Bill O'Reilly slammed Chris Matthews and MSNBC on Thursday after Matthews remarked that Senator Ted Cruz has a "black Irish look."
Matthews used the term, which refers to Irish people with dark features, while railing against Cruz on Wednesday. He compared Cruz to Pat Buchanan, Joseph McCarthy and O'Reilly, saying that they look alike. "In addition to being misguided politically, Mr. Matthews also apparently needs glasses — badly," O'Reilly said in response. He chalked the comment up to a "desperate attempt by Matthews to get attention."
The reason, O'Reilly said, was MSNBC's recent ratings. "In the last six months, it’s all fallen apart for MSNBC," he alleged. "They’re in a desperate situation right now.”
O'Reilly said that the network was previously a "campaign headquarters for the president," but "that's vanishing now" due to the scandals facing the Obama administration.
Recent revelations about the NSA's secret widespread domestic surveillance programs, in addition to the DOJ's secret investigations of journalists and the IRS' targeting of conservative groups, have roiled the White House. MSNBC is "covering anything other than that, because they don't know what to say," O'Reilly claimed on Thursday.
His comments came after MSNBC delivered woeful ratings in May. It landed in fourth place behind Fox News, CNN and HLN, which saw a spike from the Jodi Arias trial. The network saw its lowest primetime numbers since 2009, and Rachel Maddow — who fell behind rival Piers Morgan — saw her lowest ratings in the history of her show.
Related
Before You Go
