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

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Bill O'Reilly defends Murdoch in hacking case but forgets he backed jail for Sarah Palin hacker

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Bill O'Reilly defends Murdoch in hacking case but forgets he backed jail for Sarah Palin hacker

Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 06:11 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

31 Comments

RSS

Archives

Bill O'Reilly is the latest from the Fox stable to jump to the defense of beleaguered Rupert Murdoch who after all does sign his lucrative paycheck.

Speaking on the O'Reilly Factor Bill O' stated;

“You have The New York Times absolutely running wild with the story. Front page, front page, front page. Column, column, column. Vicious stuff. Vicious stuff, and it’s all ideological, isn’t it?”

Bill O' was talking to Nile Gardener of the Heritage Foundation,a right wing think tank who heartily agreed with O'Reilly that there was a witch hunt against Rupert Murdoch who was being unfairly treated.

It is a classic case of blaming the messenger, in this case The New York Times which broke several major developments in the story.

The spluttering of outrage might be a little more convincing if we didn't know that Bill O' had recommended serious criminal charges when a hacker hacked into Sarah Palin's e mail in 2008. That hacker later did jail time for an offense that was minor compared to what Rupert's boys were up to.

This is what O'Reilly said at the time;
"Now, it is a felony, a federal crime, also a state crime in Alaska to hack into people's private correspondence. And what I want to know--and I'm not going to mention the website that posted this, but it's one of those despicable, slimy, scummy websites that in a free society we have to tolerate, but I'd like to see the website prosecuted, arrested, put in cuffs, all the people who run it.

He added:

Look, we know, everybody knows, the Feds know, the state authorities in Alaska know, everybody knows where the stuff is, OK? And they know the people who run the website. So why can't they go there tonight, to the guy's house who runs it, put him in cuffs, and take him down and book him?

That surely is a different take. It is amazing how much it all depends on whose ox is being gored.

Surely O'Reilly is not defending the hacking of the cell phone of a dead school girl as Murdoch's minions did?

No I don't think so but when you go out to defend Rupert Murdoch you get lots of slime on your shoes too Bill.

You're better than that Bill O'.

E-mail

31 Comments

15 - 31 | See all comments

hancock | Jul 24, 2011, 08:40 PM EDT

Wow.

Report abuse

cillowen | Jul 24, 2011, 04:31 PM EDT

o'reilly reminds me of that Norwegian Breivik nutcase ...... a pair who'll go to any lenght for their Hashdockery masters. Breivik wrote that it was essential to "fight" for a "Judeo-Christian Europe", praised the rejection of "anti-Jewish views" and stated that "the new Conservatist ‘new right’ is rapidly developing into a pro-Israel, anti-Jihad alliance." He applauds Israel, and considers Israel to be a victim of "cultural Marxists" who "see Israel as a 'racist' state".

Report abuse

cillowen | Jul 24, 2011, 04:25 PM EDT

o'reilly acts somewhat like Norway's breivik nutcase ...... Breivik wrote that it was essential to "fight" for a "Judeo-Christian Europe", praised the rejection of "anti-Jewish views" and stated that "the new Conservatist ‘new right’ is rapidly developing into a pro-Israel, anti-Jihad alliance."[48] He applauds Israel, and considers Israel to be a victim of "cultural Marxists" who "see Israel as a 'racist' state".[49]

Report abuse

buzzer7 | Jul 24, 2011, 12:05 PM EDT

O'Reilly has an "Entertainment" focused "Opinion" show. His words must be taken with a grain of salt! The main-stream media in the United States is basically biased toward the left! This type of activity has given rise to the predominance of a news media outlet, Newscorp, that can gain a large market share by pushing a right-wing agenda! Objectivity in the American media, has long been dead! People seem to forget that the purpose of a newspaper is to sell advertisements, thus gain revenue. Newspapers, be they Murdoch's or any other, are primarily interested in making a profit, and not the truth!

Report abuse

hancock | Jul 24, 2011, 10:57 AM EDT

The whole English press/political corruption makes me laugh. Right out of Casablanca.

Report abuse

seanomelbourne | Jul 22, 2011, 02:25 AM EDT

Murdoch controls over 70% of the print media in Australia and he is not averse to harangueing political parties to change media laws and or change governments to suit his own ends.Politicians are now standing up to this media bully.

Report abuse

MrSinatra | Jul 21, 2011, 09:42 PM EDT

are you saying murdoch did the hacking? what stupid rubbish.

Report abuse

seanomelbourne | Jul 21, 2011, 09:04 PM EDT

James Murdoch has already been accused of misleading parliament.This family is a blight on truth and a free press.Palin couldn't clean a coffee cup.

Report abuse

peterson | Jul 21, 2011, 08:44 PM EDT

With the tens of thousands of people working for him DI am sure he has a few "jerks" working for him. Murdoch should be judged by what he does to them for their nasty deed.. In the case of Palin, I think that the liberals are afraid of her because she might clean up the U.S. Congress like she cleaned up politics in Alaska.

Report abuse

seanomelbourne | Jul 21, 2011, 07:14 PM EDT

Typical hypocrisy from Mr.narcissus O'Reilly.I found it amusing that the three stooges from the Fox/GOP morning show telling other networks to stop reporting the biggest news story in town.Varney in a 2009 interview with Old man Murdoch(on Fox)"I would like to ask you about rumours of phone hacking" Murdoch replied. "I am not talking on that today"Varney "Ok mr chairman"dribble dribble dribble yes your majesty. The fox team are "A parcel of rogues in a nation" (Robbie Burns).

Report abuse

cillowen | Jul 21, 2011, 02:50 PM EDT

fair and balanced Miurdock's butt boy O'Reilly goes into frenzy ... he fearing his master being gored.

Report abuse

cillowen | Jul 21, 2011, 02:38 PM EDT

understandable - boot licker o'reilly

Report abuse

tundish45 | Jul 21, 2011, 02:18 PM EDT

@jdi2269 on Jul 21, 2011, 12:56 PM EDT You have it right, jdi2269. No parallel between Murdock as boss and the Palin hacker. Owners like Murdock get a free pass because they are not actually in charge. They just direct overall policy and skim the profits. As in any good arrangement, somebody else actually jumps into the cess pool.

Report abuse

aka.red | Jul 21, 2011, 01:52 PM EDT

If O'Liely supports it, presents it as fact, or expresses anything resembling an approving attitude for it, "it" Is unquestionably WRONG.

Report abuse

olovely | Jul 21, 2011, 01:41 PM EDT

O'Reilly's incapable of offending his meal ticket. The whole Fox News channel are living in fear of this scandal.

Report abuse