In an interview with CNN founder Ted Turner last night, Bill O’Reilly claimed that those who believe that Fox News is a conservative outlet are sorely mistaken:
O’REILLY: Right and I’m a nice guy. Well, maybe that’s overstating. I’m an honest guy, who’s just trying to do the best I can. But, you know, I think that you underestimate Fox News and its appeal to traditional Americans.
TURNER: That’s true. And I also said in there that I knew that that was our most vulnerable spot before I even went on the air with CNN that a right wing network would pose a threat because not only was CNN pretty much in the middle but so were CBS, NBC, and ABC. And you’re right. The far right did not have a voice.
O’REILLY: You can’t possibly think that Fox News is a far right operation? I mean, because it’s not.
TURNER: I do.
O’REILLY: Oh, come on. I mean, maybe coming from a Jane Fonda point of view it is, but come on.
TURNER: Well, I was married to Jane Fonda.
O’REILLY: I know. I mean, but how can – I’m a far right guy? I mean, the far right hates me. You either don’t watch or you’re so far left.
Watch it:
O’Reilly wants you to believe that Dick Cheney’s preferred station — which promotes Sean Hannity’s partisan mud-slinging, Newt Gingrich’s hate speech, Karl Rove’s propaganda, Glenn Beck’s racist rants, John Bolton and Bill Kristol’s war mongering, and Mike Huckabee’s variety hour — is not at all indicative of Fox’s right-wing bent.
In a Nov. 2003 interview with Jonah Goldberg, Bill O’Reilly explained his view:
O’REILLY: They complain about the right-wing media? I don’t even buy the fact that the Fox News Channel is a right-wing media. I just think we give access to people like you and other conservatives…
GOLDBERG: Right. And I’m not right-wing either.
Right.
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