Bill O’Reilly Was Prepared To Attack President Obama Before Afghanistan Speech

Fox News right-wing talker Bill O’Reilly, who remains consistently dishonest about his political bias, already had his talking points prepared before President Obama’s speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. O’Reilly was already prepared to attack the leader of our nation before even hearing a word the man had to say about the war effort in Afghanistan.

Here is how Media Matters documents what O’Reilly said as he hosted a show to supposedly analyze the president’s speech on Afghanistan:

Following President Obama’s speech at West Point addressing the war in Afghanistan, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly criticized Obama for supposedly not “saying, ‘Look, these are bad guys. We’re fighting evil” and for not warning Americans that “[i]f we lose, this is going to lead to more bloodshed all over the world.” In fact, Obama referred to Al Qaeda as “extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam … to justify the slaughter of innocents,” he called the Taliban “a ruthless, repressive, and radical movement,” and he warned that withdrawing from Afghanistan now “would significantly hamper our ability to keep the pressure on Al Qaeda and create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks on our homeland and our allies.”

This is crazy even by Bill O’Reilly’s standards. Additionally, it proves he is a right-wing hater who will never be satisfied with much of anything this president does (after mostly kissing George W. Bush’s ass for eight years). He hammers the president for not using the exact language he wanted him to use (even though the president’s message was clear and strong).

Check out how Media Matters breaks it down and illustrates how O’Reilly’s prejudice paralyzes him in pretty much any discussion about President Barack Obama.

This is from Steve, who authors The O’Reilly Sucks Blog:

FACT: Obama referred to Al Qaeda as “extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam to justify the slaughter of innocents,” he called the Taliban “a ruthless, repressive, and radical movement,” and he warned that withdrawing from Afghanistan now “would significantly hamper our ability to keep the pressure on Al Qaeda and create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks on our homeland and our allies.”

OBAMA: We did not ask for this fight. On September 11, 2001, 19 men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith, or race, or station.

Were it not for the heroic actions of passengers on board one of these flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington, and killed many more.

As we know, these men belonged to Al Qaeda — a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world’s great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents.

Al Qaeda’s base of operations was in Afghanistan, where they were harbored by the Taliban — a ruthless, repressive, and radical movement that seized control of that country after it was ravaged by years of Soviet occupation and civil war, and after the attention of America and our friends had turned elsewhere.

O’Reilly also claimed that Obama didn’t put any urgency behind his words, like, ‘If we lose, this is going to lead to more bloodshed all over the world. Let’s wise up everybody and get in there and win it.’ “I didn’t see any of that.”

FACT: Obama said “new attacks are being plotted” from region, and withdrawal now would “create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks.”

OBAMA: I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by Al Qaeda.

It is from here that we were attacked on 9-11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat. In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders, who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror.

And this danger will only grow if the region slides backwards and Al Qaeda can operate with impunity. We must keep the pressure on Al Qaeda, and to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region.

Of course, this burden is not ours alone to bear. This is not just America’s war. Since 9-11, Al Qaeda’s safe havens have been the source of attacks against London and Amman and Bali. The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that Al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them.

These facts compel us to act along with our friends and allies. Our overarching goal remains the same: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future.

To meet that goal, we will pursue the following objectives within Afghanistan: We must deny Al Qaeda a safe haven; we must reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government; and we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan’s Security Forces and government, so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan’s future.

Basically O’Reilly only saw what he wanted to see, and he was dishonest about that. As he claims to be fair to Obama, while him and Rove sit there and lie about everything he said in the speech.

Again, we see that O’Biased had a predetermined attack ready to unleash and it barely mattered what the president said. It’s kind of like when the President gives the State of the Union and the opposing party already has a predetermined counterattack ready to go. O’Reilly and others want to portray the president as being tough on terrorists in Afghanistan. Even as he pledged to send more troops to Afghanistan, the conservatives were all ready with new attacks.

You can’t please these right-wing nuts so don’t even try.

Media Matters:
http://mediamatters.org/research/200912010047

The O’Reilly Sucks Blog:
http://www.oreilly-sucks.com/

Chris Matthews Apologizes For Irresponsible Comment About President Obama, West Point

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who hosts “Hardball” on the network, made what a large number of people considered to be a highly offensive and inexplicable statement about President Obama’s speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Matthews said that the president went into “the enemy camp” for his speech at West Point. Obviously, you don’t need advanced college degrees to know and see the offensive nature of such a statement. Matthews, rightly, came under fire for those comments.

Here is what Matthews originally said:

MATTHEWS: I didn’t see much excitement. But among the older people there, I saw, if not resentment, skepticism. I didn’t see a lot of warmth in that crowd out there that the President chose to address tonight and I thought that was interesting. He went to maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case. I mean, that’s where Paul Wolfowitz used to write speeches for, back in the old Bush days. That’s where he went to rabble rouse the ‘we’re going to democratize the world’ campaign back in ‘02. So, I thought it was a strange venue.

That is reprehensible and just plain stupid. At the very least, it was a poor choice of words.

Wednesday night, Matthews was back on the air to issue what could arguably be considered an apology:

MATTHEWS: But first. I’ve gotten some very tough calls from parents of cadets and from former cadets at West Point and about my saying last night that the President going to speak up there to maybe the “enemy camp.” I was talking about the skepticism I saw on the faces in the crowd as President Obama spoke also of course about how West Point was where President Bush went in 2002 to make his most hawkish speech before the Iraq war.

Now I’ve heard too many politicians say things like, “oh that was taken out context” to explain something they wish they hadn’t said let me just say to the cadets, their parents, former cadets and everyone who cares about this country and those who defend it: I used the wrong words and worse than that I said something that is just not right and for that I deeply apologize.

As those who watch me regularly probably got right away, my point was that the military up at West Point was probably a skeptical audience for President Obama given his strong position against the war in Iraq and generally more dovish image. I was wrong to make that conclusion based on the lack of applause or apparent enthusiasm in the ranks of officers and cadets last night. Cadets, one former cadet and a friend of mine just told me, aren’t supposed to show that kind of reaction to a speaker.

He, a former cadet, reminded me that soldiers, including those now in training to face the enemy, want wars to be fought effectively and ended as quickly as possible. I had no reason to assume that the cadets at West Point or their officers who were present last night are more hawkish than the president. People who have watched me over the years know, I think, of my strong devotion to this country and strong gratitude toward those who serve in the military. It’s because our military is so good and true I want the civilians that make the policies and set the missions to get them right, in this country’s best possible interest. And by the way, it’s something we’re allowed to argue about in this country. Whenever I meet someone with a service record I always say, “thank you for your service.” They know I say it, and I hope they know I mean it.

It’s good that Chris Matthews apologized for his comments. He could have done what Bill O’Reilly would do and make excuses, blame the victims and bring on someone like Juan Williams to defend him against a charge. Fortunately, Matthews did not do that and issued a solid apology for his words.