O’Reilly Slams Netrooter Who Threatened Elizabeth Edwards

NewsBusters reported Sunday that infamous netrooter Jane Hamsher lambasted Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards, for having the nerve to come down on MoveOn's disgraceful "General Betray Us" ad.

On Monday, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly took issue with Hamsher's "threat," as did his guests Kirsten Powers and Tammy Bruce.

After reading portions of Hamsher's letter to Edwards, which was posted at Firedoglake Saturday, O'Reilly said (video available at Gateway Pundit, h/t Glenn Reynolds):

So she's basically saying to Elizabeth Edwards, "Don't you ever criticize the left."...What is the reaction to that?

This precipitated an interesting discussion between O'Reilly and Powers, who for those that are unaware, is a Democrat:

POWERS: Well, she also says in there that if John Kerry was on TV eating babies, and you wouldn't criticize him. You never, ever criticize anybody on the left, which is absurd. And Elizabeth Edwards came and criticized the MoveOn.org ad.

And essentially, what Jane's saying is that the only reason you would ever criticize the ad is because you're just so scared of the right wing. You don't actually have...

O'REILLY: That's more than that, though. She is -- she is telling this woman, Mrs. Edwards, you -- this is what you do. You don't ever -- like she's 6 years old.

POWERS: Yes. Well...

O'REILLY: This is a disrespectful.

POWERS: This is written like a child wrote this. It's petulant. It's...

O'REILLY: And this is a big blogger, this woman. Right?

POWERS: She's very influential in the left-wing blogosphere.

O'REILLY: Unbelievable.

POWERS: This tone is not unusual when -- especially when they're dealing with people who they feel have gone off the reservation, who they feel that they need to enforce their views.

Strong words coming from Powers. And, Bruce was equally disgusted:

Well, keep in mind, too, the hypocrisy. This is the same woman who is chastising Edwards for being critical of Move On, saying that you should never criticize the left. This is the woman that put Joe Lieberman in black face on her web site during the Connecticut race...So one must remember, also, when you look at the nature of the power, it's also having a 5-year-old walk up to you and threaten you. These are infantile threats. It is -- if you don't stop this, we will stop loving you.

How delicious. What follows is a partial transcript of this segment.

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Personal Story" segment tonight, the far left bloggers attacking Elizabeth Edwards, of all people, for attacking MoveOn.org. And the FOX News entertainment network had to bleep out Ray Romano and Sally Field at the Emmys last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALLY FIELD, ACTRESS: I have to say something. I -- the edge of war (ph). Oh, I forgot what I was going to say. And I and -- to war. I am proud -- I am proud to be one of those women. And let's face it. If the mothers ruled the world, there would be no...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Is it over?

Joining us now from Los Angeles, syndicated radio talk show star Tammy Bruce.

TAMMY BRUCE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, there.

O'REILLY: And in the studio, FOX News analyst Kirsten Powers. We'll get to you in a moment.

And Ray Romano, by the way, was bleeped because he had an off-color joke. No big deal.

But this is a big deal, what I'm about to present to you, Kirsten.

KIRSTEN POWERS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: OK.

O'REILLY: This is a far left blogger, Jane Hamsher -- H-A-M-S-H-E-R. She puts on the Net, a threat -- a threat -- against Elizabeth Edwards. Here's the threat. Quote, "You never repeat right-wing talking points to attack your own, ever. You never enter the echo chamber as a participant, ever. You never give them a hammer to beat the left with. Just don't do it. We're not very happy when people we defend turn around and start kicking them for it. We love you. We want you -- we want to love you. Knock it off."

So she's basically saying to Elizabeth Edwards, "Don't you ever criticize the left."

POWERS: Yes, well, yes.

O'REILLY: What is the reaction to that?

POWERS: Well, she also says in there that if John Kerry was on TV eating babies, and you wouldn't criticize him. You never, ever criticize anybody on the left, which is absurd. And Elizabeth Edwards came and criticized the MoveOn.org ad.

And essentially, what Jane's saying is that the only reason you would ever criticize the ad is because you're just so scared of the right wing. You don't actually have...

O'REILLY: That's more than that, though. She is -- she is telling this woman, Mrs. Edwards, you -- this is what you do. You don't ever -- like she's 6 years old.

POWERS: Yes. Well...

O'REILLY: This is a disrespectful.

POWERS: This is written like a child wrote this. It's petulant. It's...

O'REILLY: And this is a big blogger, this woman. Right?

POWERS: She's very influential in the left-wing blogosphere.

O'REILLY: Unbelievable.

POWERS: This tone is not unusual when -- especially when they're dealing with people who they feel have gone off the reservation, who they feel that they need to enforce their views.

O'REILLY: I think this stuff is dangerous, Tammy. I think these are fascist people. I think they're Nazis. I think that they're basically -- when you have a person like Elizabeth Edward, and you're talking to that person on a world wide Internet connection like this, I mean, come on.

BRUCE: Well, keep in mind, too, the hypocrisy. This is the same woman who is chastising Edwards for being critical of Move On, saying that you should never criticize the left. This is the woman that put Joe Lieberman in black face on her web site during the Connecticut race.

O'REILLY: In black face.

BRUCE: In black face. So one must remember, also, when you look at the nature of the power, it's also having a 5-year-old walk up to you and threaten you. These are infantile threats. It is -- if you don't stop this, we will stop loving you.

At the same time, you must realize that MoveOn.org, despite all of its noise, has not had any real electoral success. You can ask Ned Lamont about that. You can ask Joe Lieberman about that.

O'REILLY: That's true, but they -- according to a report last week, they've raised $28 million for Democratic candidates. All about the money.

BRUCE: Yes, money. And you know, we have found out, Americans, money you can buy commercials. Americans want substance. Our votes cannot be bought.

But the truth of the matter is, also, Elizabeth Edwards last time I checked wasn't running for anything. We still don't know what John Edwards thinks about this. It's like he has his mommy coming out (ph)...

O'REILLY: He won't say, because he doesn't want to -- he doesn't want to lose -- Tammy, he doesn't want to lose the love. You know, he won't say.

None of them will say. None of the Democratic candidates repudiated this ad. Once we called them...

BRUCE: No matter what...

(CROSSTALK)

BRUCE: ... this is, doesn't matter.

O'REILLY: Joe Biden did? OK.