Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] is it possible to define "a lie"?

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Thu, 1 Mar 2007, Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:

> > You should try to see the big picture too.  Why does O'Reilly often 
> > claim that he is not a registered Republican?  I mean, why mention it? 
> > Why does he often say that he opposes the death penalty?  Why is that 
> > important?
>
> All I said is that he screwed the pooch.
>
> But look, if you are simply trying to say that O'Reilly is trying to 
> project a certain image to certain people, that doesn't necessarily 
> reflect entirely accurately who he really is, I have already admitted to 
> that possibility.  I called it "him not being quite the totally up front 
> guy he claims to be."

Another way to put it is that he is trying to deceive his viewers about 
who he really is.  He claims that he is an independent thinker, not 
ideological, "no spin," so when he sides with the Republicans over and 
over and over and over again, it is because the Republicans seem to an 
objective observer to be correct.  As evidence that he is not simply a 
Republican ideologue masquerading as an objective and independent observer 
he makes claims such as "I am not registered as a Republican," or "I 
oppose the death penalty."

So you look into it and you find the he is "not being quite the totally up 
front guy he claims to be" which is euphemistic for "O'Reilly's persona is 
all a charade," or even "O'Reilly seems to be a liar."

I think this is actually a pretty good summary of many of the things 
O'Reilly has done that cause people to wonder about him:

http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/pundits/bill-oreilly/

Mike

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