After his explosive performance went viral on Wednesday evening, Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly was apparently having second thoughts last night.
According to the Huffington Post, after the public expressed alarm over his on-air tantrum, O'Reilly offered a very qualified apology to invited guest Alan Colmes, Fox News' designated liberal piñata, on Thursday night. O'Reilly said he was 'sorry' that he accused Colmes of 'lying.'
O'Reilly's temper had exploded the night before whilst debating President Obama's attitude towards spending cuts. O'Reilly's hit out at Colmes when he claimed Obama had said he would cut entitlements, including Medicare.
The pugnacious pundit slammed his fist hard on the table and angrily spat at Colmes, 'You are lying here.'
But a more conciliatory O'Reilly appeared on the screen on Thursday night.
'Lots of folks talking about my shootout with Alan Colmes last night where I asked him what specific — specific — budget cuts President Obama has proposed,' he said at the start of the show.
'Colmes hemmed and hawed saying the president’s promising to cut Medicare, or something. But the truth is Mr. Obama has not put forth any specific federal spending cuts. It's all a bunch of general nonsense and so Colmes and I got into it. Even though I’m sorry I said Alan was lying — I should not have used that word — I'm glad the exposition occurred.'
O'Reilly then spoke of his concern about the nation's rising debt and what he called 'economic madness,' saying that he had loudly abused his guest 'to get everyone's attention' about Obama's stance.
'The president of the United States is not looking out for the country right now,' O’Reilly said. 'He is hell-bent on destroying the Republican Party and he does not seem to care if the nation collapses as a result.'
O'Reilly was given a dose of his own medicine later on in the show when guest columnist Kirsten Powers berated him over what she called his false claims.
Powers reiterated that Colmes' was correct: President Obama was on record having proposed spending cuts. $400 billion in health care cuts that the White House wanted to make, in fact.
'You need to admit you are wrong,' she said. 'You are wrong about this and now you’re playing a game.'
O'Reilly argued that Obama has not offered 'specific' cuts. 'This is where you and I will never agree,' he added.
'Because I use facts?' Powers shot back.
Powers added that O'Reilly was 'one hundred percent wrong' in his claims. In fact Obama's plan for spending cuts was online for anyone to see, she said.
16 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Mar 10, 2013, 12:05 AM EST
Crowley is just another Fox clone dumb and dangerous.
EphraimKibbey | Mar 09, 2013, 07:45 PM EST
Do you think Bill went to the President's website and actually READ his balanced plan for reducing the deficit? Of course not, he's too lazy. Its so much easier to parrot the GOP talking points. The right rejects Obama's detailed written plan because it includes additional revenue (400 billion over the 600 billion from January) as well as additional cuts added to those (1.3 TRILLION) already made during his first term. They say he has no plan because he refuses to give them a plan with no revenue which is the only plan they will consider. Of course now that the sequester is starting to hit home in their own districts they are crying about how unfair these cuts are. As the old saying was "don't tax you, don't tax me, tax the fella behind that tree," now their wail is: don't cut you, don't cut me, cut that fella behind that tree. They want the President to make the cuts for them so that they do not have to pay for them at the polls when the American voters realize how austerity will trash the economy and destroy individual's lives. The cuts to government employment over the last four years have been the major drag on our jobs numbers and that is thanks to GOP austerity measures in the states THEY control. If we put the policemen, firemen and teachers all back to work, our economy would have the consumer demand to get it going as happened under Reagan and Clinton both of whom INCREASED government employment drastically. Instead the GOP wants to decimate the USPS, how dumb is that? I like my local post office and I like my Saturday delivery.
kevinhayes | Mar 09, 2013, 12:11 PM EST
It's telling that there is no one defending Billo in these Comments - there usually is someone in Irish Central's large right wing fan base to defend the indefensible. Rightly, it was a bridge too far this time even for them. We have all seen variations on this from Ted Baxter (thank you, Rush Limbaugh) before. The weak, grudging quarter apology from him is typical of the man. Alan's sister in law, Monica Crowley, did not exactly cover herself in glory in that segment either.
Smyrnian | Mar 09, 2013, 09:48 AM EST
The Huffington Post? Are they serious?
donal1951 | Mar 09, 2013, 01:40 AM EST
I am by no means a hater of Fox News, but Bill O'Reilly can be hard to take. His explosion against Alan Colmes has been building for some tlme. Kirsten Powers is a fine spokeswoman for the moderate progressives in the Democratic Party and comes armed with facts. I like her commentary, and she can hold her own against Mr. Bill. Personally, I find Sean Hannity more interesting to watch than O'Reilly, more polite to his guests and more open about his far rightward political leanings.
The Commentator | Mar 08, 2013, 07:31 PM EST
O'Reilly and Trump are joined at the hip. What a pair. Both are living in a world of their own where the facts acknowledged by millions of people are disputed as being non existent and when they realize their arguments are futile and they are seen as idiots. then do they distort their argument in an unsuccessful attempt to save face. Unfortunately, there are so many racists out there that the ridiculous rhetoric against Obama continues non stop. Karl Rove, a fool, who on election night predicted Romney would win has started negative ads toward Ashley Judd because she is a potential Democrat candidate in 2014. These "privileged" rich white guys need to change and become decent people. Hopefully they will continue with this diatribe and with help from more opinionated folks like Mitt the Twit Romney, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, John Koster and of course the NRA and its star Alex Jones. With stars like that and many other equally idiotic supporting cast members promoting their blatant sexist and monetary benefits under the guise of religion and amendment rights there surely will be a greater backlash in 2014. If the Democrats could win sufficient majorities in both Congress and the Senate, then there could be real change for the better for 98% of the people and much more financial burdens for the 2%.
pilib04 | Mar 08, 2013, 06:54 PM EST
Faux News is simply that. Still think it is hysterical that they had CITCO in their News Backdrop for two years! What morons.
exmarine54 | Mar 08, 2013, 06:49 PM EST
Mr O'Reilly is a sad sophomoric little boy who acts preposterously and when he is finally noted for his obnoxiousness, he suddenly tries to spin some rationale to explain his childish rantings...He is so typical of all the "reality" shows on television that depict young "adults" who behave dysfunctionally, argue, lie and act out for the tele audience,,,,hopefully this immaturity will lead people to go back to reading a good book and ignoring these ignoramuses....
seanomelb | Mar 08, 2013, 04:34 PM EST
Bully O'Reilly at his best been abusive, that's his modus operandi when he has lost the argument.He could not find any pals to back him up. Colmes was corrct and a gentleman to boot. Seanmor the article is not about you take your head out of your A@@@.
McNamara31 | Mar 08, 2013, 03:15 PM EST
TheOldPerfessor You're 100% right on about O'Reilly trying to pass himself off as some poor fellow from Levittown. His family home is still there, and I believe his mom still lives there and anyone can see he had a great middle class youth educated in private schools all the way.BTW, the home is two blocks away from a golf course....tough life.
readabook | Mar 08, 2013, 03:08 PM EST
Your right, motyrrab and britfether! I have no love for B.O. and I think he got his comeuppance for his mean spirited showmanship and ego leading to the same for his laziness from K.P.I do believe he has the ability to do better which could lead to him saving his Ire for Limbaugh ,Beck,Trump,etal joining the few adults in the Republican party who realize that they have to compromise their cold hearted attitudes toward those less fortunate than he. If he doesn't treat this as a "wakeup call" then he does belong with the clowns.
britfether | Mar 08, 2013, 01:37 PM EST
O'Reilly is a fool if he thinks that Obama is going to say any specific cuts! Obama is 1005 correct about this by the way. Although he states he is willing to make 400 b in cuts to Medicare, he would never go in front of the American public and say that he is making any specific cuts to older Americans healthcare and exactly what they would be. What politician would ever do anything like that? How long would people stand for any politician explaining that he would lessen the amount of healthcare to any person. But that is exactly what O'Bitchin would lie to hear him say so that he could point his ugly finger at Obama and ask him why he is hurting older Americans. O'Bitchin is a fool to think that anyone would sit in fornt of himand put himself in that position to take his next shots in the head in front of a camera. I guess it's just not good enough for Bill the Butthead to hear that 400 b in cuts is enough to deal with the Republicans who can't get along with each other, and that he wants to know where every penney is going instead.
motyrrab | Mar 08, 2013, 12:21 PM EST
readabook. "Schoolyard bully" is exactly right. "Considerable intellect" not so much. Bill the Bully has made a fortune by his showmanship, not his intellect. In fact, the faux historian Bill should give Martin Dugard top billing on the Lincoln & Kennedy books. He's too lazy to do his homework on Obama's proposed spending cuts, as K. Powers called him on. I can't imagine he did much of the research & writing on his books. I wouldn't give him a pass at all. I think fits right in with showmen like Limbaugh, Beck,and the rest.
readabook | Mar 08, 2013, 10:43 AM EST
What a schoolyard bully.I notice when O'Reilly does joint broadcasts w/Bill Maher and Jon Stewart he's on his "party behavior" because he would never dare to attack them.As it is Kirsten Powers cleaned his clock just fine. Despite his Nastiness, I've always given him a pass because unlike Limbaugh ,Beck,Trump,etal he eschewed (which he did again)the ideological ex. "Birther","Contraception",etal. Bill,time to put your "man pants" own your gaffe(s) and use your considerable intellect to start helping to solve the problems with civil discourse otherwise you are no better then these aforementioned clowns.
Seanmor | Mar 08, 2013, 09:50 AM EST
I am almost entirely in agreement with O'Reilly's 'America First' policies, but raving been raised in Ireland, I find it disappointing that O'Reilly scarcely mentions a word about the contribiutions made by Irish natives and their descendents to the U.S. Also as a veteran, I wish O'Reilly would be more supportive of those of us who HONORABLY served in the nation'sd defense forces.
TheOldPerfessor | Mar 08, 2013, 08:53 AM EST
This from a man who, for decades, maintained that he was raised in Levittown. He actually grew up in Westbury, but Levittown made for a better story. If you look at the 1958 phone book, the truth is out. Lying is a sin, Bill. You can look it up in those ten commandments.