Homeless Vets Prepare To Block O'Reilly's Shot

UPDATE: The homeless vets got turned away by Fox News and O'Reilly. We've got full video of what went down (and Keith Olbermann's take) here.

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Wednesday afternoon, John Edwards suspended his candidacy for President, vowing to "never forget" the poverty-stricken Americans he so passionately stood up for, and beseeching the remaining candidates - indeed, all Americans - to continue the work that he termed "the cause of [his] life." This afternoon in New York City, some of that work will resolutely continue, as a group of homeless veterans - one of the segments of the population of forgotten Americans that Edwards spoke of so often on the stump - will swarm FOX News Channel's Studios to bring their fight to Bill O'Reilly, the millionaire celebrity host of The O'Reilly Factor.

O'Reilly, who regularly defamed Edwards as a phony, has a lot to answer for. In attacks on the former North Carolina Senator, O'Reilly has repeatedly belittled his compassion, issued inflammatory statements and mocking attacks, and denied both the "existence and significance" of homeless veterans. As recently as January 16, O'Reilly took to the airwaves to rain ridicule upon Edwards, saying, "Well, we're still looking for all the veterans sleeping under the bridges,...so if you find anybody, let us know." As we reported two days later, Robert Greenwald and his crew at Brave New Films did exactly that.

Now, a group from Fitzgerald House, an "organization representing homeless veterans," plans to bring their fight for recognition to Fox's doorstep. They plan on visiting the Fox News Channel Studios today at 3:00 pm, and will come carrying a petition signed by 17,000 people demanding an apology from O'Reilly for his ignorance and abuse. In a press release, Brave New Films and Fitzgerald House say thay "have found that it is very easy to locate homeless veterans and are willing to help O'Reilly find them if his desire to help homeless vets is sincere."

Of course, the last time we checked in on O'Reilly, he was in New Hampshire, bullying Obama aides, and snarling about how "nobody blocks a [camera] shot" on the "Factor." Well, we'll see about that.

Comments

[DougRussell]

If O'Reilly were at all interested in the truth, 2 minutes of homework would reveal a reliable source which estimates there are 195,000 homeless vets on any given night. (Google VA Homeless and click the Overview of Homelessness link from the U.S. Dept of Veteran's Affairs Homeless Vets Home Page at http://www1.va.gov/homeless/) The VA has been addressing homelessness since 1987.

[Waitaminute]

I work on and off as a volunteer at the VA hospital. A lot of the vets are homeless, Most of them are not on drugs. The one on drugs got that way AFTER they got back. In almost all cases the reason was their war experience (post trumatic stress).

What FUCKING difference does it make whether they are on drug or mentally ill. The fact is, you rightwing fool and false patriots, they were not on drugs and mentally unstable before they went to war. As for vets living under bridges, IN ALLEYS, DUMPSTERS, PARKS that happens to be a fact.

Anyway, if you do not have mental problems. Don't tell the doctor you have trouble sleeping. They'll offer every form of norcotic on the market.You­'ll be so f**kedup, you couldn't hold a job, if you wanted to.

[chronic5]

So...did it happen yet? Please post if you find any coverage of this.

[dax49]

can we hope that the fox hate machine is beginning to finally crumble. i always wondered how these so-called "christians" watch these fox shows and still claim to be saved. are they that blind?

[gearbox]

I've been following the comments from both the Pro and Anti O'Reilly factions regarding this article.

Some questions to those who defend "Boaster Bill":
1. How many of you armchair patriots and keyboard kommando's have served in the military or have family members who are in the military at this time?
2. How many of you have suffered injury or have family members who have suffered injury or death while serving their country?

If you or a family member are in the military at this time or if you or a family member has suffered an injury then you truely show a lack of compassion for your brothers in arms.

If you have a family member who died while in the service of their country then, you are truely disrespecting their memory in your defense of this man and his vile comments.

If you can't seem to give an honest answer to either of these questions then I have nothing but pity for you and your stupidity in defending this worthless use of good oxygen.

[LeftVetPatriot]

Now what, cb?

LIAR!

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/18/oreilly-admits-homeless-vets/

[SmootyBooty]

Says a lot that the trolls are here en masse to shill for Oraly, but they don't even bother to defend chimpy anymore...

[smzzzz]

Wonder how much O'Liely is paying his butt-sucking trolls like FriendlyIran to post here? Or do they provide their "services" for free to loofaman?

[happycat]

O'Reilly is an arrogant bastard. How dare he try to belittle the plight of the homeless vets. Unfortunatley, he doesn't care about the truth, and he will never apologize to anyone. O'Reilly is in the words of my 3 year old son, "a big poop head". He lies and he slanders. The one worse thing in this world worse than O'Reilly are all of the many delusional people out there who support him.

[CelticMajic]

the point was NOT that there were no homeless vets. The point was that homeless vets are a tragic result of addiction or mental illness (sad but true). Mr. Edwards was somehow trying to say that homeless vets were a result of "2 Americas" or the state of the economy (not true). Please, get your facts straight. Gosh knows big Bill has lots of faults but to lay this one on him challenges your crediblity.

[hydenorhare]

"Well, we're still looking for all the veterans sleeping under the bridges,..­.so if you find anybody, let us know."

200,000 of them sleeping under bridges was Edwards' claim.

Should be easy to find a bunch of them then. It's so blatantly a false claim that even you guys should acknowledge it.

And blaming the homelessness of 200,000 veterans on the economy was part 2 of Edwards' claim. That is also preposterous as those working on the homeless issue have stated.

[fedup07]

Wow, what a brave person Bill O'Reilly is. Ship O'Reilly to Iraq immediately!! And I do not mean the Green Zone. Drop him right in the middle of Al Anbar to fight this 'noble cause' of Bu$hCo and the freaky Repukes!

[Dandy12]

O'Reilly is a sad piece of crap aside from just being obnoxious. He actually embodies the norm for FOX anchors (yes, there's another word - starts wth an a and ends in an s).

[carlgt1]

RepugliKKKans hate veterans and only love 'em when they're dead and can't answer back and ask for benefits and help.

[Collielady]

This story clearly demonstrates that conservatives support the troops - as long as the troops are engaged in warfare. But, the hard-on ends once the troops become veterans.

The veteran stage of war is a turn-off to the O'Reilly's and the Limbaugh's. That costs them money that they'd rather spend blowing people up - the manly stuff. Liberals are demonized for spending too much, for picking up the slack of the true cost of war. It's a wonder that conservatives don't accuse veterans of "driving pink Cadillacs", or at least living in them.

This country is turning around. People now see through the conservative glory of chickenhawk war. O'Reilly has been exposed for the phony coward that he is. Hopefully, Fox will be pressured to take him off the air.

By the way, it's obvious as to why Conservatives such as O'Reilly cling to the cover of Christianity, but quite puzzling that Christians don't disown them. Talk about hypocrisy; not to mention misplaced values, or a complete lack thereof.