Wednesday, April 14, 2010

O'Reilly digs in, falsely claims Coburn didn't have his facts in line

http://mediamatters.org/items/201004140083

For the second night in a row, Bill O'Reilly denied Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) accurate statement that Fox has pushed the falsehood that under the health care reform legislation individuals can be sent to jail for not having health insurance. Earlier in the day, Neil Cavuto contradicted O'Reilly, noting that "a number of Fox personalities had made that comment."

Even after Cavuto's comments, O'Reilly still falsely claiming Coburn was incorrect

O'Reilly: Coburn "didn't really have his facts in line." On the April 14 edition of his Fox News show, O'Reilly, falsely claimed that in his interview with Coburn the previous night, on his April 13 show, Coburn "didn't really have his facts in line," referring to O'Reilly's admonishment that Coburn doesn't "know anybody on Fox News -- because there hasn't been anyone -- that said people will go to jail if they don't buy mandatory insurance." O'Reilly also told Coburn on April 13: "[W]e researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody has ever said it. So it seems to me is what you did was you used Fox News as a whipping boy when we didn't qualify there. ... [Y]ou were wrong to do that, Senator, with all due respect."

Cavuto contradicted O'Reilly: "I've researched this, and a number of Fox personalities had made that comment." On the April 14 edition of Your World, Cavuto responded to Sen. Tom Coburn's criticism of Fox News by admitting to Coburn that regarding the jail-time falsehood: "You're quite right, I've researched this and a number of Fox personalities had made that comment."...............................

No comments: