Bill O'Reilly Manhandles Obama Aide

Lord of the Abyss · Post by **Lord of the Abyss** » 2008-01-06 02:58am

Associated Press wrote:Fox's O'Reilly Gets Pushy at Obama Event
11 hours ago

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — No one ever accused Bill O'Reilly of being a wilting flower.

So when the Fox News Channel commentator and interviewer appeared midway through a Barack Obama rally at a Nashua high school Saturday, his presence was evident. Tall, with camera crew in tow, O'Reilly marched forward to get a good look.

Journalists have been known to seek the best angle.

But it was after Obama's speech that O'Reilly threw some elbows. And not so figuratively either.

Obama staffer Marvin Nicholson, a personal aide always at Obama's side during rope line handshakes, said O'Reilly yelled at him to get out of the way of his cameraman's shot. Nicholson said O'Reilly came around the waist-high barricade separating Obama from well-wishers.

"Then he grabbed me with both of his arms and tried to push me out of the way," Nicholson said after the campaign agreed to make him available to reporters.

O'Reilly, interviewed afterward by phone on Fox News, said he tried "to gently remove" Nicholson because he was standing in front of Fox's camera.

"We're sorry we had to have that little confrontation, but no one on this earth is going to block a shot on "The O'Reilly Factor." It is not going to happen," O'Reilly said.

The scene was hard to miss. O'Reilly is about 6-feet-5-inches tall. Nicholson is 6-feet-8-inches tall.

"I told him, 'Sir, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't shove me anymore.' He called me 'low class.' He was pretty upset," Nicholson said.

Secret Service agents assigned to protect Obama ordered O'Reilly back behind the barricade. At that point Obama approached him and extended his hand.

O'Reilly, Nicholson recounted, "said the senator was great and that he would love to have him on the show."

Nicholson, a veteran of political campaigns, worked as Sen. John Kerry's personal aide in the 2004 presidential campaign.

"I've never seen a member of the press lay hands on a staffer before," he said.

Democrats, prodded by liberal activists who argue Fox News is biased, have been avoiding the cable news network. Fox had to cancel a scheduled Democratic debate after the candidates refused to participate.

O'Reilly also showed up earlier at a Hillary Rodham Clinton event in Concord, N.H., and was acknowledged by the candidate. He stood in the audience and urged an audience member to ask the New York senator and former first lady about her plan to remove troops from Iraq.

When the audience began booing, Clinton said, "No, no, no. He gets at least some credit for being here."

Note the bolded. So he thinks he has not only the right to tell other people's staff where to stand, but to walk past barricades to grab them and haul them where he wants ? This guy is arrogant and jerkish to the point of self parody.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2008-01-06 03:21am

Those members of the Liberal Media shouldn't have stood in the way of O'Reilly's pursuit of truthiness.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2008-01-06 03:56am

I'd bet that O'Reily singled out the smallest guy in Obama's group to do that to. If Marvin Whatshisname looked even remotely like the kind of guy who would have responded with a haymaker, that pussy wouldn't have gone near him.

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 2008-01-06 04:06am

Apparently not, Nicholson is 6-feet-8-inches tall.

Dominus Atheos · Post by **Dominus Atheos** » 2008-01-06 04:44am

Picture of Nicholson.

Above link may not work. If it doesn't, it's the first result for the guy's name on Google images.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2008-01-06 10:16am

I notice that it caused enough commotion to require the Secret Service to order O'Rielly behind the barricade and that scene just makes me laugh as I picture big dudes with shades on lifting BillO and depositing him back where he came (I know that's not how it actually happened).

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2008-01-06 10:53am

Was O'Reilly trying to prove true every stereotype we have on journalists? What's next, ambushing Obama with questions like, "Did you have sex with Marvin Nicholson?" claiming that anonymous sources witnessed the incident in question, and showing (doctored) photos of Obama and Nicholson in bed?

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2008-01-06 11:54am

Falafel Boy is just upset because the Dems are boycotting Faux News. That's why he pulled his little stunt. I mean, Obama is the biggest election story so far and O'LIE-ly can't get an interview.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2008-01-06 01:28pm

So a retard making a ruckus at a speech gets dragged out and arrested, but Orly assaults someone and is simply told to get behind the barricade?

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2008-01-06 03:12pm

Flagg wrote:So a retard making a ruckus at a speech gets dragged out and arrested, but Orly assaults someone and is simply told to get behind the barricade?

Heh, for a second there I thought you were saying that O'Reilly had been arrested. I got excited there

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2008-01-06 03:45pm

SCRawl wrote:
Flagg wrote:So a retard making a ruckus at a speech gets dragged out and arrested, but Orly assaults someone and is simply told to get behind the barricade?
Heh, for a second there I thought you were saying that O'Reilly had been arrested. I got excited there

Yeah, I think he'd enjoy the cavity search too much.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2008-01-06 04:32pm

Dominus Atheos wrote:Picture of Nicholson.

Above link may not work. If it doesn't, it's the first result for the guy's name on Google images.

Why's he holding a vortex gun?

alexholker · Post by **alexholker** » 2008-01-06 06:41pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Why's he holding a vortex gun?

Why wouldn't he be holding a vortex gun?

Scottish Ninja · Post by **Scottish Ninja** » 2008-01-06 09:43pm

It's proven again that it's not just a joke - "The most dangerous place in Washington is between (X) and a camera."

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2008-01-06 10:04pm

"We're sorry we had to have that little confrontation, but no one on this earth is going to block a shot on "The O'Reilly Factor." It is not going to happen," O'Reilly said.

Someone should contact CERN. If Bill O'Reilly gets any farther up his own ass, he will collapse into a black hole. We may learn volumes about the nature of the early universe.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-01-06 10:11pm

I don't know why an event like this should be a surprise. O'Reilly is a Republican shill and a known sexual deviant. He's probably had fantasies about laying hands on another man for years.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2008-01-07 07:55am

I'm impressed by the sheer size of O'Reilly. 6'5 is not just 'a little over average', that's Big-And-Tall-Man store territory. It says something about his reputation and my attitude towards him that I expected him to be a paunchy midget, not a half-giant.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2008-01-07 10:35am

I wasn't surprised at his size at all. Or rather, his height -- lifting weights takes work and you can be compact and tough, but I totally expected O'Reilly to be fake tough and tall and lanky at least, hiding it in a suit (I don't know if he's lanky but I'm not surprised he's tall.) He's a school bully. There was a study done awhile back that showed just how much a bully he is, how much all his arguments are about fear, no hope, us versus them. He continually casts the government as a victim and never immigrants or minorities, in all issues.

Even a super weasel like Bush I would expect to put great emphasis on his personal physical power. And I believe he does with his cycling.

I'm not saying all muscleheads are bullies, but if someone's a bully he's probably a musclehead.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2008-01-07 10:42am

ghetto edit: I'm also not surprised Nicholson is fucking huge. In the schoolyard, you beat up the toughest guy so all the smaller guys fall in line. So O'Reilly went after the 6"8' guy, just like a braindead alpha male would.

God, I had to think like a 14 year old to understand O'Reilly. How pathetic is that.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2008-01-07 11:12am

Elfdart wrote:Falafel Boy is just upset because the Dems are boycotting Faux News. That's why he pulled his little stunt. I mean, Obama is the biggest election story so far and O'LIE-ly can't get an interview.

I say good for the democrats on the boycott. Fuck Fox, I find it delicious that the most exciting races and candidates are on the Dem side and Fox's naked hitching of their cart to the Republican horse is backfiring big time for them this election cycle. The Republican field is more of comedy and irony than sheer excitement like on the Dem side.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2008-01-07 02:13pm

Stravo wrote:I say good for the democrats on the boycott.

Obama is especially standout in this regard, because he and his campaign have had a policy of freezing out Fox News journalists for nearly a year. Remember, Fox News ran that ludicrous story about him attending a radical madrassa and then falsely attributed it to Hillary Clinton, making a foul, braindead double smear that Wolf Blitzer demolished in about ten minutes of very basic journalism. So, surprise surprise, there are consequences to that kind of behavior.

I wonder if Obama will lift his boycott if and when he gets the nomination. It would be a really hilarious situation if Fox News was completely unable to get any official statement out of the Democratic nominee for POTUS. It's already amusing enough when he's merely the front-runner.

Also,
A funny little feature of that WaPo blog I linked to is the FNC spokesperson saying that it would hurt Obama's campaign to boycott Fox News.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-01-07 04:07pm

I don't see why O'Reilly's size should come as a surprise at all. Right-wingers have a schoolyard bully mentality, and such people will inevitably anoint leaders and figureheads from the ranks of those who fit the bully profile. Notice how often they fawn over George W. Bush's physical fitness, as if that has anything to do with his job performance, or Mitt Romney's manly jawline and broad shoulders. It's borderline homo-erotic.

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2008-01-07 05:45pm

The fact that people think O'Reilly is the bastion of sense and reason is completely unfathomable. No one gets in the way of a shot? Yeah, sure, unless they have secret service badges, hey?