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Kristof's Pledge Drive Yields $727,568 to Send Bill O'Reilly to Darfur
By E&P Staff
Published: February 21, 2006 9:55 AM ET
NEW YORK In a postscript to his regular New York Times column on Tuesday, Nicholas Kristof reveals that he has raised almost three-quarters of a million dollars from readers to send Fox News host Bill O'Reilly to troubled Darfur.
Kristof, embroiled in a public feud with O'Reilly, launched a pledge drive recently with this end in mind, and reports today that he has been "deluged by 6,675 pledges, averaging a bit more than $100." The grand total comes to $727,568, "so Mr. O'Reilly will be able to fly first class with the very best satellite phones and fill his water bottles with San Pelegrino."
O'Reilly has called Kristof's pledge drive "simply a gimmick, a ploy, to bring my name to his passion."
Kristof, he added, "couldn't care less if I travel to Darfur. He should direct his ire at the U.N."
Earlier, Kristof had announced he would ante up the first $1000 to bring O'Reilly to Africa. Presumably, the ticket would be roundtrip.
The "feud" began last December when O'Reilly denounced Kristof as a "left-wing ideologue." Kristof replied by calling him a "bully" and challenging O'Reilly to show truly "traditional values" by joining him on a visit to Darfur to assess the death and devastation there, thereby "using your talents for an important cause."
O'Reilly then hit back at Kristof, calling him "absolutely clueless" and adding that the New York Times columnist has "no idea what is happening in the country."
Kristof recently revealed that he got this answer to his earlier offer to take O'Reilly to Darfur: "I do three hours of daily news analysis on TV and radio. There's no way I can go to Africa."
But Kristof observed that with a satellite phone, "you can do your show from anywhere."
Today he noted that President Bush now seemed more interested in Darfur, and Olympian Joey Cheek had donated cash from his medals to help Darfur survivors. "So come on, Bill--and Oprah, and the rest of you on the little screen--and visit the world's most awful place," he suggested.
E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher.com)
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O'Reilly then hit back at Kristof, calling him "absolutely clueless" and adding that the New York Times columnist has "no idea what is happening in the country.
I nominate O'Reilly for Idiot of the Week.
It was funny when Kristof said specifically that pledges for one-way airline tickets wouldn't be counted.
Media Infighting: Kristof Savages O'Reilly
by jo swift at 08:33PM (CET) on December 19, 2005
NICHOLAS KRISTOF VERSUS BILL O'REILLY: FUEL FOR FEUD
It all started exactly one week ago when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, taking note of Bill O'Reilly's focus on keeping the Christmas in Christmas, suggested that the Fox personality might honor the season better by exposing the continuing genocide in Darfur, which the TV host has allegedly "ignored." O'Reilly responded by denouncing Kristof as a "left-wing ideologue."
Today, in his column, Kristof replied in kind, while disclosing that he puts up a "Christmas" tree himself, not a "holiday" tree.
"Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religious hypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroad watching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly - demagogic table-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as a cynical ploy to gain attention and money," Kristof explained.
"And I always tell moderate Muslims that they need to stand up to blustery blowhards - so today, I'm taking my own advice."
Then he went on to call O'Reilly "a self-rightheous bully in the style of Father Coughlin or Joe McCarthy," suggesting that perhaps he was a leftwing plant meant to make conservatives look bad. He finished with this:
So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you really want to defend traditional values, then come with me on a trip to Darfur."
I'll introduce you to mothers who have had their babies clubbed to death in front of them, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped and then mutilated - and to the government-armed thugs who do these things.
You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'll encounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll be scared. If you try to bully some of the goons in Darfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'll also meet some genuine conservative Christians - aid workers who live the Gospel instead of sputtering about it - and you'll finally be using your talents for an important cause.
So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to a real war against Christmas values, in which the victims aren't offended shoppers but terrified children thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.
I'll bet O'Reilly tries to quietly slink back under his rock. For all his bluster and arrogance, O'Reilly will be exposed as a coward in this fight....
So O'Rielly wants to keep Christmas in Christmas. Valid point and I agreed when all the holiday tree crap was being brought up I thought it was bs.
So Kristof's response in a nut shell, "If you think this is bad you should visit Darfur where Christians are treated really bad. And if you don't go it means your a pansy and your whole Christmas ideaology is suspect". Umm, ok. What's the point? Wouldn't that be like arguing if you're gay and think you have problems I'll take you to Iran and see if you get beheaded. Then we'll see just how bad off you really are. Oh yeah, if you don't go you're a blowhard loser.
I don't really follow O'Reilly, but this other guy sounds like a jagoff. It's not like O'Reilly said he didn't care about the situation in Darfur, or dismissed the situation (at least in the bits we read). If he did, that's one thing, but all this reads at is a silly reporter shooting for publicity.
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I don't really follow O'Reilly, but this other guy sounds like a jagoff. It's not like O'Reilly said he didn't care about the situation in Darfur, or dismissed the situation (at least in the bits we read). If he did, that's one thing, but all this reads at is a silly reporter shooting for publicity.
Well, the situation has escalated from that piece I posted.
Well, the situation has escalated from that piece I posted.
Right, but in the piece, O'Reilly basically said he's a fruit loop, and the guy questioned O'Reilly's care about the situation in Darfur. I mean, unless there was an initial reason for the guy's reaction other than that listed in the article, then the guy was coming out of left field.
I know I'm going to sound silly for this (I am a grad student with no time or cable TV, though), but who is O'Reilly anyway?
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Thank you for breaking the circle of suck, Bidwill--Stout, December 7 2008.
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