Friday, January 04, 2008

O'Reilly falsely claimed "Obama has dodged every tough interview"

On the January 3 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "has dodged every tough interview," to which Fox News contributor Bernard Goldberg responded: "Exactly." O'Reilly added: "Every one, and is still a contender." O'Reilly did not explain what constitutes a "tough interview," though his comments were similar to those he made on the October 29, 2007, broadcast of ABC's Good Morning America, in which he claimed that he told Obama "face-to-face" that "Tyra Banks ain't gonna get you elected, OK? You gotta go on the Factor, you gotta go on GMA and answer the questions." As Media Matters for America noted at the time, however, Obama had already been interviewed on Good Morning America -- co-host Robin Roberts interviewed him in New Orleans on August 27, 2007. Obama was interviewed again on Good Morning America on December 20.

In addition to his two Good Morning America interviews, Obama was also interviewed on the November 11, 2007, and December 30 broadcasts of NBC's Meet the Press; the December 23 broadcast of CBS' Face the Nation; and the May 13, 2007, broadcast of ABC's This Week. As Media Matters noted at the time, during the November 11 Meet the Press interview, host Tim Russert misleadingly cropped a July 2004 Obama quote to claim that Obama wasn't "firmly wedded against the war."

From the January 3 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

GOLDBERG: We're in huge trouble, but you hit -- you really did hit it on the head this time. Every now and then, you stumble onto the truth. And in this case, in this case, it's that likability is more important to many, many voters than where you stand on --

O'REILLY: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: -- the estate tax or --

O'REILLY: Whether you can solve the problems.

GOLDBERG: -- or whether you can solve -- or what you would do about Pakistan. And that's a scary thing.

O'REILLY: Now, Jane.

JANE HALL (Fox News contributor): Well, it is.

O'REILLY: Go ahead. Jane, let me ask you a question.

HALL: It is a scary thing.

O'REILLY: Hold it.

HALL: Yeah.

O'REILLY: The problem here is this: that Americans are more distracted, Jane, than they've ever been in the history of the republic, OK? Because machines have taken over their lives. Everything is a machine. And the smart, savvy candidates understand that. They -- Obama has dodged every tough interview.

GOLDBERG: Exactly.

O'REILLY: Every one, and is still a contender.

HALL: Right.

O'REILLY: So, Jane, I'm telling you, I'm getting scared.

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