Bill O'Reilly Defends Lie By Lying Some More (VIDEO)

Yesterday we presented a highlight reel showing all the times people on Fox News had claimed that you could go to prison if you don't buy government-mandated health insurance. We made this reel because on Tuesday night's edition of "The O'Reilly Factor," host Bill O'Reilly said, "We researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody's ever said it."

Last night O'Reilly responded to all the criticism he'd received for his apparent falsehood. He acknowledged his mistake and sincerely apologized for misleading his viewers. PSYCH! No, of course not. What he actually did was dig in and continue to defend the lie.


WATCH:

O'Reilly's excuse:

Last fall, when jail time was on the table, Fox News reported it, as we should have. ... Now, as we all know, the prison option was taken off the table when the final Obamacare bill was being debated and that's what we were talking to Senator Coburn about, the final bill debate, not all that stuff. So what I said is absolutely true. Nobody at Fox News reported inaccurately about the Obamacare prison situation. Nobody!

Ohhh, I get it! Very clever, Bill. I guess you win. Except for just a few things:

1) In the original exchange on Tuesday night with Senator Coburn (the full, unedited version of which you can watch here), O'Reilly didn't say "We researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance... during the time that the final Obamacare bill was being debated. Nobody's ever said it... during the time that the final Obamacare bill was being debated." No, what O'Reilly said was: "We researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody's ever said it."

2) While most of the clips in our highlight reel were indeed from the fall of 2009, two of them -- Rush Limbaugh speaking on "Fox & Friends", and Bill Hemmer on "America's Newsroom" -- were from February and March of 2010, the time referred to by O'Reilly as "the final bill debate." So even if we ignore point 1, O'Reilly's still wrong.

3) Of course, the original claim put forward by Fox News all those times back in the fall of 2009 was itself a lie. Factcheck.org debunked it back in November.

Comments

[Grim Al]

08:47 PM on 04/23/2010

O'Reilly's campaign to dumb down America is rivaled only by the former Bush administration.

Oh allright! Beck too.

[Michael Johns]

01:44 AM on 04/21/2010

A great mash-up of the original lie refuted by EVIDENCE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CttLTBoxXoU

Coburn's comment at the end sums it up pretty good.

[rita6583]

11:13 PM on 04/20/2010

Once a bit~h always a bit~h.

[mivogo]

08:04 PM on 04/20/2010

Wait until someone takes a shot at a Democrat. Sarah Palin's "get them in your crosshairs", etc remarks are being diligently reported by Fox--but watch Palin (and "Fox and Friends") scream bloody murder when people say such remarks encouraged such crazies. How ridiculous!

Really?

[JazzyJim]

01:46 PM on 04/20/2010

Clever Rovian trick (well, not so clever to anyone smarter than a third grader, which obviously exempts the Faux Zombies). Take the position that your detractors would make against you - and flip it. Attacking NBC News (which by the way is NOT getting killed by Fox Newz - Bill is obviously and intentionally confusing the two for NBC is a network that have much higher ratings than the cable program O'Really works for - he's generalizing to attack MSNBC and NBC, but truth wins out. If you want to attack MSNBC, which also calls Fox on their lies - then be specific - you're disingenuous in your opinion and point - yours is to discredit the truth and those that would call you on it - I believe you call it "liberal media and mainstream media" to make the unenlightened believe there is something nefarious going on to the Fox viewer whom might stumble upon the other stations broadcasting truth and fact or indeed - real journalism - and wonder why there is such disparity in views as opposed to the 24/7 lies (aka group opinion in one voice) that is Fox.

[FreedomFighter2012]

05:16 AM on 04/20/2010

O'Reilly is a dope.

[Elbrando]

05:33 PM on 04/19/2010

A concerned citizen's plea:

Have you noticed that a loved one has been engaging in inappropriate behaviour. What was once a fun activity now seems more like an addiction. Have they become forgetful and their mental stability is in question. Then maybe, just maybe your loved one is watching Fox "news".

Treatment is possible. Being there for them is necessary. Showing the illogic of their actions can help, but only if they are willing to listen to things like logic or facts. Admitting they have a problem is the first and most difficult step.

Frying an egg is like your brain on drugs, but remember using a blowtorch is like watching Fox "news".

[Indon]

03:16 PM on 04/19/2010

I imagine most members of O'Reilly's audience don't know how to use Youtube to check if he's lying anyway.

Evidence that internet stuff like Youtube is in fact incredibly awesome and revolutionary for destroying frauds like this.

[MyGuyO]

03:08 PM on 04/19/2010

Did O'Reilly say that Comcast will own NBC? Tell me it isn't so. This is a right wing takeover.

[JazzyJim]

01:49 PM on 04/20/2010

Yes. Sad to say. ABC is already under the control of the Conservatives and their dogma - it's scary - these are the days leading up to Sarah Palin's presidency. Be very afraid. Crazy is coming home to roost.

[MyGuyO]

02:59 PM on 04/19/2010

This is exactly what lying b*st*rds do.

Turn the tables on someone other than themselves.

O'Reilly is a blatant l*ar and always has been.

Outrageous lies are designed to incite an emotional reaction by the reader/listener to join in the mob mentality of hang 'em first and ask questions later. It is the hope of Fox that their vitrial messages will reach many in the MSM.

[jazabelz]

12:19 PM on 04/19/2010

Appologizing while showing the sign to the right "Obamacare Prison Situation"? Lies, arrogance and elitism at its best!

[AyeChart]

09:37 AM on 04/19/2010

Clearly O'Reilly was correct. They talked about it when it was appropriate to do so, and when the final bill did not contain "jail time" as a penalty, they stopped reporting about it.

What is wrong about that?

The disingenuous lying is being done by Huffington Post, which takes comments from a time when they were appropriate and claims this was a lie when, at the time, it was correct!

Got it?

[BigRex]

10:28 AM on 04/19/2010

Apparently someone either didn't read the entire post or that same someone cannot put two & two together...

[Micah J Femino]

10:32 AM on 04/19/2010

You are incorrect. People on Fox News were saying jail time would be a penalty right up to the point the bill was passed.
By they way, it was NEVER in the bill.
Never
Got it?

[scottiex2]

02:20 PM on 04/19/2010

If anyone attempted to tally the daily lies and distortions put out by Fox "News"
it would be extraordinary.
NBC is being taken over by Comcast, a company more right wing and bigoted than
Rupert Murdoch, if that is possible. If that merger should happen, kiss Keith, Rachel
and any progressive tv host goodbye.

[MyGuyO]

03:03 PM on 04/19/2010

Exactly. It's all in the way that Fox spins their stories. Always, always blame the other side to make themselves look innocent.

Fox knew exactly what they were doing. They NEVER tell a story straight and the whole world knows it. I feel sorry for their followers, I mean REALLY sorry that they listen to lies and hate and it filters into their brains and stays there forever.

[padrushka]

09:33 AM on 04/19/2010

Jon Stewart, please include this one!!

[rjmiller]

08:13 AM on 04/19/2010

I don't understand. When was it not abundantly clear that the individual mandate amounted to a modest tax? Who came up with prison? That was certainly never even mentioned in real reporting.

[cincinnati]

07:05 AM on 04/19/2010

Fox's latest Big Lie is that swarms of liberals are trying to invade tea party rallys in order to hold up nutty signs. What a joke, there are plenty of the nuts there with the most hateful signs.

Fox should be investigated and fined or kicked off the air.

[MidwestHeart]

09:10 AM on 04/19/2010

One has to uphold certain ethical and professional standards to practice most professions, or lose ones license--why not journalism. Do lies and hate speech really equal FREE speech?

[dax49]

11:40 AM on 04/19/2010

If the FCC did their job, fox would have been off the air