O'Reilly denied calling the pope "senile" -- but he did

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

In response to a caller on his radio show:



: Thanks for takin' my call, Bill. Well, I think -- you know, you're doing a lot of really good work in terms of spirituality and protecting the young. But one of the things I had a question for you -- is about 12 to 18 months ago you were saying that the Pope was also autocratic and senile. And you didn't like him --

O'REILLY: And senile? Is that what you said?

: You did say that --

O'REILLY: No, I didn't.

{snip}

O'REILLY: All right, well, you're takin' some kinda propaganda 'cause I never said the pope was senile. And you know, I criticized the pope when he shoulda been criticized, and that is for not being proactive enough in the pedophilia scandals here in the USA, and in failing to put off a cogent policy to fight terror. Now, I wrote a column -- this column's posted right now. And I have said that and been very consistent. I have not changed my mind. Now, you've got crazy left-wing nuts who distort what's said on this program every day.

And, they spit stuff out -- Catholic League picked it up. Attacked me this week. You know, the usual propaganda. So, you wanna buy into that, , and live in that land, you go right ahead.

But anybody listening to me and watching The Factor knows I've been very consistent about the pope, and two areas I felt his pronouncements were wrong, and otherwise, I admired him as a very holy man who had a deep respect for life. And that's the truth of that matter.
----

From the December 12, 2002, edition of The O'Reilly Factor:


O'REILLY: Well, wait a minute. Hear me out. We all know, everybody knows -- even Law knows. Everybody but the pope, who's too senile to know, and I say that with all due respect. I don't think the pope is lucid, I don't think he knows what's going on, and I say that because Law's been in Rome for five days, has not seen the pope, has not even talked to the pope, and this is the worst scandal in a century --

more at:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200504120005

[TahitiNut]

1. O'Reilly is a pathological liar. (It's not news.)

:shrug: So is Rush Limbaugh. (That's even less news.)

[Swamp Rat]

2. And I say, with all due respect, O'reilly is a lying alien lizard pervert.

[Democrats_win]

3. Thanks for Looking Out for Us. We need it with him around.

[rooboy]

4. The real news here is that O'Reilly has a listener to his show. n/t