Maybe now, at long last, Bill O’Reilly will find something new to talk about. This week, the Fox News blowhard, who created the “war on Christmas” to boost seasonal ratings a few years ago, declared victory. From the transcript:
“Hi, I’m Bill O’Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight. No joy in SP ville, that is the subject of this evening’s ‘Talking Points Memo.’
“The far left secular progressive community is furious, furious, I tell you about losing the war on Christmas…. [A]ll over the country, the sights and signs of Christmas are on display. Few department stores are telling employees not to say a ‘Merry Christmas.’ And the Taliban-like oppression of the holiday has largely ceased, but the SPs are not happy about that.”
“Taliban-like oppression.” If O’Reilly picks up a newspaper and sees a Best Buy ad supplement that says, “Happy Holidays,” he believes that’s roughly equivalent to theocratic thugs committing acts of violence based their fundamentalist worldview.
In the same segment, O’Reilly said “Joseph Stalin, Mao, and Fidel salute” those who disagree with him about public religiosity.
And there are some who say bloggers use overheated rhetoric.
The bottom line, however, is O’Reilly’s conclusion: “We won and [secular progressives] lost. Good.”
You know, I’m fine with that. I suspect Western Civilization’s appreciation for Christmas is no different now than it was before this Fox News crusade, but if O’Reilly wants to claim victory, mazel tov. Gloat with my blessing. Just, for the love of God, stop talking about it.
But that’s just it — he won’t. Indeed, in the same program, O’Reilly pushed his luck.
After claiming victory, O’Reilly had Focus on the Family’s Carrie Gordon Earll on to discuss Focus’ list of which commercial outlets are acceptable, based on their willingness to prefer “Christmas” to “Holidays.” (Earll said, “This isn’t about Christmas trees. It’s about references, intentional references to Christmas.” Apparently, the culture warriors are now picky.)
O’REILLY: Interesting. Now you have a satire on the Focus on the Family website about people avoiding using the word Christmas. We think it’s an absurd situation. Obviously, we’ve been out in front of this, as you know. But I don’t want to get — I don’t want to overplay the situation. I mean, I want to give people the benefit of the doubt. What is your opinion of the absolute worst, worst retail outlet vis-a-vis ignoring Christmas?
EARLL: Well, again, Bill, we took a snapshot. And based on that snapshot, there are a couple of corporations that jump out at us because it seems that they’re intentionally removing the word Christmas. They’re using the word holiday very readily.
O’REILLY: OK, go ahead.
EARLL: We’ve got Barnes and Noble…
Oops, wrong answer. O’Reilly likes Barnes and Noble: “Now, Barnes and Noble, they say to be fair to them, because they sell a lot of book at Barnes and Noble. They say that they have a Christmas tree all over the place and gazillions of Christmas books on display.”
I see. If a store that doesn’t move merchandise for O’Reilly isn’t enthusiastic enough about promoting Christmas, they’re the moral equivalent of the Taliban. If a store that helps line O’Reilly’s pockets ignores Christmas altogether, they deserve a pass.
He’s a man of principle, after all — weak, malleable, greedy principles.