Victim’s father calls O’Reilly ‚Äö√Ñ√≤disrespectful.’
UPDATE: Teens’ parents ask for end to argument and time to grieve
In his debate with Geraldo last night, Bill O’Reilly argued that the deaths of two girls in a drunk-driving accident should be blamed on illegal immigration since the drunk driver was undocumented. But during a press conference, the father of one of the girls “said that making an issue out of immigration loses the focus that the girls were killed by a man that police said was driving drunk. Ray Tranchant said, ‚Äö√Ñ√≤We need to heal, and to bring immigration, that’s disrespectful to a family who’s just mourning.’
You might want to keep a bucket handy….
Verily, the Apocalypse is truly upon us. Never did I in my wildest imagination EVER see myself for even a nanosecond defending Geraldo Rivera, who is to journalism what Mary Carey is to California politics- without the impressive boob job, of course.
In this case, however, I have to agree with Rivera. This tragedy was about two young women dying at the hands of a DRUNK DRIVER, who, as it turns out, also happens to be in this country illegally. There are too many on the far right- Bill O’Reilly chief among them- who are willing to use this tragedy to score cheap political points. Yes, Alfredo Ramos was in this country illegally, and that should never be countenanced or condoned. Nonetheless, this tragedy is about DRUNK DRIVING. Two families are grieving because of Ramos’ murderous irresponsibility, and DUMB@$$E$ like Bill O’Reilly are using this tragedy to support their agenda. That O’Reilly cannot even conduct a civil discussion without shouting down Rivera is reprehensible. O’Reilly was wrong, and the fact that he was doing his damnedest to shout Rivera down simply underscores that he knew he could win the argument on logic and reason alone. Frankly, I’m amazed that Bill O’Reilly is able to look himself in the mirror. That he’s not ashamed of his reprehensible behavior- Hell, he’s PROUD of it- should tell you everything you need to know about what’s wrong with Fox News Channel?
Fair and Balanced? Yeah, if you’re a goose-steeping, Right-wing, AmeriKKKa uber Alles reactionary….
UPDATE: Tessa Tranchant and Allison Kuhnhardt’s parents want the arguing to stop. They said this national debate over illegal immigration is out of hand and they desperately want this time to grieve.
Colette Tranchant, Tessa’s mother, said, “It just saddens me that people take this to a different level.”
Thursday night Bill O’Reilly debated with fellow Fox commentator, Geraldo Rivera over Alfredo Ramos. Ramos is an illegal immigrant that Virginia Beach police said killed the teens while driving drunk. He hit the girls’ car at more than 60 miles per hour according to the family.
Friday, Colette and Alison’s Father, David, wanted to calm the firestorm, saying they don’t blame Virginia Beach for not sending Ramos to federal authorities after police arrested him for public intoxication.
“There’s a media circus right now and everyone has their opinion, but the fact is our kids were killed,” said Colette, “Right now we need time to grieve, we need time to figure this out and we would like laws enforced.”
The real tragedy here is that two families are mourning the senseless loss of their daughters. Does anything else really matter right now? This is not about immigration policy or enforcement. It’s not about scoring cheap political points. It’s not about using your bully pulpit to puff yourself up as the defenders of American values and the rule of law.
Bill O’Reilly is a pompous DUMB@$$…and frankly, Geraldo Rivera isn’t much better. Neither of these fools deserved to be given the platform they hand when they launched into the tete-a-tete. It served no purpose other than to use this tragedy to garner some face time and to push their agendas on national television. Rivera, to his credit, was at least being something close to reasonable.
O’Reilly ought to be ashamed of himself. Sadly, he couldn’t spell “shame” if you spotted him the “s”, the “h”, and the “a”. I doubt the word is even contained in his vocabulary. That this Right-wing human abortion even has a platform is a travesty and an insult to decent, honest Americans everywhere. To say that he owes the families of Tessa Tranchant and Allison Kuhnhardt and serious, heartfelt apology would be something of an understatement.
Yeah, like THAT’S going to happen….
(Here’s a postscript that will make any decent person want to toss their spam and eggs: it appears that O’Reilly and Rivera have kissed and made up. Yeah, I know…don’tcha just LOVE makeup sex???)
