Tonight, Bill O'Reilly attempted to step outside the laws of space and time in order to defend his newest Fox News colleague, Sarah Palin. As O'Reilly noted, Palin delivered the keynote address at the first Tea Party Nation convention. After showing video of Palin criticizing congressional Democrats and the Obama administration, O'Reilly claimed, “It took just moments after that before the left-wing media replied, hammering Governor Palin.” O'Reilly then showed a clip of Democratic consultant Bob Shrum telling MSNBC's Ed Schultz that Palin's Tea Party convention comments were “a masterful exercise -- masterful -- in paranoid politics.”

But the Palin comments O'Reilly aired weren't made at the Tea Party convention. Rather, they came during Palin's interview with Chris Wallace, which aired on the February 7 edition of Fox News Sunday, a day after Shrum criticized her remarks at the Tea Party convention.

O'Reilly's video trick effectively granted Palin a reprieve for the comments Shrum actually was criticizing -- specifically, numerous false and dubious claims Palin made during her February 6 speech:

SHRUM: What we heard tonight was more a masterful exercise -- masterful -- in paranoid politics. I mean, she came across to me as a merchant of hate with an “Oh gosh” smile. I mean, go down the things she said. Barack Obama has never talked about the war on terrorism. Yes, he has. The way the shoe bomber was handled on Christmas Day. Those were under the rules set up by -- not the shoe bomber, the underpants bomber -- those were under the rules set up and applied to the shoe bomber by the Bush administration. Small business needs tax cut. Ed, who's proposing the tax cuts for small business?

SCHULTZ: Barack Obama is.

SHRUM: Barack Obama. Who's opposing them? The Republicans. It's the technique that believes that you can say anything and get away with it, as long as you stir up the base.

It would appear that technique is right at home at Fox News.