Fascist Factor Totally Fascist About Fascism
Last night on "The O'Reilly Factor," in a debate about the teaching of intelligent design, Bill O'Reilly dropped his own personal F-bomb:
O'REILLY: But what the argument is is that nothing about intelligent design should be introduced. And I think that's fascism.Kind of a low bar, really. We wondered what else O'Reilly might think is fascism.
Via Nexis, a partial list:
• The tactics of the ACLU
• Not letting city halls have a nativity display
• Prohibiting schools from calling winter break "Christmas holidays"
• Laws that ban discrimination against people with piercings
• The Virginia Military Institute not allowing time for voluntary prayer
• A flat tax on the wealthy
• Really, the tactics of the ACLU
• The Justice Department not answering his questions
• Crowds who shout down Arnold Schwarznegger
• Seriously, the ACLU is bad
• Liberal 527 groups
• Exposing kids to racy images is "libertine fascism," and we're just going to let that lie.
But, just so you know, a lot of things aren't fascist. As he told Charlton Heston, you have to watch out when the other side makes that claim, like, say, when you withdraw funding from controversial art:
I mean, they say -- take a big, full-page ad out in "The New York Times" -- it cost a lot of money -- and say, "Hey...this is fascism"... You know, the -- the typical overblown statements. (October 12, 1999)More typical overblown statements after the jump.
• So you get the picture. It may be Christmas time, but don't display images of Christ or his parents in public or the ACLU may sue. This, of course, is fascism, not freedom. (December 2, 2002)
• O'REILLY: No little star over the manger or anything like that. Just Christmas holiday, which is what it is.
DOUGLAS: That's correct.
O'REILLY: Now this is -- isn't this not fascism? And I'm ashamed that the school board would cave. (December 18, 2002)
• But the ACLU has now lost sight of its original mission, protecting freedom of expression, and it has become a fascist group devoted to hammering Americans with a narrow agenda that is harmful to the country. (January 2, 2003)
• In Newton County, Georgia, the ACLU threatened a school board with litigation if it didn't remove the words "Christmas holiday" from the school calendar. The county caved and removed the words because it couldn't afford to defend the lawsuit. This, ladies and gentlemen, is fascism, that is, using the threat of terror, which a lawsuit is, to promote policy. (January 2, 2003)
• O'REILLY: Listen, Dana, if you have a bone through your nose, all right? I'm not going to hire you to work at my lunch counter. All right? I'm not going to do it. And if the state of California forces me to, as they want to, I'll move out of the state. And I think all small businesses should consider that.
[snip]
WIEHL: Bill, these people have a tough time, even in San Francisco, getting a job. Statistics are like 70 percent cannot get employed.
O'REILLY: We checked it out. It is bogus. But they do have a tough time, and there should be protections. But this is fascism, and it's wrong. (April 28, 2003)
• Court says cadets at the Virginia Military Institute cannot even say a voluntary prayer. Is this fascism? (April 29, 2003)
• Now you can say that Christ is God or a philosopher. But to say that you can't have the creche honoring the birth of Christ in a public place is fascism, number one. And it's anti-Christian. (December 20, 2004 Monday)
• Do we want a guy saying "I'm going to go in and take 15 percent of your -- all your cash if you make -- if you're worth over a certain amount of money." What is this? Is this fascism? (January 11, 2000)
• What is it that the people of the United States cannot get information from the Justice Department? The Justice Department flat. We called late this afternoon and asked the Justice Department...Wouldn't tell us. Wouldn't tell us! It's an outrage. It, it's fascism. It is fascism when you have the Justice Department of the United States supposedly protecting American citizens and refusing to answer any and all questions about corruption investigations. (January 9, 2002)
• The ACLU doesn't care about the law or the constitution or what the people want. It's a fascist organization that uses lawyers instead of Panzers. (January 9, 2004)
• O'REILLY: OK, nothing. So secular society, religious symbols should be banned, kind of like in the Soviet Union and Red China? [snip] You know what you sound like? You sound like a fascist. (June 27, 2005)
• The people who would not allow Schwarzenegger to be heard violated his rights...It was an impossible situation, Matt. You can't fight an irrational mob bent on destroying civil discourse. Those were fascist tactics. (June 16, 2005)
• O'REILLY: Yes, and they [liberal 527 groups] don't want it that way. They've tried to destroy the FOX News Channel and me -- personally me -- and any way they can with the FOX News Channel. These are fascists, I think, and I hope that Soros gets investigated. (January 19, 2005)
• O'REILLY: And I just gave you an example of how kids are under barrage to do have sex. You should be happy about that.
RATNER: Well, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
O'REILLY: OK? And one person says don't, and you object. That's...
RATNER: No, I'm saying for kids to have sex.
O'REILLY: ... you know what that is? Libertine fascism. (October 10, 2002 Thursday)