I was thinking about this today. You know how you have to tell your corporate boss "Nice tie, sir" and "Excellent idea, boss", in order to move ahead?
I'm guessing that in the highly competitive world of TV journalism- where an Olbernamm and Dobbs are chomping at an oreilly's heels, that OReilly says whatever it is that FOXnews' research department determines will help the numbers most.
he's essentially an actor, who reads scripts which elicit an emotional response from the listener, positive or negative. If he were to have moderate views on any topic- as most of us do on something - he probably couldn't speak them on teh show. Like an Anne Coulter, his selling point is that he's an extreme.
Also, to support that "speaking what the network wants you to speak"... think about Lou dobbs. In july of this year, there was a piece in which Pentagon documents revealed the DoD lied about the times on 911, and just "lost" 45 minutes of testimony on the stand - this is the "standdown order through inaction" that allowed 3 of the 4 targets to be hit. Well, Dobbs always gets to comment on a topic, and he said, in his opinion, paraphrased, "If the Pentagon has lied to us about those 45 minutes, and these documents show they have, I think it's time for a new 911 Investigation."
Dobbs was removed from the air for 3 weeks immediately following this episode.
