O’Reilly Goes After Sesame Street: ‘We May Have To Ambush Oscar’
O’Reilly Goes After Sesame Street: ‘We May Have To Ambush Oscar’
During an episode of Sesame Street that was originally broadcast two years ago, a character tells Oscar the Grouch, who happens to be reporting for “GNN” (Grouchy News Network), that she is switching her news viewing loyalties to “Pox News,” adding, “Now there is a trashy news show.”
Right winger Andrew Breitbart’s “Big Hollywood” blog took on the Sesame Street menace this week proclaiming: “Add one more soldier to the Left’s war on Fox News: Oscar the Grouch”:
If Mom and Dad watch cable news, it’s better than 50/50 they watch “POX News.” So what gives? PBS — a network partially funded with my tax dollars — has the right to tell my kids that their parents watch “trashy” news? The message is clear, I can’t even sit my kids in front of “Sesame Street” without having to worry about the Left attempting to undermine my authority.
Thursday night on Fox News, host Bill O’Reilly picked up on Big Hollywood’s rant and couldn’t resist defending his network against the smear merchants at Sesame Street. “Say it ain’t so. Sesame Street trashing Fox News!” O’Reilly complained. After airing the segment in question, O’Reilly said wryly, “We may have to ambush Oscar.” Watch it:
As Big Hollywood itself acknowledged, Fox News wasn’t the only news organization or media personality Sesame Street spoofed. “Walter Cranky,” “Dan Rather-Not,” “Meredith Beware-a” and “Diane Spoiler,” all made appearances on the show. And of course, Oscar’s employer, the “Grouchy News Network.”
Media Matters’ Simon Maloy notes, “It looks like Andrew Breitbart’s BigHollywood.com is looking to dethrone NewsBusters as the premiere source for asinine right-wing media criticism” by documenting “the absurd liberal bias in an episode of Sesame Street that aired two years ago. Just let that sink in for a moment…”
We wouldn’t put it past O’Reilly hit-man Jesse Watters to be staking out Oscar’s garbage can right now.
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O’Reilly And Hume Claim Fox News Covered ‘All The Bad News That Came Out Of Iraq’
O’Reilly And Hume Claim Fox News Covered ‘All The Bad News That Came Out Of Iraq’
Yesterday, former Special Report anchor Brit Hume helped lead the Fox News pushback against the White House’s charge that the network is “opinion journalism masquerading as news” and “often operates as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.” “If Fox News really were a GOP mouth piece, the White House would not be attacking it,” said Hume in a Special Report commentary. “It would feel no need to.”
Later that night, Hume joined Bill O’Reilly to continue defending the network’s news coverage. O’Reilly and Hume agreed that Fox “routinely hammered President Bush on Iraq” and was “very faithful about covering all the bad news that came out of Iraq”:
O’REILLY: Now you and I came up in the old school, where we were taught as a reporter you should be skeptical of everybody. I mean, that’s your job as a reporter.
HUME: Right.
O’REILLY: To be skeptical, skeptical of the Democrats, skeptical of the Republicans. It doesn’t really matter. And I have to say that when President Bush was in trouble in Iraq, this network and this program and your program, as well, routinely, routinely hammered President Bush on Iraq.
HUME: Well, we certainly — we were very faithful about covering all the bad news that came out of Iraq.
O’REILLY: Absolutely.
“There was no cheerleading of President Bush on this network when his administration ran into trouble,” claimed O’Reilly. Watch it:
O’Reilly and Hume appear to have a selective memory when it comes to their cheerleading of the Bush administration. When Hume stepped down from the Special Report anchor chair, he marveled that Bush had put America on “an amazing” foreign policy “path.” During his time at Fox, Hume repeatedly spun bad news for Bush and pushed misleading information that bolstered the Bush administration’s faulty case for invading Iraq. Perhaps this is one reason why a 2003 study found that 80 percent of those who primarily relied on Fox News believed falsehoods about why we went into Iraq.
When it came to Iraq war coverage, O’Reilly explained his philosophy on his radio show in June 2007 after the Project for Excellence in Journalism found that Fox covered the war less than CNN and MSNBC. Claiming that Fox’s competitors were reporting on violence “because they want to embarrass the Bush administration,” O’Reilly said, “Do you care if another bomb went off in Tikrit? Does it mean anything? No!” “There’s little news value in broadcasting daily bombings,” O’Reilly added on his Fox show.
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Olbermann: Bachmann should apologize to those who have actually been stalked.
Olbermann: Bachmann should apologize to those who have actually been stalked.
On Fox News last night, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told Bill O’Reilly that she has “stalkers” at an unnamed cable news network, presumably referring to MSNBC. “It’s an interesting phenomena,” said Bachmann. “I think it happened with a competing cable network that took an interest in me and it’s only grown, so now it’s almost like I have personal stalkers, only they have TV shows.” In a statement to TVNewser, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann responded, saying that Bachmann should apologize to those who have actually been threatened by stalkers:
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann responds to TVNewser, “Having had an actual stalker myself, I think the Congresswoman needs to apologize to women (and men) whose lives are blighted and ruined by such terror and threat. Not even in the mildest of senses – of journalists whose aggressiveness might verge colloquially into ’stalking’ – is she anywhere close to being such a victim.”
Watch Bachmann’s comments:
O’Reilly to Bachmann: You ‘drive the far-left crazy’ because you’re ‘good looking.’
O’Reilly to Bachmann: You ‘drive the far-left crazy’ because you’re ‘good looking.’
Last night, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly discussed why she is “second to Sarah Palin in far-left angst,” setting off a conversation between the two about why Bachmann faces so much criticism from her colleagues and the press. Bachmann claimed she has “stalkers” at “a competing cable network,” presumably referring to MSNBC. (Note to Michele: O’Reilly is actually a stalker.) O’Reilly then offered his own explanation as to why Bachmann is criticized so much, contending that it’s because she’s so “good-looking”:
O’REILLY: Do you think — and this is an off-the-wall question. And I’m telling the audience that it’s just something that’s occurred to me. Both you and Sarah Palin are good-looking women. I mean, you’re attractive, young — relatively young — women who other women can identify with. You’re a mom, a wife. You had a private-sector job.
I think that’s it. I think that the success of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann drive the far left crazy because you don’t fit — they don’t like what you believe in, but you can attract others to listen to you. I think that’s what’s going on.
Bachmann responded that she and Palin are pulling away votes from Democrats, “especially in a woman block — a middle America woman block.” Watch it:
O’Reilly: Fox News Doesn’t Report Stories That Will ‘Hurt Anybody’
O’Reilly: Fox News Doesn’t Report Stories That Will ‘Hurt Anybody’
Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) criticized the partisan political environment, saying, “Can you imagine writing the Constitution today?” Graham asked, speculating that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly would complain of “Ben Franklin giving in on something.” Last night on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly playfully confronted Graham about the accusation and attempted to defend the integrity of his network. O’Reilly said that unlike the New York Times, Fox News doesn’t break stories that hurt people:
O’REILLY: And I think you raise a very interesting point in what you said. And you said — I’m glad you mentioned me because that got attention And then people to think about this. We don’t break stories that are going to interfere with President Obama or President Bush or whoever’s in office if we feel that the story is going to hurt anybody, our military, our policymakers. We’ll hold it back. Okay? We’re not The New York Times. We’re not trying to do that.
Watch it:
Fox News and O’Reilly may not “break stories” that directly “hurt anybody,” but they certainly haven’t made great efforts to take targets off anyone’s back either. In fact, O’Reilly producer Jesse Watters regularly stalks and ambushes anyone O’Reilly and his goons disagree with (like TP’s own Amanda Terkel), even if it means following them home and confronting them in places such as their garages.
In May, a radical anti-choice crusader gunned down Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas physician who administered abortions. Prior to this incident, O’Reilly regularly singled out Tiller on his show, referring to him as “Tiller the Baby Killer,” saying that he “has blood on his hands” and that he “executes babies.” After the murder, O’Reilly stood by all his claims and even lied that he never called Tiller “Dr. Killer.”
Other hosts, such as by Glenn Beck, have attempted to scare the American public by calling the President a “socialist,” saying that he has ties to communists (or fascists), or that he’s even a “racist” who hates “white culture.” Beck regularly fears that the country is being “stolen” and has even said that the Obama administration had created concentration camps.
Indeed, other major conservative media figures have noticed this constant incendiary rhetoric, and one CNN host noted that “Americans are scarfing up guns and ammunition at an alarming rate.”
Bachmann heaps praise on O’Reilly and Beck: That’s where people want to go to find the truth.
Bachmann heaps praise on O’Reilly and Beck: That’s where people want to go to find the truth.
In an interview with Fox News, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) kissed up to Bill O’Reilly and his audience, telling producer Jesse Watters, “The Factor is the factor. That’s what’s important.” Bachmann then showered O’Reilly and Glenn Beck with her praise:
People vote with their feet. And they love Bill O’Reilly; they love Glenn Beck. They love the shows that are on Fox. That’s what matters. Because people want to go where they can find truth. They obviously aren’t finding truth over on some of these other channels.
Watch it:
Bachmann has gone on Fox News to claim health care reform is unconstitutional, that the Census is dangerous because it was used to intern the Japanese, and that Alaskan caribou favor oil drilling because they like the the warmth of the pipeline. Together, the Fox News network and Bachmann create a very “truthy” tag-team.
O’Reilly tries to weasel out of his support for public option: ‘The internet is a safe haven for liars.’
O’Reilly tries to weasel out of his support for public option: ‘The internet is a safe haven for liars.’
Last week, Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly turned some heads when he declared his support for a public health insurance option. But last night, reverting back to true form, O’Reilly tried to weasel out of his prior comments. “The internet is a safe haven for liars,” O’Reilly told his audience, complaining that he was taken out of context. O’Reilly whined, “They lied about it!” He then invited right-wing media analyst Bernie Goldberg, who generally offers a sycophantic defense of O’Reilly, to back him up. But even Goldberg was having a hard time buying O’Reilly’s spin:
GOLDBERG: Bill, Bill, don’t shoot the messenger. Right? I’m your friend. I’m telling you this as a friend. You also said, “If the government can cobble together a cheaper insurance policy that gives the same benefits, I see that as a plus for the folks.” Now, I know what you meant by that.
O’REILLY: But I clarified it: private hands.
GOLDBERG: You did. You absolute — you absolutely did. But you’re a big prize for the left. But they can get… What I’m saying is when — when you say — when you say if the government can cobble…
O’REILLY: I clarified. I know what you’re saying, but it’s just drives me crazy that you can’t have an honest dialogue in this country anymore.
Watch it:
Looks like “liars” have found a “safe haven” on cable television.
‘Media Courage Award’ recipient Bill O’Reilly bans the media from his speech.
‘Media Courage Award’ recipient Bill O’Reilly bans the media from his speech.
Members of the press were dismayed to find out that they were banned from Bill O’Reilly’s speech at the Values Voter Summit tonight. The Washington Independent’s Dave Weigel snapped a picture of the sign letting them know that they couldn’t get in:
Ironically, O’Reilly was receiving a “Media Courage Award.”
ThinkProgress Interviews O’Reilly Hit Man Jesse Watters
ThinkProgress Interviews O’Reilly Hit Man Jesse Watters
Members of ThinkProgress attended the Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC today. While we were there, we happened to see Fox News producer Jesse Watters and decided to try to interview him about why he stalked and ambushed ThinkProgress Managing Editor Amanda Terkel in March while she was on vacation in rural Virginia.
At first, Watters tried to walk away from us, but we were able to chat with him as he waited for the elevator. When we said we were from ThinkProgress.org, he replied, “I don’t know that organization.” But as soon as we mentioned the ambush of Amanda, he turned to his cameraman and said, “Oh, shoot this. Shoot this. Shoot this.”
We pointed out to Watters that O’Reilly has said he always contacts people to give them a chance to respond before ambushing them. Watters attempted to stall several times before answering the question, but eventually responded:
WATTERS: We called her office.
Q: She said she got no call.
WATTERS: Yeah, no — I called her office twice.
Q: Who in the office did you call?
WATTERS: I called the main number.
Q: The main number?
WATTERS: Yeah, I called the main number and asked if Amanda Terkel was there.
Watters then began to say that he contacted Amanda Terkel “before we went after –” but stopped himself before finishing the sentence and instead said, “Yeah, before we went there.”
Watters is lying, just like he did when he claimed he contacted Hendrick Hertzberg before accosting him in New York City. No one at the Center for American Progress ever received a call from Jesse Watters or anyone else at Fox News about having Amanda appear on the show. (Of course, O’Reilly’s producers had no trouble finding CAP’s media booker a few days later when they then wanted John Podesta to appear on the show.)
Watters also tried to play off staking out Amanda’s apartment, following her on vacation, and ambushing her on the street as a friendly interview. “Amanda Terkel is a very nice person, and she sat down with me, and we did an interview. She was very gracious to take my questions and I really appreciate that. … Tell her I said hello.” He then looked into the camera and said, “Hey Amanda, how are you doing?” (As we pointed out to him, Amanda never “sat down” with Watters; she had to stop on the street while on vacation and talk to Watters because he and his cameraman had followed her for two hours.)
As Watters walked away from us into the elevator, we asked Watters why he refused to comment to the New York Times about his ambush tactics. “I didn’t refuse to comment to the New York Times,” he replied. “Don’t believe everything you read in the New York Times.” Watch it:
O’Reilly endorses the public option, which he previously called ‘socialism.’
O’Reilly endorses the public option, which he previously called ‘socialism.’
Last night on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly actually told a Heritage Foundation scholar who was fear-mongering government-backed health care that he favors a public option:
NINA OWCHARENKO: Well, it has massive new federal regulation. So you don’t necessarily need a public option if the federal government is going to control and regulate the type of health insurance that Americans can buy.
O’REILLY: But you know, I want that, Ms. Owcharenko. I want that. I want, not for personally for me, but for working Americans, to have a option, that if they don’t like their health insurance, if it’s too expensive, they can’t afford it, if the government can cobble together a cheaper insurance policy that gives the same benefits, I see that as a plus for the folks.
Watch it:
As recently as last month, O’Reilly was still saying that progressives want “the government to run the nation’s health care system. That’s because the Feds can then redistribute income much easier, shifting resources to the poor and away from corporations and the affluent. … It’s not really about health care. It’s about socialism.”
O’Reilly Promotes Fringe Constitutional Attack on Health Care: An Individual Mandate Is Unconstitutional
O’Reilly Promotes Fringe Constitutional Attack on Health Care: An Individual Mandate Is Unconstitutional
While progressives fight to fix a broken health system that leaves millions of Americans without access to lifesaving care, conservatives are increasingly offering fringe constitutional theories to lock the status quo in place forever. Last night, Bill O’Reilly joined their number, claiming that an individual mandate requiring almost all Americans to be insured is unconstitutional because “the federal government cannot force you to do or buy anything.” Watch it:
Fox anchor Megyn Kelly tells O’Reilly in the same segment that she is not sure whether an individual mandate is constitutional because it would “require days and weeks of research” for her to determine whether it is.
Kelly could spend days and weeks researching this question, but the Wonk Room already addressed it on Monday. As the Supreme Court held in Gonzales v. Raich, the Constitution empowers Congress to enact broad regulatory schemes that “substantially affect interstate commerce.” This power includes authority to enact broad reforms that concern “economic activity,” and an individual mandate unquestionably falls within the scope of this power:
The [individual mandate] would require most uninsured Americans to buy a product — health insurance coverage — which pools thousands of people’s premiums together and pays those people’s medical costs as they become ill. … [T]he individual mandate would lower premiums nationwide by requiring more healthy individuals to buy into the system; while reducing the risk of catastrophic financial loss should a person who was previously uninsured experience catastrophic illness. It is difficult to imagine a law which has a more obvious economic impact than a requirement that all Americans be insured.
So O’Reilly’s constitutional attack on health reform is entirely without merit. Sadly, however, it is also one of the least virulent theories being advanced by right-wing constitutional theorists. A number of elected conservatives, including Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) are proud members of the “tenther” movement — a movement that believes that landmark progressive reforms such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, federal education funding, the VA health system, the G.I. Bill, the federal minimum wage, and the federal ban on whites-only lunch counters are all unconstitutional. Since they could never pass such a radical agenda through Congress, conservatives now want to rewrite the Constitution to suit their ends.
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A truce between MSNBC and Fox News?
A truce between MSNBC and Fox News?
MSNBC and Fox News have long taken shots at each other, with Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly at the center of the feud. Olbermann consistently names O’Reilly his “Worst Person in the World,” and O’Reilly can’t even stand it when someone mentions Olbermann’s name in his presence. The New York Times reports that in mid-May, the two networks agreed to largely stop the “fiercest media feud of the decade”:
At an off-the-record summit meeting for chief executives sponsored by Microsoft in mid-May, the PBS interviewer Charlie Rose asked Jeffrey Immelt, chairman of G.E., and his counterpart at the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, about the feud.
Both moguls expressed regret over the venomous culture between the networks and the increasingly personal nature of the barbs. Days later, even though the feud had increased the audience of both programs, their lieutenants arranged a cease-fire, according to four people who work at the companies and have direct knowledge of the deal.
MSNBC President Phil Griffin has reportedly told network producers to “restrain from criticizing Fox directly,” and Fox staffers were told to “be fair” to General Electric, MSNBC’s parent company. Olbermann said that he personally was “party to no deal.”
O’Reilly to receive a ‘Media Courage Award.’
O’Reilly to receive a ‘Media Courage Award.’
The right-wing Family Research Council has announced that at its upcoming Values Voters Summit this fall, the organization will be honoring Fox News host Bill O’Reilly with the first-ever “Media Courage Award.” In his announcement, FRC President Tony Perkins specifically cited O’Reilly’s coverage of the late Dr. George Tiller:
Bill O’Reilly has never shied away from denouncing late-term abortions and the handful of doctors who perform them. In the aftermath of George Tiller’s murder, O’Reilly became an easy target for the liberal media who tried to pin some of the blame on Bill, saying he incited the violence by decrying these unnecessary procedures on his show. Despite the unfair allegations, O’Reilly spoke the truth, bringing new light to a gruesome procedure. On behalf of our co-sponsors and millions of values voters, we want to express our gratitude to a culture warrior who uses his national platform to promote life–no matter what the personal or professional costs.
O’Reilly rarely spoke the “truth” about Tiller, who was murdered by a radical anti-choice extremist. What O’Reilly did was demonize him, calling him — even after his death — “Tiller the Baby Killer” or “Dr. Killer.” “This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao’s China, Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union,” O’Reilly said of Tiller’s medical practice. Beyond the Tiller commentary, O’Reilly rarely shows “courage” on his show. Nothing says courage less than sending your producer to stalk people because they once wrote something critical about you and you’re too afraid to actually call them up and ask them for a response first.
O’Reilly Tells African-Americans Whom They Can And Cannot Hold Up As Icons
O’Reilly Tells African-Americans Whom They Can And Cannot Hold Up As Icons
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was full of his usual hypocrisy as he went off last night about the death of Michael Jackson. O’Reilly started off on a respectful note, saying, “The family of Michael Jackson honored his memory today in Los Angeles. And I do not, do not wish to intrude on that. They are entitled to grieve any way they want.” However, he then decided to intrude, saying that he was “just about fed up with all the adulation” because it’s “basically grandstanding and pathetic in the extreme.”
O’Reilly was also offended at the “racial component” to the Jackson coverage. “The message is very clear, if you criticize Michael Jackson, you hate black people,” said O’Reilly. He, however, then injected race into the discussion by telling Fox News analyst Marc Lamont Hill that blacks shouldn’t look up to Jackson:
O’REILLY: Okay, then why is he being held up by the African-American community as a pillar of black America when he blanches his skin? [...]
But answer me this, if he is such a black American icon, why did he have his kids with white men?
HILL: That’s a personal matter. That doesn’t make him less black. There’s no blackness meter here. You don’t become less black when you have a white kid.
O’REILLY: You don’t become an African-American icon when you do something like that.
HILL: No, you become an African-American icon for producing the greatest music and being the greatest entertainer ever for being extraordinary humanitarian and for.
O’REILLY: No. You just become an American icon for that, not a black American icon. [...]
HILL: It’s not — oh, he is an American idol — icon. He is quintessentially American, but he’s also undeniably black. You can’t take black from him just because he has white kids.
Watch it:
That’s right — O’Reilly, who has said he is “terrified” about interacting with African-Americans and is amazed that a restaurant “run by blacks” is like “any other restaurant in New York City,” is now dictating whom people of color should hold up as icons.
O’Reilly Defends Gay Penguins: ‘God Made The Penguin That Way’
O’Reilly Defends Gay Penguins: ‘God Made The Penguin That Way’
Last night, Bill O’Reilly discussed the “gay penguins” at a zoo in Germany with guest Dennis Miller. O’Reilly shocked Miller by being eminently tolerant of the penguins, saying the zoo should “leave the penguin alone” because “God made the penguin that way”:
O’REILLY: Number one, if the penguin’s gay, leave the penguin alone. God made the penguin that way and I agree — I mean, I’m not one of these guys who thinks you should be converting anybody to anything. If you’re that way, and you’re not hurting anybody, I think you and I agree, we’re libertarians. So who cares? … If they’re happy, they’re happy. That’s my philosophy.
Watch it:
If only O’Reilly were as tolerant of gay humans; alas, his record shows quite a different picture:
— O’Reilly complained that J.K. Rowling is making children “tolerant” of homosexuality.
– O’Reilly warned that if gay marriage were allowed, people could marry ducks, turtles, and dolphins.
– O’Reilly censored a photo of two men kissing.
– O’Reilly claimed J.K. Rowling is a “provocateur” for “the gay agenda” of “indoctrination.”
– O’Reilly was disgusted by a transgender couple, saying, “Imagine a poor kid getting born into that family.”
– O’Reilly was furious that “thousands of gay adults showed up and commingled with straight families” at a Padres game, and suggested that gay couples hugging were making “over-the-top displays.”
In O’Reilly’s world, gay penguins should be left alone, but gay people should be mocked, reviled, and censored.
O’Reilly Ignores Holocaust Museum Shooting, Wonders Whether It’s Even ‘Newsworthy’
O’Reilly Ignores Holocaust Museum Shooting, Wonders Whether It’s Even ‘Newsworthy’
Last week, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly went on a tirade against CNN for supposedly failing to cover the shooting of Pvt. William Long, an Army recruiter in Arkansas. Of course, O’Reilly’s claims were blatantly false — but that didn’t stop him from claiming to be “shocked” that he “can’t find any information about” the shooting in the mainstream media.
Exactly one week later, after a white supremacist shot and killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, O’Reilly never covered the shooting on his show. In fact, the only mention of the act of domestic terrorism came in a segment that, ironically, decried the media’s inadequate coverage of Long’s death:
O’REILLY: But the central question remains according to a new Pew study, the American media spent far more time on the murder of Tiller than on the murder of Private Long. … 10 to 1 the Pew study which was released yesterday, 10 to 1 more coverage. I mean, come on, come on.
[...]
O’REILLY: All right. Now, we had a murder today at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.
HENICAN: That was an awful case. Awful.
O’REILLY: Now, this is an 89-year-old anti-Semite bigot kills an innocent guy in the Holocaust Museum. OK? Now, what about the newsworthiness of this? … Is it as newsworthy as Private Long?
Watch it:
Sean Hannity, whose show follows O’Reilly’s, never once mentioned the Holocaust Museum shooting — though he did discuss Miss California’s firing and played host to Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter, and a star of “Miami Ink.”
O’Reilly slammed Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson for having “ignored” Long’s murder, which he said was an ideological decision:
O’REILLY: Look, Katie Couric didn’t cover Private Long. Charles Gibson ignored Private Long. Ignored it. Didn’t — didn’t say a word about it. … It’s a news decision, and our news decision is based on what is important. Their news decision is based on ideology.
If O’Reilly bases his coverage “on what is important” and not ideology, why did he fail to “say a word about” the single largest news story of the day?
O’Reilly: I never called Tiller ‘Dr. Killer.’
O’Reilly: I never called Tiller ‘Dr. Killer.’
Last night, Bill O’Reilly took issue with a recent San Francisco Chronicle article that pointed out that O’Reilly had referred to the late Dr. George Tiller as ‘Dr. Killer.’ “Transcripts prove what reporter Joe wrote was false,” O’Reilly said. In fact, O’Reilly did refer to Tiller as ‘Dr. Killer’ on June 2.
O’REILLY: In order to terminate a life, that has to be catastrophic. And I think it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, in Dr. Killer’s case, that wasn’t what he was doing. But Ms. Ireland, we appreciate you coming him on.
IRELAND: You call him Dr. Killer, and he was murdered. And I think that that is…just outrageous.
Watch a compilation:
While his June 2 remark appears to have been inadvertent, O’Reilly often referred to Tiller as “Tiller the baby killer” prior to his murder.
Will O’Reilly whine about FNC ignoring today’s presser with survivor of recruiting station attack?
Will O’Reilly whine about FNC ignoring today’s presser with survivor of recruiting station attack?
In recent days, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly has criticized the “liberal media” and CNN for what he viewed as a paucity of coverage of the deadly attack on the Army-Navy recruiting station in Little Rock, AR last week. “Only Anderson Cooper at 10 o’clock covered the story,” O’Reilly said of CNN. (In fact, CNN had reported on the attack over a dozen times.) Despite O’Reilly’s insistence that Fox News has been following the attack story more closely than its competitors, when the lone survivor of the attack, Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, spoke with reporters earlier today, only CNN and MSNBC carried the press conference live. Fox News never cut to the press conference, choosing instead to focus on Newt Gingrich’s criticisms of the Obama administration from last night’s congressional Republican fundraiser:
So the question is, will O’Reilly complain about his network’s failure to cover today’s presser? Or is Fox News above such complaints because its not part of the “liberal media”?
O’Reilly defends torture: ‘Look, if it were illegal, Bush and Cheney would have been arrested.’
O’Reilly defends torture: ‘Look, if it were illegal, Bush and Cheney would have been arrested.’
Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly has always been one of the most outspoken defenders of torture, declaring there’s “certainly no proof” that “mistreatment” ever happened at Guantanamo, and insisting it’s “just bull” to say it’s ineffective to “dunk [someone] into water.” Trying to link abortion (which is legal) and torture (which is not) in an argument with Juan Williams last night, O’Reilly insisted that torture must not be illegal since Bush or Cheney were never arrested:
WILLIAMS: Well, let me just say on the second point about Guantanamo Bay, Bill, that when you think about torture, torture is illegal. It’s illegal on the Geneva Convention. It’s illegal under U.S. law. So torture is illegal. [...]
O’REILLY: Juan, you’re hiding behind semantics and meaning, Juan, rather than getting to the crux of the matter. Look, if it were illegal, Bush and Cheney would have been arrested. You’re sitting authorities, the attorney general ruled waterboarding was not torture. It was legal. Rare occasion it was used.
Watch it:
Of course, the Justice Department O’Reilly trumpets was hardly an independent legal authority. Indeed, as then-deputy attorney general James Comey wrote in a 2005 e-mail expressing his concerns about torture, “everyone seemed to be thinking as if they still work at the White House and not the United States Department of Justice.”
Transcript: More »
O’Reilly Apologizes For False Attack On CNN
O’Reilly Apologizes For False Attack On CNN
On the Fox News this week, host Bill O’Reilly complained that he was “shocked that an Army recruiter in Arkansas got gunned down by some Muslim terrorist in the United States, and I can’t find any info about it.” Purporting to show “blatant media bias in America,” he criticized CNN specifically, claiming the network had largely ignored the story. According to O’Reilly, “only Anderson Cooper at 10:00 covered the story. No one else.” However, yesterday, CNN’s Rick Sanchez took O’Reilly to task for his misbegotten “media bias” claims, showing a lengthy clip of day-long CNN coverage of the shooting:
SANCHEZ: Bill O’Reilly says he only saw it once. And since he only saw it once, well then, that must be the truth. It doesn’t matter what really happened, it doesn’t matter what the record shows. All that matters is what Bill thinks he saw.
Watch it:
Last night on The Factor, Bill O’Reilly announced he had a “rare correction” to make. O’Reilly said that a “snide, surly guy on CNN” (Rick Sanchez) corrected the record about CNN’s coverage. “I was wrong. My apologies to CNN,” O’Reilly said. Watch it:
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