The Oh Really? Factor

What is the point of The Oh Really? Factor? The book, mostly an itemized list of untruths spouted by Bill O'Reilly on television, is a well-intentioned but self-defeating enterprise. Yes, O'Reilly has what could charitably be termed a casual relationship with the truth, and yes, he does like to yell. But his faithful viewers will dismiss this book as a jealous and petty missile misfired by the liberal media. O'Reilly's critics, meanwhile, will probably ignore it with a yawn.

The Oh Really? Factor opens with O'Reilly's "big" lies, the contradictions inherent in his brand. The introduction discusses the claim that his show has no "spin." (But it does!) The first chapter focuses on how O'Reilly says he's not a conservative. (But he is!) The undercurrent of lies that runs through O'Reilly's show and persona is swapped out for point-by-point analysis of O'Reilly's frequent misstatements.

By the fifteenth page of "O'Reilly said that A happened when in fact B and C happened," the reader is numb. This reviewer considered checking the index to see if the authors had touched upon whether Santa Claus existed or if professional wrestling were fake. Clearly, this is an assiduously researched work, and I have no doubt that the facts have been run through Lexis-Nexis 10 ways 'til Sunday. But the effect is comic and smacks of bookstore-geekery, like complaining that Aquaman can't fly or that Episode One ruins the continuity of the original trilogy.

Would O'Reilly be less loathsome if his bluster were based in fact? No. If he had a team of research interns backing him up, he would be Tim Russert on volume 11. He'd be just as vile, just as poisonous.

Bill O'Reilly isn't kidding anyone. Nobody thinks he's an intellectual or an in-the-trenches journalist. He's not cited as a source, and pointing out his factual errors is just doing him a favor, making him seem more important and respectable than he really is.