During the April 25 broadcast of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann noted that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly attacked Media Matters for America during the April 23 edition of his television show. Olbermann stated: “Bill O'Reilly has issued another fatwa -- this time against the journalism watchdog website, Media Matters, proving, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that he has a flow chart and the access to the color red.” Olbermann observed: “Nothing Media Matters has ever posted about Bill O'Reilly has failed to withstand independent vetting -- not a missing comma, not a missing context.” He added: “In an age in which we rightly fear being inaccurately quoted or misinterpreted, it would seem that Bill-O's real anger and real fear rests in the dread that someone is quoting him correctly.”

During his show, Olbermann displayed the flow chart O'Reilly had used on his April 23 show -- as Media Matters documented -- to accuse progressive financier George Soros of, in O'Reilly's words, influencing “the political process” by funneling money through his “complicated political operation” to Media Matters, which then “feeds its propaganda to some mainstream media people.” Olbermann asserted: “In the Fox News 'Noise' investigation, Media Matters is some sort of major cog in an evil liberal spider web -- one of his guests [conservative talk radio host Monica Crowley] describing it as part of 'an incredibly well-oiled machine.' ” In fact, as previously noted, Soros has never given money to Media Matters, either directly or through another organization. If Soros wanted to fund Media Matters, he or Open Society Institute (OSI) -- a grant-making foundation he established in 1993 to conduct his philanthropy -- could simply write a check directly to Media Matters, as he and OSI do with numerous entities.

Olbermann also noted O'Reilly's April 13 appearance on the Irish network RTÉ One's The Late Late Show, stating: “Thanks to Media Matters, you can watch Mr. Orally confronted last Friday the 13th by his own words during an interview on Irish television.” Olbermann then played a video clip of the conversation taken from the Media Matters website, which showed Late Late Show host Pat Kenny asking O'Reilly about his reference to the poor as “irresponsible and lazy” and the Iraqis as “prehistoric.” O'Reilly replied that he “d[idn't] remember saying that” and challenged Kenny about where he had gleaned that information. When Kenny answered that he “got it off the website,” O'Reilly responded by calling Media Matters “an assassination website.” He later claimed that Media Matters frequently takes him “out of context.” As Olbermann noted, however, Media Matters documented O'Reilly's references to the poor as "irresponsible and lazy" and the Iraqi people as "prehistoric."

Also, despite numerous requests to appear on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly still has not extended an invitation to Media Matters President and CEO David Brock to discuss O'Reilly's accusations and ad hominem attacks, nor has O'Reilly offered any evidence for his claims that Media Matters has “distorted comments” made by him or any other media figure.

From the April 25 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: In one of the most memorable of the Monty Python sketches, an unusually intense [late actor] Graham Chapman, replete with a pointer, an easel, and a vivid panel with three brightly colored bars, fairly screams at the audience: “In this graph, this column represents 23 percent of the population. This column represents 28 percent of the population, and this column represents 43 percent of the population.” To which [actor] Michael Palin replies, “Telling figures, indeed.”

Our third story on the Countdown: Bill-O meets Python.

Bill O'Reilly has issued another fatwa -- this time against the journalism watchdog website, Media Matters, proving, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that he has a flow chart and the access to the color red.

“In this graph, this arrow represents 23 percent of the population. This arrow represents 28 percent of the population, and this arrow represents 43 percent of the population.”

And they all prove somehow that liberal billionaire investor George Soros digs into his pockets to fund groups that eventually make the mainstream media do stories that make O'Reilly look dumb.

In the Fox News “Noise” investigation, Media Matters is some sort of major cog in an evil liberal spider web -- one of his guests describing it as part of “an incredibly well-oiled machine.”

You want to see oily? Thanks to Media Matters, you can watch Mr. Orally confronted last Friday the 13th by his own words during an interview on Irish television.

[begin video clip]

KENNY: Yeah. Some of the things that you've said and -- either on your radio show or on your TV show: “Advice to the poor, it's hard to do it, because you got to look people in the eye and tell them they're irresponsible and lazy. And who's going to do that?”

O'REILLY: Well, where did you get that, because I don't remember saying that?

KENNY: That's Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly; 11/06/2004.

O'REILLY: By whom? Who put that out?

KENNY: Well, we got it off the website.

O'REILLY: OK. The website you got it off is called Media Matters, which is an assassination website.

[...]

KENNY: But you do have views on, say, the Iraqi people. Did you say that thing about the Iraqi people -- that they're “prehistoric”?

O'REILLY: No, I don't remember saying that at all.

[end video clip]

OLBERMANN: I do. Being the mainstream media tools that we are, we scrolled around Media Matters and found the full quote about the poor from his radio show dated June 11, 2004. It is in full: “It's hard to do it, because you got to look people in the eye and tell them that they're irresponsible and lazy. And who's going to want to do that? Because that's what poverty is, ladies and gentlemen. In this country, you can succeed if you get educated and work hard. Period. Period.”

Ah, but what about his calling the Iraqis “prehistoric”? Remember, Alberto Gonzales O'Reilly did not recall saying that. That's OK. Media Matters has a tape.

O'REILLY [audio clip]: When 2 percent of the population feels that you're doing them a favor, just forget it. You're not going to win. You're not going to win.

And I don't have any respect, by and large, for the Iraqi people at all. I have no respect for them. I think that they're a prehistoric group that is -- yeah, there's excuses.

OLBERMANN: Did you say excuses? Yes, we have one of those, too.

When word got out about his embarrassing Irish TV interview, here's what the big giant head had to say about it in his April 19th column: “When I asked the man why he was quoting from an obviously biased source, he blinked nervously and put down the cards.”

Once again, here is the interview. Do you see any nervous blinking on the part of the host? Maybe some Bill-O projecting. It doesn't look like any blinking.

Nothing Media Matters has ever posted about Bill O'Reilly has failed to withstand independent vetting -- not a missing comma, not a missing context.

In an age in which we rightly fear being inaccurately quoted or misinterpreted, it would seem that Bill-O's real anger and real fear rests in the dread that someone is quoting him correctly -- someone besides Andrea Mackris.