By Bill O'Reilly
As we reported last night, the ESPN network, refused to run an ad by the Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis. ESPN would not provide a spokesman and will not define exactly why they rejected this advertisement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each Christmas, thousands in our community send messages of hope to sick and injured children who may not be able to come home from the holidays. At SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the season of giving bringing hope to the many children, parents and families that we serve. Our patients are filled with hope as they receive a message each day from the treasure chest beneath our tree of hope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They made me smile.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help us reveal God's healing presence this Christmas. Send your message of hope at Glennon.org.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Now ESPN has a legal right to reject the ad. It's their candy store. They can pretty much do what they want but it is a foolish decision as millions of their viewers think the way that I do.
What's the beef? The birth of Jesus offends you? Have you not heard of the federal holiday? It doesn't make business sense either as 80 percent of this country is Christian. So who are you pandering to ESPN?
The result of the controversy is that the children's medical center in St. Louis folded, not only would they not come on THE FACTOR to talk about the story, but they've now submitted another commercial without any religious reference.
So ESPN gets their money. But why on earth would the Cardinal Glennon hospital cave? Don't you people realize you've been insulted? Your faith has been demeaned. Do you not get that? Apparently they don't. Gutless says it all. There are plenty of other networks that would accept the original ad because there is nothing wrong with it. It violates nothing. It only offends maniacs.
If an ad for a Catholic children's hospital offends you because it mentions the birth of Jesus around Christmas time and quote: "God's healing presence", then you are a loon. Write it down. You are a loon.
ESPN is simply dumb. I cannot understand why they made the decision. It's insulting to Christians, it's bad business and it is just plain stupid. Especially when you consider that the family-friendly Walt Disney Company owns ESPN.
And that's "The Memo."
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