Bill O'Reilly vs. Matt Drudge

[Subsonic Chronic]

Round two... FIGHT!

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU DEC 18, 2003 09:25:08 ET XXXXX

HOST UNHINGED AFTER SALES FIGURES REVEALED; CALLS DRUDGE 'THREAT TO DEMOCRACY'

TalkerAuthor Bill O'Reilly lashed out against this space during his popular FOXNEWS O'REILLY FACTOR Wednesday night -- just hours after closely guarded book sales figures were splashed over the internet.

Sales figures show how, contrary to his claims, O'Reilly lags far behind rivals Al Franken and Sen. Hillary Clinton for nonfiction props!

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Responding to an exclusive yearender DRUDGE dispatch, which presented NIELSEN's Top 20 BOOKSCAN list of 2003 sales, O'Reilly called the DRUDGE REPORT a "threat to democracy."

"I mean you can't believe a word Matt Drudge says," O'Reilly told the cameras. "Now you've got the Matt Drudges of the world and these other people, Michael Moore and all of these crazies, all right, no responsibility... that is a threat to democracy, I think." O'Reilly warned: "They'll just spin it and twist it and take it out of proportion every which way."

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Last year, the host of Cable TVs most-watched newscast became unbuckled and turned unstable after this space first revealed how O'Reilly was plotting a new radio program to air opposite Rush Limbaugh [who had just lost his hearing] and how WOR-AM in New York would receive cash compensation from VIACOM to carry the program. [The broadcast launched several months later.]

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"There is no other cure than to kill Matt Drudge," O'Reilly charged on the IMUS in the MORNING radio show.

"I just want to tell everybody that Matt Drudge is smoking crack - right now, in South Miami Beach on Washington Avenue... And the authorities should know it."

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Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 2003
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

http://www.drudgereport.com/mattbc1.htm

 

[Subsonic Chronic]

What I find hard to believe out of this, is that guys like Michael Moore and other left-leaning guys get chastised for making only exagerations of the truth, while hardcore right-wingers can still have huge audiences while spewing such crap as "Matt Drudge is smoking crak righ now" and "There is no other cure than to kill Matt Drudge" - blatant and obvious lies.

Why is there such a double-standard when it comes to this stuff?

 

[Littlest Hobo]

Pete, sit back and take it all in. I'm loving it. I'm hoping Coulter jumps in and gets smacked in the head with a folding chair, and Limbaugh offers illegal painkillers.

One thing I noticed, non-right wing radio/television is a failure in the US. On the other hand, non-right wing non fiction outsells right wing nonsense by a fair bit.

I conclude the American right are a bunch of illiterate, couch potato bastards who like the sound of their own voices.

 

[janiecakes]

Originally posted by Subsonic Chronic
"I just want to tell everybody that Matt Drudge is smoking crack - right now, in South Miami Beach on Washington Avenue... And the authorities should know it."

ahahaha

 

[exheres]

this should be called the comedy form not the politics form. come on these are right gems. GEMS I TELL YA!

 

[JAR]

Originally posted by Littlest Hobo

I conclude the American right are a bunch of illiterate, couch potato bastards who like the sound of their own voices.

sooo good!!

 

[man_slut]

Originally posted by Littlest Hobo
I conclude the American right are a bunch of illiterate, couch potato bastards who like the sound of their own voices.

Similar demographic read the Toronto Sun...

 

[Littlest Hobo]

Originally posted by man_slut
Similar demographic read the Toronto Sun...

Lots of people read the Sun.

 

[Subsonic Chronic]

Littles Hobo reads the sun!

*points and laughs*

 

[Littlest Hobo]

I read The Sun, The Globe, The Post, The S-Times, The LA Times, Jew Post, BBC and a whole bunch of other things you ill-read, mouth-breathing, knuckle dragging, clown shoe wearing chuckleheads have never head of.

Ha.

 

[Deep_Groove]

Here's the original DrudgeReport post:

FOXNEWS's top-rated host Bill O'Reilly recently claimed that he is "running against Hillary for most copies of nonfiction books sold this year!"

But numbers obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT show a dramatically different sales scene for 2003.

NIELSEN, the same company that ranks O'Reilly #1 on Cable TV, currently places O'Reilly at #6 for the year on the nonfiction charts -- trailing rival Al Franken by nearly 30%!

[O'Reilly ranks #63 on USA TODAY's 2003 sales chart.]

"We've outsold that guy [Franken] all over the place," O'Reilly claimed Monday on NBC's TODAY show. "We're running against Hillary for most copies of non-fiction books sold this year!"

With two weeks to go for 2003:

Nonfiction

1. South Beach Diet Dr. Arthur Agatston 2,304,608
2. Purpose Driven Life Warren 1,507,902
3. Living History Clinton 1,084,520
4. Ultimate Weight Solution McGraw 836,043
5. Lies and The Lying Liars Franken 674,024
6. Who's Looking Out for You O'Reilly 430,407
7. Benjamin Franklin Isaacson 384,137
8. Dude, Where's My Country Moore 365,519
9. Treason Coulter 364,848
10. Fly Boys Bradley 222,685
11. Short History of Nearly Everything Bryson 217,591
12. Moneyball Lewis 210,108
13. Royal Duty Burrell 159,261
14. Who's Your Caddy? Reilly 151,978
15. Every Second Counts Armstrong 145,183
16. World According to Mr. Rogers 141,405
17. Madame Secretary Albright 122,167
18. New Cookbook, BH&G Better Homes & Gardens 118,230
19. Merriam Websters Dictionary 115,185
20. Bushwacked Ivans 110,000

As a comparison, Harry Potter fiction has scanned 7,908,391 units; DaVinci Code moved 3,023,336.

NIELSEN's BOOKSCAN numbers represents purchased, sold and bagged copies at AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE, BORDER'S, COSTCO and other outlets.

[BOOKSCAN is generally considered to capture about 70-80% of total sales in USA.]

Developing...
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OK so he's sold about half the number of units as Clinton. Does that mean that he's NOT "running against Hilary" - she's #3, he's #6. That counts as "running against" to me.

430,407 is a HELL of a lot of books. And I'm sure he's outsold Franken in many regions (which is all he claimed) even though Franken is just ahead of him in sales.

Come on, this kind of spin is pervasive when people are promoting their stuff. Just like the well-known spin put out in ALL political forums (right or left) like talk radio and the news shows.

For example, see:
http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html
for a devastating critique of Michael Moore's massive spin.
(Or www.moorelies.com )

By comparision, at least O'Reilly's spin is about marginal stuff like his sales numbers and obviously false but humorous stuff like "Drudge is smoking crack RIGHT NOW!" I mean, how can anyone take this kind of stuff seriously?

The existence of spin should no more give you an indication of the wrongness of the cause behind it than any other sales technique - like bright colours or sexy people.

No serious student of politics listens to or reads either the O'Reilly's OR the Frankens of this world. People should come to their opinions through careful study of the seminal works in the relevant fields, not polemical screeds from pop authors.

And at least O'Reilly's spin is damn funny!

- Deep_Groove