Olbermann awarded O'Reilly, Miller “Worst Person” “bronze” for false accusations about Clinton


On the February 16 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann awarded Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly and Fox News contributor Dennis Miller "[t]he bronze" in his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, falsely asserting that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) did not attend any memorial services for victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Olbermann stated that Miller played “the straight man feeding Orally [O'Reilly] the question, 'Did Hillary Clinton not even attend one 9-11 memorial service?' Bill-O [O'Reilly] of course replied, 'That is correct.' ” Miller had asked O'Reilly: “I always liked the way [former New York Mayor] Rudy [Giuliani] stepped up to the memorial services for the 9-11 people. Didn't he attend like hundreds and hundreds of them? And didn't, in fact, The [O'Reilly] Factor do some research back then that Hillary Clinton did not attend one?” to which O'Reilly replied: “That is correct.” Olbermann then explained that, contrary to O'Reilly's assertion, "[e]ven one of the senator's sleaziest critics said in November of 2001 that she quote, 'attended three highly publicized memorial services.' The critic who said that, the critic who O'Reilly just contradicted? Bill O'Reilly."

From the February 16 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: That's ahead, but first, time for Countdown's list of nominees for “Worst Person in the World.”

The bronze: Bill-O is slipping. He only gets in tonight by sharing the medal with ex-comedian Dennis Miller. Poor Dennis, he had be the straight man feeding Orally the question, “Didn't [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham] Clinton [D] not even attend one 9-11 memorial service?” Bill-O, of course, replied, “That is correct.”

Well, it isn't. Even one of the senator's sleaziest critics said in November 2001 that she, quote, “attended three highly publicized memorial services.” The critic who said that, the critic who O'Reilly just contradicted? Bill O'Reilly.