That O'Reilly Study

More than one reader has noted the following:

You should apply some of your conservatism-of-doubt to the study you referenced.  Part of their methodology:

"Name Calling gives a person or idea a bad label to make the audience reject them without examining the evidence. This is, by definition, a negative device. The terms conservative, liberal, left, right, progressive, traditional, or centrist were treated as name calling, if they were associated with a problem or social ill or if coupled with a derogatory term."

There is too much here that one can be critical of. But for starters, its tough to do a political show, discussing todays issues, in a the vacuous format as provided by most cable shows, and not be able to reference terms and how they are perceived to be associated with issues in the world of politics. And no, I'm not defending Bill O'Reilly.