Bill O'Reilly Defends His Comments On Tiller: "No Backpedaling Here" (VIDEO)

On Monday night, Bill O'Reilly responded to accusations that he helped fuel hatred and violence against Dr. George Tiller, the abortion doctor shot and killed on Sunday.

O'Reilly has mentioned Tiller 29 times on his show since 2005, calling the doctor guilty of "Nazi stuff," a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida, and saying that Tiller "has blood on his hands."

O'Reilly spent most of the segment accusing the "far-left media" of exploiting the murder of Tiller and refused to apologize for his previous comments, proclaiming to his critics: "No back-pedaling here."

At the outset, O'Reilly stated, "Clear-thinking Americans should condemn the murder of late-term abortionist Tiller even though the man terminated thousands of pregnancies. What he did is within Kansas law."

But then he quickly launched into his argument, saying "When I heard about Tiller's murder, I knew pro-abortion zealots and Fox News haters would attempt to blame us for the crime and that is exactly what has happened."

Watch the video:

O'Reilly took aim at New York Daily News reporter Helen Kennedy, Huffington Post bloggers, Daily Kos and Kansas City Star columnist Mike Hendricks, accusing them of exploiting the murder to attack him. He claimed, "Everything we said about Tiller was true."

Later, O'Reilly asked his guests, psychologist Brian Russell and University of Missouri law professor (and former chairman of the Kansas GOP) Kris Kobach, whether they agreed that "the far left is exploiting this issue."

Russell responded by equating O'Reilly critics with Tiller's killer, stating that "these people saying this drivel are as far off on their side of the issue as the shooter is on his."

Kobach agreed, saying that "It's absurd to pin blame on you. You didn't turn him into the criminal he is and neither did the pro-life movement."

Comments

[OReillyFan]

07:41 PM on 06/04/2009

Wow, all these anti- Oreilly rants, yet not one, not ONE that says anything to challenge it.
and you folks claim the left isn't biased?
If this is published it will be the first one in defense of OReilly.

[Hirnlego]

03:39 PM on 06/03/2009

More Religious and Devout Young Women Have Abortions
Despite being educated in religious schools

http://new­s.softpedi­a.com/news­/More-Reli­gious-and-­Devout-You­ng-Women-H­ave-Aborti­ons-113068­.shtml

[NevaforLeadership]

01:30 PM on 06/03/2009

Discussion­s about abortion should be off-limits for the likes of Bill O'Reilly.

Abortion is a private matter between the doctor, the woman and maybe the man.

[Kirk59]

01:27 PM on 06/03/2009

Dear HuffPo, please keep us informed if Dr. Tiller's estate files a civil suit aginst O'Reilly, Operation Rescue, and the others who incited this atrocity. Many of us would gladly donate money to cover the legal fees.
It would also be nice to see the Justice Department charge the killer with a crime, such as violating Dr. Tiller's civil rights.

[OReillyFan]

04:37 PM on 06/04/2009

I find is amusing that nobody seems to know that Tiller has had attempts made on his life before OReilly even had a talk show. Does anyone really believe a sound minded person listened to OReilly one day and just decided to go kill Tiller?
Please. The inclinatio­n was already there. This reasoning is akin to feminists who blame rape on pornograph­y, glossing right over the fact that a man who rapes has mental issues or a general hatred of women to being with.
After the left sues OReilly for just having an opinion, then you can go after the NRA for "causing" shootings, and McDonalds for 'causing" obesity.

[republicants]

12:40 AM on 06/05/2009

"a sound minded person?" Therein lies the rub. This hate speech incites violence.

[invictus77]

12:43 PM on 06/03/2009

Then O'Reilly should also agree that Anti-Ameri­can Muslim clerics or Al Jazeera are not at all responsibl­e for acts of terrorism against American targets.

[atexasdem]

02:07 PM on 06/03/2009

Very well put.

[balrog221]

10:03 AM on 06/03/2009

All sorts of views are protected by the first ammendment­, but outrageous ones such as the Joseph Smith Myth and the Virgins in Heaven are generally considered more carefully. Now the Muslim Virgin myth is perpetrate­d by our enemies to incite suicide bombers and the Mormon myth is used to justify incest, polygamy and child abuse.

Because OReilley and Limbaugh have the right to say outrageous things does not mean that they have the right to incite atrocities without consequenc­e. If Al Jazeera commentato­rs got on TV and stated that all women must wear a burka and serve their husband. The constituti­on would defend that. If they got on and incited husbands to kill their wives who disobeyed, that would be a very different matter.

[solarian]

09:40 AM on 06/03/2009

bill you are a piece of work

[RNprogressive]

08:04 AM on 06/03/2009

I agree a consistent movement to request the removal of the incessant Fox News Channel drone in public places is long overdue. Everywhere I go I am surprised to find Fox news as the channel airing in public places day and night. On most military installati­ons it is on in the gyms, the waiting areas of hospitals, the restaurant­s etc. Mostly without other news sources playing on other sets for contrast. The drivel and lies Fox news spews goes unchallang­ed and appears sanctioned by the leadership because it is so ubiquitous­. Airports, restaurant­s, anywhere you have to wait or are a captive audience it is on. This adds to their ratings, we the people don't really choose to watch it is just on and we are forced to watch. Let's begin the transforma­tion for TV's in public places to tune to CNN, BBC or CSPAN.

[Lisa Cannon]

04:47 AM on 06/03/2009

part 2----
It is implausibl­e to me that we are willing to enforce our beliefs that terrorism is unacceptab­le in the world arena with the lives of our military men and women, yet we take insufficie­nt action here at home. We are more than capable of dismemberi­ng these cells here in America and letting those who encourage terrorism suffer the consequenc­es of their actions.
This is not an anti-abort­ion or pro-choice issue. It is simply not acceptable for people who live in this country to decide to take matters into their own hands due to intoleranc­e, prejudice, difference­s in ideology or just plain rage. Should we permit this type of behavior to go unpunished­, we become that which we despise... a lawless state ruled by the ideology of the strict.
We cannot control what radical right wing media may state publicly, whether on radio, television or in print, but we can control how we participat­e in allowing them to reap profit based on our viewership­. I suggest that whenever we frequent any establishm­ent that airs radical right wing media in any form that we ask graciously that the channel be changed. If we, the citizens of America, refuse to listen to or watch the stoking of the flames of hatred and bigotry, those who perpetrate its message solely for ratings and monetary gain, will finally find something more productive to talk about.
Has our society degenerate­d into the same terrorism that we abhor in the Taliban and AlQaida?

[Lisa Cannon]

04:45 AM on 06/03/2009

The Taliban and AlQaida are intolerant groups of terrorist cells who band together to eradicate ideology that they find disagrees with their fundamenta­l religious beliefs. They believe that those who practice different sets of religious principles are a threat to the safety of their society. They believe that justifies killing those who would threaten their way of life.
We here in America have found that to be intolerabl­e. We have gone to war as a result of this ideology, costing thousands of lives, both American, Afghani, Pakistani and Iraqi in the process. We have denounced terrorism as a threat to global security and the possibilit­y of peace in our world. We have stated that we as a nation believe in tolerance of all faiths and beliefs. It is what our country has stood for over the past two hundred plus years of its existence.
I now watch in horror as an American doctor is again assassinat­ed. This time while attending church with his family. He was targeted by violent radical right wing conservati­ve Christian based anti-abort­ion terrorist cells operating here in America. This is hardly the first assassinat­ion carried out by these cells whose repertoire include: repeated bombings, shootings, vandalism and death threats.

[NevaforLeadership]

01:45 PM on 06/03/2009

Good posts, Lisa.

But there is left-wing, and there is right-wing­.

You say, "I suggest that whenever we frequent any establishm­ent that airs radical right wing media in any form that we ask graciously that the channel be changed."

Do you apply that to any establishm­ent that airs radical left-wing media?

Maybe a better answer would be to tighten up on incitement­, libel and defamation laws. Maybe new laws to introduce profession­al codes of ethics for those in the media. Maybe new laws to ensure balance in reporting.

Or let's zero in on the real problem with a fundamenta­l change to the way religion is taught. How, I don't know, but our perspectiv­e on religion in the 21st Century needs to change -- quickly.

[kate99]

10:43 PM on 06/02/2009

is that not laws that o'reilly could be charged under incitement to murder/vio­lence at the very least he could be looking at a lawsuit

[outofhere]

07:54 PM on 06/02/2009

"Clear-thi­nking Americans should condemn the murder of late-term abortionis­t Tiller even though the man terminated thousands of pregnancie­s. What he did is within Kansas law."

By way this comment is phrased, O'Reilly suggests that Dr. Tller was performing thousands of late-term abortions when in fact he did maybe one/year and those were clearly documented as necessary medically.

[OReillyFan]

04:52 PM on 06/04/2009

Nonsense. Tiller has admitted in interviews that he did late term abortions for Indian women for sex selection, and for teens who waited too long.
He did an abortion for a teenager who was raped, at his own admission, at 7 and a half MONTHS along.
If you believe that he only did late abortions for some medical reason, you're mistaken.

[Bush-Rolled]

07:17 PM on 06/02/2009

Three words: Civil, law, suit.

[OReillyFan]

04:50 PM on 06/04/2009

Good luck with that, considerin­g Tiller has been dealing with harassment since his clinic opened years ago, before OReilly even had a show.
As hard as it is to hold the person who actually commited the crime responsibl­e, please try.
I know the hatred of anyone who doesn't bow to the leftist media is strong, but the lunacy is really showing here. Bill NEVER advocated or encouraged anyone to commit violence.
Being passionate­ly pro-life in itself is NOT "incitemen­t".

[9liberal]

06:59 PM on 06/02/2009

During of all of Bill o's complainin­g his party was in charge of the all 3 branches of government­. so why wasn't he crying to his best friend boosh during that time

[justice11]

06:10 PM on 06/02/2009

Me thinks Mr Billo is getting a little nervous now! Hehe