O'Reilly Once Again Olbermann's 'Worst Person' for Al Franken Remarks

On the May 15th edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Olbermann once again named Bill O'Reilly the 'Worst Person in the World' for comparing 'internet assassins', cable television, and Al Franken to New York City radio DJ Troi Torain for the remarks he made, as we previosuly reported.

Troi Torain had said on his program that "I would like to do an R. Kelly on your (a rival DJ's) seed." "To do an R. Kelly" refers to a sex scandal involving famous R&B singer R. Kelly, when he was charged with 21 counts of child pornography after a "videotape allegedly shows him having sex with an underaged girl. " (see http://archives.cnn.com/...)

O'Reilly also said on his radio program that News Corp had made a mistake in trying to sue Franken because the name of his book was Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, and as we all know, Fox News falsely prides itself on its slogan "Fair and Balanced", so they claimed copyright infringement on Franken's and the publisher's part. O'Reilly called the lawsuit a mistake because he claimed it helped Franken's book sales. The judge seemed to feel the lawsuit was a mistake on News Corp's fault, stating:

There are hard cases and there are easy cases. This is an easy case, for in my view the case is wholly without merit, both factually and legally. Accordingly, the motion for a preliminary injunction is denied.

These transcripts are from Al Franken's website, where he also notes: "Because this is a court transcript, the 'official' record does not note laughter in the courtroom, though there was much."

I suggest that you read over the transcripts, part of them are very entertaining. Here's a selection I found humorous, that O'Reilly also uses plays on trademarked phrases in his titles of his books:

THE COURT: Do you think the use of the phrase "lying liars" can be a joke?

MS. HANSWIRTH: It can be, but it isn't necessarily. I mean, look at the title of Mr. O'Reilly's book "The Completely Ridiculous and American Life."

THE COURT: Let me ask you about that: Mr. O'Reilly uses in his book "the good, the bad and the completely ridiculous." Is that not a play on "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"?

MS. HANSWIRTH: I don't know.

THE COURT: You don't know whether that's a play on "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

MS. HANSWIRTH: I don't know.

THE COURT: Well, assume that it is. Is that not a play on a trademarked phrase?

MS. HANSWIRTH: That's a title of a movie.

THE COURT: Yes. And I assume there's some kind of protection for the title of the movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

MS. HANSWIRTH: Your Honor, there generally --

THE COURT: I think that I have in some of the papers, it might have been the amicus brief, a representation that the phrase "the good, the bad and the ugly" is a trademarked phrase.

MS. HANSWIRTH: I don't know that that's the case. And I don't know --

THE COURT: Well, I mean, isn't Mr. O'Reilly doing exactly the same thing using a trademarked phrase in the title of his book? The good, the bad --

MS. HANSWIRTH: He's not doing it to confuse. He's certainly not using it to sell the product.

THE COURT: Do you think that Mr. Franken and the publisher are intending to confuse buyers into thinking that he, Mr. Franken, is somehow associated with Fox?

You can view a video clip of Olbermann's show at Media Matters.

Transcripts from Media Matters:

OLBERMANN: Back to immigration. Are there solutions here? Maybe, maybe not. But there is a unique perspective from commentator and comedian Carlos Mencia; he's next. But first, even amid the press and urgency of the speech, there is still time for Countdown's latest list of nominees for Worst Person in the World.

The bronze to the police in Orlando, who appear to have overreacted just a tad to a senior prank at Edgewater High School there. After the officers sent to monitor the traditional event called for backup, the department sent a heavily armed patrol with helicopters and arrested and handcuffed five of the 30 or so seniors who were armed with shaving cream, toilet paper, and Hershey's syrup. But the kids were brandishing the toilet paper.

The silver: From the "I know where you were coming from, but ..." file, Michael Maxwell, a teacher in St. Joseph, Missouri, he gave his seniors a creative writing essay: "Who would you kill and how would you do it?" He's apologized.

But the winner: Oh, Bill O. Not only did he compare Al Franken and some of the people on the Internet and cable TV -- guess who he meant -- to, quote, "assassins." But worse, he's rewritten history, quoting, "When he attacked me a couple of years ago," Bill O said, "News Corporation made a mistake in actually trying to sue the guy." Uh, Bill, who made the mistake in suing, the one mistake big enough that the judge literally laughed out loud in the courtroom? Bill O'Reilly, today's Worst Person in the World.