Again targeting Boulder as a “secular-progressive stronghold” that is “being run by loons,” Bill O'Reilly on the September 28 edition of Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor criticized Boulder High School students for “protesting the daily reading of the Pledge of Allegiance” and objecting to the clause “one nation, under God.” O'Reilly also attacked Boulder High School Principal Bud Jenkins, calling him “the biggest nut in the country,” but he ignored reports that Jenkins has said he will not accede to the protesters' demands. Additionally, O'Reilly's guest, Dan Caplis of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show, referred to the students as “these little teen secular-progressives trying to go in and force their will on the majority.”

As Colorado Media Matters has documented (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), O'Reilly and Caplis repeatedly mischaracterized and lied about an April 10 University of Colorado Conference on World Affairs (CWA) panel about sex and drugs held at Boulder High School. In addition to attacking the city of Boulder, the Boulder Daily Camera, Boulder High students, and Jenkins over the panel discussion, O'Reilly accused Dave Kopel -- the Rocky Mountain News' conservative media critic and research director for the free-market think tank the Independence Institute -- of being a “secular-progressive” for his defense of Boulder High.

Regarding the Pledge of Allegiance protest, the Daily Camera reported on September 27:

More than 50 Boulder High School students showed up for a protest this morning against the Pledge of Allegiance.

The students stood in the school courtyard, where cameras were not allowed, and recited an alternate pledge that doesn't reference God. That pledge, written on poster board for students to read together, was written by Boulder High senior Emma Martens, president of the activist club, Student Worker.

It reads: “I pledge allegiance to the flag and my constitutional rights with which it comes. And to the diversity, in which our nation stands, one nation, part of one planet, with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all.”

The protest coincided with the time allotted by the school for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance if they want to do so. State law requires schools to make that time available, but Student Worker members want it to be during lunch so that people who don't want to participate won't have to hear it.

They say the 8:30 a.m. pledge takes away from classroom time; is ignored or disrespected by mocking teens; and violates the separation of church and state.

On the September 28 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly told Caplis, “Boulder ... is out of control, just like San Francisco, being run by loons,” to which Caplis responded: “Well, I'll admit they're being run by secular-progressives.” Caplis also called the Boulder High students protesting the Pledge of Allegiance “these little teen secular-progressives trying to go in and force their will on the majority.” Later, O'Reilly said, “You don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance in Boulder High School. It's recited. You don't want to say it, you don't have to say it. But they [the protesters] want any reference knocked out.” Caplis later told O'Reilly, “That's why this culture war is so important. And these kids really believe that they somehow have this entitlement to go in and force their will on the majority. They need to start going to history class. This is a nation founded on a belief in God. And there's no legitimate separation-of-church-and-state argument.”

Still later in the broadcast, after Caplis said, “I wish the principal would be a little firmer with” the student protesters, O'Reilly cut him off, saying, “Ah, c'mon. Jenkins? This guy, he allowed that crazy sex-drug seminar. He -- this guy is the biggest nut in the country.” Caplis also said that “there's a master” that Jenkins “has to serve, a far-left master at that school district, and he's just being very weak when it comes to standing up to the left.”

While the Daily Camera reported on September 27 that Jenkins said “he's 'proud of the kids' for standing up for their beliefs,” the same article pointed out that “Jenkins said he's crafting a letter that will reject student requests asking for the pledge to be moved.” The Daily Camera further reported on September 28 that “moving the Pledge of Allegiance from second period to the school's lunch hours -- like student protesters requested -- puts too much of a burden on administrators and strains the already stretched security staff, Jenkins said.” That article also quoted Jenkins as saying that having the pledge “during class is a more efficient way of managing the state law.”

O'Reilly ended the interview with a “joke,” asking Caplis if the students protesting the pledge “were stoned.”

From the September 28 broadcast of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Factor “Follow-Up” segment tonight. As you may know, Boulder, Colorado, is a secular-progressive stronghold, a town where far-left attitudes are generally accepted. Now, last spring Boulder High School students were directed to sit through a sex-drug panel which encouraged them to use illegal narcotics and pretty much do whatever they wanted.

AUDIO CLIP OF BOULDER HIGH SCHOOL PANEL: I'm going to encourage you to have sex, and I'm going to encourage you to use drugs appropriately.

[...]

Now, what is healthy sexual behavior? Well, I don't care if it's with men and men, women and women, men and women. Whatever combination you would like to put together.

O'REILLY: That was an adult addressing children in a Boulder public school. Well, this week about 50 Boulder High School students walked out of class, protesting the daily reading of the Pledge of Allegiance. Students saying they're offended by the phrase “one nation, under God.” As usual, Principal Bud Jenkins has not returned our calls. He is the same guy that allowed the crazy sex-drug seminar.

Also, the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper thinks the kids are swell. Joining us now from Denver, KHOW radio talk-show host Dan Caplis, who was criticized today by the Daily Camera newspaper. Now, look, Caplis: I've been telling you now for years that your Boulder -- 'cause you went to CU, Colorado, the University of Colorado -- is out of control, just like San Francisco, being run by loons, and you defending them. Are you ready to give up that defense?

CAPLIS: [laughs] Well, I'll admit they're being run by secular-progressives. All I'm saying, Bill, is not everybody in town's that way. But you're right. It doesn't matter since the secular-progressives are in charge. And what we're seeing here are these little teen secular-progressives trying to go in and force their will on the majority, trying to use a bogus constitutional argument to drive God out of the schools.

O'REILLY: Yeah, that's already been denied by the courts.

CAPLIS: Yeah.

O'REILLY: You don't have to say --

CAPLIS: Right.

O'REILLY: You don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance in Boulder High School. It's recited. You don't want to say it, you don't have to say it. But they want any reference knocked out. We talked to these dopey kids, a few of them, yesterday on the phone. And they are, indeed, Dan, dopey. I don't know whether you got any of them on your radio program on KHOW. But they were, like, giggling, and, you know --

[video clip of protesting high school students]

CAPLIS: Yeah.

O'REILLY: -- this is a scream for attention. Yeah, look at them.

CAPLIS: Right.

O'REILLY: They don't know the issues; they don't care about the issues. But it just points up -- and I opened up my program tonight, I said, “I'm going to show you two examples of extreme secular-progressivism”: San Francisco, which we opened with, and here. And this is the America that will emerge if the S-Ps win.

CAPLIS: No, that's right. And that's why this culture war is so important. And these kids really believe that they somehow have this entitlement to go in and force their will on the majority. They need to start going to history class. This is a nation founded on a belief in God. And there's no legitimate separation-of-church-and-state argument. So I'm glad they're being shut down. But I wish the principal would be a little firmer with them, Bill. I mean --

O'REILLY: Ah, c'mon. Jenkins? This guy, he allowed that crazy sex-drug seminar. He -- this guy is the biggest nut in the country. He couldn't work -- there's only two cities he works in: San Francisco, Boulder, maybe Madison, Wisconsin. That's it.

CAPLIS: Well, I think -- I've heard a lot of good things about this guy, but I think he's real weak when it comes up to, comes to standing up to --

O'REILLY: Dan.

CAPLIS: -- these people on the left, it comes to disrupting the school.

O'REILLY: A lot of good things about this guy? C'mon. Just that assembly last spring.

CAPLIS: Well, what I'm telling you, he's --

O'REILLY: Just that assembly last spring. C'mon.

CAPLIS: No justification for it, but I think there's a master he has to serve, a far-left master at that school district, and he's just being very weak when it comes to standing up to the left.

O'REILLY: He has to serve?

CAPLIS: And the kids are paying the price, Bill. I mean, this is another black eye on that school --

O'REILLY: Of course.

CAPLIS: -- after the debacle last spring.

O'REILLY: Of course. I mean, but he doesn't have to serve a far-left master; he chooses to. He can get a job anywhere.

CAPLIS: Good -- fair point.

O'REILLY: You wouldn't serve that master, would you, Dan?

CAPLIS: Absolutely not.

O'REILLY: Would I serve that master? No.

CAPLIS: Absolutely not. And I --

O'REILLY: I mean this is -- go ahead.

CAPLIS: Yeah, and I don't respect him for giving into that. Not at all. And look at the precedent he's setting. He's calling the kids walking out of class when the Pledge of Allegiance comes over the intercom a great expression of their constitutional rights.

[O'Reilly laughs]

CAPLIS: What a great precedent. So now, I guess, at Boulder High, if you don't like what's being said in class --

O'REILLY: Yeah, you go leave.

CAPLIS: -- you can walk out. I don't think that's any way to run a school.

O'REILLY: Absolutely. Absolutely.

CAPLIS: Yeah.

O'REILLY: That's what we should have: if the kids don't like -- you know, we tried to get a couple of these kids on tonight; they wouldn't come on. But I would ask them, I said, Do you know when the words “under God” were inserted in the Pledge of Allegiance?

CAPLIS: Yeah.

O'REILLY: And if they knew, I would be shocked. But they were inserted --

CAPLIS: Right.

O'REILLY: -- in the '50s, in the Eisenhower administration, to separate the United States -- as you rightly pointed out -- founded under the banner of God, God gives us our inalienable rights, from the communist hordes in Russia and China.

CAPLIS: Mm-hmm.

O'REILLY: And the United States Congress said we want to have a pledge that separates our Judeo-Christian tradition from our enemies, who are totalitarian atheists. Now, do you think anybody in Boulder understands that?

CAPLIS: It -- no, and they're probably -- well, these kids aren't interested in that. But that's why I say this is a goofy argument. It's not a serious argument. Nobody could seriously argue that anybody's going to be harmed hearing those words, “one nation, under God.”

O'REILLY: Right.

CAPLIS: So I think the kids are pulling a publicity stunt --

O'REILLY: Absolutely.

CAPLIS: -- for their own benefit and at the expense of their school.

O'REILLY: Do you think they were stoned, Dan, when --

CAPLIS: [laughs] Hey, that I don't know.

O'REILLY: It's a joke. Just a joke. Dan Caplis, everybody. Thanks for coming on.