Two weeks ago, I said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY: Some of these Tea Party people are nuts. They are. They're crazy. I mean, we sent Jesse Watters down there, and he puts the number at about 10 percent that are just loons, out of their mind. Every group has that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And that's true. No matter what group you're talking about, you'll find loons.
Enter The New York Times, which is finally taking the Tea Party seriously. In a front-page article Tuesday, they put forth that Tea Party people are primarily extremists. They lump in the John Birch Society, the Patriot movement, Friends for Liberty and other groups that are on the fringe.
The Times also attempts to link Fox News to Tea Party extremists.
"Talking Points" predicted this would happen; that a movement with the potential power of the Tea Party would be attacked by the left-wing media. At first, The Times ignored the Tea Party. Now it's trying to diminish the brand.
But the Tea Party people themselves should be careful. Most Americans are not ideologues. They are just folks who want a fair system and a noble country. Every time a Tea Party person threatens to overthrow the government or other nonsense, the brand gets hammered.
That being said, the Tea Party movement is at a disadvantage. There's no central authority. Every Tea Party group is different. There's no party platform other than disenchantment with big government. With that kind of structure, you can expect chaos and some extremism, which the liberal media will use that to attack the Tea Party.
"Talking Points" has always admired sincere Americans who get involved in trying to improve their country, and that is what most Tea Party people do. They are regular folks who are fed up.
Look at it this way: There's no question America is heading towards bankruptcy. We owe $13 trillion. We can never pay that money back.
Also, there's no question the federal government allowed millions of illegal immigrants to come to the USA. For decades, the feds didn't try to stop that.
Also, the Obama administration wants to change the economy with strict federal regulations and guidelines. That's what health care is all about. That's what cap-and-trade is all about.
So many Americans simply oppose those things, and you are not an extremist if you do so; you're a concerned citizen.
But if you threaten violence, if you traffic in racism, if you call the president of the United States a communist, those are extremist positions.
In the end, the Tea Party will rise and fall on well-thought-out policy and being able to persuade their fellow citizens they have solutions to complicated problems.
The left-wing media is gunning for the Tea Party, and it will be fascinating to see how the conflict turns out.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Far-left guy Sean Penn has been working in Haiti and said this on CNN:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN PENN, ACTOR: To see the United States military with all its skill and discipline and, most importantly, the quality of human beings that there are doing this when it is a human aid effort is unparalleled.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": You were so praiseworthy of the military. Normally you are not a big fan of military.
PENN: Not true. If anyone looks back at the things I've written, I've always been a supporter of the troops.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Is Mr. Penn suddenly a patriot? You make the call.
On the pinhead front, last week we told you about a crazed goose in Florida. Now we have another fowl situation in Australia involving a weatherman at a zoo.
Click here to watch the video!
That pelican is a pinhead, and he knows it.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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