I watch Keith Olberman over on MSNBC, anyway. But, under the heading of "I Hate Hypocrites," marvel at this passage from an article in today's USA Today:

O'Reilly and Levinson sparred on The Factor in January while talking about Catherine Bosley, a CBS-TV anchor in Youngstown, Ohio. While on vacation in Florida with her husband, Bosley took part in a wet T-shirt contest, pictures of her surfaced on the Internet, and she was forced to resign.

Levinson says Bosley should not have lost her job. "People are entitled to have private lives. She should be fired if she failed to do something in performance of her profession. Cavorting in a bar late at night has nothing to do with that," he said at the time.

O'Reilly was incredulous. "Let's be realistic," he said, using words that could come back to haunt him. "Politicians, news people, clergy all have images and all depend on the trust of the public to succeed. … You do something like (Bosley), although it's not illegal, it embarrasses your employer because your employer operates on credibility."

Game, set, match, as they say.


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