Those who are familiar with Al Franken's excellent book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them will know the story of Jeremy Glick. He is a young man who lost his father in the 9/11 attacks. Franken, and other progressive figures, came to his defense when he was slandered/smeared by Billo on The Factor during an interview.
(Apologies if this has already been diaried today. I am currently too hot and bothered about this to check the whole list.)
Update: Here's the link. The entire thing, although mostly irrelevant, is still a real piece of work. O'Reilly Interview with Hollywood Reporter
FOr those who do not know the story, Glick went on O'Reilly's show for an interview, but when Glick started to comment on the Bush administration's irresponsibility and failires in regards to the events of that day, Billo forgot all compassion. "Get out of my studio before I tear you to f***ing pieces", were the choice parting words.
O'Reilly began covering his tracks by making up a little story. According to him, Jeremy had claimed that Bush and his cronies had perpetrated the terrorist attacks. Billo used this as an excuse for his tirade, a tirade in which he chewed out a grieving son for no reason other than that the two disagreed about politics.
Glick was profoundly hurt. As he put it, "it's hard to get work when everybody in New York thinks you're some kind of conspiracy nut." Numerous media figures defended him, with the full interview transcript in their favor, and tried to get O'Reilly to repent. He never publicly retracted his story, but shut up about it.
Until now.
In an interview with Paul Bond of the Hollywood Reporter, Billo, when asked what was the angriest he'd ever been while on air, again stated that
"And after 9/11, a kid in his 20s whose father was killed at the Twin Towers. I was all set to do a sympathetic interview, but the kid started saying the USA attacked the towers and killed his father. I just said, "Oh my God. Do you realize how many other people are suffering tonight in addition to you? How could you possibly say that?" I was very angry at that kid."
The man's incorrigible.