Bill O'Reilly Defends Obama, Slams Smears

Bill O'Reilly led off tonight's episode of The Factor with a pointed critique of the latest small-minded content of the news cycle, criticizing the McCain campaign both in terms of character and tactics, slagging the media for pressing the story senselessly, and largely absolving Obama - though perhaps with faint praise: his "Obama doesn't like confrontation" statement seems out of joint with last week's insistence that the Illinois Senator was "tough" and "not a wimp."

Nevertheless, O'Reilly very clearly stipulated that there was no evidence that Obama intended to make any sort of sexist remark.

This being Bill O'Reilly, the content naturally managed to slag Daily Kos and NBC News.

[WATCH.]

In related news, The Corner's Ramesh Ponnuru isn't happy about the McCain campaign's tactics, either:

...there may have been good ways to take shots at Obama over the "lipstick on a pig" comment. But the Republicans are coming across as whiny grievance-mongers. Don't they realize that this harping on ambiguous slights is what people hate about political correctness? It was bad enough when liberals were trying to destroy Palin. Now Republicans are trashing her brand. They're undermining the basis of her appeal as a different, tougher kind of female politician. Today has been worse than wasted.

Comments

[larsiler]

stop defaming pigs! I've learned to accept them after 8 years and Orwell was a prophet!!!

[Kurt Dylan]

I think Obama gained massive respect from Bill O'Reiley after the four part interview Obama did with him.

[jimme]

Ditto, I thought that by the end they seemed more like friends. OMG !
Stranger things happen I guess like when John Ashcroft found his integrity and didn't sign away our rights. There's still hope.

[eatbees]

Sadly for every late-blooming Ashcroft, there's an Alberto Gonzales waiting in the wings.

[Housewife]

You've really jumped the shark when Billo thinks you've gone too far.

[kassandrasduplex]

What Bill O failed to tell his viewers is that WE DO know why Obama used the term; because he was talking about McCain policy and the term is a common political term used by most politicians. We also did NOT hear Bill Loofah O tell us about John McCain using the same reference towards Hillary Clinton's healthcare policy...

[exflatlander]

Well, he IS Bill O'Reilly. He had to leave an aura of suspicion that it could be true. It is pretty bad, though, when FOX says it's over the top and will hurt McCain. That's Karl Rove's minion they're talking about!

[ms.understood]

i like bill o. i have liked him ever since he admitted to being wrong about WMD's in Iraq. He is fair and balanced about most things, however, he does think that he's right about everything, but in this day and time, who doesn't on fox news. i agree with him on this point. there was nothing sexist about his statement.

[Probus]

Billo is a right wing nutter who lies according to WH/RNC talking points issued to him for the day.

[Probus]

Doesn't matter what Billo says he's still a Bush-McCain lap dog/water carrier.

[snyggast]

Bill is inconsistent. The same thing happened with Hillary. I guess Bill does what he does to make politicians come to his show.

I think he'll get a long with fellow Irish Joen Biden.
McCain and Bill? Nah.. McCain is too out of touch even for Papa Bear.

[ObamaLover]

if you actually watched him, rather than listen to the anti-fox news zealots, you'd know he is fair and balanced.
sean hannity is not, but he doesn't claim to be and is not on the news, he is a show that has him and alan colmes/liberal.

so, summary,
O'reilly
O'bama
coincidence? I don't think so.

[LeftLeanWing]

coincidence ?

O'No

[exflatlander]

Is this the same Colmes that scarcely gets to utter an opinion without getting interrupted by Hannity?

[Pam4Waters]

Come on people don't fooled. He has to fake left every so often, so he can point to one segment a year that wasn't so biased it would make you vomit. The lipstick on a pig thing has legs. It's been run so many times now even Bill-O can't puncture it.

[svb909]

Wow. I can't believe Bill said that. I'm in bizzaro world.

[lobear00]

It is never what a person says, it 's what they have not said.
Bill did not mention that the Republicans have been using that little phrase on a number of occasions. Bill did not say that John McCains former employee wrote a book on that very phrase when and the time Republicans should use that phrase pointing at Democrats.

[therealredstateblues]

"even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then"

Way to go Bill-O!

[NotPaidToSayThis]

"Blind squirrel"? Anyone can tell you are making fun of Sarah Palin's eyeglasses. You should apologize!

[exflatlander]

Good one! I wear lipstick, too. And glasses. I'm OUTRAGED!! I demand an apoloogy from BOTH sides!

I did like Obama's come back. Don't know whom he was addressing, but he said,"I said that those old economic policies were 'like putting lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig.' And THEY said,'Oh, you must be talking about the governor of Alaska.'" What a come-back!

In the end the GOP is calling Sarah Palin a pig! That needs to be trumpeted all over.

[Ged2012]

Bill was inspired by Obama's charisma and wit. It may not be much, but at least he got to know him more.

[VTyalinH]

Bill does what he does because he is paid millions of dollars to talk trash! In an interview once he said Bill Clinton was the president he admires most! I bet he's a secret Democrat. Our country is , unfortunately, driven by the dollar and not by truth and morality!!! The highly paid talking heads are doing serious damage to our democracy by misleading the public with lies and propaganda! They tried to destroy Obama during the primaries. When their efforts failed I heard one of them on NBC remarked that "people aren't listening to the media". The propaganda machine is in full swing right now. The "polls" that they are running 24/7 on the TV are being conducted with mostly Republican voters. In other words they are "cooking the numbers" to mislead voters! The Republicans stole two elections by denying eligable voters the right to vote. They are running scared beccause Democratic registration is up while Reps are down. That explains why McSame buckled and allowed Karl Rove ant the other NeoCon crooks to take over his campaign.

[jeanwny]

OMG

[jeremyemilio]

As a Liberal who watches Fox News quite regularly for entertainment value, I've got to say there is nothing surprising about O'Reilly's treatment of Obama. Billo is no Hannity, trust me. He's a tough conservative who tends to put his foot in his mouth from time to time due to a generational/cultural disconnect and an unwillingness to tip-toe around important issues like race. He's a bull in a china shop, and he's got a temper, but he's not the mean spirited partisan hack he's made out to be by people who just see him at his worst in unfortunate clumsy snippets. I disagree with him on most things, but he's a stand up guy, and often worth watching if you want to see lively, straightforward debate from all sides. (Hannity, Steve Doocy, et al, on the other hand, are everything the left imagines; I wouldn't waste my time on them unless you want to get your blood up.)

[Audrey704]

I guessed you missed his childish tantrum that was taped when he thought he was off camera from a few years ago....

[MudKitty]

Yeah, 20 years ago.

[BobbyVega]

With friends like Bill-O, who needs enemies.

[politicojunkie]

Right On! Expect Billy O to slam him tonight. It's best to take anything he says with a grain of salt.