Olbermann named O'Reilly "Worst Person" for suggesting New Orleans homeless encampment does not exist
SUMMARY: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann named Fox News' Bill O'Reilly the "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for baselessly suggesting that a homeless encampment under an overpass in New Orleans that former Sen. John Edwards mentioned in a speech did not exist. Olbermann noted that the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer both published recent articles about the encampment.
During the February 1 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly the "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, baselessly suggesting that a homeless encampment under an overpass in New Orleans that former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) mentioned in a January 30 speech -- during which Edwards suspended his run for the Democratic presidential nomination -- did not exist. Olbermann stated: "But our winner tonight: Bill-O, who is absolutely hanging himself in public by continuing to insist everybody else in this country is making up stories about homeless people living under bridges." Olbermann continued: "When John Edwards withdrew and said he'd just come from talking to some of those homeless under a bridge in New Orleans, Bill-O blustered, 'Now we called the Edwards campaign and asked where exactly is that bridge so we could help those people. Apparently, they don't know or they wouldn't tell us. The Edwards campaign can't pinpoint the bridge. ... Just tell me where the bridge is. We will help those people.' " After quoting O'Reilly, Olbermann noted that the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a "big story" about "roughly 250 homeless people living under one of those viaducts that Interstate 10 runs on in New Orleans" at "Claiborne Avenue near Canal Street" and that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published an article about members of the Seattle Supersonics basketball "handing out food" to the homeless there.
Olbermann had previously named O'Reilly "Worst Person" on the January 7 edition of Countdown for criticizing Edwards' January 3 claim that "tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates."
From the February 1 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:
OLBERMANN: But our winner tonight: Bill-O, who is absolutely hanging himself in public by continuing to insist everybody else in this country is making up stories about homeless people living under bridges. When John Edwards withdrew and said he'd just come from talking to some of those homeless under a bridge in New Orleans, Bill-O blustered, "Now we called the Edwards campaign and asked where exactly is that bridge so we could help those people. Apparently, they don't know or they wouldn't tell us. The Edwards campaign can't pinpoint the bridge. ... Just tell me where the bridge is. We will help those people."
Claiborne Avenue near Canal Street. You know how I know this? It's online. The New Orleans Times-Picayune did a big story on it on January 11th, about roughly 250 homeless people living under one of those viaducts that Interstate 10 runs on in New Orleans.
A week later, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper did another story about the Seattle Supersonics basketball team going there, handing out food.
Listen up, O'Reilly, you self-serving, self-inflating, uninformed buffoon. That same article suggests the current number of homeless just in New Orleans, men, women, and children, is at least 17,000. And you can find 250 of them right now under I-10. So get your sorry ass to Claiborne at Canal and put your money where your bottomless pit of a mouth is. We'll be waiting.
Bill O'Reilly, today's "Worst Person in the World."
dear Fox Broadcasting Corp.- please sue Olbermann because he's a liar. O'reilly never lies and he said he ASKED EDWARD'S STAFF and they didn't know. Punish the liberal media who makes up stories and puts them in newspapers.
Thank you, your loyal viewer...
"he said he ASKED EDWARD'S STAFF and they didn't know."
Olbermann clearly quoted Bill O'Reilly's story about contacting the Edwards campaign. So what did Olbermann lie about?
Doh! I didn't notice who wrote that.
Sorry!
Keith Olbermann is the example of good journalism by presenting quotes in their entirety. When i took Philosophy 201 in college, it was taught how ommissions, even just a word, can change the entire meaning of a sentence. that is the method O'Reilly ( and the other Rovian Robots at FOX and others ) uses to spread misinformation. I really wish and hope Olbermann continues his style of journalism sprinkled with bouts of goofiness.
Wow Mr. L, that's some tough talk. Care to back it up? What was Olbermann's lie? At issue isn't whether or not the Edwards campaign told O'Reilly the location of the homeless encampment, but rather O'Reilly's implication that the encampment doesn't exist and his offer to help the people living there if it were proven to exist.
As for your suggestion that Fox should sue Olbermann, I think it's a great idea. I'd love to see Fox sue Olbermann for--what, slander? The case would be an embarrassing loss for Fox, and one that might shake the faith of its viewers.
I was writing sarcastically... Bill O'Rightousely is a blathering, fear-mongering, racist pinhead who gets paid to air his drivel on Fox's *news* program.
I actually don't know anyone personally who takes Fox seriously, but, everytime I'm at a bar I inevitably hear some military people always getting tanked and screaming and hollering about how the liberal media is making them lose the war in Iraqmire- and they say Fox is way too liberal also. Now I know who actually listens to Fox: old people who probably think Fox is this generation's 'voice of sanity and reason' (I think of shannity and treason) and drunk, unhappy, over-worked military...
Shake the faith of Orally's viewers?
Impossible!
They would have to have the ability to think for themselves, which they do not have.
The brainless are immune to facts and truth - they have faith, not the ability to reason and think.
According to Bill O'Reilly, he only snubbed a few folks who “sadly seemed confused.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328067,00.htmlI love how St. Keith gets on his high horse then turns around & makes an a#s of himself when he's hanging out with the rest of the MSNBC crew & knocking Hillary while gushing over Obama.
Yeah Billy-Boy deserves every WPITW award he gets, but Keith out to give himself one for his own personal coverage of the primary elections.
grrr spelling error
OUGHT not OUT.
And is there anyone more self-serving and self-inflating than Olbermann when it comes to these silly Worst Person awards?
There's O'Reilly spending his nights childishly mispresenting NBC and Co. while they nip at his heels; Olbermann, the whining underachiever, shoots arrows at his far more successful competitor night after night.
There's O'Reilly spending his nights childishly mispresenting NBC and Co. while they nip at his heels; Olbermann, the whining underachiever, shoots arrows at his far more successful competitor night after night
Well said Tommy. I do believe you just summarized this childish feud between these 2 morons honestly.
Jeter
Very accuratly said, they are two morons. I for one am tired of hearing how one tells us how the other one lies .
The VA is seriously underfunded, and the link you posted verifies Olbermann's claim.
"Overview of Homelessness
About one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services. Current population estimates suggest that about 195,000 veterans (male and female) are homeless on any given night and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Many other veterans are considered near homeless or at risk because of their poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and dismal living conditions in cheap hotels or in overcrowded or substandard housing."
http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=1
Our Vets currently are not even getting adequate medical care, much less the homeless offered housing!
The current wounded are being warehoused - not adequately treated for the injuries they received in the current Iraq fiasco.
Fueds aside?
Not a chance, their self aggrandizement is far more important than any particular issue.
Feuds and insults aside, who do you think is doing the greater disservice to homeless vets?
O'Reilly is. BUt he has no power, so I blame Bush and the Govt.
True, but the way you worded it deserved an answer.
Jeter
Of course I agree with you, O'Reilly is scum we all know it, we all get it. Anyone that watches Olbermann will never watch O'Reilly and why MSNBC continues these childish games is beyond me. Olbermann as I have said in the past gets away with saying Hillary played the "Al Qeida Card", compared FOX News to al-qeida , and OReilly to Hitler. That seems ok to most posters on here and the relationship between MMFA and Olby hurts only MMFA. MSNBC is a mess, they are the network that wants to discuss nothing but how bad FOX is. That shows how bad cable news is.
Ok I'm on my knees typing this, & people are looking at me strangely...
My sweet Julia I didn't know we'd planned on doing a Jeter-JJ show together, I thought we were writing a book ;-)
Alright, I confess if we had plans, I forgot. I'm sorry :-(
Please forgive me. Please.
How about you, me & Sue do the program together?
Can I get off my knees now? It's really uncomfortable ;-)
Flowers should be arriving soon :-)
Flower won't do it for me, bub. So save your grip. Forgetting the morning drive show that Tommy brokered for us months ago is unforgivable. :-0),
Seriously, I can't do a show with Sueld. You all are correct that KO and BO are a bit childish. But KO (except for his election coverage) is so much better than the "Frank Burns of News" as KO aptly titles him. What you and Sueld are missing is a sense of proportion. There really is no comparing the two. After the dinosaurs that watch BO's bile fest start expiring he won't have an audience.
Hey, nice begging though. Have you had to practice much? :-)
It shows eh? ;-)
How about Flowers & Candy?
Boy my sweet Julia you are one tough cookie ;-)
Sweet, feisty & tough. Nice.
Ok I brought the flowers home to my wife, & ate the candy myself.
I'm sorry I forgot about our "program", what can I say? I have a bad memory. You probably can recall everything you said & did on February 4th 1998. I sometimes forget what I said & did yesterday :-/
I can't tell Sue she can't be on the program. That wouldn't be very nice. Anyway I like her, she cracks me up, & she's feisty like you. The 3 of us would be a hit! Besides I think you should try to be more accepting of others :-)
You'll forgive me eventually, because we Libras don't hold grudges. At least I'm pretty sure we don't. I forget ;-)
I'll accept Sueld only if she ever gets a sense of proportion and gets off the KO hate horse. When you think of it, she is doing the same thing on this board that she accuses them of doing. Rabidly bringing KO up and always dissing him. It's an obsession as large as either KO or BO. Except she's not getting paid (that I know of).
Until then, she's all yours. ;-0)
Sueeld
Since the Monica scandal , Cable news has been lost. Now we have one moron talking all the time about the other moron. Meanwhile MSNBC still has no minorites or African Americans as a host . What a great diverse network.
Sue, I've tried to ask you this before, but I can never get an answer (nothing against you, perhaps you hadn't gotten on since then?) Anyway, here's the video in question:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7BB4Vvgn_4k
You can start at 2:20, for brevity's sake.
Now tell me, how is it a lie that Hillary played the Al-Qaeda card? Using Al-Qaeda as a buzzword for all terrorist groups IS playing the Al-Qaeda card. And that's exactly what she did.
I'm not trying to cover for KeithO or anyone else, but you constantly use this as evidence against KO. I just want to know where the misinformation is.
Anyone that watches Olbermann will never watch O'Reilly and why MSNBC continues these childish games is beyond me.
Gosh that's easy. They play this game because there is an audience who will never watch BO anyway. It's not the biggest group but they like to tune in and hear that a top shill of the republicans is really clueless and asinine. It confirms everything we believe about such types. Comforting and entertaining at the same time.
He's got the soapbox - he may as well stand on it.
I'm sure he'll be back to rooting for whoever the Democratic candidate is, once it is established.
"I love how St. Keith gets on his high horse..."
"Hate Horse", Jeter, don't start ad-libbing..
That really pisses off my pet peeve pony.
AA is up for bovine jokes on the imigration thread, myself I think there's an unfilled need for otter jokes in the world.
My own posting name it occurred to me, a few weeks ago, could be used in a humorous way. Some grease stained genious beat me too it though.
Forewarned, is nervous.
Thats amazing , how do you get those chickens to produce vegtable oil. Can they do 30 wieght?
Another myth down the tubes I guess. I'd always thought that if you lay down with chicken fat, you raise up greasy.
I don't get these exsistential conundrums at Corenell Buckets Chicken fried Blasphomie. What the pluck!
I'm sure he'll be back to rooting for whoever the Democratic candidate is, once it is established.
Now I get it. Liberals think it's okay for newsmen/women to be partisans and root for a particular candidate, so long that candidate is a dem.
I never said it was OK - just reminded everyone what will happen.
You're going to tell me Fox News pundits are any different? I guess you missed all of Sean Hannity's gushing over Rudy Giuliani?
Yeah, this is only a "liberal" problem - give me a break.
"Fox is unquestionably partisan."
Not according to Fox. That's the heart of the problem. If you're going to be partisan, don't falsely market yourself as nonpartisan.
Now I get it. Liberals think it's okay for newsmen/women to be partisans and root for a particular candidate, so long that candidate is a dem.
BINGO! Give that boy a prize!
Yes Thomp, sad but true....but don't bring it up, it ruffles a few feathers here & pisses the rest off ;-)
After all, when it comes to defining liberalism, who better to ask than a conservative?
Is this another example of pot calling the kettle black?
Here we go, more stupidity from Olbermann, repeating and discussing more stupidity from O'Reilly.
And it won’t stop on this one until O’Reilly admits he was wrong. Or at least stops trying to make it seem he was right. He could have just let the dead dog lie, but HE was the one who brought it up again on his show the other night. He deserves all the heat anyone can give him until he comes clean on this.
Stupidity?
At least Olbermann knows how to locate homeless people.
During Hurricane Katrina reports on Fox said the government couldn't help victims because their was too much pandomonium and victims were actually shooting at rescue workers.
Looks like you did not watch Shep Smith and his FOX News coverage of the hurricane , as he was telling America how people were dying on the highway.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2008/01/16/2_TV_SMITH_ON_FOX.ART_ART_01-16-08_D5_R792LR6.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101
Yeah, so what's your point?
He never said everything on Faux News is incorrect - just pointed out a good handful of things they've reported that were.
The exageration of pandemonium and shooting at Katrina rescue workers hampered local rescue operations, as commanders were reluctant to put their men and women in harms way based on what Faux News was reporting.
"During Hurricane Katrina reports on Fox said the government couldn't help victims because their was too much pandomonium and victims were actually shooting at rescue workers."
That's not a blanket statement. It doesn't say "all reports", just "reports". That could be two reports for all you can tell.
You'd have to live in some kind of bizzaro land to believe truth and lies are moral equivalents.
Olbermann habitually naming Orally as the "Worst Person in the World" is becoming repetitive and somewhat boring.
While Orally is an ignorant, deluded asswipe, he really isn't "the "Worst" person in the world albeit he is the most pompous prevaricator on the "Worst Channel in the World". I can think of several that are always worse - some examples - Bush, Cheney, Ahmadinejad, Bin Laden, Fred Phelps, etc.
What Olbermann needs is a new title and a new category for Orally, possibly something like "The Faux Habitually Ignorant Bonehead", "The Worst Prevaricator of the Day", "Today's Worst Faux Channel Falsifier", "Faux's Habitually Deluded Deluder" etc.
In any case, Olbermann's show is the only news show where one can get true news.
Go Olbermann!