Bill O’Reilly ignored the wishes of a grieving father in order to smear the “liberal press” for calling for stricter gun laws following the horrific murder of WDBJ journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward this week.
On Wednesday night, Andy Parker, Alison Parker’s father, appeared on The Kelly File and told Fox News viewers he’ll do “whatever it takes” to get stricter gun laws passed.
O’Reilly ignored that plea and acted as if it had never happened. Instead, he devoted his Talking Points commentary last night and the segment that followed to smearing liberals for calling for the same thing.
O’REILLY: The liberal press reacted in a predictable way, calling for stricter gun laws and more mental health monitoring.
Sadly, there is no way any country can stop disturbed individuals from killing people and in the USA you can’t ban firearms. …Because all of us have that right (to bear firearms), criminals and maniacs will abuse it and destroy innocent human beings.
That isn’t to say O’Reilly thinks nothing should be done: We should all be more religious and get rid of abortions.
“There is no question that America now is turning away from spiritualism and embracing the culture of me,” O’Reilly scolded. Although, let me point out that using a tragedy to malign those who disagree with you – and doing so in the name of religion – smacks a lot of “me culture,” Bill.
O’Reilly claimed there’s been an 8% decline in “Americans describing themselves as Christians” while “those who believe in no religious doctrine have risen almost 7%.” O’Reilly cited the killers in Charleston, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia as “all young men who had few restraints in their lives.” That was just about all the proof O’Reilly needed to conclude that “secular progressivism” is the evil behind gun violence.
Funny, he didn’t mention Christian anti-abortion fanatic and murderer Scott Roeder or Mormon armed-insurrection threatener Cliven Bundy or Christian Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph.
“So the next time you hear a pundit saying gun control or stricter mental health monitoring or whatever else they come up with is going to stop the senseless murders of human beings, know you are being deceived,” O’Reilly continued. Then he took a swipe at pro-choice folks: “Only a society that insists all human life is valuable and a mass media that promotes the message of that will begin to see it turn away from violence. It’s all about the philosophy of loving your neighbor, not the myth that a centralized government can prevent barbaric behavior. It cannot.”
Putting aside the laughable hypocrisy of hate-monger-for-proft O’Reilly promoting the philosophy of loving your neighbor, I'll just remind everyone that O’Reilly had quite a different view when he and his Fox colleagues exploited the murder of (white) Kate Steinle by an undocumented immigrant - which O'Reilly then used to promote an anti-immigrant law. In a "Kate's Law" promoting interview with Steinle’s parents, O’Reilly said, “If it saves one American, one American family that does not have to go through …what you are going through right now, then Kate’s Law is worth it.”
Translation: It's worthwhile to promote legislation to keep Americans from getting killed by an immigrant but if it’s by a citizen, well, that’s just the price you pay for being an American.
Unless, that is, you’re a fetus.
Immediately following his Talking Points, O’Reilly talked to psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow and psychotherapist Karen Ruskin. He lectured to them, “If you have a society that does not value life and surely we do not value it in America - you can just look at the Planned Parenthood controversy that we’re covering now - …This kind of stuff’s gonna grow.”
Oh, and one other thing? O'Reilly supports tougher gun laws.
Watch the two segments below, from the August 27 The O’Reilly Factor.
Fair and balanced. Always and forever. :^)
So it’s refreshing to read on Newshounds about professional, Harvard-educated Fox News ace reporter Bill O’Reilly not exploiting this tragedy for political advantage. As humble Bill keeps reminding us he’s a no-spin sort of guy. But wait… he’s tying workplace violence to abortion?!? Wh-a-a-a-a-t?! ;^)
As I sit here typing this straight-shooting, no-spin Eric Bolling, moderator of “Cashin’ In,” is leading a discussion on this issue pimping such red meat Republican issues as reverse racism, anti-affirmative action, firing on demand, etc. The only right-wing red meat topic he’s skipped so far is pimping the NRA’s position we need to arm employees in the workplace to the hilt. Oh my, Eric clearly isn’t exploiting this situation at all to promote an extreme right-wing agenda!!! Thank you so very much GOP TV for your fairness and balance!!! ;^0
I get Fox News is simply telling right-wingers what they want to hear at the exclusion of any information which doesn’t fit their narrative. But seriously, GOP TV has reached a level of hypocritical idiocy even the most dyed-in-the-wool right-wing sheep can’t turn their brain off enough to escape this obviousness. Or maybe not… ;^)