O’Reilly Producer: ‘We Saved Christmas Last Year’
O’Reilly Producer: ‘We Saved Christmas Last Year’
As part of his annual War on Christmas mania, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly pounced on the town of Great Barrington, MA last year after the town’s selectmen voted 4 to 0 to shut off decorative lights by 10pm in order to be fuel efficient and reduce the town’s carbon footprint. O’Reilly claimed that “the real strategy here is to diminish the public display of Christmas in that secular town” and sent his producer, Jesse Watters, to harass the selectmen.
On his show last night, O’Reilly re-visited the issue with Watters, who had just returned from “yet another visit to Great Barrington.” Watters claimed that the townspeople were “thankful” that O’Reilly “saved Christmas last year”:
O’REILLY: Where’s the love? I’m not feeling any of the love here, Jesse.
WATTERS: Well, here’s the deal. They’re very thankful that we saved their Christmas lights last year. Because without us, they wouldn’t have had any lights whatsoever. But they’re a little embarrassed about the negative attention that their town has drawn because of the controversy.
So on the one hand, they’re thankful that we saved Christmas last year. But on the other hand, they’re a little angry with The O’Reilly Factor and you personally.
Watch it:
Watters is delusional when he says that O’Reilly “saved” Christmas and Christmas lights in Great Barrington. The town never banished lights. They only chose to turn them off two hours earlier than they had previously. Additionally, there is no indication that O’Reilly’s outrage had any effect on changing the town’s policies. It only resulted in “angry, even obscene e-mails from across the country.”
This isn’t the first time The O’Reilly Factor has taken credit for things he had no measurable effect upon. In 2005, O’Reilly claimed that his “reporting and some reporting of others” led to lower gas prices. That same year, he falsely claimed that his French boycott “hurt France.”
Transcript:
(VIDEOTAPE)
NAVARINO: Call them whatever you want to call them. I think they’re just great. They’re Christmas lights. They’re Hanukkah lights. They’re everybody’s lights. We just want people to enjoy our beautiful town.UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want Bill O’Reilly to come down here so, you know, we can just have a little meal with him, talk some sense into him. He doesn’t get us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Merry Christmas to everyone that doesn’t watch FOX.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to say merry Christmas ?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O’REILLY: It’s really pathetic, because one of the ladies said she grew up there. And it used to be — and I remember going there, because I went — I’m talking to Jesse Watters, by the way, The Factor producer.
When I was in Boston, we used to go to Berkshires where the Great Barrington is. Used to be beautiful. Lennox is beautiful. Adams is beautiful. This town is held hostage by secular progressives.
Now, you went to see some of the guys that have ordered no Christmas lights for global warming and don’t say merry Christmas and all of that. What did they say to you?
WATTERS: Well, I mean, this year it was like totally different than last year. Last year it was like Vegas compared to this year. There was people out all over the streets. There was lights hanging across the streets on Main Street. It was very inviting. But I think that was determined to be a safety hazard by the utility company.
O’REILLY: Yes, we called them and they say that’s bull. So this is what it was last year. We’re looking at last year. And now you’ve got a couple of pathetic lights up in the trees. But what I’m interested in is they really hate us up there, right?
WATTERS: Well, we were received kind of bizarrely. We have a love-hate relationship with Great Barrington.
O’REILLY: Where’s the love? I’m not feeling any of the love here, Jesse.
WATTERS: Well, here’s the deal. They’re very thankful that we saved their Christmas lights last year. Because without us, they wouldn’t have had any lights whatsoever. But they’re a little embarrassed about the negative attention that their town has drawn because of the controversy.
So on the one hand, they’re thankful that we saved Christmas last year. But on the other hand, they’re a little angry with The O’Reilly Factor and you personally.
O’REILLY: Would you say — last question. We heard some people wanting Christmas in Great Barrington and some people not wanting. If they had a vote, would Christmas win or lose?
WATTERS: Christmas would definitely win. You know, there’s a vocal minority that’s against it. I think it’s kind of cool and hip to dump on Christmas these days. And then you have these academic elites that just think theoretically it’s an exclusionary holiday.
O’REILLY: All right, Jesse. Thanks very much. We appreciate it.
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I can’t help but giggle. I truly love this nonissue. It blows the actual holiday out of the water!
December 17th, 2008 at 6:55 pmAhhhhhhhhhhh yes…Christmas, that commercialized pagan holiday everyone loves to celebrate! Why thanks for saving it Bildo! I hope you didn’t suffer too many casualties!
December 17th, 2008 at 6:55 pmSuch a tiny man.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:57 pmThis “War on Christmas” fixation is just plain weird. My adviece to Bid Bad Bill, Quit worrying and enjoy the spirit of the season … it is intended to be a celebration, not a battleground.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:59 pmO’REILLY: Where’s the love? I’m not feeling any of the love here, Jesse.
– - If only the REAL joy of Christmas was in the giving, not receiving.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:04 pmWhat a silly man Billo is.
If he really wanted to protect Christmas from the haters he’d do a better job of vetting events before he started throwing his weight around.
Instead he goes off half cocked and hurts the cause he claims to be trying to help.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:05 pmI smell an After School Special coming…
PEACE
December 17th, 2008 at 7:12 pmLet’s get Billo a drug test for christmas….
December 17th, 2008 at 7:15 pmhe needs help.
Christmas, like the Whos singing in Whoville, will happen with or without Billo.
What a narcissist.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:18 pm‘Ja hear?
BO’R dropped an apple and discovered gravity.
BO’R got in a bathtub filled with water, and when it overflowed he yelled “Eureka!” and discovered displacement.
BO’R noticed some old Chinese take-out in the back of his fridge, opened up the carton, noticed some mold, applied it to a papercut and invented penicillin.
BO’R was down in his mother’s basement, playing Dungeons & Dragons with Hannity and Mark Levin and while Dungeon-master Hannity was consulting the X guide on a rule interpretation, BO’R, who was playing as Alhamazad the Wise, noticed that one of the dice had three equal lines to a side, connected by 60-degree angles, and discovered the Equilateral Triangle.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:23 pmFox…. sounds familiar, but
Who are these people?
December 17th, 2008 at 7:28 pmPlug some 100 watters into Watters orifices.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:31 pmPreposterous. If they’d really saved Christmas, they’d have rented a “mission accomplished” banner.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:32 pmOf course Bill’O saved Christmas last year. Proof: Christmas will happen this year. All of us depend on his yearly championing of the holiday to prevent it from suddently ending.
After battling the minions of evil on his show for a month or two, every Christmas eve Bill’O goes out with Excalibur and battles Satan in order to keep the skies clear for Santa Claus.
Thanks Bill’O!
December 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pmBill likes to give the impression that his massive ego-trip of a show actually benefits his viewers.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:45 pmI really don’t know if they actually believe they “saved Christmas” or if it’s simply their lame attempt to strengthen the co-dependent relationship the Factor has with its viewers.
my new nickname for bill-do is “cindy-lou who” in honor of the girl who saved christmas in the grinch who stole christmas
December 17th, 2008 at 7:45 pmCould someone investigate if O’Rielly started his sleazy demagoguery a few years ago on this issue, because 1) he had a lot of his ‘Merry Christmas’ scarves, coffee mugs, etc. printed up, but they didn’t sell well, and 2) he was ever-so-dissapointed to then be told ‘you should have said happy holidays — its more general’.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:59 pmThink progress had an entry on his xmas paraphernalia some years back. He makes a lot of money of of this crap, in the spirit of ‘follow the money’, perhaps this is the real reason. (Do we ever get actually honest arguments from conservatives?)
In other words, Christmas is so sacred to him, he sells it.
Besides, lets not get so religious as to say happy holidays. Let’s keep it to Seasons Greetings– good in any season, presumably. If we could just make that a federal law, he’d go ballistic, I suppose.
The whole premise is absurd yet I like when I overhear people discussing it. It is so magical in a surreal sort of way.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:09 pmThank you, pinhead. Happy Holidays!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:30 pmthis story is pure fantasy that resides in Bill O’Really’s crazy-assed brain. I live not 40 minutes from Great Barrington and this story wasn’t true last year anymore than it is true this year.
O’Really is playing his viewers and he has no integrity–this story is pure, unadulterated bullshit.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:58 pmThat same year, he falsely claimed that his French boycott “hurt France.”
I’m sure the French were so upset that the mental defectives who listen to BillO didn’t descend upon them, dragging their ill-mannered brats and yelling “Does anyone here speak American?”
December 17th, 2008 at 9:03 pmIf he hates France so much, how come his bumper stickers have prominent fleur-de-lis’ on them?
December 17th, 2008 at 9:26 pmI was about ten when I asked my Father, a man who co-founded three successful companies and amassed modest wealth: “How does someone get rich”?
His answer was: “There are two ways. 1. You do something better than anyone else. 2. You steal.”
I think Bill0 chose the second while making false claims about the first.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:48 pmha ha
There’s one thing Bill O’Really? has been good for, and it ain’t Christmas:
Upgrading the quality of humor in comments–on stories about HIM!
ha ha
Just like the selection of Sarah Palin, it’s pure comedy GOLD, baby!
December 17th, 2008 at 9:56 pmI thought Geebutz saves. Now I’m confustulated.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:35 pmJebus, BillO’s such a twit.
RUC, if Geebutz saves, “well he’d better save himself” (name that tune, birthday buddy!)
December 17th, 2008 at 10:50 pmbill o’LIEly “saved” the holiday season by with his tales about phone sex, vibrators, threesomes, masturbation, the loss of his virginity, and sexual fantasies.
See the full complaint HERE
I don’t know why creepy ol’ men with vibrators up their anuses think they should be the mouthpiece for morality and the savior of Christmas, but then again, I guess they can’t just practice deviant sex and talk about it to their subordinates all day either.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:51 pmwould someone mind telling me what a “secular town” is?
December 17th, 2008 at 10:55 pmI’m glad Bill’s red nose came in handy….
December 17th, 2008 at 11:15 pmdarladooner:
I think a “secular town” is one that’s not “really American”. Kinda like California, New England, cities with more than 10,000 people, Northern Virginia, Moscow, France, Scandinavia, and anywhere else Bill0 gets less than a 80% viewership.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:54 pmO’Reilly Producer: ‘We Saved Christmas Last Year’»
We saved some cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving last year. But I threw it out, since it had been in the freezer for 12 months.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:13 amSave it single handed at that..!
Now apply those royal skills to getting our money back from Wall Street and save the economy.
BillO the clown and the Court Jesters.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:48 amIf Billo wants to “save” Christmas, he could give a big check to the vets suffering through the holidays in mental/physical agony or help out for a few hours and see the faces of the poor souls without much of anything at a food bank.
Oh wait, that would require selflessness and giving. If you can’t put a slogan and target that toward a ratings demographic, Bill just doesn’t give a f–k!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:05 amBTW…
I hope Billo and his producers have an extended “silent night” from 8:55 p.m. December 24 until 4:45 p.m. December 25 due to slothful drunkenness.
Ass clowns like that just don’t deserve to cherish in any of the revelry of the holiday they pervert for cold, hard cash.
December 18th, 2008 at 3:11 amBillo will be passing out festive loofahs with red and green Christmas buntings at the pagan burning . . . may have been in the bag too long . . . smell like fish . . . .
December 18th, 2008 at 5:34 amO’reilly thinks pride and greed are cardinal virtues. Having him defend Christmas is like having Pontius Pilote look after Jesus’ well being.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:10 amFollowing up on a comment above, I think we should commission a sculpture along the lines of Mt. Rushmore with likenesses of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Cindy Lou Who, and Billdo O’Reilly, all of whom have saved Christmas.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:26 amReply to 27: I didn’t see anyone respond, so the answer is Jethro Tull, “Hymn 43″: “If Jesus Saves, then he’d better save himself, from the gory glory seekers, who’d use his name in death”.
Good association. I hadn’t thought of that song in a while.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:41 amAren’t there a string of Christmas cartoons about how X saved Christmas ?
The mouse who saved Christmas
The little girl who saved Christmas
and now…The blowhard who saved Christmas
December 18th, 2008 at 10:18 amCrikey. Billo is an insult to imbeciles everywhere.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, you doosh!
December 18th, 2008 at 11:15 amWhen did the oreally? show become a parody?
December 18th, 2008 at 2:20 pmThis sounds exactly like what Fox “News” did to our little Vermont town. One ‘patriot’ in town has created a non-issue regarding our elementary school and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Fox News put our town on their news for a day, knowingly lying that the school had ‘banned the pledge’ from the classroom, when they knew that was not the truth. Being at the center of all this I got to see exactly how Fox knowingly mis-reports actual events solely to get crazed know-nothings to call and leave death threats.
Our little school of 53 students (total grades K – 6) received the most insulting and harassing calls and letters from across the country from irate right wingers that Fox intentionally lied to.
Fox NEVER tells ANY truth about ANYTHING, EVER.
Here is a story about the issue that is slightly more accurate than Fox:
December 18th, 2008 at 6:39 pmhttp://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2008/11/30/one_nation_indivisible_one_town_torn_in_two/