February 7, 2013 by David K. Sutton
Bill O’Reilly Says NBC News Is “Protecting The President” By Not Covering Drones
Last night Bill O’Reilly was even more dishonest than usual when he claimed NBC News was not covering the Obama administration’s drone policy. Never mind that Michael Isikoff broke the story for NBC. Never mind that MSNBC had ample coverage of the story on afternoon and prime time shows like The Rachel Maddow Show. And never mind that the “No Spin Zone” is actually a front for all spin, all the time. To be fair to O’Reilly, maybe he wasn’t dishonest, maybe he just didn’t care to check. On his way to fulfilling a pre-existing narrative, O’Reilly managed to fool himself.
When it comes to targeted killings and drone attacks, you will not find a unified voice on MSNBC, and you certainly won’t find cheer leading for Obama on this policy. While hosts like Hardball‘s Chris Matthews and The Cycle‘s Touré are willing to defend the program…
MSNBC Hosts Argue With Each Other About Drones, DOJ Memo (VIDEO):
On “The Cycle,” conservative S.E. Cupp had a heated argument with Obama supporter Touré about the strikes.
“We’re at war with Al Qaeda right now,” Touré said. “If you join Al Qaeda, you lose the right to be an American.” After going back and forth with him, Cupp shouted, “700 innocent children were not in Al Qaeda, Touré! That’s what’s happening.”
…you have hosts like Chris Hayes or Rachel Maddow who at a minimum voice concern, if not full-on disgust.
But did you need anymore evidence that MSNBC is much closer to reasoned discourse and measured debate compared to Fox News? And did you really need anymore evidence that the mission of Fox News is to tell conservatives what they want to hear? — Sweet little lies.
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UPDATE:
On Thursday night, O’Reilly dug a deeper hole and resorted to his usual name-calling.
Bill O’Reilly: More deceit from the far left!
For 17 long years, these loons have been trying to marginalize me.
If there is one thing you can be sure of, when O’Reilly starts referring to people as “loons,” it usually means he is short on facts. Also, he’s doing a fine job marginalizing himself. No assistance required.
Now, last night, I talked with Bob Beckel about the difference in analysis on the subject of waterboarding as compared to killing people with drones, a policy that President Obama embraces. I put forth that NBC News and other media places, they were hysterical over waterboarding, but muted over President Obama’s drone attacks, at least until yesterday.
I think a bit of reframing is going on there, but that’s beside the point. — NBC was hysterical over waterboarding? I don’t call it hysterical to cover a big story about a horrible practice sanctioned by our government. And if he thinks NBC (especially MSNBC) hasn’t covered the drone program, well, I refer you back to my original sentiment that O’Reilly is either being dishonest or he simply lacks the curiosity to do his homework.