You might not know it but, according to the Christian right, the Girls Scouts of the USA organization is just another one of Satan's minions which is out to corrupt the virtue of American girls. Recently, anti-choice groups have started a Girl Scout cookie boycott because of a Girl Scout tweet which referenced an article that praised, among other women, TX State Senator Wendy Davis. Fox's Megyn Kelly got the national media ball rolling on that one. But Fox's promotion of the meme that the Girl Scouts are being corrupted by Planned Parenthood and controlled by Media Matters is nothing new on Fox. Thus, I fully expected the unabashedly anti-choice Bill O'Reilly to be in full agreement with last night's guest, a mom who has started her own version of Girls Scouts because of the moral depravity of the real Girl Scouts. While his intent might have been otherwise, O'Reilly's interview was actually reasonable - but that's because, when he attempted to work in his agitprop, he got talked over!

 In 2010, O'Reilly attacked the Girl Scouts when he advanced a pro-life lie about a connection between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts. So, you can see why I thought I knew which path O'Reilly was taking when he began the segment against a backdrop of the Girl Scout logo over the words "controversial organization." Bill cited the numbers of Girl Scouts and Girl Scout graduates. After he described the groups as "a time honored American tradition," he said that "recently there have been charges that Scouts are being run by fervently liberal individuals." For some strange reason, he mentioned and showed a photo of a Joshua Ackley who does communications for the scouts and that "is unusual because Ackley is a punk rock guy who promotes gay causes which is a very strange choice to represent the Girl Scouts." (So, uh, why is this, uh strange?)

He introduced his aforementioned guest, Ana Saladin, who is offended by what she perceives as pro-choice and feminist advocacy in the Girls Scouts.  She said "the organization claims that it doesn't take a position on the issues of abortion, birth control, and sexuality." She claimed that at every level of the Girls Scouts "there is preponderance of examples" of "advocacy" for women who promote these issues. When O'Reilly asked her to provide "one vivid example," she said that scouts, who are preparing to earn a public speaking badge, need to study speeches, given by "elegant women," one of whom is OMG Margaret Sanger who is - ready for it - "advocating for the rights of birth control." Amazingly, O'Reilly said that "one out of 13 speakers doesn't seem over the top."

O'Reilly said that this wouldn't be enough to pull his daughter out of Girl Scouts. As he was getting ready to articulate something that he does object to, Saladin continued to whine about a Girl Scout curriculum that recognized the contributions, to women's rights from OMG Gloria Steinem. She complained that one of the books, in providing information on women's careers, advised girls who are interested in advocacy to become - ready for it - a lawyer with a group such as OMG the ACLU.

After O'Reilly read from a Girls Scouts release which stated that they include Sarah Palin as an example of female leadership, he summarized what he believed Saladin's position to be; i.e. that "they have moved to the left and is using its platform in many different ways...to indoctrinate into a liberal philosophy." He noted that he would be interviewing a Girl Scout representative tonight.

LOL, for once, O'Reilly didn't get to bloviate and didn't get the last word. Mirabile Dictu!

Addendum: The real Girl Scouts are threatening legal action against Saladin because she is using their logo.