O'Reilly maintained false denials of on-air comments on immigrants
On the October 25 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly falsely accused Denver Post columnist Cindy Rodriguez of misquoting him and persisted in his false denials of anti-immigrant comments he made in April.
In an October 25 Denver Post column, Rodriguez wrote:
In April, O'Reilly agreed with a caller to his radio program who labeled illegal immigrants "biological weapons" because they may have "tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy."
O'Reilly's response: "I think you could probably make an absolutely airtight case that more than 3,000 Americans have been either killed or injured, based upon the 11 million illegals who are here."
Huh? That doesn't even make sense.
That night on The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly complained, "How can a columnist like Cindy Rodriguez say that I basically told people that illegal aliens killed 3,000 Americans?" Not only did O'Reilly misquote Rodriguez's accurate presentation of his April 15 remarks, but he also perpetuated his repeated denials that he ever made such comments.
As Media Matters for America noted at the time, the April 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, featured the following discussion:
CALLER: Hi, Bill. The point of my call today is I'd like to take a different look at illegal immigration. I believe that it has the same impact as a major terrorist attack. And here's what I mean. If you take the sum total of the economic consequences of illegal immigration, and also consider that the illegals crossing the border, that are coming across with, say, tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy -- each one of those people is a biological weapon.
And, I believe that illegal immigration is -- equals and surpasses the impact of 9-11. And it is incumbent upon the president to close the borders.
O'REILLY: You might be right, [caller]. And, if you look at it that way, you've got 11 million at least here, unsupervised. Nobody knows the condition they're in. And you have 3,000 dead from 9-11.
So, you got 11 million running around unsupervised now. You got 3,000 dead on 9-11, so you do the math and you say, "Well, how many of these 11 million people have impacted negatively on American citizens?" I think you could probably make an absolutely airtight case that more than 3,000 Americans have been either killed or injured, based upon the 11 million illegals who are here.
In an October 15 Dallas Morning News column, Macarena Hernandez criticized these remarks while blaming anti-immigrant rhetoric, in part, for the vulnerability of many immigrants to theft and violent crime:
Were the complainers angrier about the red, white and green Mexican flag fluttering in the Georgia air than they were about the horrific murders? Do they watch Fox's The O'Reilly Factor, where the anchor and the callers constantly point to the southern border as the birth of all America's ills? (Sample comment: "Each one of those people is a biological weapon.")
It is one thing to want to secure the borders and another to preach hate, to talk of human beings as ailments.
Hernandez's comments sparked vigorous protest from O'Reilly who, as Media Matters has documented, first omitted her example of his April 15 comments from his response and then, when prompted by an email to his television show, deceptively claimed that he "never said anything like that." O'Reilly then widened his attack to include Media Matters for America, calling us "100 percent dishonest" for making information available to "fanatical people like Macarena Hernandez," although Media Matters' presentation of the April 15 remarks included an accurate and detailed transcript of the discussion between O'Reilly and the caller.
Despite Rodriguez's latest contribution to criticism of O'Reilly's comments, O'Reilly maintained that he never made such comments, imploring, "How can a columnist like Cindy Rodriguez say that I basically told people that illegal aliens killed 3,000 Americans? It's insane. It's insane."
From the October 25 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: But that's not true. Look, you know this. They don't watch The Factor. I mean, how can a columnist get the radio and television program mixed up as Hernandez did in The Dallas Morning News? How can a columnist like Cindy Rodriguez say that I basically told people that illegal aliens killed 3,000 Americans? It's insane. It's insane.
Is O'Reilly even CAPABLE of being truthful any more? Total meltdown.
Okay, does O'Reilly, or any of these other commentators, ever dig into his little archive and listen to the stuff that he says? Just a question. I really want to know. You always hear people deny what they say or state that they were taken out of context, but do they ever go back and listen to what they've said? I think if they did they may learn how to either speak thoroughly or not say things that can be "taken out of context" by a so-called "liberals" or anyone else that knows how to speak English living within the United States.
I am serious, I really want to know.
Here's another way to ask the question (perhaps?):
Do World Wrestling Champion Wrestlers ever watch themselves on video and cringe?
The truth is most are having fun, making $, yelling, masquerading, pretending to be swept up in the big drama-rama.
Ho'reilly is kicking a$$ in his own way. But it's sort of like a mental patient that's suddenly been allowed to chain smoke. Funny in a way, but mostly predictable and off-putting.
O'Liar! The funny thing is that you cannot hold a tape recorder to his ear and if he listens to his own voice… He will deny, deny, deny! This cartoon character is living in his own world in where he is king. Wally George, Bevis and Butthead and Bill O’Reilly are three of a kind.
Now, certainly, little ears might find them distressing, but weren't his earlier comments correct? In fact, the 10 to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. have probably caused more than 3,000 deaths or injuries.
Hundreds of illegal aliens have fled back to Mexico after killing people in the U.S., so that provides a good chunk of that. And, a good percentage of those in prison for major crimes in California and other states are actually Mexican citizens. Just last year the feds alone paid $2 billion to house illegal aliens. Check out the The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave. Those who are troubled by facts should not read that.
And, here's what O'Reilly said before: "3,000 Americans have been either killed or injured".
And, here's what he says now: "How can a columnist like Cindy Rodriguez say that I basically told people that illegal aliens killed 3,000 Americans?"
Now, surely, anyone with an IQ above 70 can see that those two comments a consistent.
As for Cindy Rodriguez, perhaps MMFA might slightly raise the bar on who it quotes. I consider her a completely discredited source.
When will the "hard border" Republicans realize that they have been sold out to the corporate interests vis-a-vis NAFTA and now CAFTA? There are no jobs south of the border, Einstein's. This is what the corprate wing of your party wants, and you serve them. Any policy with a prayer of actually solving the problem of illegal immigration has to start by adressing the problem of Latin American job-lessness, so don't get your hopes up that the problem will be solved in your lifetime.
big johnny,
There's overlap in the Republican Party; those with corporate interests, who also support builing a wall/sealing off the border.
"When will the "hard border" Republicans realize that they have been sold out to the corporate interests vis-a-vis NAFTA and now CAFTA? There are no jobs south of the border, Einstein's. This is what the corprate wing of your party wants, and you serve them. Any policy with a prayer of actually solving the problem of illegal immigration has to start by adressing the problem of Latin American job-lessness, so don't get your hopes up that the problem will be solved in your lifetime."
by big johnny
******************************************
Mexico's problem, not ours. You don't want us in the Middle East solving that little dilemma, surely you can't expect us to "fix" Mexico's economic woes. If you do, you're a hypocrite.
NAFTA was Clinton's fault.
Fine every business that hires illegal, and build a concrete wall, preferably one with electrified barbwire running along the top.
That will solve the problem
Your point is immaterial. I hope you didn't spend a lot of effort typing it out. It's all for naught.
O'Reilly denied having said what has been proven that he said. O'Reilly lied. Period.
Diversion tactics are the last refuge of a poor debater.
Huh?? Rodriguez just repeated what O'Reilly said, and she's a questionable source?
Talking about deflecting and distorting!!
“I think you could probably make an absolutely airtight case that more than 3,000 Americans have been either killed or injured, based upon the 11 million illegals who are here.
You could make that case. And, you would be absolutely right.”
From his own words, this man is guilty of what he's being accused of. What is interesting is Fox knows his following could care less if he said it or not. In front of camera, Fox executives, and God, this man stands to say his accusers are wrong. Well pee in my face and tell me it's rain. In this case, media really does matter, and this absolute finding of O'Reilly ill-moral boundless claim that others don't see his lies is classic O'Reilly tactics and should be used to illustrate what he would go through to win the moment.
Joseph