O’Reilly: Michelle Obama Is ‘Patriot,’ Hasselbeck May Be ‘Pinhead’

While FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor this week has been featuring portions of Bill O’Reilly’s interview with Barack Obama which stands out as being more challenging to the Democratic candidate than those interviews conducted by the more liberal mainstream media, it is noteworthy that on Tuesday’s show, during the "Pinheads and Patriots" segment, O’Reilly awarded Michelle Obama the "Patriot" distinction because she danced with Ellen Degeneres during a Monday appearance on her show Ellen. But, by contrast, he then suggested that conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host of ABC’s The View, may deserve the "Pinhead" dishonor because Hasselbeck recently criticized Michelle Obama for having a list of demands when she appeared on The View, as Hasselbeck spoke at an event praising Cindy McCain. O’Reilly: "I say [Obama and Degeneres are] both patriots because we need all the dancing we can get in America. It lightens the mood. On the pinhead front, I'm not sure about this, so you can decide if View host Elisabeth Hasselbeck was out of bounds at a fundraiser honoring Cindy McCain." Notably, last February, O'Reilly seemed to suggest that conservatives were acting like a "lynching party" for their attacks on Michelle Obama's declaration that "for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country."

On Tuesday's show, after honoring Obama and showing a clip of her dancing with Degeneres, two clips of Hasselbeck were then played which O'Reilly seemed to consider inappropriate:

ELISABETH HASSELBECK CLIP #1: Cindy came into our hair and makeup room fresh as can be, and, unlike another wife of a political candidate who shall remain nameless, she didn't come with a list of topics that we weren't allowed to touch.

HASSELBECK CLIP #2: Nope. That's because she has nothing to hide.

Last February, O’Reilly defended Michelle Obama against criticism over her statement that "for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country," and, on The Radio Factor, seemed to suggest that conservatives were acting like a "lynching party" as he expressed his reluctance to criticize Obama over her words:

You know, I have a lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton, for all of these people. Bill Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper where everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go and bludgeon them. And, you know, Bill Clinton and I don't agree on a lot of things, and I think I've made that clear over the years, but he's trying to stick up for his wife, and every time the guy turns around, there's another demagogue or another ideologue in his face trying to humiliate him because they're rooting for Obama. That's wrong. And I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels, that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever, then that's legit. We'll track it down.

Audio can be found here.

Below is a transcript of the relevant comments from the Tuesday, September 9, The O’Reilly Factor:

BILL O'REILLY: Time now for "Pinheads and Patriots." Yesterday Michelle Obama paid Ellen a visit. And you know what that means. Everybody dance now.

[SHOWS CLIP OF MICHELLE OBAMA AND ELLEN DEGENERES DANCING]

O'REILLY: Well, I say they're both patriots because we need all the dancing we can get in America. It lightens the mood. On the pinhead front, I'm not sure about this, so you can decide if "View" host Elisabeth Hasselbeck was out of bounds at a fundraiser honoring Cindy McCain.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK CLIP #1: Cindy came into our hair and makeup room fresh as can be, and, unlike another wife of a political candidate who shall remain nameless, she didn't come with a list of topics that we weren't allowed to touch.

HASSELBECK CLIP #2: Nope. That's because she has nothing to hide.

O'REILLY: All right, you make the call on that.