(SYOP 6/3/09) While no final decision has been made, word from the Scott Roeder legal team is that the alleged killer of Dr. George Tiller will utilize what they're calling the "O'Reilly Defense" to get their client off.
"It's a variation of a Twinkie Defense," said legal expert Jonathan Turley. "They will attempt to connect Mr. Roeder's heavy intake of Bill O'Reilly combined with a talk-radio hate-speak rush to prove that Roeder did not have the capacity to make a rational decision when he shot Dr. Tiller. "The deluge of 'Tiller is a Nazi, mass murderer, baby killer' verbiage by Mr. O'Reilly surely can drive one into a state of what we in the legal profession call 'righteous assassination.'"
Those in the psychology community support the defense.
"Just the fact Mr. O'Reilly has an audience at all gives credence to the point that the so-called Folksโข who watch Bill O'Reilly have a decreasing ability to determine the difference between fact and fiction," said Dr. Hal Densky. "It's a brainwashing of sorts, though with O'Reilly it's more of a complete lobotomy."
"Look, right wing talk shows were able to talk half the country into believing if you were against the Bush Administration's decision to invade Iraq that you hated the troops," said Densky. "It stands to reason that in repeating incessantly that Dr. Tiller is a mass murderer, someone would step up to stop the killings. Rather than an assassin, the defendant might see himself as a hero."
In addition, much like Senator Al Franken (Minn, D) successfully proved when O'Reilly and Fox News sued Franken for liable in his book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," the Roeder lawyers will also attempt to prove that those on the prosecution are complete idiots for even bringing the case.
O'Reilly refused comment but sent his producer Jesse Waters out to ambush Tiller's widow.
"Why didn't she stop her husband from murdering all those kids?" said Waters. "The Folks want to know.
Award-winning TV writer Steve Young is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" www.greatfailure.com and blogs at the appropriately-named SteveYoungonPolitics.com