Last night, Bernard Goldberg had another conversation with Bill OReilly about Fox News bias. OReilly continued to deny Foxs lack of fairness and balance. But Goldberg stuck to his guns, citing among other things, Foxs championing of criminal, racist rancher Cliven Bundy as an example.
This was Part 2 of a discussion that began last week on The O'Reilly Factor.
Goldberg made it quite clear again that he hearts Fox News. But he was not buying OReillys continued insistence that Fox is not a conservative operation.
Liberals in the media go easy on their people and tough on conservatives, and conservatives in the media go easy on their people and tough on liberals, Goldberg said. Its like an ideological war, that we cant give them ammunition; they cant give us ammunition. I dont think thats a good thing.
As examples, Goldberg said the so-called liberal media didnt cover Occupy Wall Street so much as they championed it. And, sorry, but Fox News didnt cover, in the initial stages, the Tea Party as much as they championed and were cheerleaders for the Tea Party."
But Goldberg didnt stop there. Some people on this channel," he continued, "they tried to turn this yahoo rancher (Bundy) from Nevada into an American folk hero simply because he was against the federal government and so are they.
OReilly interrupted to argue, We went over the roster of successful Fox News hosts. The only one who is conservative as far as his presentation is Sean Hannity.
OReilly said conservative Americans deserve a conservative program one hour out of the day, do they not?
Yes, Goldberg agreed, But its not one hour out of the day.
O'Reilly claimed the Bundy story originally seemed to be about a guy who was being oppressed. But OReilly wanted to know more," he said. I believe he is correct when he said he didnt do the story. However, OReilly added, I dont blame the people who dove in because it was presented that way. And when we saw what it was, it turned.
Can you imagine Foxs hysterics if MSNBC promoted a group of armed black squatters who decided they had the right to graze sheep in Central Park and that the land should be exempt from New York laws?
Goldberg didnt challenge OReillys description of Foxs Bundy coverage but he made another good point. He said, The reason that certain people turned this guy - or tried to turn him into a hero, is because he was against the federal government and they know that their audience also detests the federal government. It may be good for ratings but pandering to the audience is not a good thing, even if its good for ratings.
I have to give Goldberg, a Fox News contributor, a lot of credit for challenging Fox this way. Fox host Tucker Carlson wont even allow a writer to challenge Fox on his own, independent website.
So again, I ask, Whats the excuse of all those so-called Democratic strategists who appear on Fox, who are not on the payroll, yet failtochallenge the networks tactics even partially the way Goldberg did?
Watch the discussion below, from the March 23 The O'Reilly Factor.
"And, sorry, but Fox News didnt cover, in the initial stages, the Tea Party as much as they championed and were cheerleaders for the Tea Party."
It just looked that way because the other networks thought the Tea Party was a flash-in-the-pan protest group and refused to cover it. Oops. Wrong.
The other networks instead focused on Occupy Wall Street -- which WAS a flash-in-the-pan protest group which accomplished absolutely nothing. Wrong again.
Goldberg: "And, sorry, but Fox News didnt cover, in the initial stages, the Tea Party as much as they championed and were cheerleaders for the Tea Party."
It just looked that way because the other networks thought the Tea Party was a flash-in-the-pan protest group and refused to cover it. Oops. Wrong.
BINGO.
Goldberg is a LIAR. He's returned to his Dem-liberal roots and sold out.