O'Reilly challenged callers for examples of his pro-Bush cheerleading; MMFA obliges

Written by Gabe Wildau

Published

On November 11, when a caller to FOX News Channel host Bill O'Reilly's radio show observed that "[i]t sounds like you're their [the Bush administration's] No. 1 backer," O'Reilly challenged him: “Gimme one example where I'm backin' the Bush administration.” When the caller hung up without answering, O'Reilly declared victory and proceeded to ridicule all those who claim he's a Bush partisan as “morons.”

But Media Matters for America has assembled several examples of O'Reilly's cheerleading for President George W. Bush and his administration on both FOX News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor and the nationally syndicated The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, often with false or misleading claims (follow links to read the corrections):

  • O'Reilly Factor, November 4: “He [Bush] won because independents forgave him for mistakes because they fundamentally liked him more than Mr. Kerry.”
  • Radio Factor, November 4: “I think it [Bush's reelection] was -- not a victory for conservatives. I think it was a victory for people of tradition. Traditional Americans. That's who won -- traditional America. And they come under all stripes, they're not all conservatives.”
  • Radio Factor, October 26: “I'm gonna go out on a limb. I think they fear Bush more than Kerry -- Al Qaeda.”
  • Radio Factor, October 21: “They said they [9-11 widow Kristen Breitweiser, featured in the ad, and her late husband] voted for Bush [in 2000], but Bush opposed the 9-11 Commission -- which he didn't, by the way. He didn't oppose it. I mean, he had questions about it because he didn't want it politicized.”
  • Radio Factor, October 8: “Bush has gotta be blunt so even I can understand him. He's gotta look at Kerry and he's gotta say, 'Hey, look. You saw the same stuff I saw. You saw that Saddam was a threat. You went along with it. So knock it off with the Monday-morning quarterbacking, pal.'”
  • Radio Factor, September 27: “I think he's [Bush] done a very good job with the economy, very good job. I would give him an A or an A-minus for the economy because we could have easily gone into a tremendous recession after 9-11 with almost all commerce stopping. And I believe the tax cuts worked. I believe that he managed the economy in the short term very, very well, as well as Clinton did, and I -- he doesn't get any credit for that.”
  • Radio Factor, September 27: “But 5.5 [percent] unemployment in the face of a war on terror, when you take a cataclysmic hit in 2001, he's [Bush] done a pretty darn good job on that economy if you ask me.”

From the November 11 edition of The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: See, this is what I mean. I mean, you morons -- you got -- just get -- it's not hard. If I'm their biggest backer, then you should be able to find one thing that I'm cheerleading the Bush administration about.

[...]

Well, I'm just -- but this is why they lose, 'cause they don't have anything. I mean, they throw -- they come in -- ayyyy, ayyyy, ayyyy, and then you say, “Well, gimme one example” -- and they can't. It's a lot more fun if you can come in on a “gotcha” situation and get me. You know, we'll give you pants if you can do that.

[...]

Yeah. If you can get me, I'm here. But you gotta come in with something -- “O'Reilly, you're just a cheerleader of the Bush administration” -- OK. Can I have an example of that?