Jan 28th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Sweden is Neutral, O’Reilly is Stupid
Here’s a funny story. It seems that Jessica Alba observed in an interview that Bill O’Reilly is “kind of an a-hole.” O’Reilly retaliated, noting that Alba had also referred to Sweden as a neutral country. He mocked her, viciously, and described her as a “pinhead” for confusing Sweden with Switzerland. And I can tell you from first hand experience that there’s nothing the Swiss like less about Americans than our habit of confusing Sweden with Switzerland. But of course Sweden is also neutral—like Switzerland, they stayed out of the two World Wars, didn’t join NATO, etc.
88 Responses to “Sweden is Neutral, O’Reilly is Stupid”
Register
RSSLogin
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Books By Matthew Yglesias
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Basketball
Budget
China
climate
Congress
DC
Denmark
Economics
Economy
education
Energy
Environment
Finance
Gender
Germany
Health Care
History
International Law
International Relations
Iran
Israel
Media
Monetary Policy
National Security
NBA
Pakistan
Palestine
Philosophy
planning
Political Reform
Proliferation
Public Health
Public Opinion
Race
Regulation
Russia
Science
Sports
Stimulus
Sweden
taxes
Technology
Trade
transportation
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Contact Matthew Yglesias
Use this form to contact blog author Matthew Yglesias.
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
January 28th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Just wait until he discovers how Swedes act in a restaurant.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
More Jessica Alba blogging, please.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
No –what’s funny is that Rush Limbaugh has bigger tits than Jessica Alba.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Even if Sweden isn’t neutral, Bill O’Reilly might still be an a-hole. I do not see the two as contradictory, or mutually exclusive.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
She’s no smarter than Bush! Here he is in 2002: ”I don’t know why you’re talking about Sweden,” Bush said. ”They’re the neutral one. They don’t have an army.” http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html
January 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Probably Bill O’Reilly does as well, but I don’t want to find out.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Re “Even if Sweden isn’t neutral, Bill O’Reilly might still be an a-hole”
————
As the link points out, Bill O”Reilly doesn’t dispute the a-hole assertion.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
PS- I guess she’s a little smarter than Bush:
Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: ”Mr. President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They’re the ones that are historically neutral, without an army.” Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to protect the country in the event of invasion.
Bush held to his view. ”No, no, it’s Sweden that has no army.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html
January 28th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Yes, I’ve always been rather ticked off at the NATO (and at Norway for the EU thing) but also because they are so gender-equal they have the smallest difference between male and female voices which I really really hate.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Lantos was nice to President Bush, and look where that got him. Let that be a lesson to everyone.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Bush was also prone to confusing shit and Shinola, not to mention his ass and a hole in the ground.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
i’m sure billo will issue a public apology.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
“# Don Williams Says:
January 28th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
No –what’s funny is that Rush Limbaugh has bigger tits than Jessica Alba.”
bigger is not always better.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Sweden, Switzerland. Really, even if anyone could tell the difference would anyone else really give a shit? At least we can all agree that Bill O’Reilly is an asshole. Meeting adjourned.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I’ll strongly second Jasper’s request.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
What kind of asshole blogs about Jessica Alba without including at least 1 picture?
January 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
“To prove I am not an asshole, I will publicly make fun of you for an error I have mistakenly perceived you to have made.”
January 28th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
So if I read Al correctly, when the CBO says something isn’t a report, it doesn’t matter, because everyone knows it’s really a report, and what it may “technically” be called isn’t really important.
But when it comes to neutrality, there’s actually a huge difference between “neutral” and “not allied with anyone unless we want to do some peace-keeping once in a while”. Sure, they may be the same thing for all intents and purposes, but what’s really important is what their status is “technically” called.
Typical of the lying dipshit we’ve all come to know and love.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
“What kind of asshole blogs about Jessica Alba without including at least 1 picture?”
Indeed. I’m sure there are plenty of Flickr pictures of O’Reilly, just add one to the post for God’s sake.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
They stayed out of WWII but made a fortune selling stuff to the Germans. They did harbor the Danish Jews after the Danes paid them to.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Sweden was indeed neutral in WW2, but provided rather more substantial help to the Nazi’s than just laundering some stolen Jewish gold. otoh, they did provide serious help to actual Jewish refugees. Then there’s the Winter War of pre-Barbarosa; due to the complex relationship between themselves, Finland, and Russia, Sweden was about as involved – on the side of ‘fascists’ – as Roosevelt was on the side of Britain & Russia pre-Pearl Harbor.
Jsut sayin’.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
They stayed out of WWII but made a fortune selling stuff to the Germans. They did harbor the Danish Jews after the Danes paid them to.
I’m starting to detect a pattern.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Try as he may, Bill O’ can’t turn her into the next “Hanoi Jane”. I’d bet that much of O’Reilly’s demographics are old, pathetic, men with no sex lives…its probably a group that overlaps quite a bit with those that worship at the alter of Alba. I’d wager that if Bill O’ and Alba both showed up at the house of a random Factor viewer demanding that they choose which one stays and which ones leaves, Bill wouldn’t be the one getting invitations to stay.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Let’s wait for the Stockholm Business Review to sort it all out, shall we?
January 28th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I would like some coverage of Ms. Alba’s thoughts on mass-transit policy – illustrated in a similar matter as this item.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
To be fair, it’s not just Americans that do this. My Swiss wife will, when speaking English, refer to Sweden when she means Switzerland and vice-versa. But regardless of the neutrality of the two countries, I think the important point is that Ms. Alba was dead on the mark with regards to Bill O’Reilly
January 28th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
She has fake breasts? Why? Yuck.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
No wonder the “thinkers” on the right hate Hollywood liberals. They are often smarter than said “thinkers”
January 28th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Yes, Alba is not wrong.
Yes, Bill O is an a-hole
Yes, Alba clearly meant switzerland when she said Sweden. C’mon. If she’s picking neutral countries, why not uruguay? Why pick the Euro country that kinda sounds similar to switzerland. So they are both right, O’reilly is an ahole, alba is a pinhead
January 28th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
This from a man who either has ‘falafel’ and ‘loofah’ confused, or is very, very weird.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Thank gosh for MattY’s commenters, some of whom are always smarter than he is. If not for at least two of them above, your garden variety “liberal” would never know that SE’s “neutrality” in WW2 is disputed.
Note also that Alba has also shown how “bright” she is by relying on Wikipedia.
I think MattY should ask Jennifer Palmieri to make Alba a Senior Fellow at CAP.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
And she’s a Golden State Warriors fan! She may actually know Andris Biedris!
January 28th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Oh, what a fucking surprise. That’s really very sad.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
She rilly is a pinhead!1 She used i.e. (”that is”) when clearly she meant e.g. (”exempli gratia”)! This bonehead error totally makes her not hot to me anymore.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Much better! Was that there all along, and my browser just didn’t get it?
January 28th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I mean, never mind that she could’ve been relying on metonymy in extrapolating the class (”really classy sites”) from a single instance (”TMZ”)! I have no time for this level of technicality!
January 28th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
This is outrageous. Clicking on the Sweden tag yields three Sweden posts, and clicking on the Jessica Alba tag yields only this single post.
Of course, the only reason O’Reilly knows the Sweden/Switzerland confusion thing is because Bush did it, and Billo has been waiting lo these many years to be able to spring it on some gulldarnlibrul.
Or maximally hot movie star, as the case may be.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
When O’Reilly said Switzerland, he meant that other neutral, mountainous country, Oregon. Case closed.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Don’t be an idiot. Bush was obviously saying that Sweden didn’t have an army to send peacekeeping troops, when that is not true. Hell, Bush even (later on) admitted that Sweden does, in fact, have an army.
Is that an estimate? Or a summary? Or a report? How the hell does sending peacekeeping troops abroad negate being non-aligned? That’s preposterous.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Oh and how sad is it that some people are happy if there president is perceived to be no dumber than a 25-year-old Hollywood starlet?
January 28th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
She looks pretty good on the left and on the right…….
January 28th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Oh and how sad is it that some people are happy if there president is perceived to be no dumber than a 25-year-old Hollywood starlet?
George W. Bush? He’s not my president.
*does happy dance*
January 28th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
People, people, O’Reilly certainly knew Swaziland wasn’t neutral in WWII, as it wasn’t independent until 1968. He must have been kidding. Right, Bill?
January 28th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Just for the record, Sweden DOES have an army (in reference to #6). Although it’s Wikipedia, so maybe there’s a bias: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_army
January 28th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
It’s not that Jessica is not smart, it’s just that she has a rep for being a stuck-up mouth.
That said, who cares? Just look at her!
http://thebluesite.com/images/jessica-alba-fhm-02.jpg
http://blog.joins.com/usr/c/h/chaeleesbs/25/Jessica_Alba_Maxim_Shoot_Raws_22(2).jpg
January 28th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Oops – do not click on the second link, I don’t know where it goes, but it’s not going to the pic it’s supposed to go to – and it’s Chinese, so I wouldn’t click on it unless you want a virus.
January 28th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Try this one instead:
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd90/messeymail/Hollywood/jessica_alba_08.jpg
Or this one:
http://www.cinematicwallpaper.com/movie-pictures/wallpapers/Jessica_Alba_wallpaper/Jessica_Alba_pictures.jpg
January 28th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Hack: That’s not Chinese, that’s Korean. Korean is the one with all the ovals. And it’s a 404 page.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Billy O’ is so dumb he rolls up his sleeve when he needs a shit.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Great to see you are picking up on this a week and a half after I pointed it out on the Politico when Shenanigans cited Alba saying Sweden was neutral and making fun of her for it.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Two things are very clear in this case:
1) We can’t let anyone make her wear a Burka.
2) Her breasts are weapons of mass seduction.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
You know, I think this thread should be copied and forwarded to as many Europeans and Muslims as possible, as a testament to what an American is.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Nice excuse to run a picture of Jessica Alba. Now if O’Reilly would only say something about her in a bikini.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Sweden very much has an army. Iceland is the Nordic country without an army.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:58 am
People, people. You’re failing to understand how the O’Reilly mind works.
Sweden’s official policy with respect to international involvement is not an issue here. It’s the fact that Sweden is run by f*cking leftists. The whole country is made up of pinko-commie socialist liberal fascists. How could it possibly be neutral?
Switzerland on the other hand is run by a coalition of business interests, civil libertarians, and nuts with guns. And it had Phil Gramm lobbying for one of its banks. How could it possibly not be neutral?
January 29th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Serendipitous for Alba that Sweden was neutral in WWII. But I think even those of us who dislike O’Reilly know Alba was thinking Switzerland. The Left will run with this, but it’s not really anything beyond an Olbermann cheap laugh.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:19 am
I agree, but it’s worth mentioning that O’Reilly was trying to have a cheap laugh at Alba’s expense, so he deserves all the mockery he gets, here.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:51 am
Never mind that Switzerland wasn’t really neutral at all during WW2, but supplied Nazi-Germany with essential goods and financial services.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:59 am
To set the record straight, Sweden is a constitutionally neutral country and is recognized by the international community as holding a neutral state in all affairs. Please do your research before saying that Jessica Alba doesn’t know her facts or defending O’Reilly.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:44 am
Splitting Image:
Sweden is run by a right wing-government. But thanks for playing.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Actually, Sweden had a “policy” of being neutral in WWII, but allowed Nazi Germany use its railroad for transporting troops through its country. It also had some of its people join the German army as SS officers. Swedens King wrote a letter to Hitler praising him on his advances in the War, but the letter was never sent.It was actually read to a German delagation in Sweden and was wired immediately to Hitler. So yes, Sweden did have a policy of being neutral in WWII, but were they actually.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:11 am
pseudonymous in nc Says:
January 28th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Oh, what a fucking surprise. That’s really very sad.
LOL, seriously. I was all set to make some remark like “wow, mark it on your calendar, the lone wacko posted a link to someone other than himself.” And it turns out that he didn’t. In fact, here’s the best part from your link:
I’m afraid (by which I mean, barely stifling derisive laughter) that we’ll see a lot more links to various – well, “various” – sites from him…
January 29th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I’d bet that much of O’Reilly’s demographics are old, pathetic, men with no sex lives…
And I’ll bet that the Pope takes dumps in the woods…..or..wait
January 29th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Iceland is the Nordic country without an army.
It is still a country, right? I haven’t been following the news too closely, but that seems to be up in the air right now.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Also, Nietzschean, Brett, et al., is it really so hard to believe that Alba could have said Sweden and meant to say Sweden? It’s a very conservative way of thinking to say that everyone in Hollywood is an idiot, and Alba wasn’t trying to make some in-depth analysis, she was talking about a specific historical fact. You don’t have to be an expert on diplomacy to know that Sweden was nominally neutral in World War II, you just have to remember a detail from high school history class.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I have to back up Cyrus on this one. ‘Y’all’ are a bunch of flaming misogynistic assholes on this thread, and the pack of ya ain’t worth a dog’s vomit.
I can’t put my finger on which position is more moronic:
That Alba said ‘Sweden’ when she meant ‘Switzerland’ and just got lucky? Jesus H. Christ, how childishly condescending. It’s like there can only be one neutral country in the world. Any idiot who ever looked at a map of WWII can spot the countries that didn’t get involved – Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Finland. Any idiot could look at cold war maps and see which countries weren’t in NATO or the Warsaw pact – Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia. So on what basis do you snivelling weasels claim that Alba didn’t mean the country she was referring to?
The other truly idiotic claim is that Sweden wasn’t really ‘neutral’ in WWII. Yeah, no more so than Finland, Spain and Switzerland, all of which had to dance frigging lightly in laps of warmongering superpowers. There’s a difference between preserving independence and neutrality against an aggressive expanding empire, and actually provoking it to invade.
I’m seriously disgusted with you people.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, Alba is Danish on her mother’s side. So when she said Sweden, she knew exactly what she was talking about.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I’m from Sweden. Even some Swedes believe Sweden is neutral so give her a break.
Sweden is militarially alliance-free just like the USA was before Pearl Harbor. US joined a alliance. Sweden didn’t.
Ealready in the late 1940s the first Swedish UN troops were deployed to Lebanon, in the 1960s Sweden sent airforce jets to Congo to bomb rebel bases.. today Sweden is in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Somalia… Switzerland is neutral and has never done anything like that. So Sweden is not neutral. Except for a 6 year period 1939-1945.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
The Finns helped invade Russia during World War 2, after having been invaded by them.
Not a neutral country.
January 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
O’Reilly proved himself to be as dumb as a doornail. It just goes to show that many Americans think they know everything but they don’t know much and are arrogant about it. I’ll bet he thought he would show this little ethnic minority actress a thing or two and ended up proving himself to be the real a-hole.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:56 pm
“Skeptic Says:
January 29th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I have to back up Cyrus on this one. ‘Y’all’ are a bunch of flaming misogynistic assholes on this thread, and the pack of ya ain’t worth a dog’s vomit.
I can’t put my finger on which position is more moronic:
That Alba said ‘Sweden’ when she meant ‘Switzerland’ and just got lucky? Jesus H. Christ, how childishly condescending. It’s like there can only be one neutral country in the world. Any idiot who ever looked at a map of WWII can spot the countries that didn’t get involved – Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Finland. Any idiot could look at cold war maps and see which countries weren’t in NATO or the Warsaw pact – Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia. So on what basis do you snivelling weasels claim that Alba didn’t mean the country she was referring to?
The other truly idiotic claim is that Sweden wasn’t really ‘neutral’ in WWII. Yeah, no more so than Finland, Spain and Switzerland, all of which had to dance frigging lightly in laps of warmongering superpowers. There’s a difference between preserving independence and neutrality against an aggressive expanding empire, and actually provoking it to invade.
I’m seriously disgusted with you people.”
Very well said! I completely agree.
January 31st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
The WMD commission was set up on the initiative of Sweden’s late Foreign Minister, Anna Lindh (who later was assassinated). The Swedish Government funds its work, but the body is independent from any government. It’s purpose; investigate WMD in a more or less diplomatic manner. Iraq is a perfect example of US not giving shit about diplomacy but goes straight to action. Now later on the comission has come to the conlucion there were no WMD and the US confirmed this! Whether to be Switzerland or Sweden doesn’t really matter, what’s sure is what NOT to be and that’s to be like the US obviously when they could have avoided the deaths and suffering of thousands of people.
Sweden got an army for keeping peace. They don’t use the army to invade countries or force anyone to anything. They take care of others mess. If Sweden’s not neutral then how can Switzerland be? From 1996 to 2001, The Swiss Army was present in Bosnia and Herzegovina with headquarters in Sarajevo. Its mission, part of the Swiss Peacekeeping Missions among other missions. I don’t see these operations as anything but taking care of others mess, I believe both countries are fine examples of what way to take.
Nevertheless. To O’Reilly and supporters:
- Fuck you. Sweden is cool and Alba is damn fine too.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Anyone who cites wiki as a source is an idiot: fact
Anyone named O’Reilly is an asshole: fact
Anyone who doesn’t think Albas tata’s are absolutely, positively scrumpditlyumptious is gay or a chick: fact
Nothing more needs to be said or discussed.
February 1st, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Is it worth pointing out that Sweden wasn’t actually neutral. It didn’t even claim neutrality. No? OK.
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:30 am
Simon… “Is it worth pointing out that Sweden wasn’t actually neutral. It didn’t even claim neutrality.”
Would be interesting to see what you base that little “fact” on. Sweden has been neutral since 1814.
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:46 am
Hmmm… Did my previous post get deleted?
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
This is the funniest take on the whole Jessica Alba thing. I could go for some Swedish chocolate or Swedish cheese. And who doesn’t like Swedish Miss Hot Chocolate? You can open up the package with your Swedish Army knife.
http://www.arcanery.com/celebutardicle-jessica-albatross.htm
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:13 pm
To be quite honest, there seems to be quite some confusion about this concept of neutrality, and I think that you can never be truly neutral in war situations. However, Sweden has had a clear policy on non-alignment, not joining any military alliance. This has meant that Sweden has had to invest much more in military resources than an allied country, most probably more than any other comparable country on Earth, due to its low population density and proximity to Russia and the former Soviet Union, and other aspects. It is a well-known fact that the Swedish Air Force and many elite forces are very highly respected, especially among high ranking U.S. military and political dignitaries. I have personally, as a conscript seargeant, had an encounter with the highest commanding officer of the United States Marine Corps, who visited our unit in Sweden. The words of George Bush are therefore very shocking!!! Barrack Obama … Our Saviour!!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:30 pm
In addition, due to a combination of high competence and non-alignment policy as well as other political decsions, try to find a country of only 9 million inhabitants that design & produce or have done so:
- Modern fighter aircrafts
- State of the art missile systems
- Submarines
- Tanks
- Military all terrain vehicles, the lates based upon Volvo articulated haulers that carry artillery guns
- Automatic rifles and grenade launchers
- Military vessels, destroyers, mine layers, combat boats and more.
- And much more.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Seriously people, who has a greater claim to neutrality is a total distraction. The saying is “be Switzerland.” I have never heard anyone say “be neutral! be Sweden about it!” Guess what? Swiss Cheese isn’t really Swiss. The English horn is neither English nor a horn. What something becomes known for may not always reflect the true reality. The point here is that we have yet another stupid celebrity, trying to sound intelligent, and she fell flat on her face. I pity anyone who really thinks she meant to say Sweden. This is more about dysfunctional Bill O’Reilly hatred and looking for any reason to jump on him. In any case, this video is hilarious.
Jessica’s Albatross – Be neutral! Be Sweden about it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEDVi7S5-cU
March 11th, 2009 at 4:49 am
It is the coolest site,keep so!
March 14th, 2009 at 5:32 am
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
xanax
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:20 am
tramadol
Incredible site!
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:33 am
buy viagra online
It is the coolest site,keep so!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:27 am
If you have to do it, you might as well do it right
buy cheap viagra
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:18 am
Incredible site!
cheap brand pfizer viagra
April 9th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Excellent site, It was pleasant to me. viagra
April 19th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
rFUJpb uxehralhzben, [url=http://kxxrzijqlljm.com/]kxxrzijqlljm[/url], [link=http://mkzzmtjcjbrv.com/]mkzzmtjcjbrv[/link], http://weuskgnycmvt.com/