For the past two weeks, in the spirit of fair, equal, and balanced media consumption, I helped myself to a nightly dose of the O’Reilly Factor, cooked up fresh and served up piping hot by Bill O’Reilly.
During the broadcast on August 26, Mr. O’Reilly derided the DNC proceedings as all “contrived and bloviating.” But don’t worry, he assured his viewers, he would be equally as critical of the upcoming Republican convention in Minneapolis-St.Paul.
You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.
According to a non-scientific tally based on transcripts of the show during the conventions, Mr. O’Reilly used the word “bloviating” five times and the word “contrived” three times, for a combined B&C Score of eight for the DNC.
8/27/2008 8:13:09 PM “Harry Reid is bloviating right now. I say that affectionately. I’m the top bloviator in the world.”
8/26/2008 8:13:39 PM “You are looking at a picture of the Democratic convention where bloviating is the order of the evening. I say that in a very affectionate way.”
8/25/2008 8:22:21 PM “We have Nancy Pelosi bloviating, and I say that in an affectionate way, behind us.”
During the RNC, he never used the word “contrived” and only used the word “bloviating” twice, for a B&C Score of two.
9/3/2008 8:46:56 PM “This convention, the Denver convention, to me there is a lot of bloviating going on.” (This one should technically earn only half a point for the RNC, since he’s referring to Denver as well.)
9/1/2008 8:12:07 PM “This week, Senator McCain and his staff should keep it simple, keep bloviating to a minimum.”
If I assume that Mr. O’Reilly’s B&C usage would have continued at the same rate during the first day of the RNC–which was incidentally too low-key to draw any major commentary–that still only gives the RNC a B&C Score of 2.666
Did the DNC really have that much more B&C than the RNC? And also, does something insulting become not insulting if you claim that you’re saying “affectionately”? I’d argue that the answer is no on both counts, but I’d hate to be accused of bloviating by Papa Bear himself.
Katia Bachko is on staff at The New Yorker.