O’Reilly endorses the public option, which he previously called ‘socialism.’

[cal04]

Last night on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly actually told a Heritage Foundation scholar who was fear-mongering government-backed health care that he favors a public option:

NINA OWCHARENKO: Well, it has massive new federal regulation. So you don’t necessarily need a public option if the federal government is going to control and regulate the type of health insurance that Americans can buy.

O’REILLY: But you know, I want that, Ms. Owcharenko. I want that. I want, not for personally for me, but for working Americans, to have a option, that if they don’t like their health insurance, if it’s too expensive, they can’t afford it, if the government can cobble together a cheaper insurance policy that gives the same benefits, I see that as a plus for the folks.

Watch It:http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/17/oreilly-public-opti... /

As recently as last month, O’Reilly was still saying that progressives want “the government to run the nation’s health care system. That’s because the Feds can then redistribute income much easier, shifting resources to the poor and away from corporations and the affluent. … It’s not really about health care. It’s about socialism.”

[kestrel91316]

1. He knows his fans are too stoopid to notice he has done a 180.

[damntexdem]

9. But why did he?

That's what I can't figure out. Just what is he up to?

[margotb822]

2. I'm so confused

I'm still having a hard time believing that he really said that.

[mdmc]

3. ditto

[butterfly77]

10. I'm not confused..

he is up to something,lately he has been siding with Obama on just about every issue. Time will tell.

[BlueIdaho]

4. He's losing market share the Crybaby Beck

Time to find a "wedge issue" to drive viewers back to his show?

[PA Democrat]

13. LOL. That's exactly what I thought.

But it's good news for me personally because my dad LOVES Bill O'Reilly and we may actually end up agreeing on a political issue for the first time in recent memory!

[dugaresa]

5. i was at a dinner last night with a local business woman who is really hoping for a public option

because insurance companies are bleeding both companies and individuals and it is just a racket.

[madinmaryland]

6. I don't understand why there is not much of a push from small and medium

businesses for a public option. They all complain about health care costs and administration, and this would give them the perfect way out of having to provide health insurance and the hassles that come with health insurance.

[TxRider]

8. Small businessmen are too busy trying to stay afloat day to day to push anything

[charlie]

7. He's bonked his head against the limits of the wingnuttier-than-thou race

To out-do Beck/Limbaugh, he'd have to say something like, "those who can't afford it should be ground into paste and sold as fish bait."

Holding to the status quo is just treading water and won't give him a one-up on the Buzzcut Waterworks. So, he throws feelers in the other direction, to see how that plays. O'Reilly's just marking a line he won't cross (for now) and hoping Beck's gone an inch too far.

[ddeclue]

11. OK who are you and what have you done with Bill O'Reilly?

I suspect this was O'Reilly's non-evil twin and the real O'Reilly is tied up in his basement right now...



Either that or O'Reilly's soul was returned to him by the devil.

[GCP]

12. O.M.G.

So he's going the populist route when he hears the majority of Americans want the P.O.

Well, good for him, for once in his life.

[Cheap_Trick]

14. It's the mirror universe O'Reilly

He must've shaved off the goatee.......

[CBR]

15. As he is increasingly outdone by Beck and Hannity,

in terms of outrage and craziness, he can step back and realize the insanity of the extreme fringe. O'Reilly says some insane stuff but he has never even touched Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck.

[Penguin31]

16. O'Reilly supports a public option? Have I woken up in Bizarro-land? nt

[jberryhill]

17. Note His Initial Comments....

He starts by saying the "public option is dead".

It's easy to support something out of character which you believe has no chance.

[TxRider]

18. I've noticed him toning things down since he had Obama on to interview during the election.

[Hubert H. Hubert]

19. All the more reason to push for single payer.

If Brillo Reilly endorsed breathing I'd have gills implanted.