It is no secret that I think Bill O’Reilly is a pompous ass. But according to Media Matters, he is a lying pompous ass.On the October 28 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly renewed his defense of comments he made to a caller during the December 3, 2004, edition of his radio show. In the December 3 exchange, the caller said he was “concerned about the secularization of Jews and about the — and Christmas going into schools.” O’Reilly responded, “[I]f you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel.”The same caller reminded O’Reilly of that exchange on the October 28 broadcast of Westwood One’s The Radio Factor, asking, “You said I was part of the anti-Christmas thing and I should go to Israel. Do you remember that?” O’Reilly replied:O’REILLY: I have this transcript stamped on my brain. What I said was, if you don’t wanna see those kinds of things, you have to go to a place like Israel or Japan or China, where they don’t celebrate Christmas.However, as Media Matters for America documented at the time, with the complete transcript and audio, the December 3 exchange included no mention of Japan or China. He actually said:O’REILLY: You have a federal holiday based on the philosopher Jesus. And you don’t wanna hear about it? Come on, [caller] — if you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel then. I mean because we live in a country founded on Judeo — and that’s your guys’ — Christian, that’s my guys’ philosophy. But overwhelmingly, America is Christian. And the holiday is a federal holiday honoring the philosopher Jesus. So, you don’t wanna hear about it? Impossible. And that is an affront to the majority. You know, the majority can be insulted, too. And that’s what this anti-Christmas thing is all about.
My message to Bill: You’ve been sprung! But perhaps you too should go to Israel. We have great falafel.
