O'Reilly lamented "personal attack[s]" on Cindy Sheehan, ignoring
 
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:08:03 -0400


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<p><b>O'Reilly lamented "personal attack[s]" on Cindy Sheehan, ignoring his own
role in smearing her </b></p>
<p><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200706070001?src=item200706070001">http://mediamatters.org/items/200706070001</a></p>

<p>During the June 5 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>The O&#39;Reilly Factor</i>, host <a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/billoreilly?src=item200706070001">Bill
O&#39;Reilly</a> said of anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan: "I don&#39;t like to
see any American suffer the way I think Ms. Sheehan has suffered from losing
her son to being personally attacked. And we wish her well." However, in sympathizing
with Sheehan&#39;s "suffer[ing]," O&#39;Reilly ignored his own history
of smearing Sheehan, as <i>Media Matters for
America</i> has documented:</p>

<ul><li>On the January 6, 2006, broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio
show, O&#39;Reilly <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200601060009?src=item200706070001">asserted</a>:
"I&#39;m not vilifying the woman [Sheehan]. I play her comments, and I tell
you the truth. She&#39;s run by far-left elements who are using her, and she&#39;s dumb
enough to allow it to happen. It&#39;s not a vilification, it&#39;s a fact."</li></ul>

<ul><li>On the October 25, 2005, broadcast of his
radio show, O&#39;Reilly included Sheehan in a list of "<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200510270013?src=item200706070001">coward[s]</a>" who had been invited to appear on his programs but
would "not stand up and answer questions about
their bomb-throwing statements."</li></ul>

<ul><li>On the August 9, 2005, edition of <i>The O&#39;Reilly Factor</i>,
O&#39;Reilly <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200508110002?src=item200706070001">accused</a> Sheehan of
behavior that "other American families who have lost sons and daughters
in Iraq"
think "borders on treasonous." </li></ul>

<p>From the June 5 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>The O&#39;Reilly Factor</i>:
</p><blockquote>

<p>O&#39;REILLY: OK. <b>Now, she took a lot of hits, Cindy Sheehan did. I
believe they were her own fault because she crossed the line into advocacy and
said some pretty ridiculous things</b>, like Al Qaeda fighters were freedom fighters and
things like that, and that the United
  States is a fascist nation. And she threw in
with Hugo Chavez, and we&#39;ve seen what he&#39;s like in the past week.</p>

<p>So she brought a lot of this on
herself, in my opinion. <b>But that must have
taken a tremendous toll on the woman, the vitriol directed at her.</b></p>

<p>MEDEA BENJAMIN (co-founder of Code
Pink and Global Exchange): Well, Cindy Sheehan was attacked from the beginning
that she started to speak out, and then especially when she became famous
because of the campout outside Bush&#39;s ranch. Then she was really a national
figure, and the attacks were very -- hurting to her.</p>

<p>I mean, this is a woman who, because
she lost her son, she became involved in this movement because she didn&#39;t want
other mothers to lose their sons.</p>

<p>O&#39;REILLY: OK, but if she had just
kept it in that realm,
I don&#39;t think she would have been personally attacked the way she was.</p>

<p>[...]</p>

<p>O&#39;REILLY: Ms. Benjamin, it&#39;s the far
left. When you throw in with terrorists and call them freedom fighters, when
you call the United States
a fascist nation, you&#39;re in Rosie O&#39;Donnell, Michael Moore territory. You&#39;re in the far
left. </p>

<p><b>Anyway, be that as
it may, I don&#39;t like to see any American suffer the way I think Ms. Sheehan has
suffered from losing her son to being personally attacked. And we wish her
well.</b> And we appreciate you coming on. </p>

<p>BENJAMIN: Well, thank you. And we
will continue to try to end this war and do it --</p>

<p>O&#39;REILLY: All right. I&#39;m sure you
will, Medea.</p>

<p>



BENJAMIN: -- for Cindy and all the
troops and everyone else. Thank you, Bill.</p></blockquote><table width="100%" style="background: #e8e8e8; 
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</b> Contact: <br />
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</b> Contact: <br />
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</b> Contact: <br />
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