There’s no one who can capitalize on tragedy and make it political like FOX bloviator-in-chief Bill O’Reilly, who seems to relish beating up on the liberal loons in Vermont. In separate reports in the past two weeks, O’Reilly has placed us pedophile enablers in his righteous crosshairs.
Here’s the link to a great video from the O’Reilly Factor the other night. Watch FOX producer, Jesse Watters — who ambushed House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, in 2006 in the statehouse cafeteria — confront Gov. Jim Douglas outside a weekend meeting of the National Governor’s Association in Philadelphia.
Here’s a sampling of how it went between Watters and Douglas:
WATTERS: About how many deadgirls are we going to tolerate here? I mean, over and over again, it’sanother story after another story out of Vermont?
DOUGLAS:One dead girl is one too many. I attended the funeral of Brooke Bennettlast week and met with her family, her friends, with people in thecommunity. It’s a devastating impact, and we need to be sure that we dosomething about it. As the pastor said at the funeral, Brooke’s lifewill have meaning if we take action, and I plan to do that.
Check out the whole video. Douglas seems congenial enough during the confrontation, but it ends on a note that I don’t think even the governor would admit is flattering. But, that’s always the purpose of these hit-and-run pieces.
This was O’Reilly’s take on the interview with Douglas:
Well, obviously, Governor Douglas is blaming thelegislature, but you, sir, must lead. Your voice has not been loudenough. I think he’s a good man, but I don’t think he’s a strong man.
According to Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs, the FOX crew didn’t request an interview. But Gibbs said the administration knew the crew was there to “interview” governors of states that do not have a Jessica’s Law. That law, named for a Florida girl, has a 25-year minimum sentence for child molesters. Some in Vermont, including Lt.Gov. Brian Dubie, believe it is time for Vermont to adopt such a law.
This is not the first time O’Reilly has focused his ire and e-mail-writing minions on Vermont. Two years ago, after a judge gave a 60-day sentence to a child molester — in a convoluted attempt to get the molester into treatment — O’Reilly came in with cameras ablazing.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Watters making a return visit, so keep a watch on moving bushes and people leaping out from in between parked cars, mic in hand.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2008.
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The video at the link seems to be about Obama. Maybe it changed.
Haik,Thanks for the note. If you click on “Producer’s Pick” and then “Demanding Answers” you’ll see the video. Gov. Douglas is the first official to be interviewed. Sorry about that. The link only goes to the player, not the specific segment.Shay
To clarify. Click on the video link, and then you’ll see a menu below the video player on the left. That’s where you can click on “Producer’s Pick” and then “Demanding Answers.”
*O’Reilly said “North Carolina and Mexico, there in grey, continue to debate the issue.” He obviously meant “New Mexico.”*Mandatory minimum sentences are an affront to the separation of powers and can result in punishments very disproportionate to a specific crime.*Jim Douglas says that ‘if we take action, Brooke Bennett’s life will have meaning.’ I prefer to believe that her life has meaning anyway.*Douglas was clearly shaken and aware Watters was doing a hit-piece. He handled himself fairly well, considering that circumstance. Not nearly as well as Bill Moyers, however.*If the actions Douglas is interested in taking vis-a-vis crimes against children, include the death penalty and castration as his push poll indicates, then he can forget about my vote. The death penalty is wrong and immoral in all forms and in all cases. The notion of physical mutilation as punishment strikes me a medieval.Turning into viscous blood thirsty revenge-driven animals is not the path to a more lawful, safe and just society.We have to lift ourselves up to a more civilized and intellegent standard if we truley want to protect children, and our leaders needn’t pander to the likes of Bill O’Rielly who is more than happy to feed the blood lust and prurient cravings of his viewers for ratings.
The viscosity of blood aside, I meant to say “vicious.”
Bill O’Reilley speaks the facts. VT is linient of sex offenders. When you try to find out where they are in this state you cna’t. Most all states list where sex offenders live so you know if you’re neighborhood is safe. Jessica’s law is fair. Child sex offenders have a bleak record of rehabilitation. Wise up!
The state of Vt has a welcome home sign to all petifles and now the the nation nows thanks fox
Jim Douglas says that ‘if we take action, Brooke Bennett’s life will have meaning you jerk her life should not be over but thanks the laws in the f k up state she is dead….. be proud to be a vermonter and in hell you will be i hope
Intentionally committing errors in spelling and grammar are common blogging tricks used to hide one’s writing style. As if the fake name wasn’t enough, “Tom” from South Burlington.You either don’t understand my comments, or you are pretending not to for your own reasons. I am against the death penalty because I believe it’s immoral, and because it’s been shown over and over again not deter crime. I am against mandatory minimums because I believe in the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers as a system of checks and balances. It’s the system established by the founding fathers. It’s up to the legislature to make laws, the governor to enforce laws and the judiciary to interpret the laws and mete out punishment. Mandatory minimums are an encroachment of the legislature into the judicial realm. They bind the hands of judges, often forcing incarcerations that don’t make sense in specific cases. This in turn overfills the prisons making early releases for truly dangerous criminals, like Bennett’s uncle, more likely.It was a serious mistake for corrections officials to release Brooke Bennett’s uncle, but there is no welcome for pedophiles in Vermont. My opinion of this matter is that parents and families must be the first line of defense for their children. Tragic as this case is, I strongly doubt it’s a situation that developed overnight. The family must have been aware of the kind of creature the uncle was prior to Brook’s disappearance. It probably isn’t a very PC point to make in their hour of sorrow, but there it is. I don’t know what the answer to these kinds of problems. It’s probably a lot of things. Better education, better transpiration, shelters for abused women and children, even more cell phone towers all might help prevent such horrible crimes. But I’ll tell you this- the answer is not to start killing people and cutting their dicks off. If you want to live in Saudi Arabia, go ahead and move there. But I am proud to be a Vermonter, “Tom” and part of a civilized society. I think we should all take a look in our own hearts and think about whether we are more interested in protecting children, or in turning a tragedy into a pretext for satisfying our inner lusts for vengeance and bloodsport.