Dana Milbank: Bill O’Reilly wants my head

 

On Thursday night, O’Reilly asked, as part of a show that would be seen by 5.5 million people: “Does sharia law say we can behead Dana Milbank?” He then added, “That was a joke.

“The next night, O’Reilly read a complaint from one of his viewers, Heidi Haverlock of Cleveland, who said: “I thought the joke about whether sharia law would allow the beheading of the Washington Post guy was completely inappropriate.

“O’Reilly replied: “Well, let me break this to you gently, Heidi. If Dana Milbank did in Iran what he does in Washington, he’d be hummus.”O’Reilly’s on-air fantasizing about violent ends for me was precipitated by a column I wrote describing Fox News’s election-night coverage as a victory party for the Republicans.

This didn’t strike me as a terribly controversial point, but it evidently offended O’Reilly. “He said there were no Democrats except for Schoen on,” O’Reilly complained. “It was an outright lie.”That would have been an outright lie, except that I said no such thing. I wrote:

“To be fair and balanced, Fox brought in a nominal Democrat, pollster Doug Schoen. ‘This is a complete repudiation of the Democratic Party,’ he proclaimed.”Though I didn’t claim Schoen was the sole Democrat, in hindsight I should have quoted other putative liberals who appeared on Fox that night – and sounded much like Schoen. There was Bob Beckel, proclaiming: “I feel like the blind guy whose guide dog died” and “I give all the credit to Republicans on this.”

Or Juan Williams on President Obama: “I just don’t think he gets it.”O’Reilly has every right to quarrel with my opinion or question my accuracy. But why resort to intimidation and violent imagery?Let’s drop the thuggish tactics – before more people get hurt.

Excerpt Read more at washingtonpost.com …

via Dana Milbank: Bill O’Reilly wants my head.

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