It was reported last week that Fox News Channel is suing writer/humorist Al Franken for copyright infringement over his forthcoming book, "Lies and Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."
Fox allegedly filed the suit at the behest of talk host and longtime Franken nemesis Bill O'Reilly, who engaged in a shouting match with the comic on C-SPAN the other month; they probably let him write the lawsuit too, as its full of Factor-esque mean-spirited references to Franken being "shrill and unstable," as well as "intoxicated," and "not a well-respected voice in American politics."
The suit, of course, has had the unintended consequence of sending Franken's books sales through the roof; in two days he's moved from #84 to #1 on Amazon.com. FNC is attempting to obtain an injunction to prevent the book's release over Franken's use of the phrase "fair and balanced"- which is, of course, clearly a parody of Fox's laughably inaccurate tagline and won't confuse anyone old enough to read.
Even though he's a St. Louis Park (MN) native like me, I'm far from a fan of Franken's; his politics are way to the left of mine and besides, he hasn't come up with anything funny since that whole "Politicians Who Have Showered With Blacks" thing, and that was almost a decade ago. But there's little doubt that he's in the right here- clearly, it's Fox and O'Reilly who are being shrill and mean-spirited, and it's only a poetic justice that the advance Franken will get for his next book likely quadrupled in the last three days.
O'Reilly struck back against Franken's denials in his "talking points memo" on The Factor last night, reproduced on his website. Since its so audaciously hypocritical and hysterical, and the closest Mr. O has ever come to self-parody, I hearby offer a fisking:
In just a few weeks, the FOX News Channel (search) will celebrate its seventh anniversary, awash in success and publicity. In that short period of time, we have become one of the most powerful news organizations in the USA, an amazing accomplishment.
That is true, and Fox deserves credit for putting together such an effective operation in such a short period of time. They may have done so while piggybacking on the fiction of "fairinbalanst," but nevertheless...
But that success has caused an incredible amount of anger among some in the elite media
An entire network (owned by a massive multinational corporation) just sued one guy. But it's the one guy who's "the elite," right?
And their attacks on us have now resulted in legal issues, such as trademark infringement and defamation.
Little bit of hypocrisy there on Bill's part- he spends just about every night on his show being critical of everyone under the sun, but yet he's awfully quick to sic his lawyers on anyone who dares be critical of him, whether it's Franken or the proprietors of OReillySucks.com. Then there was that infamous column where O'Reilly bashed "the internet" for saying mean things about him, and called for the creation of a federal "cyber police."
And besides, for someone who bitches all the time about the nefarious influence of "the trial lawyers," O'Reilly sure seems to sue people an awful lot.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Al Barger
Yeah, O'Reilly sure is a piece of work. What exactly is even SUPPOSED to be the appeal of the guy?
2 - John
Well, at least O'Reilly hasn't had Fox sue Neal Boortz yet after their little encounter on Bill's show earlier this year.
3 - Rachel C.
I agree except Al hasn't been funny ever. Not once. Not ever. He's an ugly, loathsome little toad of whom it's impossible to wish too much ill.
4 - Natalie Davis
A2D.
5 - mike
What the hell is "fisking"? It sounds kind of obscene.
6 - Matter_eight
I find it hilarious that Fox calls that section linked to above their "Talking Points Memo" when there is a fine web site by Josh Marshall which uses that very URL - talkingpointsmemo.com. I hope this heinous break of intellectual property comes to Josh's attention; perhaps he will see fit to sue Fox. After all, possession of the URL is 9/10th's of the law!
7 - Alan K. Henderson
I have this to say about Bill O'Reilly and Al Franken: They're not smart enough, they're not good enough, and doggone it, I'm quite annoyed with them.
8 - Eric Olsen
Rachel, I'm not sure if you're talking about the same Al - his career goes back over 25 years, he was hilarious as part of the Franken and Davis team on SNL, he has had many funny characters, and he is always witty regarding politics even if you don't agree with him, which I often don't.
9 - Eric Olsen
Mike my friend, you haven't been hanging around the blogosphere if a "Fisking" is an alien term. The leftist British writer Robert Fisk has been ripped apart so many times by bloggers and others that the act of comprehensive rippage has become known as "Fisking."
10 - mike
Hmmmm. Ripped apart, hey? I happened to have been reading archived articles of the Left One on the Independent's site recently; and, a few errors and rhetorical misfires aside, he has been completely, 100% vindicated in his analysis of what has happened in Iraq. He's not as good as the Independent's other man on the scene, Patrick Cockburn (the more level-headed brother of the infamous womanizer Alexander), but he gets it done. So the "Shallow Like Andrew Sullivans" may want to consider who has been fisked here, after all.
I'll say it again: We antiwars called it. We were 100% right. So I suggest all you prowars pay my taxes since I'm not interested in subsidizing your war. Remember, as soon as W gets re-elected, he'll enact a "temporary" income tax surcharge to pay for the mess. Totally regrettable, he'll say, but necessary in the emergency.
I predict the "peace movement stabbed us in the back" rhetoric will start up soon on right wing radio, if it hasn't already. I am definitely ready for rhetorical combat on this front, my prowar friends. The gun is loaded and you're in the line of fire. Payback's a bitch.
11 - Joe
...and through the collective blogosphere, a shudder was felt.
12 - Eric Olsen
I'm not sure what you were right about Mike, other than the somewhat embarrassing lack of WMD found thus far, and I don't recall you saying there wouldn't be any found anyway. Iraq is better off, the world is better off, we are safer than we were, and this was just another step in the war on terror that is far from over. It isn't easy, it isn't quick, it isn't over, nothing is perfect, but the anti-war stance doesn't look any better to me now than it did at any point.
13 - Craig Lyndall
Maybe if you and your stupid ass cohorts on the left hand side hadn't split your vote with Ralph "the spoiler" Nader, you wouldn't be quite so bitter. I am not sure if you people are more anti-war, or anti-bush. Regardless of whether there are WMD's in Iraq, Clinton is on record as saying they were there when he left office, and in the long run I believe that this is one of the better moves (whether controversial or not) that this country has made in foreign policy. It is slightly dangerous, but this country had to prove that it could be a little dangerous.
14 - mike
Iraq is BETTER OFF?! What neoconservative crack have you been smoking?!
We said 1) there will be no threatening quantities of WMD's. There were none.
We said 2) there were no Saddam ties to al-Queda. There were none.
We said 3) The war would give al Queda a recruting tool that would send Islamists flooding into Iraq. It did that.
We said 4) The French will use the international prestige of their opposition to secure themselves unilateral access to African gold and other resources, for example in the Congo, to the detriment of the U.S. national interest. They did that.
We said 5) The Iraqis will not welcome us as liberators, but will instead try to chase us out with our tails between our legs. They're doing that.
Nowhere have you once expressed any sympathy, by name, for the family of a single soldier killed in Iraq since the end of the war. Nowhere have you posted a single link to a humanitarian organization in Iraq desparately looking for assistance. Nowhere have you acknowledged the movement of the 600 military families calling for immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
I'm not safer, pal. Ariel Sharon is safer. The air conditioned cowards at the Weekly Standard are safer. Osama bin laden is safer. I'm sitting hear reading the Constitution which you, clearly, have no respect for.
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
15 - Joe
Deep breaths, give us your location and we can have an abulance there within half an hour.
Who is this "you" you're referring to?
16 - Harry
A rebuttal to Mike's five points:
Wait ... nevermind ... you go on believing what you want. This isn't really even a discussion. You're frothing at the mouth and can't even acknoweledge even the smallest amount of good that has been done in Iraq.
It is a bitter cup from which you are drinking and I do not envy you at all.
17 - Eric Olsen
all of which is either simply untrue, shortsighted, irrelevant, or misinterpreted. Clearly Iraq is better off: there is ALWAYS a period of instability after such a drastic change in a country/culture. All kinds of ties have been found between Iraq and al Qaeda - what Fisk-like news have you been reading? I am very pleased if Ariel Sharon is better off. I don't know anything about the French and African gold, but I can't imagine why I should give a shit either. Who said there wouldn't be lingering resistance after regime change? While I am not 100% happy with the adminstration's handling of the post-war, nothing has happened that wasn't completely predictable in the big picture.
I feel very badly for the soldiers lost and their families - they are heroes, did anyone expect zero casualties? War=casualties, very sad individually, statistically tiny. What does any of this have to do with the Constitution?
18 - Natalie Davis
And no sympathy for the innocent Iraq victims of US-sanctioned murder. No, Mike, it's all too believable.
This Nader voter is anti-Democrat, anti-Republican, anti-Gore, anti-Bush, and anti-war. I am pro-peace and pro-integrity, hence, my vote in the last presidential election. Even though the left was and is correct about the immoral Iraq invasion and bloodletting (IMO, natch), I don't feel one bit more safe. I worry about the terrorists residing between the US's shining seas, particularly those in Washington, DC.
19 - Eric Olsen
Argh Natalie, this is perhaps our point of furthest disagreement: to call our government "terrorists" is to drain all recognizable meaning from the word - something I would think such an accomplished literati as yourself would eschew.
20 - mike
Well, that was fun. As always, I am never refuted on the points, just subject to sputtering hot air.
Ariel Sharon is a monster, a baby killer, the exact moral equivalent of Kissinger and Pinochet. So I'd prefer that he not be safe and that my tax dollars not subsidize his girth.
21 - Joe
Sorry, I was still waiting for the rhetorical melee you promised. Let the tally show according to your costing measure you received equal value for your points.
22 - Craig Lyndall
We said 1) there will be no threatening quantities of WMD's. There were none.
There were none that we found this time. Was Clinton making it up when he said that they WERE there when he left office?
We said 2) there were no Saddam ties to al-Queda. There were none.
This is the most ignorant thing I think I have ever heard. We do know that Saddam was illegally profiting off of his oil according to the UN settlements from the first Iraqi conflict. What do you think he was using this untraceable source of funds for. Are you willing to say that none of that money was supporting terrorism? You are an idiot.
We said 3) The war would give al Queda a recruting tool that would send Islamists flooding into Iraq. It did that.
This is just a price to pay for standing up and doing something. The alternative is to do nothing, and that is where our conflict lies in the first place.
We said 4) The French will use the international prestige of their opposition to secure themselves unilateral access to African gold and other resources, for example in the Congo, to the detriment of the U.S. national interest. They did that.
I am with Eric on this one. Who cares.
We said 5) The Iraqis will not welcome us as liberators, but will instead try to chase us out with our tails between our legs. They're doing that.
this is the "no shit" point of the year. If you didn't assume this going in then you are naive.
Any other "points?"
23 - mike
Because Clinton said it, it's true? That's funny coming from a conservative.
Who cares what Clinton said? He's a liar.
Al Quada/Saddam links. Saddam was a secular dictator. Osama is an Islamist. These two factions hate each other more than they hate the U.S. What was Saddam using the money for? I don't know. He certainly wasn't using it to fund bin laden. All evidence saying so has been discredited. If you have some, post it, so I can rip it to shreds.
The way to fight terrorism is to strengthen terrorist organizations? Interesting. By the way, the "Islamists are there but that's the price to pay" argument has officially been withdrawn by Neoconservatives' Central. Since you march in lockstep with that crowd, you may want to adjust the rhetoric you vomit out at their request.
I care that the French are coddling dictators in Africa, a terrorist breeding ground. But then, I'm funny like that.
The Iraqis are revolting in droves and this is a no sh%t point? I thought you do gooders were liberating them. You didn't. You failed.
Most importantly, I don't want to pay for your chickenhawk war. So let me send you my tax bill so you can pay it for me. I want to spend my money on something else, like a stereo, or a new car.
24 - Craig Lyndall
Don't label me unless you know me. This is one issue, albeit a big one, where I am on the right side. I voted for Clinton over Dole. I voted for Bush because I couldn't stand Gore. I am not quite so cut and dry, "marching lockstep" with anyone.
That bit aside. What proof would you like us to come up with for Saddam giving money to Al quaeda? Do you think he wrote a fucking check with all the funds that were unaccounted for because they were procured illegally? Ok, we will just check his bank statement dipshit.
How do you know the two factions are against each other more than they are against the US?
"The Iraqis are revolting in droves and this is a no sh%t point? I thought you do gooders were liberating them. You didn't. You failed."
Don't you think this is a bit premature? We haven't failed anything, and as Eric said, upheaval is a pretty standard part of the process.
But, if I were going to oppose a whole group of people instead of addressing issues in a unbiased manner, I might ignore logic and just try to hammer them on everything too.
Last time I checked regardless of how you feel about an issue or something this country does, we all stood somewhat together. Taxes aren't dished out depending on what side of an issue you stand on. If you are serious about not paying for the war move to France.
25 - Phillip Winn
Hello? Off-topic anyone?
Great post, Stephen, and my mind just boggles that O'Reilly can be so wrong on this. He's got (or had, anyway, I haven't watched him in a year or two or more) a few good points, but he seems to be descending into madness. I hope he loses and Al sells millions. And I don't even like Al's political stuff!