Bill O’Reilly spends a big chunk of time in his new book “Pinheads and Patriots” analyzing which moments so far in Barack Obama’s presidency have been “pinhead” moments, and which have been “patriot” moments.
The “Pinheads and Patriots” label may be familiar to some Fox News viewers — it’s the name of a long-standing segment on The O’Reilly Factor, and the Harvard-educated Fox News host seems to have brought the same witticisms and insights to the book that viewers have come to expect from his show.
O’Reilly is certain that one particularly “pinhead”-ish moment was when the White House declared war on Fox News last fall, and that “the declaration of war from the White House came as a complete surprise to those of us who toil at FNC. You know, it was kind of like a symbolic Pearl Harbor.”
[TPM SLIDESHOW: This Means War! White House Takes On Fox News]
Here are some other highlights from the book, which TPM obtained an early copy of, and which goes on sale today:
- On Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win:
By the way, I would like to win the Nobel Peace Prize some day, so if you run into [Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjørn Jagland], please tell him that even though I’ve done nothing directly to promote world peace, I do want fewer nukes and have some Muslim friends. Should be enough.
- Full quote on the White House declaring war on Fox News last fall:
By the way, shouldn’t the President return the peace prize for such an aggressive action? After all, the Fox News Channel is a nonviolent enterprise with no standing army. The declaration of war from the White House came as a complete surprise to those of us who toil at FNC. You know, it was kind of like a symbolic Pearl Harbor.
- On Obama and terrorism:
The pattern we are seeing with President Obama is that evil doesn’t really matter all that much; it’s treated as just another bump in the road.
Unlike President Bush the Younger and Ronald Reagan before him, Mr. Obama does not like to confront people with their sins. There is no “Axis of Evil” or “Evil Empire” rhetoric coming out of the Obama White House. That would be too “divisive.”
The problem with that approach is that it goes against the American way. We are a nation that makes value judgments, and demands that the bad guys pay a price.
- On Obama’s birthplace (birthers: shield your eyes):
Barack Obama had to be happy he was set to enjoy Christmas in Hawaii, his birth state.
- On how Obama needs to be more dramatic:
No Drama Obama. That image won’t work in the long run. The President has to step up his urgency level if he wants to be two-termer Obama.
- On Obama as a socialist:
I said he was not [a socialist] because he wasn’t actively trying to control private property, which is what socialists do. I did say, however, that Mr. Obama believes in some socialist tenets, such as income redistribution and the imposition of social justice through legislation or even through the use of executive orders.
You can rightly call some of his policies “socialistic” — and I have — but saying Obama is the El Norte version of Hugo Chavez is absurd.
- On Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, etc:
But some of the people with whom Mr. Obama has associated in the past are far more than left-wing ideologues. They are extremists. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers are crazy guys, people consumed with hatred toward their own country.
O’Reilly also devotes a big section of the book to designating other Presidents and historical figures as either “pinheads” or “patriots.” Among the “patriot” Presidents are Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Ronald Reagan. The “pinheads” include Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, and Jimmy Carter.
As for “prominent Americans,” Robert Kennedy, Davy Crockett, and Annie Oakley (because, as O’Reilly writes, “somehow I’ve got to get a woman into the historical mix and Annie is my gal”) are some of those who make the “patriot” cut. John Edwards, George Soros, and Babe Ruth (for his sordid personal life) are “pinheads.”
And then there’s the category of people who had a particular influence on Papa Bear himself. Marilyn Monroe (“with some reservations”) and Lassie (“Timmy, I’m not so sure about”) are “patriots.” Madonna, Mel Gibson, and Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin (for killing themselves with drugs, of course) are “pinheads.”
As for Obama, O’Reilly concludes: “He’s a Patriot for serving his country but also a Pinhead on some important issues. We will know rather soon which label will override the other.”
