Only on Fox News would a likely presidential candidate who nostalgically likens American Revolution fighters to ISIS be portrayed as a liberal media victim. So long as that candidate is a Republican, of course.

Media Matters has the back story:

On January 15, Ben Carson likened American patriots to Islamic State militants in a speech at the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) winter meeting. Carson equated the mentality of American patriots who were willing to die for their beliefs to those who fight for the Islamic State, asserting that “They got the wrong philosophy, but they’re willing to die for what they believe, while we are busily giving away every belief and every value for the sake of political correctness.” Carson’s remarks were subsequently met with criticism.

One day later, the former Fox News contributor appeared on The O’Reilly Factor. Carson didn’t just have the opportunity to explain himself. Host Bill O’Reilly declared, in essence, that as a conservative candidate, there’s no need for personal responsibility for any faux pas.

Before they got to ISIS, Carson had a few minutes to promote the viability of his possible presidential run. Then, near the end of the segment, O’Reilly asked, “What did you tell the GOP in San Diego?”

CARSON: I told them a lot of things. The funny thing is I was talking about the pre-Revolutionary days and how our bunch of ragtag militia men defeated the most powerful empire on earth and how they were able to do that. Because they had conviction. They believed in what they were doing to the point that they were willing to die for it. And I said, fast forward to today, and you have ISIS. And, you know, they have the wrong philosophy completely, totally disagree with them. But they also have strong conviction and are willing to die for what they believe and we at the same time are in the process of giving away all of our beliefs for the sake of political correctness and I’m saying that as a warning we have to change that. Not saying that as a comparison between our patriots and ISIS, which I’ve said at the time. I said, the liberal media will of course take that out of context.

I could just imagine the O’Reilly Outrage that would ensue if any Democrat said such a thing. But O’Reilly went beyond validating Carson as a conservative victim: O'Reilly suggested Carson should never concern himself with anything the “liberal media” says about him.

O’REILLY: Well, yeah, don’t worry about the liberal media. They’re never going to give you a shot.

They didn’t mention the plagiarism controversy surrounding Carson’s latest book, which just happens to be published by a sister company to Fox News.

Watch it below, from last night’s The O’Reilly Factor, via Crooks and Liars: