While again attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards for his reference to the approximately 200,000 U.S. military veterans who are homeless, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly took inconsistent positions during the January 17 edition of The O'Reilly Factor on the role of the government in addressing the problem of homelessness among military veterans, which Edwards highlighted. After acknowledging that a previous comment that “we will pay for homeless veterans to be taken to the Edwards mansion in North Carolina for shelter” was “an immature remark,” O'Reilly added: "[B]ut there's a reason I'm saying it. Certainly there are homeless veterans, but it's not because of the economy. It's mostly because of addiction and mental illness, something politicians can do little about." Yet moments later, when National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse president Joseph Califano told O'Reilly that “the real tragedy here is most of those veterans have had combat experience that are suffering from drug and alcohol problems and mental health problems. And we are not taking care of them,” O'Reilly replied: “And that is something that should be addressed.”

When Califano added that the “Veterans Administration spends about half a billion dollars a year in substance abuse treatment and methadone maintenance for the heroin addicts. But that's not enough,” O'Reilly replied: “Nobody is arguing that, Mr. Califano.” Funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs is appropriated by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the president.

From the January 17 edition of The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Now, I've said on this program that we will pay for homeless veterans to be taken to the Edwards mansion in North Carolina for shelter. Of course, that's an immature remark, I know that, but there's a reason I'm saying it. Certainly there are homeless veterans, but it's not because of the economy. It's mostly because of addiction and mental illness, something politicians can do little about. But if Edwards admits the truth, it takes away the class warfare issue, which is his only issue.

[...]

CALIFANO: Now one fact, a very important fact about the veterans. I mean, the veterans are -- the real tragedy here is most of those veterans have had combat experience that are suffering from drug and alcohol problems and mental health problems. And we are not taking care of them.

O'REILLY: And that is something that should be addressed.

CALIFANO: The Veterans Administration spends about half a billion dollars a year in substance abuse treatment and methadone maintenance for the heroin addicts. But that's not enough.

O'REILLY: OK.

CALIFANO: And it's not a --

O'REILLY: Nobody is arguing that, Mr. Califano.

CALIFANO: OK.

O'REILLY: What we're arguing about is this is being demagogued by a guy who's trying to put up a phony scenario, Ms. Beversdorf, that it's poverty driving the people who are in trouble out on the street. It isn't poverty. It is, as Mr. Califano defined, abuse of substance and mental health problems, which I think everyone agrees, particularly with combat veterans, should be addressed in a very urgent and aggressive way. But that's not what Edwards is saying, madam.

O'Reilly also declared that Edwards was “lying” and “demagogu[ing]” the issue of homeless veterans by “trying to put up a phony scenario ... that it's poverty driving the people who are in trouble out on the street. It isn't poverty. It is, as Mr. Califano defined, abuse of substance and mental health problems, which I think everyone agrees, particularly with combat veterans, should be addressed in a very urgent and aggressive way. But that's not what Edwards is saying.” Later, during the weekly “Dhue Point” segment with Fox News contributor Laurie Dhue, O'Reilly responded to criticism that he is “too hard on” and “mean” to Edwards, asserting: “I hope I'm not mean to him, but I mean, the guy is just distorting stuff like crazy. I don't know how else to handle it.” O'Reilly asked Dhue: “So how would you handle it?” Dhue replied: “Well, here's what you've called him. OK? I would not call him the following, which you have called him: phony; a liar; self-indulgent, a pinhead -- your favorite; a charlatan, which you did tonight; a crazed ideologue and a loon, and then you said he doesn't have a clue.” Dhue later added: “Well, listen, I mean, you're over -- I mean, you can't call him this stuff.”

As Media Matters for America has documented, in response to Edwards' January 3 claim that “200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates,” O'Reilly declared the next day that Edwards “has no clue” and added: “I mean, come on. The only thing sleeping under a bridge is that guy's brain. Ten million illegal alien workers are sending billions of dollars back home, and Edwards is running around saying nobody has any money. Hard to believe.” O'Reilly returned to the subject during a January 15 O'Reilly Factor discussion with radio host Ed Schultz, stating: "[W]e're still looking for all the veterans sleeping under the bridges, Ed. ... They may be out there, but there are not many of them out there, OK? So if you know where one is, Ed ... if you know where there's a veteran sleeping under a bridge, you call me immediately, and we will make sure that man does not do it, is not there."

From the January 17 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: John Edwards says he can stop that immorality. He says it's about the economy. He is not telling the truth.

[...]

O'REILLY: Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight. More dishonesty in politics and in the media, that is the subject of this evening's “Talking Points Memo.”

In just a few moments, we'll analyze a front page New York Times story that says combat veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan are committing murders here in the USA at an alarming rate. Sounds dire, doesn't it? Stay tuned.

But first, let's look at our pal John Edwards, who's running for president. Edwards contends there are two Americas, one for the rich and the other for everybody else, and that everybody else is getting hosed. The fix is in, the economy's rigged. “Talking Points” doesn't believe that. Of course the rich do have advantages, but I am living proof that you can start with very little and prosper economically if you work hard and keep it honest. To hype up this class warfare, Edwards is now bringing in homeless veterans.

EDWARDS [video clip]: Tonight, across this country, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform and can serve this country patriotically, veterans, will go to sleep under bridges and on grates.

O'REILLY: Now, I've said on this program that we will pay for homeless veterans to be taken to the Edwards mansion in North Carolina for shelter. Of course, that's an immature remark, I know that, but there's a reason I'm saying it. Certainly there are homeless veterans, but it's not because of the economy. It's mostly because of addiction and mental illness, something politicians can do little about. But if Edwards admits the truth, it takes away the class warfare issue, which is his only issue. My criticism of Edwards has reached his own ears.

EDWARDS [video clip]: I heard that last night Bill O'Reilly, who's a talk show host, just heard that I had said this about hundreds of thousands of veterans who don't have a place to live and were homeless. And he challenged me about whether that's true or not, whether in fact we have that many veterans who don't have a place to live, and some of them are sleeping under bridges. Well, he ought to start by coming to Las Vegas.

O'REILLY: Fine. Here's the truth about poverty in America, Mr. Edwards. Listen up. You might learn something. And you need the lesson.

If you earn less than $10,000, you are poor. If a family of four earns less than $21,000, they are poor. Yet according to the government census, poor households in America have lots of stuff: 97 percent have a color TV, 78 percent a DVD player, 80 percent an air conditioner, 73 percent a car or truck, 63 percent cable or satellite TV, and 43 percent of poor households in the USA own the home they are living in.

So if the poor are not destitute in America, and they obviously are not, why are so many veterans sleeping under bridges, John Edwards? The answer again: They're mostly addicted or mentally ill. It has nothing to do with the economy.

Edwards is a charlatan, a man either too uninformed or too dishonest to be elected to anything. I am tired of hearing this nonsense from him and other callow politicians. We deal with facts here on The Factor, not fiction. John Edwards owes us an apology. And that's the “Memo.”

Now for the top story tonight, reaction to this. Joining us from Washington, Cheryl Beversdorf, the CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Here in New York City, our pal Joseph Califano, the president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, and author of the very fine book High Society: How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What to Do About It. All right, am I out of line here?

CALIFANO: Without dealing with Edwards directly at this point --

O'REILLY: Oh, you're a Democrat. You don't want to -- aw, look at this --

CALIFANO: Now, wait a minute. But let me give you the facts on substance abuse. Our work and most of the research will show that about 90 percent of the homeless in this country have drug problems or alcohol problems or both. And most of those people also have mental health problems of one kind of another --

O'REILLY: OK, so that includes the veterans, too.

CALIFANO: The veterans -- the veterans -- we have 200,000 veterans who are homeless.

O'REILLY: Right.

CALIFANO: We have about 754,000 people who are out on the streets on any given night in the United States.

O'REILLY: OK, so 90 percent, you're saying.

CALIFANO: Now one fact, a very important fact about the veterans. I mean, the veterans are -- the real tragedy here is most of those veterans have had combat experience that are suffering from drug and alcohol problems and mental health problems. And we are not taking care of them.

O'REILLY: And that is something that should be addressed.

CALIFANO: The Veterans Administration spends about half a billion dollars a year in substance abuse treatment and methadone maintenance for the heroin addicts. But that's not enough.

O'REILLY: OK.

CALIFANO: And it's not a holistic kind of treatment --

O'REILLY: Nobody is arguing that, Mr. Califano.

CALIFANO: OK.

O'REILLY: What we're arguing about is this is being demagogued by a guy who's trying to put up a phony scenario, Ms. Beversdorf, that it's poverty driving the people who are in trouble out on the street. It isn't poverty. It is, as Mr. Califano defined, abuse of substance and mental health problems, which I think everyone agrees, particularly with combat veterans, should be addressed in a very urgent and aggressive way. But that's not what Edwards is saying, madam.

BEVERSDORF: Well, I think that's true. I mean, there's a number of things that I want to comment on. First of all, using the figure of 200,000, I keep hearing about the fact that they're on the street. A homeless veteran may not necessarily be on the street. A homeless veteran could be in a community-based organization, which is the kinds of organizations that we represent, that provide supportive services and housing for these individuals. They could be living with relatives. They could be --

O'REILLY: OK, but that's not what John Edwards is saying. He's clearly saying they're on the street.

BEVERSDORF: Well --

O'REILLY: Nobody will help them. The reason it is because the economy's terrible, because the rich people are taking stuff. We have a military analyst named Colonel David Hunt. He works with veterans who are in trouble up in Boston. And just as you said -- just as you said, madam -- there are places for them to go. There are services. We know they need more.

But here's what I want to get into with both of you. And I know you don't want to assassinate any characters, Joe. I know that. But this is wrong for a major presidential candidate to demagogue this issue and try to tell the people it's America's economic system that's causing this problem. It's a lie, it's wrong, he should be called on it. And the resources should be put into the -- where you want them to try to make these people better.

CALIFANO: That's where the resources should go, but this is not the only issue that happens to, Bill. Let me just make -- there's -- there is enormous denial about this.

O'REILLY: By whom? I'm not in denial. I don't think any --

CALIFANO: No, no, no. Wait a minute. They talk about crime, they're going to do something about crime. They're going to do something about -- all right, most of the crime in this country is related to drugs and alcohol.

O'REILLY: Yeah. Seventy-five percent.

CALIFANO: OK. Number two, they talk about teen pregnancy, they talk about child abuse --

O'REILLY: Same thing.

CALIFANO: Yeah, but that's not the way the politicians talk about it.

O'REILLY: Because if you do that, then you put the onus on individual behavior. And they don't want to do that. It's America's fault that the veterans are there. They don't want to do the individual behavior. You know that, Joe.

CALIFANO: I -- well, they don't want -- they don't want to -- they don't recognize that substance abuse --

O'REILLY: They recognize --

CALIFANO: -- drives all our social ills.

O'REILLY: Edwards knows this. He's lying! He's lying! He knows it! And everybody knows it!

CALIFANO: I don't believe that John Edwards is lying. OK?

O'REILLY: Oh, man! That is dumb.

CALIFANO: No, he's not --

O'REILLY: One or the other. It has to be! Did he read your book? No.

CALIFANO: No -- well, I hope he will --

O'REILLY: If he did, then he would know he's not telling the truth.

CALIFANO: I hope they all will. I hope they all will.

O'REILLY: All right, let's give Cheryl the last word. Ms. Beversdorf, you take it where you want to take it, but I hope you understand my anger. It's an anger that if you want to solve the problem for the veterans, let's be honest about it. Let's not demagogue it like Edwards is doing. Go.

BEVERSDORF: Well, what I wanted to say is that, first of all, at least at the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and for those people who care for homeless veterans, we look at homelessness as more of a result rather than a condition. And what we'd like to also stress that it's not just the substance abuse issue. It's -- first of all, we look at it in terms of health issues, like result of post-traumatic stress disorder --

O'REILLY: All right, we get it. We get it, Ms. Beversdorf.

BEVERSDORF: OK, well, and I think it's --

O'REILLY: It's all of those things, but it's not the economy.

BEVERSDORF: And employment. And -- that's exactly right.

O'REILLY: Right.

BEVERSDORF: It's the employment, and it's also housing.

CALIFANO: And that's -- Bill, one word --

O'REILLY: Real quick.

CALIFANO: That's true of virtually every social ill we have. Substance abuse and addiction is there. And we're not facing up to it.

O'REILLY: You're absolutely right. That's very true.

BEVERSDORF: But I think it's -- but it's the broader issues --

O'REILLY: All right.

BEVERSDORF: -- that we need to address in order to end homelessness.

O'REILLY: I got to go. Thank you both. We appreciate it.

[...]

O'REILLY: All right. I want to play both of you my pal John Edwards, another sound bite from him. Talk about dishonesty. Roll the tape.

EDWARDS [video clip]: Tonight, a man or a woman whose name is unknown, who served this country patriotically and wore the uniform of the United States of America, will go to sleep under a bridge or on a grate, homeless.

O'REILLY: Again, the two Americas, the economy stacked against -- and it has nothing to do with that. It has to do with addiction. Bernie.

BERNARD GOLDBERG (author, Fox News contributor): This is a media segment, so let me answer it in that sense. Journalists should jump all over that statement, because as previous guests have said -- and I've written about this extensively in books that I've written, starting with Bias, the overwhelming percentage of homeless people are either drug addicts, alcoholics, or mentally ill, or some combination of that. It has nothing to do with being poor, or very little. The ones on the street are almost 100 percent in that group of addicted or mentally ill. That Edwards is doing this, I'm not surprised. He's -- this is the populist stuff that I'm sick of. But that journalists don't jump all over it --

O'REILLY: Nobody but us. Everybody else gives him a pass, and because that's what they -- you know, that's what they want people to think. It's a bad country, the economy is stacked. Jane, I'm giving you the last word --

GOLDBERG: It's because -- it's because it's what journalists also think.

O'REILLY: That's right. Jane, God help me, I'm giving you the last word. Jane, go.

JANE HALL (Fox News contributor): Thank you. And I won't be nice to you. A hundred and ninety-five thousand homeless veterans is a statistic that was checked out by The Washington Post. It comes from the Veterans Administration. Now, it may be being twisted, but the statistic is a valid statistic from what I've been able to ascertain.

O'REILLY: It has nothing do with the economy, Jane, and that was our -- our point of view from the jump. Bernie, Jane, everybody. Give them a big round of applause.

[...]

DHUE: Question three, we have gotten a lot of emails on you-know-who, John Edwards, that not only are you too hard on him --

O'REILLY: Yeah.

DHUE: -- you're mean to him.

O'REILLY: I hope I'm not mean to him, but I mean, the guy is just distorting stuff like crazy. I don't know how else to handle it. How would you -- look, you saw what he did tonight. I mean, he's obviously distorting a very serious issue, and that's addiction and mental illness among veterans.

DHUE: OK, but --

O'REILLY: Trying to say America's economy is rigged, and it's not true what he's doing. So how would you handle it?

DHUE: Well, here's what you've called him, OK? I would not call him the following, which you have called him: phony; a liar; self-indulgent; a pinhead -- your favorite; a charlatan, which you did tonight --

O'REILLY: Yeah.

DHUE: -- a crazed ideologue and a loon, and then you said he doesn't have a clue.

O'REILLY: But that was over a 17-year period that I called him all that.

DHUE: No, it wasn't.

O'REILLY: Oh, it wasn't?

DHUE: It was, like, in the last five minutes. You know, you can make the argument that --

O'REILLY: That might be overstating it.

DHUE: Well, listen, I mean, you're over -- I mean, you can't call him this stuff.

O'REILLY: Edwards was on this program. He was at the network. He was treated well.

DHUE: He was on the program four years ago, and you were fair to him when he came on.

O'REILLY: Absolutely. And then all of a sudden, he's running around saying this absurd stuff. But my question to you is, Dhue, how would you treat him if he's exploiting these poor people, who have mental illness and addiction, veterans?

DHUE: I would hold him to it, but I wouldn't call him those names, 'cause it just doesn't make you --

O'REILLY: No? You don't think he's a charlatan?

DHUE: Charlatan? That's such an old-fashioned word.

O'REILLY: I'm an old-fashioned guy.