Last night, Bill O’Reilly attacked ThinkProgress for publishing a compilation of critical comments about President Bush by Tony Snow, shortly after it was reported that Snow would become White House Press Secretary. O’Reilly refers to ThinkProgress as a “far left smear site” that “spit out the usual out-of-context garbage.” Watch it:
O’Reilly didn’t provide any examples of quotes that ThinkProgress took out of context. He was probably just short on time.
O’Reilly also claims that ThinkProgress and other sites are hypocritical because we are “trying to portray Snow as anti-Bush” and say “he’s a shill for Bush.” The truth is Fox News has a right-wing bias. A lot of times that means defending the President, but sometimes it doesn’t. O’Reilly, of all people, should know how it works.
Transcript:
Caution, you are about to enter a no spin zone. “The Factor” begins right now.
Hi, I’m Bill O’Reilly reporting tonight from Washington. Thank you for watching us. Smearing Tony Snow — that’s the subject of this evening’s “Talking Points” Memo.
It took about 10 seconds for the far left smear websites to begin attacking Tony Snow, who today was appointed the new presidential spokesman. The smear sites spit out the usual out of context garbage, trying to portray Snow as anti-Bush because Tony did criticize the president on occasion, and at the same time saying he’s a shill for Bush. Not much logic in the smear world.
[Snip]
Also, the far left smear machine has a few so-called mainstream journalists in its pocket. So the propaganda often winds up in your newspaper.