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IssuesDespite available audiotape, O'Reilly asserted, "[T]he Hagee thing isn't going to take off because there's no tape on Hagee"
During
the May 30 edition of Fox News' The
O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly discussed
controversial supporters of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama and claimed that
"the [Pastor John] Hagee thing isn't going to take off because there's no
tape on Hagee." Hagee withdrew his
endorsement of McCain after McCain rejected it following
the revelation of comments Hagee made in the late 1990s about
Adolf Hitler. Contrary to O'Reilly's claim, there is audiotape of
several of Hagee's comments. In a May 21 post on The Huffington Post,
reporter Sam Stein linked to the
audio of Hagee asserting that God allowed Hitler to happen "[b]ecause God
said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel." Further,
audio is available of Hagee's appearance on the September 18, 2006, edition of National Public
Radio's Fresh Air, during which
Hagee asserted
of Hurricane Katrina: "I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that
was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God
for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not
carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday
that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to
reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay
Pride parades." He later added: "Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the
judgment of God against the city of New
Orleans." Also during that broadcast, when asked
by host Terry Gross whether he believed that "all Muslims have a mandate
to kill Christians and Jews," Hagee replied: "Well, the Quran teaches
that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly."
Moreover, while O'Reilly discussed
Hagee on the May 30 edition of The
O'Reilly Factor and asked McCain about Hagee during their
interview on the May 8 edition of the program, Hagee had been mentioned on only
one previous show since his endorsement
of McCain on February 27. During that broadcast, on March 14, it was Fox News
anchor Geraldo Rivera -- not O'Reilly -- who brought up Hagee. Discussing
Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rivera stated of Obama,
"[H]e's not the first candidate, in fairness ... to be burned by a
religious endorsement, like Hagee." O'Reilly
did not respond to Rivera's mention of Hagee.
A Nexis search* of O'Reilly Factor transcripts between
February 27 and June 2 produced only three broadcasts on which Hagee was
mentioned. A similar search for Pastor Rod Parsley** yielded zero results.
Parsley, a senior pastor of the World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio -- whose
endorsement McCain accepted on February 26, but
then rejected on May 22 -- has
been widely criticized for
comments about Islam. Indeed, audio is available of Parsley
saying about Islam:
I do not believe
our nation can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our
historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but
I'm not shrinking back from its implications. The fact is that America was founded -- I'm gonna stagger you
right now -- America
was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion
destroyed. And I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms
that we can no longer ignore.
Moreover, ABC aired video footage of Parsley on the May 22 edition of Good Morning America.
By contrast, using a Nexis search*** of broadcasts of The O'Reilly Factor between February 27 and June 2, Media Matters for America found that Wright
was prominently discussed and/or mentioned in the context of Obama's
presidential campaign on at least 37 editions of the program, often during
multiple segments of the same edition.
Likewise, a search covering the same period for mentions of
Father Michael Pfleger**** -- who made controversial remarks during a sermon at
Obama's former church on May 25 -- found that Pfleger was prominently
discussed on at least three
editions of O'Reilly's program and once in multiple segments.
From
the May 30 edition of Fox News' The
O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: OK, Tanya, I mean,
I don't know what to say here. I think this is a huge issue and is going to be
one up until the vote in November. And what say you?
TANYA ACKER (Democratic strategist): A couple of
things. You know, I'd like to jump back to Geraldine Ferraro's point, because
she said something that I thought was really insightful about the responses
that she's getting from white people who feel that their voices aren't being
heard and they can't discuss these issues honestly.
I think that there are probably a lot of people in
that congregation, you know, the people who she referenced who are standing up
and clapping when a lot of these statements were made. I think that they may
feel the same way. I think that there is an issue of racism in America and anger around race in America that
people are just not confronting openly. And I wish we could have that
conversation divorced from all of the incendiary sermons that are coming from
different pulpits -- not just Reverend Wright's, but also John Hagee's. I don't
think that -- just like I don't think that Wright speaks for Hagee or Pfleger,
or -- I'm sorry, Wright speaks for Obama or Pfleger speaks for Obama, I don't
think that Hagee speaks for McCain.
But I think that they're -- we're raising
important conversations now. I just wish we could have the conversation --
O'REILLY: OK. I don't disagree with you that --
ACKER: -- in a more dispassionate way.
O'REILLY: -- that both black and white Americans,
some of them, feel that they can't say what's on their mind. I don't disagree
with that.
But the key in this discussion is that Barack Obama
thought he had finally gotten this Reverend Wright thing at least in the
background. And now you have another nut, Pfleger, come up, associated with the
Obama campaign, because Pfleger is involved or was involved -- I think they
might have fired him recently. But very close to Obama. And now Americans are
going, look, how many more of these people are going to come out of the
woodwork? You see what I'm talking about, Tanya?
ACKER: No, I do. And I think that it's not an invalid
question. I would simply say that, you know, it's not really fair to ascribe
that to Obama, because I do think that if we start parsing through and scouring
relationships that any of us have, that any politician or public figure has,
there are going to be people close to that person who have written --
O'REILLY: Not at this level.
ACKER: -- things or said things.
O'REILLY: Not -- look, when you go --
ACKER: I don't know about that, Bill.
O'REILLY: -- when you go Bill Ayers, when you go
Bernadette Dohrn, when you go Reverend Wright, when you go Father Pfleger --
not at that level. You're just not going to have it.
And the Hagee thing isn't going to take off because
there's no tape on Hagee. And it's just -- it's basically a convenience thing
that McCain went down, and he regrets doing it. And then I gave him hell for
doing it when I interviewed him. How do you see it, Andrea?
ANDREA TANTAROS (Republican strategist): Well, I see
it as this is how Obama handles dealing with nuts. I mean, he hasn't quit this
church. Why?
From the May 8
edition of The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: OK. John Hagee is a guy --
McCAIN: Yep.
O'REILLY: -- that you
sought his endorsement in San Antonio,
Texas. He said bad things about
Catholics, and gays, and other things like that. And your opponents are saying,
"Hey, you know, McCain hangs around with Hagee.
Obama hangs around with Wright. No difference."
McCAIN: I do not embrace a view that
he stated about the Catholic Church. I steadfastly reject it and repudiate it.
I've never been in Pastor Hagee's church. I know him,
and -- but the fact is that I accept his endorsement --
O'REILLY: Yeah, but
you courted him.
McCAIN: -- which means he supported
--
O'REILLY: You went down there
--
McCAIN: When you
say --
O'REILLY: -- had
breakfast with him, you know?
McCAIN: Well, I had breakfast with
him and I've met with him. I don't embrace all of his views. He endorsed
me.
O'REILLY: OK. You ready for
the viciousness of this campaign? We understand The New York Times has -- you know, a squad of reporters
looking to dig up any dirt they can on you. You know that, right?
From
the March 14 edition of The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY:
Tonight, four hot topics: the Obama conundrum, did Eliot
Spitzer use campaign money to pay prostitutes, and the men who murdered that University of North Carolina student body president.
Also, there's been a verdict in the John Ritter medical malpractice case. Here
is Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera.
All right, let's knock them down one
by one.
RIVERA: Well, I
want to take to you a radical synagogue first, after you get out of church.
O'REILLY: Listen, I'm a man who is
very curious about things. And I would love to attend --
RIVERA: I know a firebrand rabbi that
really is gonna --
O'REILLY: Well, I mean, you know,
the ladies were nice to come on here, and they believe what they're saying. But
I don't think they see the big picture here, Geraldo.
RIVERA: The big picture is that
Obama's candidacy brink -- is on the brink of disaster and
--
O'REILLY: Yeah, it is.
RIVERA: -- ruin
right now.
O'REILLY: Right.
RIVERA: He released a statement that
was very good, just out an hour or so.
O'REILLY: Right.
RIVERA: Let me just read you the
part that is the most important part. "The statements that Reverend Wright
made that were the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally
heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in
private conversation." So now, Barack Obama has set up
a factual straw man here. If, indeed, it can be proven that he was in the
church when statements like this were uttered --
O'REILLY:
Well, I think he's toast.
RIVERA: -- then
he's in real trouble.
[...]
O'REILLY: He's not there every week.
He might not have heard those statements, but he knew about them.
RIVERA: I hope -- I hope he didn't.
Because he really had -- he had to strongly condemn it. And in tactical terms,
you're right: He should have done it before this --
O'REILLY: Himself.
RIVERA: -- rather than his campaign.
O'REILLY: Right. And because he knew
it was coming down the road.
RIVERA: But he's not the first
candidate, in fairness --
O'REILLY: No, but you -- if you
couple it --
RIVERA: -- to be burned by a
religious endorsement like Hagee.
O'REILLY: -- if you couple it -- if
you couple it with Michelle Obama's comments from a few
weeks ago -- which I defended; I defended her. Again, I want to give the
candidates the benefit of the doubt. If you couple that with this and you're
running on judgment, man, it's tough.
*Search
terms: "Show (O'Reilly) and (Hagee)"
**Search terms:
"Show (O'Reilly) and (Parsley or Parsely or Parsly)"
***Search
terms: "Show (O'Reilly) and ((Jeremiah pre/2 Wright) or Rev!
Wright)"
****Search terms:
"Show (O'Reilly) and (Pfleger)"
Published: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:46:48 GMT - Source: Mediamatters.Org - Read the article
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