Terkel Takes Apart O'Reilly's Harassment Machine With Olbermann

Posted by Staff, Think Progress at 3:19 AM on March 25, 2009.

Last weekend, Bill O’Reilly sent his producers to ambush ThinkProgress’s Amanda Terkel while she vacationed in Virginia. Last night, O’Reilly showed portions of the footage, lying to viewers that Amanda had attacked rape victims and a rape victims’ support organization.

Tonight, Amanda discussed O’Reilly’s harassment machine — of which she is hardly the first victim — with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. Amanda noted the disturbing irony of O’Reilly trying to defend his comments about rape by sending out two men to stalk her:

Bill O’Reilly was trying to show that he cares about women who have been victims of crime. So to make that point, he sends two men to find my home address and to follow me on vacation? I mean, it was incredibly disturbing. The rest of the weekend, I was constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering how long they had been following me, if they’re still following me.

Amanda also noted that O’Reilly’s producer ambushed her when she was least expecting it and unprepared to answer his questions. “O’Reilly may be surprised I don’t sit around on vacation thinking about him,” she said.

Watch it:

Olbermann concluded the segment by stating, “On behalf of television, my apologies for him.”

Amanda also appeared on The Young Turks to explain what happened. Watch it:

Tagged as: bill o'reilly, keith olbermann, jesse watters, amanda terkel