BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Personal Story" segment tonight: another round with our pal Jon Stewart. Earlier this week, Stewart took on the Congressman Steve Cohen-Nazi controversy. You may remember this:
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REP. STEVE COHEN, D-TENN.: They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie. Just like Goebbels, you say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually people believe it. The Germans said enough about the Jews, and people believed it, and you had the Holocaust.
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O'REILLY: Well, Cohen was roundly criticized for that statement for two reasons. First, because he compared those who opposed Obamacare as spreading Nazi-like propaganda, a falsehood. And second, he did that just days after President Obama called for civility in the national debate in a speech in Arizona.
Congressman Cohen made a huge mistake, no question. But Jon Stewart sees it a bit differently. He did not defend Cohen. He didn't defend the man. But he believes there's hypocrisy in play and that I, your humble correspondent, am a part of it.
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O'REILLY: If you look back at what happened in Germany, you cannot escape the similarities between what Hitler and his cutthroats did back then and the hate-filled blogs, what they're doing now.
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O'REILLY: That clip was from February 28, 2008, and it was edited by the Stewart folks. They played it on the broadcast. Here's the whole thing:
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O'REILLY: Israel Gobstein, Silver Spring, Maryland: "Mr. O'Reilly, I'm surprised at your lapse of judgment, comparing the tactics of the Nazis to The Huffington Post. I lost many members of my family to the Holocaust, and the meaning of their deaths means more than a comparison to a meaningless blog."
Now, first of all, I appreciate your letter very much, sir, and I've thought about it. If you look back at what happened in Germany, you cannot escape the similarities between what Hitler and his cutthroats did back then and the hate-filled blogs, what they're doing now.
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O'REILLY: And here is the context to that letter and that statement. On February 17, 2008, Nancy Reagan fell, fell down and had to be taken to the hospital. Shortly after that, this appeared on The Huffington Post: "Like her evil husband, she has lived far too long. Here's hoping the hag suffers for several weeks, then croaks in the tub."
I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that my comparison to the vile Nazi propaganda machine is dead-on. You can make the call on that.
Jon Stewart didn't mention Nancy Reagan or the context of my remarks. He just used a short clip of a much longer statement, no setup whatsoever.
If Stewart were a journalist, I would pound him into pudding. But he's not; he's a comedian, and as such, has license to take things out of context for entertainment purposes.
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