O'Lielly: Guest cancelled from "pressure"; Guest: "soccer game"

[edbermac]

O'Reilly claimed guest canceled after "pressure" from opponents; she says her daughter had a soccer game.

On the November 2 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly claimed that the lone dissenter in a Florida school board's vote to end school closings for some religious holidays canceled a planned appearance on the show after succumbing to "pressure" from opponents of her vote. But the dissenting school board member, Jennifer Faliero, told a different story to a Tampa Tribune columnist, saying that she "had a conflict" because of her daughter's soccer game. She also said of O'Reilly's claim, "I cannot fathom how that came out of his mouth."

O'Reilly said that Faliero was scheduled to speak on his October 27 show; that program featured Brian Blair, a Hillsborough County commissioner, criticizing the school board. During that show, O'Reilly told viewers, "We were supposed to have Jennifer Faliero, the one school board member who voted against this. She was told by the other members that she'd be ostracized if she came on the program."

But Tampa Tribune columnist Dan Ruth -- in a November 2 column headlined "Bill O'Reilly's Lies, Lies, Lies Strike Again!" -- reported that Faliero had a very different reason for canceling: She "had a conflict" because her daughter had a soccer game. Of O'Reilly's assertion that outside pressure forced her cancellation, Ruth quoted Faliero denying that she had been pressured out of appearing on O'Reilly's program, noting, "Her daughter had a soccer game Thursday." Ruth's article continued:

"I don't know how somebody from New York could come up with a comment like that," Faliero said, noting that she never spoke to other board members because it would violate the Sunshine Law and she didn't feel the least bit ostracized because of her vote.

"I cannot fathom how that came out of his mouth," she said.

In response to Ruth's column, O'Reilly repeated his claim on the November 2 show, stating that "she canceled. And we found out it was because of pressure, which the woman subsequently admitted." O'Reilly then attacked the Tribune, saying that he was "viciously smeared" and calling Ruth a "far-left character assassin columnist."

From the November 2 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: The lone vote against this madness came from Jennifer Faliero, who immediately booked on The Factor. She told us she was excited to get out her point of view. But later, she canceled. And we found out it was because of pressure, which the woman subsequently admitted. Now, we reported all of this to you honestly and fairly, but almost immediately, I was attacked in The Tampa Tribune newspaper, called a liar in a news article and viciously smeared by the paper's far-left character assassin columnist.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200511030011

Bill, you are SO busted! :rofl:

[shenmue]

1. O'Reilly=idiot

What a goof.

:rofl:

[Tesla]

2. Liar liar pants on fire......

[jsamuel]

3. The Tampa Tribune is a RW paper...

less so with bush

[leftchick]

4. sadly

my elderly parents can't wait for his how each night.

:banghead:

[Neocondriac]

5. Daniel Ruth....

is the only reason to read that rag. He is excellent!

[rocktivity]

6. This squares with what Randi Rhodes once said

she was invited to come on The Factor, and couldn't because she had something else scheduled that night. The next thing she knows, Bill is announcing that she was "afraid" to come on!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Divernan]

7. Bill's embarassed that a Mom preferred a soccer game to being his guest.

And I say good for Mom - didn't need the public notoriety of being on his show.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. Soccer game had more balls than O'Lielly anyway.

[CatholicEdHead]

14. Yep, his ego hates to be stood up

[jellybeancurse]

9. I can't believe this guy....

He just ejects lies all day long. My favourite is when he made up the claim about the Paris Business Review (which doesn't exist). http://mediamatters.org/items/200405020006

I get the Times over the Trib anyday. Ruth is an oasis in that rag.

[newyawker99]

10. Hi jellybeancurse!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

11. far-left character assassin columnist.

Oh, someone who tells the actual truth. I see.

:rofl:

[cureautismnow]

12. She ought to sue the bastard.

Take him to court and force him to tell the truth or face perjury charges. There's never enough RW mugshots to go around.

[kiki]

13. Actually, the school board should sue.

In saying that they'd use immoral pressure tactics, isn't Bill slandering the entire organization?