Dan Rather Owes FOX News an Apology
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As you may know, the far left in America is on a jihad to smear FOX News. They hate us for a variety of reasons. The primary one is that we give traditional and conservative opinion parity with liberal opinion. Most other national news agencies tilt heavily left.
So day after day, the far left loons demean, defame, and attempt to damage the FOX News Channel.
We ignore most of this, because we continue to dominate the cable news ratings and don't want to waste time on idiocy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But when a high profile guy like Dan Rather makes a blatantly untrue assertion about us, I have to deal with it. Here's what Rather said on Bill Maher's program.
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DAN RATHER, ANCHOR, HDNET: I think it's fair to say, Bill, in fact I know it is, that FOX News operates in at least a somewhat different way than every other news organization that I know, that they have their "talking points," in which somebody in the hierarchy, whether this is Roger Ailes who runs the place or not, we know that they get talking points from the White House. And they can say well, we don't always take those talking points, but I think it's pretty clear that they had wished the election had gone another way.
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Well, Mr. Rather's assertions are nonsense, untrue, seriously dopey. I've been here from the beginning, and have never seen a White House "talking points." — And I don't know anyone else who's seen one either.
I asked senior management if they have ever seen a White House talking points. No one had.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}So we called Dan Rather to ask for some "documentation." He's on the road, but said he'd come on “The Factor” next week to explain. Can't wait.
As you may remember, I defended Rather in the Bush National Guard debacle. I said Rather did not intentionally put on a bogus story. He just didn't check it out, he was too anxious for the story to be true.
Now many of you criticized me for that defense, but I'm a fact-based guy. And there's no evidence Dan Rather fabricated anything. It was sloppy reporting that did him in.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But now the fabrication word is in play again. If Dan Rather has evidence of White House dictums coming to FOX News employees, he needs to display that evidence. We are awaiting his appearance. We'll let you know when it is.
That's "The Memo."
Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}If you think things are bad on Capitol Hill... Let's go down to Mexico City, where incoming President Felipe Calderon was about to take his oath of office.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Spanish)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}All right. Then they started brawling. There they go! — This is before the oath of office. There they go— whoa, get him! Now, apparently, some politicians had a disagreement in the congressional chambers and decided to add a bit of "color" to the solemn occasion, the swearing in of the president of Mexico.
How do you say "ridiculous" in Espanol? Ridiculo!
—You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com