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

[JillieB]

Bill O'Reilly is either ignorant and out of touch, or just plain dishonest. My husband works with the homeless, and has worked at a veterans employment program. Mr. O'Reilly should close his mouth, and volunteer at his local homeless shelter for a week. His eyes will be opened. And, hopefully the vets there will give him an earful.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

I stopped watching Bill'O roughly 6 years ago when he made a comment that went something like this. “ Why should my tax dollars go to help anyone else”? It was like a brick hitting me in the head, I never forgot that statement, and I remember thinking what a selfish bastard this man guy is. He calls is audience the folks, yet he has forgotten who the folks are, Bill’O is just another media phony with an agenda. He is also Irish Catholic as I am, which I find shameful. I don’t like to generalize, but the North Shore of LI reeks with conservative phonies just like him. I went to LIU and the campus I attended catered to affluent North Shore LI commuter students and I couldn’t wait to get the hell out there for the weekend. If he apologies at all, it’s sad that he needs to be shamed into it.

[Woofer58]

I agree that, at least, BO's false statements helped to get this subject into the public eye. It's just too bad, though, that "homeless vets" as a group, will now be spun politically all over the map. It will become a pet "ohmygawd" project for some celebrity, then gradually fade away, again, with nothing really happening.
In the meantime, BO gets a ton of publicity and I'm sure his sponsors could care less.. actually, I bet they love this.
Bad publicity is better than none at all. Just ask Brittney.

[goofticket]

Time for Billo to write a big fat check.

[MPCarr]

Maybe you should ask the military who they like--O'Reilly or Edwards.

O'Reiley recently visited the troops in Afganistan. When has Edwards left his 29000 sq ft. home to visit the troops?

O'Reilly is questioning Edward's statement that veterans are homeless because of the economy. O'Reilly, and the facts, show the cause of their problems is substance abuse and psycological problems, not the economy. And his goal is to make sure these vets get proper help and treatment by the VA.

Edwards simply used the homeless troops as a campaign talking point to bolster his Two Americas platform. You see how well that phony populist message got him.

Also O'Reilly is questioning the number 200,000 thrown around. And Edwards and other have yet to show the number of actual homeless vets is even close to this.

O'Reilly is looking for the truth and help for the vets. Edwards is(was) trying to get elected president.

[VivaZapata]

the only good thing about the economic downturn is the hope that the o'reillys of the world get their share of misery.

[clevelandtocali]

I hope that Billo has them chased away, and it's caught on camera, so at the very least we can get quite possibly the best Special Cooments of Keith-O's career.

Go Keith, send him over the top.

[JAMES GORMAN]

oreilly has gone mad--he is a deranged psychopath
with red-hot hostilities. one of these days even FOX
will be embarassed--even Hitler was confounded by
Rudolph Hess who had the good grace just to fly away
on a self-appointed mission. Mars maybe for this one-
he could check out conspiracies engineered my Moslem
terrorists the size of walking pebbles creating dust
storms to send our way. The horror is the 30 to 40% of
Americans who get their voting "news" from this crazed
ignoramus. Gorman12

[PDXTransplant]

If anyone thinks for one minute that falafel boy will be at the Fox station that day is in LaLa Land. He will be in an undisclosed part of the world huddled in a corner like the wimp he is. This guy has to be the biggest pussy on television and doesn't have the courage to even face little boys on his show without calling them names when they disagree with him. What a disgrace Billo is period. I would love to be there with the veterans and rally around Fox News with them.

[UltraClassic]

Pure leftist political crap. It amazes me how "homeless" people can orginize for protests. They can't seem to get a roof over their head but they sure have an effective network for protesting and orginizing.

This is pure liberal/leftist democrat theater. Do you ever notice how all these homeless people seem to go away after an election? And yes, Edwards is a phony. I bet he could set up one hell of a tent city on his spread if he wanted to.

[CultureWarriorNPetriDish]

Let them eat FALAFEL!!!

[shaman]

Actually, both Edwards and BO are doing the homeless a favor by bringing awareness to more people about homelessness. As is usually the case when something gets into the public discourse like this a lot of people take sides and get all riled up about who said what. Do they really care about the people who suffer? What will individuals to to help? What can they do to help? I cooked for homeless for a couple of years, not that much in the large scheme of things, but service nonetheless.

Here is a good place to go. There are pages on Chronic homelessness, vets, families and the causes for homelessness. The truth is out there if we are only willing to look.

http://www.endhomelessness.org

[armadillious2002]

Finally Americans are growing some nuts. Don't they know that in this country - that's the only way change ever takes place?

[adzeman]

The drunken, liver-spotted disgrace is careening towards the abyss. His future is a descent into the hell of syndication, fighting with the likes of Maury and Springer for the spotlight at two in the afternoon.

[PatA]

I don't know if I believe so much in Bill O'Reilly's political views as much as I believe that he will do/say anything to stay on the air. I think that he is mentally unstable and "fame" increases his endorphins which makes him "feel" good. At times I believe that too much is attached to his rantings and ravings because it gets him fresh attention.
WE all know that O'Reilly knows that there are thousands and thousands of homeless veterans.
I applaud the efforts of the homeless to gather today, because the last thing that he wants is people in his face showing that he is, as always, a liar!It is a horrible shame that these people who fought for the United States, sometimes against enemies that they didn't understand, aren't afforded the very best of care.
Shame on Congress, the Veterans Administration and last, but not least, the frigging current administration.
My ex-brother-in-law was head of Walter Reed for years and I guarantee you, the services were commendable and he did not tolerate any mistreatment of veterans.