O'Reilly analysis lacks any comprehension of the real world

Bill O'Reilly thinks politicians should express regret, like regular people. That for some mysterious reason, politicians are weasals, and this appears to be the tradition that is handed down.

Perhaps Mr. O'Reilly has never heard of this thing called the media. Or, perhaps he just doesn't know how it works. Perhaps he lives in the rarified atmosphere of the Factor, no spin ever enters and so he has, trapped in his ivory tower, lost touch with those who live in the real world where media spin would take hosest expressions that more was not done into admissions of guilt and even incompetance.

I offer as evidence, the Rumsfeld Memo of October 2003. Rumsfeld is one of those leaders not satisfied with success, who wants to know how to improve on success. So the SecDef asked his immediate lieutenants, are we adapting, learning, and anticipating as fast as we can, or can we do better, if so how? The press writes things like this USA Today opener:

"The United States has no yardstick for measuring progress in the war on terrorism, has not "yet made truly bold moves" in fighting al-Qaeda and other terror groups, and is in for a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a memo that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent to top-ranking Defense officials last week."

If everything you said got spun this way, you'd stop talking like a regualr person too. You'd think that someone who rails against the spin, would criticize the problem, not the victims of the spin. The administration has to speak to the whole contry, not just to friends who will appreciate what they has to say, never mind helping them with favorable spin. So, they have to be careful, cautious, and circumspect. But, O'Reilly is content to read this as a personality defect.

Ivory Towers will do that to you.