O'Reilly: Helen Thomas "is consistently anti-American in her point of view"

Summary: Bill O'Reilly responded to viewer complaints about his calling Hearst Newspapers columnist Helen Thomas a "pinhead," by saying: "This woman is a pinhead. She's been a pinhead for decades. She will always be a pinhead. And I'm calling it the way it is." O'Reilly went on to assert: "She is consistently anti-American in her point of view." Fox News anchor Laurie Dhue then responded: "And she certainly has been in the last several years," adding: "Increasingly so."

During the December 13 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, in his weekly "Dhue Point" segment -- in which Fox News anchor Laurie Dhue acts as the O'Reilly Factor ombudsman -- host Bill O'Reilly responded to viewer complaints about his calling Hearst Newspapers columnist Helen Thomas a "pinhead," by saying: "This woman is a pinhead. She's been a pinhead for decades. She will always be a pinhead. And I'm calling it the way it is." O'Reilly went on to assert: "She is consistently anti-American in her point of view." Dhue then responded: "And she certainly has been in the last several years," adding: "Increasingly so."

From the December 13 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: This week, some viewers were angry that I called Helen Thomas a pinhead after this exchange at the White House.

[begin video clip]

DANA PERINO (White House press secretary): Hopefully, in the future, we can bring home more, but it's going to depend on what General Petraeus reports, and remember, he will come back in March.

HELEN THOMAS (reporter): Why should we depend on him?

PERINO: Because he's the commander on the ground, Helen. He's the one who is making sure that the situation is --

THOMAS: You mean how many more people we kill?

[end video clip]

O'REILLY: With us now, Ms. Dhue. So what's the beef? Who has a beef with this? I called her a pinhead.

LAURIE DHUE (Fox News anchor): Who has a beef?

O'REILLY: Yeah.

DHUE: A couple of hundred people had a serious beef.

O'REILLY: And where do you think they all got that beef from?

DHUE: Burger King.

O'REILLY: The same crazy left-wing, loon website. Aren't you getting the con by now? I'm going to answer the question, but it's -- you're being conned.

DHUE: Well, I'm not being conned.

O'REILLY: All right. Go ahead.

DHUE: I'm most certainly not being conned.

O'REILLY: Give me the name and what they say.

DHUE: All right. Well, they're saying that that's not -- that you accused Helen Thomas of saying that American soldiers were targeting Iraqi civilians when, in fact, they say that's not exactly what she said.

O'REILLY: The woman said, "So we can kill more people over there?" Who's "we"? It's the military.

DHUE: It's the military.

O'REILLY: And who are they killing?

DHUE: Well, she says that they're killing Iraqi civilians.

O'REILLY: No, she's saying they're killing people, not terrorists, not insurgents, not the enemy.

[singing] People, people who need people.

DHUE: Now listen, "The Dhue Point" has no problem with this.

O'REILLY: All right.

DHUE: Because nobody gets a free pass on The Factor. Helen Thomas is no exception.

O'REILLY: Let me tell you what you can do with your "Dhue Point." OK? This woman is a pinhead. She's been a pinhead for decades. She will always be a pinhead. And I'm calling it the way it is.

DHUE: All right. Now maybe it's time to put in another interview request for Helen Thomas. What do you think?

O'REILLY: She's welcome on the program. She can call me a pinhead anytime she wants.

DHUE: And she probably will.

O'REILLY: She is consistently anti-American in her point of view.

DHUE: And she certainly has been in the last several years.

O'REILLY: OK. What else?

DHUE: Increasingly so.

—A.I.