O'Reilly declared it “ironic” that man invaded Clinton office on same day that Wash. Post reported Clinton inaccessible to press


During the November 30 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, discussing with Fox news host Greta Van Susteren the hostage incident at a Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) presidential campaign office in New Hampshire earlier that day, host Bill O'Reilly stated: “So you got a guy, we're told, Fox News is told, that he has some kind of emotional problems, that he goes into a Hillary Clinton storefront. No need to have heavy security at a storefront. She's not in there. The senator's not in there.” O'Reilly later said: “But it's ironic because today in The Washington Post is an article that says that people can't get near Hillary Clinton. The press can't get near her, that she's so well protected by Secret Service, her staff, and everybody else, that the press can't even ask her any questions. So I thought it was a little ironic that that appears today.” Van Susteren replied: “Well, this guy didn't either, though.” According to a November 30 New York Times article, Clinton “was preparing to give a speech in suburban Virginia at a Democratic National Committee forum, but immediately canceled it upon hearing news of the unfolding events.”

O'Reilly was referring to a November 30 Post article by media critic Howard Kurtz in which Kurtz reported: “National correspondents are increasingly frustrated by a lack of access to Clinton.” Kurtz later added: “With rare exceptions -- John McCain chats endlessly with reporters aboard his bus -- leading presidential candidates take a wary approach to the press, doling out access in carefully limited increments. Journalists sometimes question whether it is worth the time and energy to trail politicians who rarely engage them. In this regard, Clinton differs only in her degree of discipline, honed during eight years of often testy media relations in her husband's White House.”

From the November 30 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: We'll have more on this story coming up. But first, we've had a number of breaking stories today including a bizarre hostage situation in New Hampshire where some troubled guy took over a Hillary Clinton campaign office. Joining us now from Washington to analyze, Greta Van Susteren, host of On the Record coming up at 10 Eastern. You know, I get a lot of crazy stuff floating around. And it's interesting because there's nothing that can be done about this stuff. You know, it's just random insanity.

So you got a guy, we're told, Fox News is told, that he has some kind of emotional problems, that he goes into a Hillary Clinton storefront. No need to have heavy security at a storefront. She's not in there. The senator's not in there. And then causes all this hostage this, that, and the other thing. But I guess people want to know if there is any more the authorities can do, Greta? And I don't believe there is. What do you think?

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, Bill, I don't think so either. I mean, one of the great things about our elections is how open they are. At least we hope they're open. We hope they're correct. And we can't all of a sudden put armed guards in every single office in every single state for every single candidate.

Look, there are a lot of -- and with all due respect, but there are a lot of, you know, nuts out there, a lot of crazy people. But there are also so many more good people who aren't doing things like that. So we put it in a balance. We take the risk. And obviously, the numbers weren't in our favor today in New Hampshire, because obviously someone who is very disturbed went in there and he's --

O'REILLY: Yes, and caused all kinds of things. Because nobody knows, you know, what these people are capable of doing. Some of them are just troubled. Some of them are violent.

But it's ironic because today in The Washington Post is an article that says that people can't get near Hillary Clinton. The press can't get near her, that she's so well protected by Secret Service, her staff, and everybody else that the press can't even ask her any questions. So I thought it was a little ironic that that appears today.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, this guy didn't either, though. You know what the other -- the one thing, though, is that tomorrow, when we do the autopsy on the events for today, it will be interesting to sort of reverse-engineer this fellow who is the hostage-taker today to see if, like with Virginia Tech, there really were signs. You know, if he's been collecting a lot of items.

O'REILLY: Or if he has any violent incidents in his past. That's a very good point.