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It’s that most wonderful time of the year again, the “War on Christmas” season.
Over the past day, Gretchen Carlson, a co-host of “Fox & Friends” and the last Minnesotan to become Miss America (1989), invoked her local roots as part of a full-court press to put the issue – now an annual holiday tradition in its own right at Fox News — back on the national front burner. She started with a segment Wednesday morning on a controversy about a religious display at the Washington state Capitol. That night Bill O’Reilly, who has been working the latest wrinkles in this ratings-boosting war for at least a week, invited Carlson to appear on “The O’Reilly Factor.” Her gist: Freedom of speech is fine, but not on Christmas Day.
Transcript excerpts after the jump. Gretchen Carlson with Bill O’Reilly on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Dec. 10, 2008:
O’REILLY: So you were brought up in Minnesota, right?
CARLSON: Exactly.
O’REILLY: OK, now think back many, many years ago to when you were a child.
CARLSON: Thank you, Bill.
O’REILLY: I do that to everybody. None of this existed, correct?
CARLSON: No, my grandfather was a minister. So I have to – I’ll say that because I grew up spending a lot of time in the church.
O’REILLY: But none of it existed. There was no controversy over Christmas. …
CARLSON: We actually called it Christmas. …
O’REILLY: … What’s changed?
CARLSON: What’s changed is the whole politically correct environment that we live in. I’m all for people to have their rights of free speech. Just don’t choose December 25th to do it.
O’REILLY: Well, don’t be disrespectful. You can have freedom of speech without being disrespectful.
This morning, Carlson’s “Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy picked up where O’Reilly left off in trying to talk her down.
DOOCY: We’ve got to be tolerant of people who celebrate holidays in December, like Ramadan [sic]. We’ve got to be tolerant. You’ve got to be tolerant of all people.
CARLSON: I am tolerant. I’m all for free speech and free rights, just not on December 25th.
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7 Comments »
Comment posted December 11, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
> I’m all for free speech and free rights, just not on December 25th.
That’s one of the funniest quotes I’ve read in a long time. She really is a bubbleheaded bleach blonde, isn’t she?
Comment posted December 12, 2008 @ 9:34 am
I thought she was supposed to be the “smart” Miss America (Stanford Law School and everything). What the heck happened?
Comment posted December 12, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
FWIW She went to Stanford for undergrad, did not go to their Law School (or any other that I can find)
She studied at the Stanford program in Oxford (NOT the same as enrolling at Oxford).
Comment posted December 15, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
You may be right, Charles. I thought she dropped out of law school after her win and became a traffic reporter, or some such.
Comment posted December 15, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
Here’s a novel idea. Why dosen’t at least one of our states impose that soo controversial issue as the separation of church and state and not allow any displays, religious or otherwise? Why do some people have to constantly advertise? Like license plates with all sorts of bullshit crap on them. What the hell makes them do it? Are we that childish? Are we that pitiful? Are we that uneducated and ignorant? It is really sickening. We’re like a bunch of 3rd graders. I am truly amazed that anyone would listen to the likes of O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, James Dobson and about 1000 others. We really do suck and I’m afraid that the world is filled with mindless idiots. O’Reilly is a jerk who annualy brings up the “abolish Christmas” bullshit over and over again for whatever ratings he can muster. It really says something about Americans and it AIN’T good.
Comment posted December 16, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
Who cares? This didn’t go far enough. Who doesn’t know that on-line the issue isn’t whether or not one can be so gross about Christmas or not? The real concept is never about O’Reilly or the other (******). The issue is about Christmas. So then what is it about? In Minnesota it is a time to take pause. It is about Peace on Earth. It is about family. It is about everything which the that the political pondits have no idea. Period.
Pingback posted February 22, 2009 @ 9:31 am
[...] which poor Gretchen said “was an insult to Christianity) that she advocated that there should be no right to free speech and free rights on December 25th. Yesterday (February 20th), on Fox&Friends, Carlson took up the cross again, [...]
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