Hi, I’m Bill O’Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight.
The left wing press weighs in on Iraq, that is the subject of this evening’s “Talking Points Memo.” Today “The Los Angeles Times” ran a column of mine that stated during wartime there is responsible dissent and irresponsible dissent. The fact that ‘The Times” even asked me to write this piece is encouraging because I’ve been a critic of that paper. I was pleased to have the chance to balance out the op-ed page because right next to my column was one by left-wing bomb thrower [columnist] Robert Scheer (search), who along with Paul Krugman (search) of “The New York Times” desperately dislikes the Bush administration.
According to Scheer, the “immoral leadership of the president” led to the torture situation. Right. And if Scheer gets a flat tire this afternoon, he will blame Bush for that.
Across the country, on the op-ed page of “The Washington Post”, Bush hater [columnist] Richard Cohen was also hard at work. According to Cohen, “Fallujah is not Stalingrad…But it is a place that the United States vowed to take and where, with all its firepower, it halted when confronted with confusion and grim reality.”
That, of course, is nonsense. U.S. forces could have destroyed Fallujah in hours. It did not because of civilian causalities. The American leadership is seeking other ways to neutralize that Saddam-loving terror center. The lefty Cohen should be applauding that restraint, rather than running his country down.
Now as we predicted last week, that’s the game the anti-Bush media will play until November, distorting reality, blaming Bush for everything. Now this kind of media opinion is actually healthy when it doesn’t cross an ethical line. Both Scheer and Cohen are open about their loyalties. They want the Democrats in power. Fine. But they and others must be careful not to exaggerate or exploit the tragedies of war to make their points. That was my point in today’s column, criticizing “Doonesbury” cartoonist, Gary Trudeau. I believe he’s using emotion rather than facts to undermine the war in Iraq.
Trudeau, of course, has the right to do that but I have the right to call him on it. Which brings us to Ted Rall, a political cartoonist who makes Trudeau looks like Rush Limbaugh.
Rall said this about Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan. “Mr. Tillman served an evil President and an evil cause. Anyone with an open mind after 9/11 could easily have learned the truth, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq occurred instead of a war on terror, not as part of one.”
Rall has penned a cartoon that heavily implies Mr. Tillman was a fool for dying for his country. Now few media organizations have run the cartoon. And few Americans would agree with Rall, who may now be facing a reaction I would not want to face.
And that’s “The Memo.”
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
Time now for “The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day”…
Al Gore has announced that he is starting up a new cable channel exclusively devoted to liberal stuff. We wish Mr. Gore good luck. And he’ll need it. The new liberal radio deal is tanking, as I predicted, because all left wing all the time is boring, something Al may be familiar with. That was a ridiculous cheap shot. I apologize. I am still pouting because Al Gore won’t come on The Factor. But he is still welcome as there is still something left to say, which is a brand new slogan I’m giving Al Gore for his left wing network.
–You can watch Bill O’Reilly’s “Talking Points Memo” and “Most Ridiculous Item” weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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