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Brit, Bill and Roy talk Mao, Obama and Lies
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Thanks for having me on the program, Bill.
You know, I've long noticed that you rarely, if ever, have on opposing voices that can hold their own, and usually opt for like-minded souls who agree vehemently, so I'm rather surprised and pleased to be invited on today. Yes, I know I've been a long time critic and have written extensively about the way in which Fox News distorts it's coverage in order to paint those on the left as evil, fascists, freedom haters, so my thanks for the invite is sincere, as is my surprise at the invite.
Obama's press secretary recently pointed out your long history of partisan coverage, and it seems you folks took exception to an obvious truth, so I'm glad you have me on here to defend it. After all, the news business is all about getting at the truth, right guys?
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Now for the top story tonight: What does Brit Hume think about all of this? The Fox News political senior analyst joins us now from Washington.
Let's get to Anita Dunn first. I don't think Dunn is putting Mao Zedong up as a role model as a person, but as a strategist. Am I wrong there? Do you see it differently
Actually, Bill, if you read the transcript, it's fairly obvious to even a fifth grader can see the point is about having the right attitude to take on seemingly impossible odds. [1]. It's easy for a fifth grader, since Dunn makes that point herself in the speech.
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, she didn't say strategist, Bill. She said philosopher. And look, she may have misspoken. It's a little hard to believe, as you suggest, that she really does admire Mao the man. But the way she put it was, you know, that for — when it came to political philosophy, this guy was obviously a Communist and as you pointed out a mass murderer as well, that's his philosophy. That's — that goes…
Actually, Brit, she said political philosophers. And of course, nothing about murder, just about making your own path, like Mother Theresa did.
O'REILLY: But it was a philosophy, if you read it, Brit, and correct me if I'm wrong, she ties Mother Theresa in on the same theme that Mao Zedong.
That's a good point bill. She does. The same theme exactly, make your own path.
HUME: Go your own way.
O'REILLY: Yeah, that's right. Do it your own way.
HUME: Do it your own way, right.
O'REILLY: And you can overcome tremendous odds.
HUME: Right.
Cool, good to see we're all agree, it's a fairly innocuous point, to be honest.
O'REILLY: However, the use of Mao is insensitive, particularly to Chinese Americans. Look, what if you said well look, Hitler came out of nowhere after the Weimar Republic and single-handedly raised himself up to a fuhrer level. Gee, he was a pretty good political strategist. If you had done that, then everybody in the world would have been condemning you. Yet you can take a Mao Zedong, arguably a worse mass murderer than Hitler, and nobody says a word. Doesn't that strike you as strange?
Hey, look at that, Hitler invades yet another Fox News program. It's like Eastern Europe in the late 30's around here. NIce point there Bill, about how Mao killed more Chinese than Hitler. Of course, to be honest, Abraham Lincoln killed more Americans than Hilter, but that's just some random fact thrown out there to be inflammatory. Oh...right...
HUME: Well, it has something to do with Hitler. And you know, Hitler has become the ultimate dirty word of politics in our time. And you know, you have to be extraordinarily careful about using it. And I think the rule of thumb has to be just never say it. Just never…
O'REILLY: Yeah.
HUME: …compare anybody to the Nazis or Hitler.
O'REILLY: Right.
HUME: You can't — it doesn't work. You can't get away with it. It's over the top.
O'REILLY: Unless you're Mel Brooks, you can't get away with it.
HUME: Pretty hard to do.
No kidding, using Hitler is so over the top. Why do you keep doing it then, Bill? Oh, right, it's over the top.
O'REILLY: But it is interesting though that this story we broke on Thursday on Fox News, Glenn Beck had it on, no mainstream media pickup at all. No discussion about it. So maybe, maybe, the strategy of the White House to isolate Fox News is working.
I know, I'm still waiting for the "mainstream media", who strangely have lower ratings than Fox and don't include radio, to pick up Beck's "Obama is a racist" argument. Man, what is wrong with those people!
What do you hate about the media, Brit?
HUME: Well, I think that's what it's about, Bill. I think this is an effort in effect to quarantine Fox News and to discourage other media outlets from picking up on stories that originate here. My guess is it won't work. I mean, here's why I say that.
It takes the mainstream media a while already to pick up on stories from Fox News. They're already reluctant to do that. It took them a long time on Van Jones. It took them a long time, and even longer time if you look at it, on ACORN. So they're not going to be in any hurry anyway.
We'll yea, I mean, most of them actually have to do fact checking before going to air on a story. That's really not a problem at Fox. And ACORN, yea man, how could they miss a huge story about some guy dressing up as a pimp? I mean, that's almost like missing a huge story about a massive government contractor covering up a rape. Ya'll covered that right? Made sure to hound lawmakers until they fixed it? Right? Right?
O'REILLY: OK, now you say that the Obama people are trying to marginalize Fox and trying to quarantine your work, and I believe there's something to do with that. But I think the motivation is that Barack Obama himself just hates to be put in with Ayers and Wright and Jones and all — he hates it. And since we're the main news organization that does that, that's why he doesn't like us. What do you think?
I dunno, I think most people tend to like other people that lie about them. I mean, sure, Bill Ayers himself says he doesn't know Obama, but hey, what's a "fact" when there's a way to smear a Demonrat, amiright?
Brit, your take?
HUME: The Bill Ayers controversy, I think we were almost alone on that for a long time. That didn't o as far as — but we know from the complaints they've made that they hated that story. They thought it was unfair all along.
I know, it was such a huge controversy. Here y'all were, going on and on about how they were best buds and each other's blood brothers, and yet...neither of them really knew the other. Those dang facts again, getting in the way of a good "story".
O'REILLY: They hated it, and it — maybe it was unfair, because it's hard to gauge, and I tried, and I know you did, too. It's hard to gauge what kind of a relationship Barack Obama had with Bill Ayers. Yeah, they were in the same precincts in Chicago. Yeah, they crossed paths at certain times. But the president has always maintained he didn't know this guy. He wasn't around. You know, the guy supported him. You take the support. So, maybe Obama had a beef there.
Yeah, and when Bill Ayers backed up exactly what Obama said, maybe it turned out that your multi-month smear campaign was nothing but a multi-month long smear campaign. Oh well.
HUME: Well, be that as it may, I think it's fair to say this, Bill. This remains a center right country. I don't think there's any doubt about that. This is a center left or certainly left of center presidency.
I was the one talking there, Brit. Anyway, I'm curious what you mean by "center right" since Fox has consistently painted Obama as an ultra-leftist and he, you know, won a national election a year ago. Something doesn't compute here.
O'REILLY: How far left? How far left?
HUME: Well, I don't think it's — you mean Obama?
O'REILLY: Yeah. How far left is the administration?
HUME: I think he's left of center left.
O'REILLY: Because I do, too. I think, based on his appointments and based on who he's got with him, I think that he's about — he's the most left president that I've seen in my lifetime.
HUME: I think there's reason to suspect that that's true. Not everything he's done is comported with that, but we will see more in the fullness of time. But reporting that continues to remind people of his leftish sensibilities…
O'REILLY: Yeah.
HUME: …and background and associations has got to be something that they don't appreciate. And I don't blame them. I wouldn't appreciate it either if I were in that situation
Yea, Brit, not many people like it when a twenty four "news" network constantly makes up stories about them, and tries to paint them, again and again, as something they're not.
O'REILLY: No, listen, we understand, you know, but…
THANKS BILL! Glad to see you finally get it.
O'REILLY: These stories are worthy. It's not like we're making them up.
No, you just kinda, you know, pass along rumors that other people make up.
O'REILLY: When your White House communication director points to Mao as a philosopher she likes, you know, hey, what's next? Mussolini?
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: Brit Hume, everybody.
Hahaha, Mussolini...what dictator can't we associate with Obama?
And don't forget about me, Bill. I'm here too. What, are you trying to silence me by ignoring me? Trying to make war on my first amendment right to be heard by everyone? Why are you attacking me by ignoring me?
Oh, sorry, I forgot you folks don't get irony. My bad.
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[Note: Interview interjected from here. Note the title there, and then take note how every Fox story seems to involves some "controversy". Sure, it's just a controversy Fox is trying to stir up, but hey, teach the controversy. ramen.]
[Additional on a serious note: This article gives the best advice, quit acting like Fox is news. It's not. It's the PR arm of the Republican party. If you want to know what Republicans think , watch Fox. If you want news, pretty much anyone else is better.]
[1] DUNN: A lot of you have a great deal of ability. A lot of you work hard. Put them together and that answers the "why not" question. There is usually not a good reason. And then the third lesson and tip actually comes from two of my favorite political philosophers: Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa, not often coupled together, but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is, you're going to make choices. You're going to challenge. You're going to say "why not." You're going to figure out how to do things that have never been done before.
But here's the deal — these are your choices. They are no one else's. In 1947, when Mao Tse Tung was being challenged within his own party on his plan to basically take China over, Chiang Kai Shek and the nationalist Chinese held the cities that had the army. They had the airport. They had everything on their side, and people said, "How can you win? How can you do this? How can you do this, against all the odds against you?" And Mao Tse Tung said, "You know, you fight your war, and I'll fight mine."
And think about that for a second. You don't have to accept the definition of how to do things, and you don't have to follow other people's choices and paths, OK? It is about your choices and your path. You fight your own war. You lay out your own path. You figure out what's right for you. You don't let external definitions define how good you are internally. You fight your war. You let them fight theirs. Everybody has their own path.
And Mother Teresa, who, upon receiving a letter from a fairly affluent young person who asked her whether she could come over and help with that orphanage in Calcutta, responded very simply, "Go find your own Calcutta."
OK? Go find your own Calcutta. Fight your own path. Go find the thing that is unique to you. The challenge that is actually yours, not somebody else's challenge. One of the things that we see the Obamas, both of them, Michelle and Barack, came out of backgrounds as community organizers, working.
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