The same was true of Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors. Blessed with great looks and one of the best rock voices of all time, Morrison never even paused at a rest stop on the highway of self-destruction. Like Joplin, he was found dead at age twenty-seven. He was lying in a bathtub in Paris, France. A postmortem cover-up took place, but authoritative sources say that heroin killed Morrison—no surprise because the guy took pretty much everything he could get his hands on. According to his bandmates, Morrison had even ingested drugs given to him by strangers without knowing what they were. No question, Morrison did not really care what happened to him. So he died.
I’m not sure which made a greater impact on our culture—this talented rock star’s love of drugs or his love of music. As this museum exhibit suggests, he’s still an influence on many today, for better or for worse.
Associated Press/AP
Photographed by Matt Sayles
The reason that I am including Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison in this book is that millions of young people all over the world idolized them and followed their lead into the world of drugs. I saw it up close and personal. Three of my boyhood friends died from drug addictions they acquired in the chaotic late 1960s. Rock stars in that era had a tremendous influence on the culture. I mean, few knew that Elvis Presley was a prescription drug junkie, but everybody knew that Joplin, Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and legions of other rock performers were often stoned out of their minds. It was cool, far out. Like a band of demented pied pipers, these blanked-up rockers led many of their fans right into hell.
That’s why they are Pinheads. And the same holds true for many stars in the music business today, especially rappers who peddle hate and debauchery. You guys are loathsome and destructive. And I’m calling you out!
ERROL FLYNN
Ever hear of this guy? He was a huge movie star in the 1940s who made the rock stars of the ’60s look almost saintly.
Handsome and quick-witted on screen, he became world famous starring as Robin Hood and other action heroes. But behind the scenes this guy was completely out of control. In a huge national scandal, two teenaged girls accused him of statutory rape. The case actually went to trial and Flynn was acquitted. Based upon his subsequent activities, however, he was probably guilty. When he died from a heart attack at age fifty, he was having an affair with a fifteen-year-old girl. There’s got to be a special place in hell for a guy like this.
Have you heard the phrase “in like Flynn”? That is Errol’s legacy. Back then, the press would not expose guys like Flynn even though they knew he had a hard drug habit, a variety of venereal diseases, and was an all-around bad guy. Even my parents were fans. They had no idea what a disgraceful Pinhead the guy was. Now everybody knows.
LASSIE
I hated this show when I was a kid. I despised Timmy because the kid never did anything wrong, and I was in trouble all the time. I didn’t care much about the dog, either, because my dog, Barney, had nothing in common with the heroic Lassie. If Barney saw you at the bottom of a well, you were toast unless you had a can of Alpo on you. Barney would walk away from anything that did not involve food. But if Lassie saw you down there in that well, the entire town would have mobilized within minutes.
True to the American spirit, Lassie could do anything! This beloved canine delivered ratings to CBS and quality entertainment to fans everywhere. Now with her own commemorative stamp, she’s delivering the mail, too! Do you think I could get my own commemorative stamp someday?
Associated Press/AP
Photographed by Tammie Arroyo
In hindsight, I now realize that Lassie, the show starring the perfect collie who never pooped, served up valuable lessons for postwar America. Here on TV was an example of a loving family making a wholesome living on a farm someplace. They had a beautiful dog and harbored good feelings toward just about everybody. Can we send Eminem to Lassie’s house?
There is something to be said for the TV programs of the 1950s and early ’60s in which Ozzie and Harriet, David and Ricky, Dobie Gillis and Maynard, and the Cleaver family held court. Watching these programs as a kid made me feel good. Whatever was happening in my chaotic little world—and some of it was bad—those programs showed me that America was a nice, safe place where things always turned out well. Everybody loved everybody, and Lassie would never let you down.
And, so, the collie was a Patriot. Timmy, I’m not so sure about.
JACKIE ROBINSON, WILLIE MAYS, AND HANK AARON
Baseball saved me from the streets as a kid, and my favorite baseball player was number 24, Willie Mays, the centerfielder for the New York Giants.
But little did I know that Willie and other black players were going through hell on the diamond. When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, he was subjected to hateful taunting every day he played. So were Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and the other black players of the time. I love America, so when I think back on that kind of stuff, it makes me very sad.
To this day, I don’t get it. Willie Mays was a genius on the field. He was excellent in every way. Why would anyone say anything mean to Willie? Or to Jackie? Or to Hank?
From my perch as a kid in the working-class suburb of Levittown, black people were just folks who lived a few miles away from me. My parents never said anything negative about them and supported my idolization of Willie Mays. In 1956 my father took me to the Polo Grounds and paid $3.50 apiece for two box seats so that we could be close to Willie when he slammed the ball out of the park. My dad even took home movies of him at the plate. I remember that like it was yesterday.
Willie Mays brought me more joy than even Davy Crockett. The guy motivated me to play ball all the time because I wanted to be like him. Because I was on the field all summer long as opposed to hanging around doing nothing, I avoided major trouble in a neighborhood full of it. So Willie Mays was more than just entertainment.
Baseball legend Hank Aaron (pictured here in the announcer’s booth at the 2010 All-Star Game in Anaheim). This guy will always be an All-Star to me!
Associated Press/AP
Photographed by Rene Macura
Just picture yourself trying to make a living in a high-pressure situation like that and having thousands of Pinheads cursing you just because of the color of your skin. Can you even process that? Every day that’s what happened to black ballplayers in the land of the free and the home of the brave. But Willie Mays rarely complained. That, of course, annoyed the hell out of Jackie Robinson, who was much more assertive in dealing with the racism that came his way.
To me, Mays, Robinson, and Aaron were Patriots of the highest order. Because of their skill and willingness to suffer indignities, professional sports opened up to African Americans, who now dominate the playing fields and basketball courts of America. When a guy like LeBron James can become a page-one news story over his decision to play for the Miami Heat, it’s clear how far we’ve come.
This subject is very personal with me. Sports saved me from going to some dark places. And Willie Mays was the centerpiece of that.
VIETNAM VETS
Finally in this chapter, I want to talk about Vietnam vets. Again, this is very personal to me. If you read my previous book, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity, you know that many guys in my neighborhood were drafted and assigned to fight in Vietnam. You also know that all of them came back to Levittown saying that the situation over there was chaotic and destructive. While some of my buddies worked it out, others did not. But all of those who saw combat in Vietnam have searing memories that will burden them forever.
Ray Cravens of Lebanon, Tennessee, wipes tears away as he and other Vietnam veterans are cheered during a ceremony welcoming them home in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in August 2009. The ceremony was an official recognition of the sacrifice previous generations of soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen made, many of whom received very little support following the war.
Associated Press/AP
Photographed by Mark H
umphrey
It’s not like today when the United States has a professional, all-volunteer military. Back in the late 1960s, our country needed bodies to send to Southeast Asia because tens of thousands of bodies were coming back in bags. By all accounts, it was a brutal conflict that young men often entered into after just eight weeks of basic training. Eight weeks!
Fortunate guys like me could go to college and avoid the draft. But for those who did not pursue higher education, the draft board came knocking. After a national outcry that the poor were being discriminated against because of the college deferment deal, a lottery was instituted and random luck decided who was eligible to be drafted and who was not.
It is downright eerie how similar the current war in Afghanistan is to the Vietnam conflict. In both cases, we backed corrupt governments that do not and did not inspire confidence among the local population. In both cases, a brutal, totalitarian enemy that has time and terrain on its side faced our troops. The crucial difference is that America now has a motivated fighting force that is largely respected by the folks back home and even by the very liberal media. In Vietnam, that was certainly not the case.
As I mentioned earlier, Jane Fonda, a major Pinhead player, epitomizes what went on back then. A very pretty young actress, Fonda was strident and stupid in her support of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. She even traveled to Hanoi, allowing herself to be used by the oppressive and brutal Ho Chi Minh regime. You may remember pictures of Jane sitting atop a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun while, just a few miles away, captured American servicemen like John McCain were being tortured in small cells. Fonda wasn’t the only shameful celebrity who committed treason or crossed a fine line. Actor Donald Sutherland and a variety of rock idiots did so as well. But no one disgraced her country more than Jane Fonda.
The politics of the war are well known to anyone who cares. The conflict destroyed the presidency of Lyndon Johnson and the lives of millions of human beings, including hundreds of thousands of Americans either killed or injured in the theater of war. The U.S. military was never defeated on the battlefield, but our national will flagged, and understandably so. Some wars are simply not worth the blood and treasure. Vietnam was one of them. Iraq was another.
Whenever I meet a Vietnam vet, I thank them for their patriotism. Overwhelmingly, these brave men and women served their country in a time of crisis and served well. My cousin, Dickie Melton, was as brave a man as ever walked point in a dark jungle. He lived to tell about it, but it took a tremendous toll on him. When I asked Dick if he regretted going to Vietnam, he didn’t pause. “Because of me there are some names not on that wall [the Vietnam Memorial in Washington honoring the dead],” he said. “So it was worth it.”
Dickie Melton exemplifies the sacrifice that all Vietnam vets made. I previously said that all American schoolchildren should know about Audie Murphy’s heroism. Well, they should also know about the ordeal of the Vietnam veteran. We need to honor these guys and gals and, perhaps, even apologize to them. They were Patriots while many of us were unappreciative or even downright nasty about their service to our country. That historical wrong needs to be righted. While Jane Fonda made millions after her disgraceful conduct, most Vietnam vets returned home to make modest livings and are reminders that life, indeed, is not fair.
The Vietnam vet is a true American icon. I’m glad that I could spotlight that in these pages.
CHAPTER 10
The Last Word
This is the end, my only friend, the end.
—The Doors
SO I’VE DECIDED TO END this book with a look back at my big interview with then-Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. I think the conversation is interesting because, by examining the Q and A, we can see what he said during the campaign, and then compare his words with what he’s actually done as President. After key passages of the interview, you’ll see that I’ve provided some analysis in the gray-shaded boxes. Should be fun.
The backstory of this interview, which took place in York, Pennsylvania, on September 4, 2008, is fascinating. As you may remember, candidate Obama had promised to come on the Factor after I cornered him in New Hampshire in January 2008.
The confrontation itself received national attention because I shoved one of Obama’s advance men. Although the action made me look like a fool to some, I had to get physical because the guy was blocking my cameraman from shooting Senator Obama as he worked the rope line after a speech. With my microphone on, I asked the guy, who happened to be six-eight, to stop “blocking the shot.” When he did not, I physically removed him from camera range. For my detractors, that just reinforced my image as a thuggish lout. For my supporters, it was another sign that no one will inhibit the Factor from covering events. No one.
After the shove, the Secret Service, clearly not wanting any part of the situation, let me approach then-Senator Obama, and with the camera rolling, I asked him when he was coming on the Factor. He said it would be after the primaries. And he kept his word.
But the Obama campaign was smart about the timing. Because they knew the Factor was in Minnesota, covering the Republican Convention, and that millions of Americans would be watching that coverage, they waited until the convention was actually under way before calling us about the interview. They told us we had just hours to get from St. Paul, where John McCain and Sarah Palin were holding court, to central Pennsylvania. The Obama guys knew that an interview on the Factor would garner major attention—and it did.
Not surprisingly, some GOP viewers criticized me for interrupting their party’s coverage and going to York, Pennsylvania. But for us, that was the bigger news story. Besides, my Fox News colleagues had the convention well covered.
The Obama campaign gave us thirty minutes with the senator, and I think we used the time wisely. See if you agree.
Then-Senator Barack Obama with me on the Factor. I don’t think we had gotten to the part where I was giving him jazz about basketball yet.
The O’Reilly Factor
SENATOR OBAMA’S SEPTEMBER 2008 INTERVIEW ON THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Complete, Unabridged, and Annotated Transcript
Bill O’Reilly: Well, first of all, thanks for being a man of your word—
Sen. Barack Obama: You bet.
O’Reilly:—but I was worried there for a while….
Obama: [Laughs.]
O’Reilly: It’s been nine months since we, uh, last met—
Obama: Yes.
O’Reilly:—in, uh, New Hampshire….
Obama: It took a little while. I had, I have had a few things to do—
O’Reilly: Well, I understand, yeah.
Obama: But I, but I…. And I appreciate your having me on the show.
O’Reilly: Okay. Let’s start with national security. Do you believe we are in the middle of a war on terror?
Obama: Absolutely.
O’Reilly: Who is the enemy?
Obama: Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, a whole host of networks that are bent on, uh, attacking America; who have a distorted ideology; who have perverted the faith of Islam. And so we have to go after them.
O’Reilly: Is Iran part of that component?
Obama: Iran is a major threat. Now I don’t think that there is a—that they are not part of the same network; yeah, you have got Shia and you have got Sunni. And so, Iran…. The threat we have is with Hezbollah, Hamas—
O’Reilly: But they are behind—they are, they are fueling the—
Obama: They, they—they have fueled a whole host of terrorist organizations—
O’Reilly: Mm-hmm.
Obama: My only point is that, we have got to be absolutely clear that Shia terrorists may not be the same—
O’Reilly: But they are the same war on terror, right?
Obama:—of what we have to battle, which is—those who are trying to do us harm. My only point is that we have got to have, uh, the ability to distinguish between these groups. Because, for example, the war, uh…the war in Ir
aq is a good example—where I believe the administration lumped together Saddam Hussein—a terrible guy—with al-Qaeda, which had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein—
O’Reilly: All right. So we’ll get to that in a minute—
Obama: And as a consequence, we ended up, uh—I think—misdirecting our resources. So they are all part of various terrorist networks that we have to shut down and we have to destroy, but they may not all be part and parcel of the same ideology.
O’Reilly: But I still don’t understand—and I am asking this as an American, as well as a journalist—well, how threatening do you feel Iran is?
Obama: See, look, I think…. And I think—
O’Reilly: If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, okay?
Obama: Mm-hmm.
O’Reilly: To me, they are gonna give it to Hezbollah, if they can develop the technology. Well, why not? And, and then so we don’t have anything to do with it.
Obama: Yeah.
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