Campus Antiwar Network History

Tonight, Monday, Nov 14, Todd Chretien, organizer of the successful Proposition 1 campaign in San Francisco where voters declared their opposition to military recruiting in schools, debates Jeff Katz from Talk 910 KNEW AM radio in SF and Bill O’Reilly. It will air on TV at 8 pm and 11 pm EST (5 pm and 8 pm PST) on Fox News.

O’Reilly shocked the nation on November 8th when he reacted to the Proposition 1 vote:

“Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead.” O’Reilly went on: “And if al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.” – Bill O’Reilly on the Thursday, Nov 8 broadcast of The Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News. See more of O’Reilly’s comments below.

Proposition 1

“On November 8th the citizens of San Francisco joined the growing counter recruitment movement. 59% of voters expressed the opinion that military recruiters should not be allowed in public schools.” See Kristin Anderson’s article on the passage of Proposition 1 and the College Not Combat campaign at
http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/index.php/2005/11/12/sf_proposition_1/

“A “YES” VOTE on Proposition I for San Francisco voters meant: I want it to be city policy to oppose military recruiters’ access to public schools and to consider funding scholarships for education and training that could provide an alternative to military service.” – from the College Not Combat campaign website at http://www.collegenotcombat.org
More on O’Reilly’s reaction, from http://mediamatters.org/items/200511100008

O’REILLY: Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I’m not going to give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I’m the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, “Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you’re not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead.”

And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.

You can hear O’Reilly at the audio link on the Media Matters website.

MSNBC online poll shows that 64% of website visitors feel that O’Reilly’s comments “go too far.”

See MSNBC coverage at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10004302/