NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Entertainment > Bill O’Reilly claims NBC’s lack of coverage on drone attacks is their way of protecting Barack Obama

Bill O’Reilly claims NBC’s lack of coverage on drone attacks is their way of protecting Barack Obama

Pundit claims NBC is avoiding the story it has actually been covering in depth all week

IrishCentral Staff Writers,

Published Saturday, February 9, 2013, 9:28 AM

Updated Sunday, February 10, 2013, 8:41 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

34 Comments

See more: Irish Entertainment

FOX News host Bill O'Reilly

Photo by Google Images

What's a pugnacious political pundit faced with a teflon president to do? Well this week Bill O'Reilly sat down with Fox News' Bob Beckel, the conservative station's so-called token liberal host, to argue that NBC News has not been covering the controversy over President Obama's drones policy in the wake of the Justice Department recent memo obtained by the press.

'Heard anything on NBC about the drones?' O'Reilly asked Beckel Wednesday night. Beckel said he had not. O'Reilly continued, 'You haven't heard anything over there about this, neither have I, neither has my staff.'

According to the Huffington Post O'Reilly claimed that NBC News has not discussed the White House drone policy because the left leaning network is 'protecting the president.'

Apparently neither O'Reilly nor his staff noticed that it was NBC News' Michael Isikoff who obtained the copy of the memo discussing the legality of Obama's drones policy and then broke the story exclusively for the NBC network.

The memo was a major breaking news story for Isikoff and the network, but O'Reilly and his staff somehow failed to notice it has been a major topic of reporting and discussion on both NBC News and MSNBC every night this week.

The story led NBC News' website Monday night and on Tuesday. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow hosted Isikoff on her show Monday night to discuss his headline grabbing scoop in detail. Then NBC's Nightly News also reported on the drones memo on Tuesday night.

Hosts on MSNBC including Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews and the roundtable of The Cycle all devoted major portions of their own shows to the drones memo.

Fox News, O'Reilly's employer, has struggled to retain its credibility after its disastrous election season coverage consistently predicted a Mitt Romney landslide. Earlier this week the station fired Dick Morris, the polling guru who made himself a national laughingstock with his outrageously off the mark predictions.

Morris' departure follows Sarah Palin's and is being seen by some commentators as evidence that the network is increasingly concerned about its trustworthiness.

Meanwhile viewers will have to wonder if O'Reilly and his fair and balanced staff even turned on NBC News or MSNBC this week?

See more: Irish Entertainment

Nster.com

E-mail

34 Comments

15 - 34 | See all comments

pinkdaylily | Feb 28, 2013, 08:45 AM EST

The heading, Bill NoReilly says it all..

Report abuse

eileend | Feb 20, 2013, 06:56 PM EST

The point is that once again, O'Reilly is living in his own hermetically sealed world. The drone policy question was actually raised by MSNBC, and it was at MSNBC's instigation that the congress actually stepped up its demands for the WH's legal standing on the drones. Not that O'Reilly has ever bothered to do any research before...

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Feb 19, 2013, 06:38 PM EST

Edward McDonald stated: "They gush and bat their lashes just thinking how wonderfully enlightened and progressive they are to have voted in a black leader."...Pure and simple "Dinosaur" thinking that you will only find on Bill O'Reilly Fox News. The majority of Americans viewed Obama as the superior candidate and he was elected to a second term. The world has moved beyond thinking like yours.

Report abuse

seanomelb | Feb 12, 2013, 09:07 PM EST

Moves like a butterfly stings like a bee.

Report abuse

Smyrnian | Feb 12, 2013, 02:51 PM EST

What mushroom clouds would that be?

Report abuse

maryosullivan | Feb 12, 2013, 10:29 AM EST

What amount of time/air has OReilly given to George Bush and his WMD. mushroom clouds etc? Obama's drone policy is a continuations of the wars Bush and his ilk have created. Shame on all of them

Report abuse

Smyrnian | Feb 12, 2013, 09:09 AM EST

'Chemical Ali' got that nick name from his parents when he was in secondary school as he was so good at chemistry. Nothing to do with him bombing Kurdish villages and asphyxiating thousands of innocent men, women and children with clouds of poison gas. Oh, I forgot; the Iraqis had no weapons of mass destruction!

Report abuse

Edward McDonald | Feb 11, 2013, 03:58 PM EST

"If a Repub. president were killing people via drones the media would be crying about baby killing fascist....oh, a Dem. president is bombing innocents? SShhhhhh........." SPOT ON FalconFlash. Sad to say, but that truly is the long and short of it. It's becoming ridiculous. The left leaning press has its hands right down Obama's knickers. They gush and bat their lashes just thinking how wonderfully enlightened and progressive they are to have voted in a black leader. The smug self satisfaction is becoming unbearble to witness.

Report abuse

WoundedKnee | Feb 11, 2013, 03:33 PM EST

McNamara31--Good posts. Keep arguing for a sane and moral foreign policy. In that respect, Obama is a flop. That's why I opposed his reelection, he's no better than the neo-cons. Shameful to see some pseudo-liberals still doing verbal contortions to defend foreign wars. Easy for us progressives to see where Obama is going wrong when we read right-wing posters like eiramach backing him.

Report abuse

WoundedKnee | Feb 11, 2013, 03:11 PM EST

The Commentator: "it is the targets who should be vilified for their cowardly acts and intentionally mingling with the innocent citizens". So you want people to parade with signs "Kill Me Now". You're an utter fool.

Report abuse

Smyrnian | Feb 11, 2013, 01:23 PM EST

So 'Chemical Ali' had no chemical agents after all and the thousands of Kurds were killed by weapons of mass destruction the Iraqis never 'really' had.

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Feb 11, 2013, 11:32 AM EST

Smyrnian Who is "they"?

Report abuse

Smyrnian | Feb 11, 2013, 11:22 AM EST

McNamara - stifle your lecturing. They started it, remember?

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Feb 11, 2013, 10:57 AM EST

Smyrnian, falconflash Someday you will get past the "labels" and look at the facts. Bush got us into two wars and this administration is attempting to get us out with the least amount of American carnage. Yes, all people do not want any "innocent" civilians hurt, but did you every think about the number of innocents killed with Bush's "Shock and Awe" bombing campaign of Iraq? A. the Oxford Research Group, attributed approximately 6,616 civilian deaths to the actions of US-led forces during the "invasion phase", of the shock-and-awe bombing campaign on Baghdad. Now we know, Iraq was a Bush war of "choice" (no weapons of mass destruction) Afghanistan was the was we had to fight because of 911. And Obama is carrying these wars left to him in the most strategic intelligent way. Instead of the Bush/Cheney bomb first ...think later, pay for much later.

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Feb 11, 2013, 10:26 AM EST

Bill here's the real story about drones. The cost of war on soldiers 6630 deaths.....Total Troops Killed in Iraq:4474,Total Troops Killed in Afghanistan: 2156. Deaths by year, before increased drone activity, and after 2003:531, 2004:900, 2005:942, 2006:918, 2007:1019,(after increased drone activity) 2008:466, 2009:461, 2010:559, 2011:469,2012 305. Drones are saving American lives until we can withdraw from wars in the middle east.

Report abuse