On the October 11 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly claimed that he “very rarely” discusses Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton with political analyst Dick Morris, a former adviser to President Clinton.
Yet a Media Matters for America review revealed that in 2005 alone, prior to claiming he “very rarely” does so, O'Reilly discussed one or both of the Clintons with Morris at least 17 times on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, including January 5; February 3 and 9; March 3, 10, 24, and 31*; April 14 and 21; May 24; July 11, 18, and 26; August 1 and 8; and September 12 and 19. In fact, the day after making this claim, O'Reilly discussed Sen. Clinton's (D-NY) potential presidential candidacy with Morris on the October 12 broadcast of The Radio Factor, and then again on the October 13 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor.
O'Reilly has often looked to Morris for the “real” story concerning the Clintons. For example, on the September 19 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, he led off a segment with Morris:
O'REILLY: Now for the top story tonight. What's the real reason Clinton broadsided Bush? Joining us now from Las Vegas, where he's appearing with Wayne Newton, political analyst Dick Morris.
Further, O'Reilly's interest in Morris's knowledge of the Clintons has not been limited to politics. A lead-in for a Morris interview from the March 10 edition of The O'Reilly Factor previewed Morris's assessment of the severity of Bill Clinton's heart ailments:
O'REILLY: “Impact” segment tonight: President Clinton had another heart procedure done today. He is 58 years old. And his appearance has changed recently. You probably have noticed that. Question is, how sick is Mr. Clinton?
Media Matters identified only one appearance by Morris on The O'Reilly Factor this year in which neither he nor O'Reilly brought up one of the Clintons. That was January 20, when the discussion focused on Bush and his inaugural address.
From the October 11 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: Right. It's just like I'm so Kool-Aid-driven, I don't care, and it doesn't matter. And Dick Morris, we use as a political analyst because he was there. Yeah, does he have an anti-Clinton bias? Sure. But I very rarely discuss the Clintons with him. It's usually something else. Much more on Bush, where he comes in and he gives us, look, pretty good -- I'd say pretty good political analysis. We do very well with him ratings-wise.