O'Reilly: Bin Laden would welcome Hillary Clinton presidency as “weak”

Written by Julie Millican

Published

Bill O'Reilly claimed that if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) were to become president, “the first thing [Osama] bin Laden and his killers are gonna do is say, 'Oh yeah, this is good,' ” because they would consider Clinton “weak” enough that they could “test her.” O'Reilly contrasted Clinton -- who he claimed would be “in a very difficult position” that may cause her to “overreact to prove herself” -- with former Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), whom O'Reilly described as “tough guys” and “street fighters.”

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During the April 3 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly claimed that if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) were to become president, “the first thing [Osama] bin Laden and his killers are gonna do is say, 'Oh yeah, this is good,' ” because they would consider Clinton “weak” enough that they could “test her.” O'Reilly contrasted Clinton -- who he claimed would be “in a very difficult position” that may cause her to “overreact to prove herself” -- with former Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), whom O'Reilly described as “tough guys” and “street fighters” that Al Qaeda would quickly realize “mean business.” O'Reilly's comments came in response to a caller discussing her discomfort with the possibility of having Hillary Clinton as president.

From the April 3 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

CALLER: As much as I think American women, both young and old, need a female in the White House to build our self-esteem and affirm that we do matter, not that woman, please. Not Hillary Clinton. I don't feel comfortable with her and Bill Clinton even driving by the White House.

O'REILLY: Why?

CALLER: Well, the way they trashed it. Think of foreign dignitary, dignitaries that come in there and know what happened in the Oval Office, it's just --

O'REILLY: But, [caller], these foreign dignitaries are probably 80 times worse than Bill Clinton ever was, you see? I don't think they -- look, in these circles, believe me, I mean, those people, I mean, they have a totally different sense of decorum -- let's put it that way -- than you do. That's not even on their mind.

If Mrs. Clinton becomes president of the United States, she's not gonna have an image problem. All right? People will come and kowtow to her just like they would to any president. What she will have is, “OK, we have a weak person.”

You know, the first thing bin Laden and his killers are gonna do is say, “Oh yeah, this is good. We like this,” and they'll test her, they'll test her. And then she's put in a very difficult position that she may have to overreact to prove herself, you see? Very complicated.

If you got a Giuliani or a McCain, these are tough guys, these are street fighters. Bin Laden and the crew, they're gonna know right away these guys mean business. Her they're gonna test.