O'Reilly Right, Franken Wrong? Turns Out Bill O'Reilly Is From Levittown After All

Perhaps not the biggest news of the day -- unless you really, really hate Bill O'Reilly -- but it's always worth noting on NewsBusters when Al Franken is proven wrong (hat tip: Robert Cox).

Newsday reports on Franken's book-tour visit to Long Island: "Sure, he has a book to sell and a radio show to promote, but Al Franken had more urgent reasons to bring his live broadcast to the Book Revue in Huntington Friday.Namely: investigating where on Long Island arch-nemesis Bill O'Reilly grew up. Were O'Reilly's roots in blue-collar Levittown as the Fox television star insists? Or was he a product of the comparatively ritzy Westbury? 'What is this hall of mirrors known as O'Reilly's childhood?' Franken purred into his microphone, beginning his radio program before a crowd of 200 listeners."

Well, it turns out, after all the Franken attacks on O'Reilly, accusing the Fox host of "lying" about growing up in the post-war suburb of Levittown, it turns out O'Reilly grew up in...the post-war suburb of Levittown.

Here's more from Newsday: "Franken then quoted a subsequent Washington Post article in which O'Reilly's mother said the family was from Westbury. 'This would make him what we call...' Franken began.

'A liar! the crowd replied. A Fox Broadcasting Corp. spokesman did not return a call Friday. But when Franken interviewed Hofstra professor and Levittown expert Barbara Kelly on the air, he learned there was no lie to uncover. O'Reilly, Kelly declared, had grown up in Levittown, in an area that overlapped with the outskirts of Westbury.

'Well,' Franken said, a hint of disappointment in his voice, 'maybe he's just kind of ... [fooling], could that be it?'"