Bill O'Reilly

According to the Heritage Foundation Barack Obama’s policies, in just two years, have resulted in the number of Americans who rely on a federal program spiking by 23 percent to 67 million. Yet there was no mention of this grim figure on the Big Three network (ABC, CBS and NBC) evening or morning news programs. Since the study was released on Wednesday only Fox News and CNN have mentioned the increase in government dependents was the biggest two year jump since Jimmy Carter was president.  (video after the jump)

As he appeared on Friday's The O'Reilly Factor, FNC's Geraldo Rivera complained that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney never mentions that his father, George Romney, was born in Mexico while campaigning as the "most virulent anti-illegal immigration person ever," and ended up calling the former Massachusetts governor a "hypocrite." (Video below)

Think your government has more than enough on its hands? Geraldo Rivera wants it to do so much more.

On his new WABC radio show Friday, Rivera cited an incident that day involving a Brooklyn mother suspected of killing her 3-year-old daughter, saying this (audio clips after page break) --

For many months, the liberal media elite has made no secret that in its mind, the field of Republican presidental candidates includes Mitt Romney and a collection of clowns. Clearly, Romney is the opponent that Barack Obama and the liberal establishment want nominated.

Journalists have mercilessly savaged every single conservative alternative to Romney who’s ascended to the top of the polls. Palin. Bachmann. Cain. Perry. Gingrich.  It’s too bad for them that the results from the Iowa caucuses threw off their bold predictions that the Romney Juggernaut would achieve liftoff in Des Moines. Yet Romney won by only eight votes over surprising Rick Santorum. This means one thing only: Senator, step up to the guillotine.

Bill Clinton on Tuesday said the press favored Barack Obama over his wife for president in 2008.

Not surprisingly, he told Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly that he didn’t believe the media were biased towards him when he first ran for president in 1992 (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Fox News's Bill O'Reilly and Comedy Central's Jon Stewart are once again locked in a battle of wits.

Having been told by O'Reilly that he was "going to hell" for remarks he made about the war on Christmas, Stewart said Thursday, "I make my living watching Fox News eight hours a day. I'm already in hell! Boom! Boom! Your move, O'Reilly."

This led The Factor host to marvelously respond Friday, "All right, here's my move. How can you watch eight hours of Fox News every day and still be a pinhead?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

A rather extraordinary thing happened Sunday.

CNN's Howard Kurtz actually took Bill O'Reilly's side in the Lincoln book dispute the Fox News host is having with Kurtz's former employer the Washington Post (video follows with transcript and commentary):

The overly-caffeinated, partisan headline writers at Huffington Post are at it again, this time in response to "Killing Lincoln," a book on the Lincoln assassination co-written by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard.

Here's how one of the headlines at HuffPo described the book --

As NewsBusters previously reported, CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian at a press conference at the APEC summit in Hawaii Sunday asked President Obama if Republican presidential candidates were "uninformed, out of touch, or irresponsible."

On Fox News's O'Reilly Factor Monday, political analyst Bernie Goldberg said, "That was the most ridiculous question I have ever heard by a regular reporter from a so-called mainstream news outfit. Ever." (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On Saturday, NewsBusters reported that CNN in the six days after Politico's hit piece on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was published did more stories on that subject than it did on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's connections to domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, convicted real estate developer Tony Rezko, and America-hating Rev. Jeremiah Wright combined.

On Fox News Monday, Bill O'Reilly agreed with our analysis saying, "This is disturbing," as did guest Bernie Goldberg who explained, "The reason is fairly obvious and fairly simple. They like Barack Obama and his politics and they don't like Herman Cain and his politics" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Updated [3:18 ET]: Video added

During an interview with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer cited recent foreign policy successes for President Obama and wondered: "Republicans have run on a perception that they are tougher on national security, that they're the ones who can keep Americans safe....has Barack Obama done a lot to erase that perception?" [Audio available here]

The O'Reilly Factor host replied: "I mean, it's all about the economy. I don't think foreign affairs is going to be much next year, although Iran is a wild card. If Iran causes trouble in Iraq because the President, you know, is withdrawing all of the troops at the end of the year, that could become a campaign issue." Lauer somehow twisted that response into this: "But right now, what you're saying is Republicans have no right to claim the mantle of 'We are the party that's tough on national security'?" [View video after the jump]

Is it possible for the press to gush and fawn over Barack Obama during this upcoming presidential campaign as much as they did in 2008?

Political analyst Bernie Goldberg, appearing on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor Monday, didn't think so claiming instead, "If they slobber all over him as much this time as they did last time, the media and the President would have to get a room" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham appeared on the October 14 "O'Reilly Factor" to discuss the Media Research Center's (MRC) latest study entitled "A Tale of Two Protests: Media Cheer Wall Street Occupiers But Jeered Tea Partiers."

The MRC's director of media analysis noted that there were only "13 stories in the entire year of 2009" about the Tea Party movement while the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has received "a dramatic amount of early coverage" with 33 network stories in the first 11 days of the protests. [MP3 audio available here; video follows page break]

On Sunday's Reliable Sources on CNN, host Howard Kurtz and guest Erik Wemple of the Washington Post both took exception with FNC's Bill O'Reilly for recently calling some of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters "far-left loons" and "anarchists." Kurtz noted the contrast in how MSNBC and FNC have responded to the protests:

CBS's Sharyl Attkisson, the only Big Three network reporter who's been regularly covering the "Fast and Furious" controversy, appeared on Thursday's O'Reilly Factor, throwing cold water on an earlier report that she was "unavailable" for further interviews on the story. Attkisson emphasized that there was a lot more to the issue than what has already reported, but "we need to get more confirmation."

The Fox News host pressed the journalist on her revelation from Tuesday's Laura Ingraham Show, that associate White House communications director Eric Schultz "screamed and cussed" at her for her reporting on the controversy. Attkisson would only state that "the conversation, as you reported it, was accurate," and later added that "the point is really not the content of that. The point is, story-wise, it seems significant and important how people handle questions, and how they react when you ask questions" [video clips available below the jump]

Liberals love to put comedian Jon Stewart up on a pedestal as being the most intelligent man on television aware of all that's impacting the nation.

On Wednesday's "Daily Show," guest Bill O'Reilly of Fox News exposed the host for having missed a major story last week about almost unthinkable waste in government spending (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters reported last Friday, America's trust in the media has fallen to new lows.

Appearing on Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday, political commentator Bernie Goldberg said it was because of the media's love affair with Barack Obama (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday dismissed the pro-Obama talking points repeated by Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos. After quoting the President regarding 2012, Stephanopoulos parroted, "And it's clear that the President and his team, there's a strategy here. They think that the Republican base is way outside of the mainstream right now."

An almost incredulous O'Reilly snorted, "So, wait a minute, George. You're telling me, this is shocking to me, that the President doesn't like Republicans, that he's going to criticize Republicans. Come on."

[See video below. MP3 audio here.]

"Every other network has given all their shows to liberals. We are the balance."

So said Roger Ailes in a profile written by the Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz Sunday which also included the Fox News chairman taking a shot at MSNBC's Joe Scarborough:

"I don't like Barack Obama anymore. You know why? Because he doesn't like me and around 50 percent of America."

So said Dennis Miller on Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor" Wednesday as a result of the President not speaking out against the disgraceful Labor Day comments by Teamsters president James Hoffa (video follows with transcript and commentary):

The story broken by NewsBusters last week involving Chuck Todd saying NBC's pollsters were "concerned" about President Obama's poll numbers has brought some scrutiny on the Peacock Network's chief White House correspondent.

After radio's Laura Ingraham questioned Todd about this issue Thursday, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly brought her on his program Friday saying, "We did a little research on Mr. Todd...His wife makes a living working for the Democratic Party. There is a report that Chuck Todd actually worked for Senator Tom Harkin, very liberal Senator from Iowa" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

While columnist Dana Milbank complained about "The irrelevancy of the Obama presidency" -- noting Republican laughter during the Obama speech (especially the line "This isn't political grandstanding") and Rep. James Moran (D-Va.) reading the newspaper -- TV critic Hank Stuever sat at the Tom Shales Desk of Obama Speech Puffery. "Obama reiterates his mastery of medium" was the headline on the front of the Style section.

Stuever's expert of choice on Obama was Lou Dobbs of Fox News, whom he plucked out for declaring it was "The best speech he's ever given." That's not exactly what Dobbs said on The O'Reilly Factor after the speech. Dobbs said it was the best speech of his presidency. But then Dobbs agreed with Bill O'Reilly that it was extremely political and not a transparent proposal:

As NewsBusters reported last week, New York Times outgoing executive editor Bill Keller believes presidential candidates should be questioned about their religious beliefs.

On Monday's "The O'Reilly Factor," media critic Bernie Goldberg marvelously said, "I wish that he and the New York Times was as concerned about religion and politics during the last campaign when it pertained to Barack Obama, who sat in a church with a hateful minister for 20 years" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Bernie Goldberg on Monday said the media are constantly using the "conservative" label to make right-leaning people appear "out of the mainstream," "alien," and "dangerous to your mental health."

The Emmy Award-winning political commentator, appearing on Fox News's "The O'Reilly Factor," used a recent Media Research Center study to make his case (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Dennis Miller on Wednesday weighed in on Newsweek's disgraceful cover of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

Speaking with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, America's favorite conservative comedian said, "Tina Brown is a mean girl" and "Michele Bachmann should not trust the mean girls on the Left" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Bill O'Reilly and Bernie Goldberg took the White House to task on last night's O'Reilly Factor for their treatment of Fox News, and their difficulty with handling criticism. "They are not the first administration to go to war with the news media. But I don't think this administration wants to be compared to Richard Nixon. That's not a good PR move."

World News host Diane Sawyer swears she simply "brings the facts" and makes sure people "know what the truth is." The anchor appeared on Thursday's O'Reilly Factor to promote her new special on kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard.

O'Reilly pointed out that such stories of brutality infuriate him and are the reason he's a commentator and not a straight journalist. Asked if she ever shows anger as a reporter, Sawyer professed, "No, I get purposeful, which is different. I always think that my job is to marshal facts and bring the facts out and let the facts deliver whatever information there is to deliver."