Pelosi Responds: O’Reilly Terrorism Statement “Deadly Serious”

Yesterday on Fox’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) responded to Bill O’Reilly’s remarks approving of a terrorist attack on her home district, San Francisco:

This is “” this is no joke. This is deadly serious. … Our city is a very patriotic city. In Northern California, we have more veterans per capita than any place in the country. So any inference to be drawn from his remarks that this is a place that is not patriotic and not worthy of being considered something to be defended or protected in our country is really — I cannot even understand why somebody like you and others in your business are not disassociating yourself from this.

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Full transcript below:

CAVUTO: Let me ask you something else, ma’am, concerning our own Bill O’Reilly. He had said, concerning a district that is in your district, San Francisco, that if you want to put a ban on recruiting, which was passed overwhelmingly in your city, you should be denied federal money. What did you think of that?

PELOSI: This is a very serious issue, Neil. If a person were in an airport and said, “I have a bomb,” they would be arrested. For somebody who is supposed to be a responsible journalist to call for the use of force against a city in California —

CAVUTO: Well, to be fair, he was being a little satirical there.

PELOSI: It’s not funny. Even if somebody in the airport told a joke, they would still be arrested.

CAVUTO: But could I ask this –

PELOSI: It’s not funny.

CAVUTO: If you do not want to allow recruiting in your school, is it a fair argument to say, then, maybe when you need help, the country should think twice of giving it.

PELOSI: Absolutely, positively not. What the City of San Francisco was talking about was honesty in recruitment, in terms of what these young people are promised and what they are told in that recruiting, and that there should be some daylight shed on that. But apart from that, it doesn’t even matter. The point is is that people in our country have a right to their opinions without some person on T.V. who passes himself off as a serious journalist, to talk about saying to al Qaeda, “You can go after them, and our government. It’s open season on San Francisco.” This is — this is no joke. This is deadly serious.

CAVUTO: But couldn’t you interpret it as open season on the military if they’re not welcomed in your very school system?

PELOSI: It doesn’t say they’re not welcome. It just says that the young people should be told the truth about what the recruiting is. Our city is a very patriotic city. In Northern California, we have more veterans per capita than any place in the country. So any inference to be drawn from his remarks that this is a place that is not patriotic and not worthy of being considered something to be defended or protected in our country is really — I cannot even understand why somebody like you and others in your business are not disassociating yourself from this. This is not inside the circle of civilized discussion.