Bill O’Reilly is a popular Fox News show host and author, but he is really nothing more than a fleetingly entertaining demagogue. Case in point is the following exchange between O’Reilly and Neil Cavuto, another Fox News host:

CAVUTO: Okay. Gas prices are down a lot. Why do you think that is?
OíREILLY: Because theyíre afraid theyíll go to jail. And those C.E.O.s who manipulated themñ
CAVUTO: Why are you sure that they manipulated them?
OíREILLY: I have guys that are inside the five major oil companies – my father used to work for one of those oil companies, by the way – who have told me that in those meetings they look for every way to jack up oil prices after Katrina, every way. When they didnít have to. And they got scared because in my reporting and some other reporting, they said ñ

CAVUTO: Wait, youíre taking credit for gas prices being down?
OíREILLY: My reporting and reporting of others.
CAVUTO: Has nothing to do with refineries that came back online or the crisis calmed after the hurricanes?
OíREILLY: The demand for oil in this country is the same now as it was one day after Hurricane Katrina. Itís the same. Selling the same amount of gas and oil.
CAVUTO: But the supply has increased, right?
OíREILLY: The supply has increased? Who knows.
CAVUTO: And itís traded like a stock, correct?
OíREILLY: Itís traded by speculation, and the bottom line is they were afraid of a federal investigation and they saidñ
CAVUTO: I think youíre crazy, but you’re right on the Christmas, but wrong on this.

In this post, Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek — in a refreshingly non-derisive manner — explains cogently why O’Reilly’s position is demagogic nonsense.