Saturday, February 28, 2015

Bill O'Reilly Is Being Called Out For His Lies (Finally)

(This caricature of Fox News analyst Bill O'Reilly is by DonkeyHotey.)

It has been interesting to see the mainstream media going crazy over a mistruth by NBC's Brian Williams on a talk show. Especially since Williams has not been accused on telling untruths on his news program -- while the talking heads over at Fox News lie repeatedly on their own "news" programs.

And perhaps the most egregious of the Fox liars is Bill O'Reilly -- a narcissist who doesn't hesitate to stretch the truth to make himself look good, or to embarrass a guest he doesn't like. But if there is one thing good about the Williams mini-scandal, it is that others are now being looked at for what they have said on the air -- and the first to have his feet held to the fire is Bill O'Reilly.

Bill had claimed that he knew what it was like to be under fire in a combat situation, since he had been in the Falkland Islands during the war there between Argentina and Great Britain. That was a lie. The closest O'Reilly got to the fighting was Buenos Aires -- about 1200 miles from the fighting.

And that wasn't his only lie. He also claimed to have been outside the home of a friend of Lee Harvey Oswald, and to have heard the shot when the man committed suicide. It turns out that he was not even in the same city when that happened.

Now a third lie has been exposed. O'Reilly said he saw nuns being shot in the back of the head in El Salvador. It turns out he couldn't have been there, and there was no video of that happening. The most he could have done is see still photos of the dead nuns  which were shown by many media outlets.

Fox News has been very vocal in demonizing Brian Williams (and I don't defend him for his silly remark), saying he should be terminated. What then are they going to do about Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly's comments weren't an off-hand remark on an entertainment talk show, but were told on his own "news" show -- and that makes them even worse. I doubt that Fox News will fire O'Reilly (or even punish him in any way), but they should.

Now it's time for the major media to examine some of the claims made by other Fox News personalities.


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