In the past four days, I have received nearly two hundred search referrals for “bill o’reilly hubcap” or some variation of the same. Which is a little unnerving — there’s usually only one or two searches per item, and very few of them repeat — and it’s more than a little surprising, since I don’t think I’ve ever actually discussed Bill O’Reilly’s comment here or anywhere else. So, if that’s why you’re here, I apologize; this is probably the only time I will ever directly comment on this, and all I’m going to say is this:
I don’t know if what Bill O’Reilly said that night — suggesting that young black men were out in the parking lot stealing hubcaps — was intended to be racist. He has since claimed that his joke was meant in the spirit of that evening’s 1950s-themed dinner. That’s altogether possible, and I won’t debate the point. There are other recent comments (like Rick Santorum’s and Barbara Cubin’s) that are probably worthy of closer scrutiny and more widespread derision. These, after all, come from elected officials, not just some pompous windbag who, in the great Orwellian tradition that’s currently sweeping America, calls his dog-and-pony show of shouting down guests and unsubstantiated lies a “no-spin zone”. There are plenty of other reasons to dislike Bill O’Reilly, believe me.
And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.