Bill O'Reilly Uses 9-11 Family Member To Bash MSNBC & Push Huckabee "History" Videos
Reported by Priscilla - August 8, 2011 -
Fox News reveres and values the opinions of 9-11 families, albeit only Debra Burlingame and those affiliated with her group. One 9-11 family member, a retired FDNY fire chief who lost his firefighter son on 9-11, will probably not be allowed to voice his opinion on Fox News. That's because he's upset about Mike Huckabee's newest "educational" DVD, about 9-11, which, according to Jim Riches, is "like blood money" because it's "going out there trying to make money off the bodies of dead people." In addition to criticizing Huckabee, Riches also committed the grievous sin of having been interviewed by MSNBC's Martin Bashir. But rather than have a "fair & balanced" debate between Huckabee and Riches, Bill O'Reilly provided a platform for lots of MSNBC/"far left" bashing and for Huckabee to defend and promote his video. O'Reilly, in an effort to show that he was not bashing this 9-11 family member, proclaimed that Riches was acceptable because he is "not a loon." (Talk about damning with faint praise!) So, while O'Reilly is absolved (?) from smearing Riches, he's still using him to promote an agenda as Fox does with it's own "acceptable" 9-11 family members. Mike Huckabee used Mr. Riches to whine about how he's being "attacked" by the "far left." Once again, Jon Stewart's wise words come to mind: "conservative victimization is the true genius of what Fox News has accomplished."
O'Reilly reported that "as you know," Mike Huckabee has done "educational videos." (Yeah, right wing propaganda videos one of which featured a black mugger). He played a segment of the 9-11 video and claimed that "the far left doesn't like them at all" as "they are featuring people who are slamming Gov. Huckabee." He showed part of the MSNBC video in which Riches said that Huckabee has "no shame" and suggested that this type of video be done by educators and not politicians. (Riches is "far left?") To O'Reilly's query if he was surprised by the reaction of "the left," Huckabee said that he wasn't surpised by "BSNBC" (Oh, how cute - maybe MSNBC hosts should refer to Fuck News?) and other networks who "go after conservaties." (Ah, the sweet smell of right wing victimization!) He said that he was sorry that Riches feels his son was exploited beause his (Huckabee's) father was a firefighter? (WTF?). He claimed that his videos are done by educational "experts" (one of them is right wing professor Larry Schweikart) and historians. He continued with his infomerical about "taking kids through American history" and lamented how MSNBC was "going after" him. Bill wanted to know why the "far left" is bothered. (Riches is "far left?"). He added, regarding Riches, that "he's not a loon" but that he may be "annoyed" that Huckabee is profiting from the videos.
Huckabee engaged in some irony considering that he was talking to O'Reilly: "The far left likes to attack somebody for their character and their intent because they really can't argue on the point of content." (The names Dr. Tiller and Andrea Terkel come to mind immediately.) He whined about how teabaggers are called terrorists and those oppposed to same sex marriage are called homophobes. (Ya think!) He whined about Michael Moore's profits off of Fahrenheit 9-11. (Not an "educational" video!). He compared himself to Steven Spielberg: “This is like saying that Steven Spielberg was cashing in on World War II or the Holocaust because he made [Saving] Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. I mean, that’s absurd.” O'Reilly said it's a "jihad" against Huckabee. (Like the "fatwahs" issue by Bill?) Huckabee whined that MSNBC didn't contact him for his side of the story. (Oh, the irony!) Bill said "it's always propaganda." (OH, THE IRONY!) Huckabee than attacked Martin Bashir for doing a "series" on 9-11 for which he was paid and added some of his profits will go to 9-11 charities. He suggested that none of Bashir's profits went to charity. O'Reilly opined that the publicity about this is helping sell the DVD's.
Reviews of the DVD indicate the video suggests that George Bush was responsible for OBL's death. There is no mention of how we armed those who started Al-Quaeda. While America's support for Israel is given as one of the reasons for the attack by "Muslim terrorists," no mention is made of OBL's resentment of the American military presence in Saudi Arabia. So as far as being worth $19.95, I don't think so. And regarding Martin Bashir's 9-11 "series" - it was a 9-11 special for ITV which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award. Bashir is an award winning journalist. Huckabee is a right wing Republican politican and propagandist for Fox News. But don't ya love O'Reilly's sleight of hand. Rather than attacking Riches, he used him for the kind of propaganda that he's accusing MSNBC of doing.
"No spin zone?" It spun so hard, it got blurry. But then, that's what propaganda is all about. Bill O'Reilly is a master of his domain.
Note - Huckabee's "history" website has an even more detailed rant about this. I couldn't find any mention of the 9-11 charities to which he's supposedly donating.
Bashir's interview with Riches
