1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser
Advertisement

‘Vibrant, Messy Democracy’ Or ‘Babysitting Criminals’? O’Reilly Takes On Occupy Oakland

video
» 24 comments

While the Occupy movement is mostly subdued in the various places it awoke in the rest of the country, the protesters at Occupy Oakland, partially motivated by historic local tensions with police there, are clashing with police in the streets, and on The O’Reilly Factor last night, host Bill O’Reilly discussed the potential good that can come from these protests with guests, who did not manage to convince him to embrace the movement.

RELATED: Bill O’Reilly And Geraldo Rivera Clash On The War On Poverty

O’Reilly gave a short summary and added that he believed any protests in Oakland this weekend will end in violence just as they did last week. He asked civil rights lawyer Joe Alioto Verenese what he thought the Occupiers were looking for out of these protests. Verenese explained that “This is a faction of the Oscar Grant group that’s extremely upset” and that they were not actually Occupy movement people, but “hijacking the name of the Occupy group.”

Rich Benjamin of the think tank Demos replied that he believed there was still much merit in the ideas of Occupy, and that “we cannot let their activities detract from what Occupy Wall Street represents.” O’Reilly thought it was too late, but Benjamin insisted that this was not a “popularity contest” and that “when you challenge power in this country, you may get a billy club in your face, it gets ugly.” O’Reilly replied that he had been doing so for years and never got violent, while Verenese insisted that it was unfair to victims of real crimes for police to be distracted by protesters and arrive to crime scenes late “because they are babysitting criminals.” For Benjamin, it was yet another exercise of America’s “vibrant, messy democracy.”

The segment via Fox News below:

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.

Email Twitter Facebook Digg Reddit Stumble Upon Yahoo Buzz LinkedIn Tumblr Delicious
  • WiddleBabyDanielson

    A Norbit field day.
    Occupiers defended by a black guy.

  • Gloves Alan Donahue

    You can protest peacefully and people may support your cause.

    But committing crimes and vandalizing as a group is a crime, just as if you did it alone.

    Costing Oakland millions is just stupid and brings your cause, if you really have one, nothing but bad publicity and grief.

  • OSTL

     The race card so soon?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-culture-Reasoned-America/100001284363960 Politics-culture Reasoned Amer

     Only if “so soon” means the last 50 years!

    I hadn’t read the piece yet, but if it bothered WBD it is was worth a once-over.
    I’ll just quickly update the gutted historical buildings and arrest counts before commenting. lol

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-culture-Reasoned-America/100001284363960 Politics-culture Reasoned Amer

    What’s this “secret Message” of OWS?
    Do they mean the TEA PARTY message of Fairness, NO Bailouts, Personal Responsibility (no fatherless, gov’t-dependency broods), etc?

    The message the Liberal media besmirched, as they dishonestly (and motivated by political bias) vilified, so that message would not get out?

    Compare the way the media misrepresented the Tea Party, with the way their trying to ameliorate all the violence and mayhem at OWS!

     

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-culture-Reasoned-America/100001284363960 Politics-culture Reasoned Amer

    Mediaite Staff:

    Why don’t you do an EXPOSE on the blatant Misrepresentation and Characterization of the “mainstream media’s” depiction of both Tea Party protestors and OWS?
    The Tea Party, where no/little criminality or violence occurs, they vilify; while OWS, where considerable and demonstrable violence occurs, they barely report, and express no pejorative judgements at all!

    This is still the Premier Site for MEDIA, is it not?………and here you have a MAJOR MEDIA SCANDAL – The Deliberate Misrepresentation and Characterization of the two groups!

  • Anonymous

    They’ve steadily proven that they’re not an occupation – they’re an infestation. Personally, I like the way they’re acting.

    The more they show themselves for what they are, the more they discredit the far left and the leftist politicians who were so eagerr to jump on their little honey wagons to start with.

    Go ahead, block the ports agin. That’ll show the rest of country a thing or two, yesssir! And please DO follow through on your threats to disrupt the Superbowl.

    That’ll win you LOTS of friends.

    Idiots.

  • OSTL

     Let me save them the time…

    Mediaite Expose: Tea party…Bad!  OWS…Good!

  • Anonymous

     Mediaite staff: what makes people click and comment . . .

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-culture-Reasoned-America/100001284363960 Politics-culture Reasoned Amer

    Did anyone hear about OWS threatening to shut down the Super Bowl telecast by blocking entrances to the stadium?

    Please, oh please let it be true!
    lol

  • 12voltman1

     You Love it.

  • 12voltman1

     ”I just wish Katrina had only hit the United Nations building, nothing else, just had flooded them out, and I wouldn’t have rescued them.” – BILL-O on his radio show, Sept. 14, 2005

  • Anonymous

    wow, that was weak. where do they get these people? occupy has no message. as bill maher (yes, him!) said: go home, get a job.

  • Anonymous

    Occupy NY, Occupy Oakland, Occupy This, Occupy That.

    When Will They Occupy A Shower And Then Occupy A Job ?? 

  • http://www.facebook.com/codemon Cody Hill

    Comparing OWS and the Teabaggers is like extolling the virtues of apples and oranges. Simply because the police didn’t agitate the right wingers who bothered and harassed those who counter-protested their pro-war rallies and shouted code words for racism against our first properly elected president since 1996, doesn’t mean anything at all. The cops, in defending the 1% concepts of corporate personhood, had 99% of the weapons and caused the most trouble.

  • OSTL

     Why do libs hate the police?

  • OSTL

     Your point?

  • 12voltman1

    Bill-0 is a horse’s a$$ patsy!

  • 12voltman1

    Because they are pigs with small dicks and big egos.

  • http://www.facebook.com/matthew.minard Matthew Minard

    DO you even read history?  BY the way… Bin Laden was a paid CIA agent who never took credit for 9/11.  If you know so much about these Occupy protests maybe you could come up with more than one line answers.  Learn to question authority… just like that founding fathers did.  DO you know the 16th amendment was never legally passed?  OR that the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a social.  A baptist minster socialist….  I’m not saying OWS doesn’t do the wrong things at times, but have you even went and talk to the people who are occupying?  If not then you are coming from a position of weakness… and you are a hypocrite. 

    Also… do you consider yourself a Christian?   How does holding the teaching of Jesus in one hand while licking the butt holes of those that oppress everyone working out for you?  yeeeeah…… that;s what I thought. 

    Why don’t you get out there and exercise your rights protected by the Constitution instead of hiding behind your computer screen? 

    Or you can just keep on watching Billy boy… I’m sure Jesus is on his side….

    loser

  • Anonymous

    And the “Biggest Ignor-anus Award” goes to ’12voltman1′; he’s not only stupid, he’s also an asshole! 

  • 12voltman1

    I agree completely. As long as the people protesting were respected and not provoked by the police.

  • 12voltman1

    Why are you a pig?

  • Anonymous

    We all know it’s not the first time you’ve won the award!

© 2012 Mediaite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram