Bill O’Reilly lashes out after Reagan insiders question the accuracy of his new book – “Killing Reagan.”
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly devoted an entire segment of his show to address the mounting criticism of his latest book, “Killing Reagan.”
O’Reilly began the segment complaining that former Secretary of State George Schultz has joined the list of past Reagan aides and media outlets who have blasted “Killing Reagan” and questioned its accuracy.
As Media Matters reports, O’Reilly was angry with “George Shultz for his recent op-ed in The New York Times.”
Shultz criticized O’Reilly’s depiction of President Ronald Reagan writing that the Reagan in his book “bears no resemblance to the man [Schultz] knew and worked so closely with for years.” O’Reilly has previously been criticized by Fox contributor George Will who called the book “nonsensical history and execrable citizenship” in a Washington Post column.
Noting that “this is the sixth op-ed saying the book is inaccurate,” O’Reilly goes on to blast anyone and everyone for daring to question the authenticity of his book.
O’Reilly begins his attack on his critics by giving a rather long-winded explanation of the background of the book. Going on to explain that “the dissent is misguided to say the least,” O’Reilly speculates that the criticism of the book is a “coordinated attack” by those trying to deify Ronald Reagan.
“So what is really going on here? First of all, the high profile attacks on the book are coming from a close knit group of people all of whom know each other. It’s coordinated. They object to any reportage that does not play into the deification of Ronald Reagan,” he explains.
As George Shultz served as Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989, O’Reilly does not dispute his conclusions about the book. Rather, he accuses him of not understanding the purpose of the book.
In George Shultz’ case he doesn’t even seem to understand what the book’s all about. Lamenting that we did not write about arms reduction, for example. It’s obvious to anyone who even reads the book jacket that “Killing Reagan” is not, not a biography. It’s a personal story of a brave man who overcame a devastating trauma to become one of our greatest presidents. You[‘d] think that would please the Reagan zealots, but it doesn’t. Because we write about a real man, not somebody from Mount Olympus.
O’Reilly then goes on to attack the “liberal media,” concluding they are jealous of the book’s success.
“The first wave of attacks on ‘Killing Reagan’ were printed in the Washington Post, whose publisher has a relationship with the hatchet men who wrote the articles and who is actually a fundraiser for an arm of the Reagan library. Of course, none of that was disclosed by the Washington Post. And when Martin Dugard and I asked for op-ed space to reply, the Post to its shame said no,” he stated.
O”Reilly continued, stating: “The latest slam appears in The New York Times, which up until this point has totally ignored ‘Killing Reagan’ even though it is a massive best seller that dominates its own best seller list. That’s not unusual as The Times usually deep sixes authors it does not agree with ideologically. Earlier this year it denied Ted Cruz his rightful place on the best seller list and the paper is presently ignoring the sales of David Limbaugh’s new book.”
“It’s beyond question that the liberal press and the literary establishment both despise the fact that the Killing Series is now dominating the history industry.”
You can watch O’Reilly’s meltdown below.
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