On the July 25 edition of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert mocked Fox News host Sean Hannity's July 22 report on Hannity's America -- documented by Media Matters for America -- which asserted: "[Former deputy White House counsel] Vince Foster got in his car and drove to Fort Marcy Park in Virginia. And he supposedly walked through the woods, and depending on which version of the story you believe, he took his own life. ... In the minds of some, these questions may have provided a motive for foul play." After playing a clip featuring those quotes, Colbert said: “Shocking. And if it weren't for the minds of some, like Sean Hannity, we wouldn't even have the implication that the Clintons killed one of their oldest friends.” He also stated, “Sean Hannity knows there is no greater threat to America today than Bill Clinton 15 years ago.”
As Media Matters has documented, Foster's death has been conclusively determined by several investigations to have been a suicide. Colbert noted that Hannity billed the segment as “one of the darkest and most mysterious” of “The Clinton Chapters,” a regular series on Hannity's America whose assertions Media Matters has repeatedly debunked. Colbert said, “I believe chapter nine deals with Bill Clinton shooting JFK, and chapter 10 deals with Hillary eating his remains.” He added: “It is powerful, powerful stuff that may or may not have happened.”
Colbert also highlighted Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's recent statements on The O'Reilly Factor comparing the blog Daily Kos to the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, which the blog Americablog and Media Matters have documented. After playing O'Reilly's July 16 comments, in which he asserted that Daily Kos is “like the Ku Klux Klan. It's like the Nazi party,” Colbert said: “Exactly. The Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis were both notorious for allowing people to express unpopular views in an open and free forum.”
From the July 25 edition of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report:
COLBERT: You see, Papa Bear is going after JetBlue's sponsorship here because Daily Kos is such a vicious hate site. Just listen to some of the comments he found on it.
O'REILLY [video clip]: “The pope is primate.” “Evangelicals are nutcases.” “Better luck next time” after an assassination plot against Vice President Cheney in Afghanistan. It's like the Ku Klux Klan. It's like the Nazi party.
COLBERT: Exactly. The Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis were both notorious for allowing people to express unpopular views in an open and free forum.
[...]
COLBERT: O'Reilly isn't the only one out there tackling the big issues that aren't Iraq. Luckily, there's also Hannity & Colmes. I love this show. It's like watching Dorian Gray and his picture at the same time. Now, Sean Hannity knows there is no greater threat to America today than Bill Clinton 15 years ago. Here he is on Hannity's America.
HANNITY [video clip]: Of all the “Clinton Chapters” we've covered so far, well, this week we delve into one of the darkest and most mysterious. Chapter eight, the mysterious death of Vince Foster, part 1. When the Clintons went to Washington after the 1992 election, Foster went with them. Vince Foster got in his car and drove to Fort Marcy Park in Virginia. And he supposedly walked through the woods, and depending on which version of the story that you believe, he took his own life. In the minds of some, these questions may have provided a motive for foul play.
COLBERT: Shocking. And if it weren't for the minds of some, like Sean Hannity, we wouldn't even have the implication that the Clintons killed one of their oldest friends. And that's just chapter eight of the Clinton saga. I believe chapter nine deals with Bill Clinton shooting JFK and chapter 10 deals with Hillary eating his remains. It is powerful, powerful stuff that may or may not have happened.