O’Reilly says that he and Michelle Malkin were “respectful” when discussing Cindy Sheehan. Here’s what Bill considers “respectful”:
O’REILLY: Well, I have to say that she obviously does because she’s the lead story on Michael Moore’s Web site on an almost daily basis. And she knows — I mean, Michael Moore isn’t a subtle guy. Everybody knows where he stands.
So I mean, I think Mrs. Sheehan bears some responsibility for this and also for the responsibility of other American families who have lost sons and daughters in Iraq, who feel that this kind of behavior borders on treasonous.
You know, you got to think about those people as well. What about their feelings?
[…]
O’REILLY: She has thrown in — there is no question that she has thrown in with the most radical elements in this country. That is — now, it happened before. Some of the 9-11 families also took this road, you’ll remember, and are still active to this day. There’s a big controversy about the 9-11 Museum down at the World Trade Center.
And, you know, there are some people who hate this government, hate their country right now, and blaming Bush for all the terrorism and all the horror in the world.
Here’s a question, Michelle. Do they have a right to this opinion without being scorned?
MALKIN: No, without being scorned, no. And I wouldn’t call it scorned. I would call it scrutiny. And the mainstream media is not doing it. I mean, the New York Times editorial board is all too eager to prop her up as some sort of martyr and to buy her line when clearly her story hasn’t checked out.
O’REILLY: Yes, her story hasn’t [sic] changed.
MALKIN: And so I think — and I think that angle you’re emphasizing is absolutely right here, which is the mainstream media just lapping this up and perpetuating myths and inaccuracies when they know it’s not the truth.
O’REILLY: Yes. They don’t identify — in the New York Times editorial today, it was obvious they did not say her story has been inconsistent. And they did not pinpoint that she is in bed with the radical left.
She’s a treasonous radical who hates America, but apart from that we respect her point of view.
As for the nonsense about the “inconsistent” story — I haven’t had much time for blogging the past few days but pretty much every major liberal blogger has been on this one. Short story: it’s a bullshit Swift Boat smear attempt that O’Reilly is dutifully repeating.