Smearing Bill O'Reilly as an "extremist" and a "jackass fool," MSNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan fired back at the Fox News Channel host for saying Muslims "killed us on 9/11." On his Friday afternoon MSNBC show, the liberal host launched a blistering attack on O'Reilly and accused him of lying and being a "fearmonger."
O'Reilly made his remarks in a heated debate on ABC's "The View" Thursday, where two of the show's co-hosts then stormed off the set after his remark about Muslims. When pressed as to why the mosque near Ground Zero was so controversial, O'Reilly answered that it was because Muslims "killed us on 9/11."
After the clip of the incident played, Ratigan snidely asked "I suppose that means we're now supposed to kill all the Muslims. Isn't that the current – that's the tit-for-tat, no?" He then descended into his rant against O'Reilly, President Bush, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Israel.
"Uh, you wonder why a plan to build an Islamic center blocks from Ground Zero – by the way, it's not at Ground Zero – sent the majority of Americans into a tizzy?" the news anchor asked. "Well, when you fill their heads through political yippie-kay-yea war rhetoric for ten years, kill a bunch of soldiers, spend a trillion dollars in the Middle East, while not actually defining who the enemy is."
Julie Menin, a guest on Ratigan's show and member of the NYC Community Board 1 where the location of the planned mosque resides, agreed that O'Reilly's remark was simply not true. "What Bill O'Reilly is falsely saying is that all Muslims are terrorists," she summarized. "He's basically preying on fearmongering."
Menin added that the imam of the planned mosque is a "moderate," and that the fallacies of the neo-conservatives are evident here. "They want to go in and create wars with countries that didn't even attack us in the first place," she said.
"It's confusing to me...not why Bill O'Reilly would lie about whatever you want to call this – but why our own government has not been vastly more effective in making the distinction to the American people," remarked Ratigan, "so that when somebody like Bill O'Reilly says the Muslims, they look like the pandering, fearmongering, jackass fool that they are as opposed to being the disseminator of valid information.
A partial transcript of the segment, which aired on October 15 at 4:20 p.m. EDT, is as follows:
DYLAN RATIGAN: Maybe one of the biggest issues in this country, in my view, and it became front and center yesterday when Bill O'Reilly, of all people, gave "The View" his view of Muslims.
(Video Clip)
BILL O'REILLY: Because it's inappropriate!
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Why is it inappropriate?
(Crosstalk)
O'REILLY: Because Muslims killed us on 9/11!
GOLDBERG: No! Muslims – oh my god! That is –
(End Video Clip)
RATIGAN: Muslims killed us on 9/11 – I suppose that means we're now supposed to kill all the Muslims. Isn't that the current – that's the tit-for-tat, no? Uh, you wonder why a plan to build an Islamic center blocks from Ground Zero – by the way, it's not at Ground Zero – sent the majority of Americans into a tizzy? Well, when you fill their heads through political yippie-kay-yea war rhetoric for ten years, kill a bunch of soldiers, spend a trillion dollars in the Middle East, while not actually defining who the enemy is. Well heck, they're going to find one for you whether you like it or not.
(...)
RATIGAN: And the only way to justify the types of wars you're talking about would be if you're at war with all the Muslims. Because if you're only at war with an extremist sect that is funded by Saudi Arabia, to whom – from whom you buy your oil from, and to whom you sell your guns to, that's a much more difficult war to navigate, because you have to acknowledge that your key ally in the region is the thunder of the programs of the extremist sect of the religion that actually killed Americans, as opposed to just going all yippie-kay-yea, get re-elected, drop a couple of bombs, bang-bang – next thing you know, you're President for a second term.
It works well for the politicians; it works well for the media, but it's confusing to me Ari, not why Bill O'Reilly would lie about whatever you want to call this – but why our own government has not been vastly more effective in making the distinction to the American people so that when somebody like Bill O'Reilly says the Muslims, they look like the pandering, fearmongering, jackass fool that they are as opposed to being the disseminator of valid information. Do you have any insight as to why our government doesn't – or hasn't – over the past decade, done a better job of making the distinction between Wahabbi-funded Saudi terrorists, and every other Islamic practitioner on the earth?
