O’Reilly Now Out-and-Out Lying About His ‘Tiller the Killer’ Coverage, Inflammatory Rhetoric

Writes in his syndicated column that anti-choice groups, not him, used nickname to describe assassinated Kansas physician...

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Now, he’s just lying. On his TV show, and in his newspaper column. We understand why Fox “News” is willing to let him say any irresponsible thing he wants, but what of the newspapers who run his syndicated garbage? Do they have no responsibility to do any fact checking? How about his column’s syndicator, Creators Syndicate? Do they have any responsibility to fact check their authors’ work before they send it out to be published in hundreds of papers around the country?

O’Reilly is now claiming he only “reported” that far-right anti-choice groups referred to Dr. George Tiller, the assassinated KS physician, as “Tiller the Baby Killer,” not that he did so himself. That’s what he reported, as we noted on Monday, in subtly back-pedaling his previous inflammatory rhetoric on his first show back after the murder.

In fact, O’Reilly himself used that term, over and over again, to describe Tiller. Media Matters offers the documented, video-taped facts which, as usual, aren’t even close to O’Reilly’s blatant Spin, which is now also being perpetuated by this nation’s newspapers. Here are the facts

In his June 3 column about the murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, Bill O’Reilly again falsely claimed that he had only “reported” anti-abortion groups referring to Tiller as “Tiller the baby killer.” In fact, O’Reilly himself has repeatedly referred to Tiller that way.

O’Reilly wrote that “far-left loons … immediately blamed me and Fox News for inciting Tiller’s killer. Even though I reported on the doctor honestly, the loons asserted that my analysis of him was ‘hateful.’ ” O’Reilly continued: “Chief of among the complaints was the doctor’s nickname, ‘Tiller the baby killer.’ Some pro-lifers branded him with that, and I reported it. So did hundreds of other news sources.” However, O’Reilly has not only “reported” on the term’s usage by “pro-lifers,” but he has adopted it himself, repeatedly referring to Tiller as “the baby killer” on his Fox News show:

  • On the May 15 edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly stated that Kathleen Sebelius, who was then the governor of Kansas and is now secretary of health and human services, “is the most pro-abortion governor in the United States. Based upon Dr. Tiller, the baby killer in her state, and all of that. All right? So there’s no doubt.”
  • On the May 11 edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly said Sebelius “is pro-abortion. She wants the babies done for. This is — she supported Tiller the baby killer out there.”
  • On the April 27 edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly said that Sebelius “recently vetoed a bill that placed restrictions on late-term abortions in Kansas. The bill was
    introduced because of the notorious Tiller the baby killer case, where Dr. George Tiller destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000.”
  • On the April 3 edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly said, “Tiller got acquitted in Kansas, Tiller the baby killer.”
  • On the March 27 edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly stated: “Now, we have bad news to report, that Tiller the baby killer out in Kansas — acquitted. Acquitted today of murdering babies. I wasn’t in the courtroom. I didn’t sit on the jury. But there’s got to be a special place in hell for this guy.”

As Media Matters for America noted, since Tiller was shot to death on May 31, O’Reilly has attributed the term to others and claimed he only “reported” it. For instance, on the June 2 edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly read an email from a viewer who asked, “Mr. O’Reilly, how can you be sure that reciting ‘Tiller the baby killer’ over and over again did not inflame the assassin?” O’Reilly responded, “The doctor was involved in a criminal case. I reported what groups were calling him. I reported accurately.” Similarly, on the June 1 edition of his program, O’Reilly stated that Tiller was “nicknamed ‘The Baby Killer’ by pro-life groups.”

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O’Reilly Now Out-and-Out Lying About His ‘Tiller the Killer’ Coverage, Inflammatory Rhetoric

26 Comments

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26 Responses

  1. 4)
    Craig Ledbetter said on 6/4/2009 @ 8:02pm PT: [Permalink]

    Bran, I don’t understand. Tiller did not kill babies? Nobody knew that he killed babies until Bill O’Rielly told them? And if I call you a left-wing idiot, and somebody shoots you, is it going to be my fault?

  2. Avatar photo
    5)
    Brad Friedman said on 6/4/2009 @ 9:18pm PT: [Permalink]

    Craig Ledbetter said:

    Bran, I don’t understand.

    I’ll take you at your word that you don’t. So I’ll try to help you.

    Tiller did not kill babies?

    No. That would be murder. As I’m sure you know, Tiller practiced for 35 years and was never convicted of breaking any laws. Unless murder has been made legal in Kansas, then no, he did not “kill babies”. He did, however, serve as an abortion providers, which is legal, not just in the state of Kansas, but in your entire country.

    Nobody knew that he killed babies until Bill O’Rielly told them?

    For a start, he didn’t “kill babies”, as I tried to help you understand above. Secondly, Bill O’Reilly lied when he back-pedaled by saying that all he did was “report” on what anti-choice groups nicknamed Tiller. If you bother to read the above, actual quotes of Bill O’Reilly’s, you will see that that’s a lie. He used that nickname himself, over and over again.

    Why are you seemingly supporting that lie?

    If you’d like to support him by saying it’s okay to inflame millions by calling him “Tiller the Killer”, that’s up to you. But perhaps you could find a shred of intellectual integrity to admit that Bill O’Reilly is now lying about what he did previously? Or is that beyond you as well?

    And if I call you a left-wing idiot, and somebody shoots you, is it going to be my fault?

    Nope. But if you go on the public airwaves, speak to millions of people, night after night after night, on the most-watched show on cable “news”, and compare me to Hilter, al-Qaeda, call me a murderer (which is not a fact, but a lie), tell viewers that I’m running a death mill and an extermination camp, and that I must be stopped… well, if someone then follows those instructions and stops me, by putting a bullet through my head in church, do you have any complicity in that?

    I’ll leave that between you and your god. If you have one.

  3. 6)
    Damail said on 6/4/2009 @ 9:51pm PT: [Permalink]

    I have seen countless numbers of O’Reilly’s shows – and he always pointed out that anti-abortion groups were the ones who used the phrase “Tiller the baby killer”. Media Matters, as usual, is pulling stuff out of their nether regions.

    O’Reilly has no complicity in this murder, just as Code Pink and World Can’t Wait have no complicity in the shooting death in Little Rock.

  4. Avatar photo
    7)
    Brad Friedman said on 6/4/2009 @ 10:06pm PT: [Permalink]

    Damail said:

    Media Matters, as usual, is pulling stuff out of their nether regions.

    Or, the actual verifiable transcripts of what he actually said. But, whatever. Give my best to the Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter if you happen to see them running by, Damail!

  5. 8)
    ana said on 6/5/2009 @ 12:15am PT: [Permalink]

    isn’t it illegal to use this kind of rhetoric in public? i’ve had friends taken to court over less, so it really bothers me. you know, charges like “terroristic threatening?” whatever happened to that? why is it only the people that are left of center that get that kind of criminal charge pressed against them?!

  6. 9)
    isis said on 6/5/2009 @ 6:51am PT: [Permalink]

    Thank goodness for facts and video tape! Bill O and his employer (Murdoch) will be sued personally by the Tiller family and publicly by human rights organizations for directly inciting by their languaging and constant calls for criminal behavior the murder of another human being.

    Homeland Security and Bush’s Patriot Act should be all over this right now.

    Yesterday Turner went beyond the edge of free speech and was arrested; it won’t be long before the “Three Stooges: Glenn, Bill, and Rush” will also be arrested for carrying their hate message beyond free speech and into the category of domestic terrorism.

  7. 10)
    isis said on 6/5/2009 @ 6:54am PT: [Permalink]

    As an aside, Bill O’s lies about his involvement in this crime show us what this man is really made of – he’s a spineless wimp who will not stand behind his commentary.

    The tapes (some 38+?) of his inciting people to violence against this man personally will become prima facie evidence in Bill O’s trial.

    Maybe the arrest of Turner or the forthcoming arrest of Bill O (and Rupert?) for the actual murder of this man will put this wingnut fringe on serious notice that the american people will no longer tolerate their brand of baseless hatred in our public arena.

  8. 11)
    isis said on 6/5/2009 @ 6:55am PT: [Permalink]

    And, it goes without saying, that Rush’s comment comparing our president to Al Quaida is “treason” at it’s finest.

  9. 12)
    Chris said on 6/5/2009 @ 7:14am PT: [Permalink]

    I don’t think anyone is saying O’Reilly is responsible for the murder of Tiller. The link between O’Reilly and other right wing commentators to right wing extremist gunmen is rather obvious. Pointing out such a link doesn’t equal responsibility for murder. But it can explain it.

  10. 13)
    nikto said on 6/5/2009 @ 12:38pm PT: [Permalink]

    Damail is a living example of Bu$hCo-triggered mental illness
    continuing on into the foreseeable future.

    There are several million of these zombies
    in our country.

    I’d love to talk to him alone for awhile.
    In-person, no witnesses.

  11. 14)
    colinjames said on 6/5/2009 @ 12:48pm PT: [Permalink]

    Isn’t Bill-O the Loofa-Lovin’ Clown always demonizing the loonie-left for inflammatory hate speech…against him?

  12. 15)
    blubonnet said on 6/5/2009 @ 11:40pm PT: [Permalink]

    Hate speech O’Rielly has coming regularly at him, he’s gotten the old fashioned way..he(cough)..earned it.

    WILLIAM COLBY, former CIA director: “The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.”

    JOHN STOCKWELL, former CIA official, and author: “It is the function of the CIA to keep the world unstable, and to propagandize and teach the American people to hate, so we will let the Establishment spend any amount of money on arms.”

  13. 16)
    AndyM said on 6/7/2009 @ 8:03am PT: [Permalink]

    Hey, I’m sure he was only reporting, not saying it himself!

    It’s that kind of quality reportage that won him his Peabody, right?

    Oh wait, he never said that, either.

  14. 18)
    FreedomOfInformationAct said on 6/7/2009 @ 4:18pm PT: [Permalink]

    Justice Department To Probe Tiller Killing
    By Zachary Roth – June 5, 2009, 3:34PM
    The Justice Department has announced an investigation into whether federal crimes were committed in connection with the murder of Dr. George Tiller.
    Article and Comments
    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoin...ng.php?ref=fpb

  15. 19)
    Marko said on 6/7/2009 @ 9:00pm PT: [Permalink]

    This is solid documentation of Bill O’Reilly’s deceit. Is anyone organizing boycotts of O’Reilly’s (and FOX’s) broadcast sponsors? I certainly won’t support any businesses that sponsor incitements to murder.

  16. 21)
    FreedomOfInformationAct said on 6/8/2009 @ 12:05am PT: [Permalink]

    proof positive this man was NOT working alone!!!

  17. 22)
    FreedomOfInformationAct said on 6/8/2009 @ 12:17am PT: [Permalink]

    unlike Al Quaeda, these christo-fascists are already here inside the United States.

    These religious nutjobs are MORE OF A THREAT than osama bin laden!!!

    I say it’s time to investigate their ranks and the spewing faux snooze that incites their hate crimes!

  18. 23)
    FreedomOfInformationAct said on 6/8/2009 @ 1:34am PT: [Permalink]

    Dr Tillers Murderer part of vast right wing conspiracy, confesses to hate crimes.

    Proof Positive this christo-fascist was not working alone, it is a CONSPIRACY!

    Scott Roeder, Abortion Doctor Murder Suspect, Warns Of More Violence
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2..._n_212346.html

    Looks like the Feds have more work to do rounding up this reicht-winged nutjobs co-CONspirators before they ‘kill again’. Perhaps a little extreeme interegation techniques are in order?

    Tiller assassination is now the subject of a federal investigation
    http://crooksandliars.com/david...ow-subject-fed

    George Tiller Investigation: DOJ Opens Probe Into Doctor’s Murder
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2..._n_211972.html

    unlike Al Quaeda, these christo-fascists are already here inside the United States.

    These religious nutjobs are MORE OF A THREAT than osama bin laden!!!

    I say it’s time to investigate their ranks and the spewing faux snooze that incites their hate crimes!

    ————

    one minute he claims to being innocent and criticizes being treated ‘like a criminal’

    Suspect in abortion doctor’s death speaks out
    Roxana Hegeman, Associated Press

    The man accused of killing Kansas abortion provider George Tiller said Thursday from the county jail where he is being held that he’s “being treated as a criminal” even though he hasn’t been convicted. In a brief…
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/a...MNOM1815AH.DTL

    and in the very next breath, he confesses he did the murder!!!
    Scott Roeder, Abortion Doctor Murder Suspect, Warns Of More Violence
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2..._n_212346.html

    well, which is it reicht-winged neocon christ-fascist hate mongerer?

  19. 24)
    Bluestocking said on 6/8/2009 @ 6:23am PT: [Permalink]

    We understand why Fox “News” is willing to let him say any irresponsible thing he wants, but what of the newspapers who run his syndicated garbage? Do they have no responsibility to do any fact checking? How about his column’s syndicator, Creators Syndicate? Do they have any responsibility to fact check their authors’ work before they send it out to be published in hundreds of papers around the country?

    **********************************************

    With all due respect, Brad, where have you been for the past eight years? Have you seen some of the tripe which the mainstream media has passed off as the facts? The majority of so-called news outlets within the mainstream media made little or no effort to challenge or fact-check most of what George W. Bush said during his Presidency — so what makes you think they’ll do anything different with regard to Bill O’Reilly? Liberal media, my backside…

  20. 25)
    chabuka said on 6/8/2009 @ 9:45am PT: [Permalink]

    O’Reilly is a miserable piece of sh*t….a pathological, ego-maniacal liar. I wish FOX would loose all its sponsors and fall through a crack in the earth..permanently..I don’t think there is a more anti-freedom, less American, hate-filled corporate TV “news” channel on cable than FOX Network..the whole country would be so much better off with out this bat-sh*t-crazy-right-wing propaganda outlet..take Rush and G.Liddy “out” while your at it..it would be a damn good start

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