O'Reilly "runner-up" in "Worst Person" for claim that he defeated "forces of darkness" in the "war" on Christmas

During the December 5 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News' Bill O'Reilly the "runner-up" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, claiming to have won the "war" on Christmas. Olbermann stated: "Our runner up, Bill-O, back to this war on Christmas that only he can see or hear. Telling a guest, quote, 'There's a very effective movement under way to wipe out in the public square all vestiges of Christmas. Stores were ordering employees not to say "Merry Christmas." If I had not done the campaign, then the forces of darkness would have won.' " Olbermann added: "Geez, Bill, you are the forces of darkness. This messiah stuff is bad enough, but the context is even worse. He was saying that to an obviously very sincere and very religious woman who is leading a push to de-emphasize commercialism at Christmas, and focus instead on the message attributed to Jesus, to care for our neighbors as ourselves." Olbermann then observed: "He told her she was trying to diminish what he'd done, and that she was naive and she was spending her time 'in the land of Oz!' "

As Media Matters has documented, O'Reilly is frequently named during Olbermann's "Worst Person" segment.

From the December 5 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: Our runner up, Bill-O, back to this war on Christmas that only he can see or hear. Telling a guest, quote, "There's a very effective movement under way to wipe out in the public square all vestiges of Christmas. Stores were ordering employees not to say 'Merry Christmas.' If I had not done the campaign, then the forces of darkness would have won."

Geez, Bill, you are the forces of darkness. This messiah stuff is bad enough, but the context is even worse. He was saying that to an obviously very sincere and very religious woman who is leading a push to de-emphasize commercialism at Christmas, and focus instead on the message attributed to Jesus, to care for our neighbors as ourselves. He told her she was trying to diminish what he'd done, and that she was naive and she was spending her time "in the land of Oz!"

Bill, they already made this movie you think is real life, The Christmas That Almost Wasn't, Rossano Brazzi, 1966, Italian.

—A.I.