Political Thunder: O'Reilly defends FOX and Right-Wing

From Media Matters...

First, his ridiculous comments about how the Right-Wing doesn't "smear". Just look at the Media Matters homepage to see how that is completely wrong.

On the April 26 edition of The Radio Factor, host Bill O'Reilly asserted that while "on the left, it's all about the smear," "the propagandists on the right" are "not smear merchants"; "they're not trying to smear anybody." Later in the show, a caller challenged O'Reilly's assertion, asking why O'Reilly does not consider attacks on liberals by fellow Fox News host Sean Hannity and nationally syndicated radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham to be "smear tactics." O'Reilly replied that "maybe I'm naïve," but "when I tune in to their programs, I hear ideology." O'Reilly explained that unlike liberal "smear merchants," the three conservative pundits "keep it in the issue area." Citing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) as an example, O'Reilly stated that he's "not hearing" conservatives "try to tear him to pieces and injure him personally."
In fact, in addition to O'Reilly himself, who is no stranger to making personal attacks, Media Matters for America has compiled numerous examples of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Ingraham straying from "the issue area" to attack liberals, including Kennedy.
From the April 26 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: You're going to have the propagandists on the right, primarily on the right -- now, they're not smear merchants. There's a difference. The propagandists on the right are just holding water for the oil companies, but they're not trying to smear anybody. But on the left, it's all about the smear. All about the smear, ladies and gentlemen, that's what it is.

[...]

O'REILLY: OK, we're talking about the appointment of Tony Snow. Of course, he was smeared immediately by the left-wing websites -- those despicable people who operate those. Harrisburg, PA, [caller], what say you?

CALLER: Well, I -- I'm just a little taken aback at what you're saying, Bill. Because I -- I -- it just -- you conveniently always omit the smear tactics of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, constantly. Why is that?

O'REILLY: Well, I don't see it the way you see it.

CALLER: They constantly smear the --

O'REILLY: Nah, I mean, look. I -- I see -- I hear those people all the time and I don't see any -- I don't -- I mean, look. Maybe I'm -- maybe I'm naïve. But here's my definition of a smear, [caller], so you can take it to the bank. OK?

It's taking a person like Tony Snow, who, across the board, is admired and respected, OK? Courageous guy -- wants to help this country, has a belief system that he does not make any bones about. And then you take a guy like Snow and you try to tear him to pieces. That -- that's smearing to me. OK?

Now, the three people that you mentioned are right-wing commentators, and they go after the left consistently and on a daily basis. OK. But I have to tell you, when I tune into their programs, I hear ideology. That's what I hear. And then I hear, you know, "This one's bad," but they keep it in the issue area most of the time. That's what I'm hearing. Maybe I'm missing it. But it's in the issue area.

It's not -- OK -- "Here, we have a new person for Ted Kennedy. Let's try to tear him to pieces and injure him personally." I'm not hearing that. There is one smear merchant on the right who does that and I despise him. But the rest seem to deal mostly in issues.

LINK: O'Reilly claimed right wing doesn't "smear"

Now, if you think that is ridiculous, check this out. He claims that FOX News has no "idealogical" ties. Just watch Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism or check out FoxAttacks.com to see how wrong that is.

During the April 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly stated that "some believe" Fox News "is a right-wing enterprise" but that "I work there, and I can tell you that it is not." O'Reilly claimed that it was "a fact that no newsperson at Fox News toes any kind of ideological line at all," ignoring such "newsperson[s]" as Neil Cavuto and Brit Hume, whose purported straight news shows -- Your World with Neil Cavuto and Special Report with Brit Hume-- all contain a segment or panel discussion featuring the host's often conservative commentary; White House correspondent Carl Cameron, who was caught on tape gushing about his wife's participation in President George W. Bush's 2000 election campaign; and former Fox News host Tony Snow, who recently became Bush's White House press secretary.

O'Reilly went on to assert that "if you do an analysis every day of the voices and the time given to stories and people, you'll see that liberal people get just as much time as conservative people on" Fox News.

Additionally, O'Reilly claimed there "isn't a organized right-wing cabal" because "there's nowhere to take that cabal." O'Reilly concluded: "So you could get Richard Mellon Scaife and a couple of other -- the Coors Family -- and a few other very conservative Americans to pony up money to do something on the Web or wherever. You could do that, but it's never gonna get into The New York Times. It's never gonna get on CNN. There is no funnel for it."

From the April 26 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: We need people to call out the press, which is essentially dishonest. The American press is essentially dishonest.

Now, why is it dishonest? What has happened in the press is that my generation, the baby boomers, who were brought up in the Vietnam War era, have now reached positions of responsibility in the media. And most of them, three out of four of them, are hardcore left. Hardcore, true-believer liberal. Not open-minded, not looking at each event as it comes down the pike for fair and balanced analysis. They don't do that.

[...]

Add to that that you have a very powerful far-left cabal, far-left cabal, George Soros. He's funding most of these smear sites on the left. And these guys have made inroads, inroads, particularly at NBC News. ABC and CBS kind of stay away from the smear merchants. But a few people at NBC are really right in there. They've been bought by them. And that's troubling. That's troubling.

I can tell you for a fact that no newsperson at Fox News toes any kind of ideological line at all. Commentators, that's a different story. But, you have now a smear mechanism set up that is feeding Howard Dean, and then he feeds it right out to the Democratic National Committee. And is feeding the media this garbage. This garbage. And, believe me, they don't check it out when they get it from the smear merchants. They just throw it up there. That is so dangerous, because then you can't know what the truth is.

[...]

There isn't any right-wing cabal at all in the United States, because it's fragmented. Now, there is obviously right-wing talk radio, which is very successful, and there's obviously the Fox News Channel, which some believe is a right-wing enterprise. I work there, and I can tell you it is not. And if you do an analysis every day of the voices and the time given to stories and people, you'll see that liberal people get just as much time as conservative people on the Fox News Channel, and the commentators are pretty much split down the middle on their ideological bent. So that's a bunch of garbage.

But because Fox News has been so successful, it's been demonized and branded by the far left, who can't duplicate the success, no matter what they do. But the big reason there isn't a organized right-wing cabal is because there's nowhere to take that cabal. So you could get Richard Mellon Scaife and a couple of other -- the Coors Family -- and a few other very conservative Americans to pony up money to do something on the Web or wherever. You could do that. But it's never gonna get into The New York Times. It's never gonna get on CNN. There is no funnel for it.

Whereas, in the left-wing smear press, you got a funnel for it into a lot of different areas. And we're gonna expose that continually in the next few months -- which mainstream media people are in bed with the smear left-wing sites.