Bill-O on Poor People and Iraqis

Olbermann: O'Reilly's "real anger and real fear rests in the dread that someone is quoting him correctly" (do yourself a favour and watch the Olbermann video)

In the Fox News "Noise" investigation, Media Matters is some sort of major cog in an evil liberal spider web -- one of his guests describing it as part of "an incredibly well-oiled machine."

You want to see oily? Thanks to Media Matters, you can watch Mr. Orally confronted last Friday the 13th by his own words during an interview on Irish television.

[begin video clip]

KENNY: Yeah. Some of the things that you've said and -- either on your radio show or on your TV show: "Advice to the poor, it's hard to do it, because you got to look people in the eye and tell them they're irresponsible and lazy. And who's going to do that?"

O'REILLY: Well, where did you get that, because I don't remember saying that?

KENNY: That's Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly; 11/06/2004.

O'REILLY: By whom? Who put that out?

KENNY: Well, we got it off the website.

O'REILLY: OK. The website you got it off is called Media Matters, which is an assassination website.

[...]

KENNY: But you do have views on, say, the Iraqi people. Did you say that thing about the Iraqi people -- that they're "prehistoric"?

O'REILLY: No, I don't remember saying that at all.

[end video clip]

OLBERMANN: I do. Being the mainstream media tools that we are, we scrolled around Media Matters and found the full quote about the poor from his radio show dated June 11, 2004. It is in full: "It's hard to do it, because you got to look people in the eye and tell them that they're irresponsible and lazy. And who's going to want to do that? Because that's what poverty is, ladies and gentlemen. In this country, you can succeed if you get educated and work hard. Period. Period."

Ah, but what about his calling the Iraqis "prehistoric"? Remember, Alberto Gonzales O'Reilly did not recall saying that. That's OK. Media Matters has a tape.

O'REILLY [audio clip]: When 2 percent of the population feels that you're doing them a favor, just forget it. You're not going to win. You're not going to win.

And I don't have any respect, by and large, for the Iraqi people at all. I have no respect for them. I think that they're a prehistoric group that is -- yeah, there's excuses.

OLBERMANN: Did you say excuses? Yes, we have one of those, too.

When word got out about his embarrassing Irish TV interview, here's what the big giant head had to say about it in his April 19th column: "When I asked the man why he was quoting from an obviously biased source, he blinked nervously and put down the cards."