O'Reilly Equates Arianna Huffington with Nazis, KKK

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 8:34 AM on February 29, 2008.

It's as if Bill O'Reilly has never even heard of Godwin's Law.

During the February 27 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly attacked Arianna Huffington -- founder of The Huffington Post -- over comments (since removed) that readers posted to an item on the website reporting the hospitalization of former first lady Nancy Reagan after a fall. O'Reilly asserted: "[Y]ou know, I'm not going to call her a name. Arianna Huffington, I have no respect for the woman. I think that she is hurting the country. I wish everybody felt the way I did."

Townhall.com managing editor Mary Katherine Ham, a guest on the show, then stated: "[T]his happens frequently, unfortunately, on the left-wing blogs," adding, "[E]very time a conservative gets injured, dies, has something threatening them -- whether it's [former White House press secretary] Tony Snow with cancer or Mrs. Reagan falling down -- there is often on [the website] Democratic Underground or Huffington Post, a celebration thread. " O'Reilly then called The Huffington Post a "sewer" and later asked: "[W]hat's the difference between the Ku Klux Klan and Arianna Huffington? What's the difference?"

When Ham replied: "I think there's difference," O'Reilly said: "I don't see any difference between Huffington and the Nazis. ... I don't see any difference." Ham responded: "[O]h, my gosh. I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one." O'Reilly replied: "They both want people to die, Mary Katherine. Don't they?" Ham noted that Huffington "was not the one making those comments" and later stated: "I still don't think she's a Nazi." O'Reilly then said: "I didn't say she was a Nazi. ... I said there's no difference between what the two do. I want everybody to know that."

So, let's review. Someone -- not Arianna Huffington -- made intemperate remarks about Nancy Reagan in a comments section. Someone on the Huffington staff removed the comments. In response, O'Reilly -- who's had some intemperate comments in his own online forum, not to mention what he says on the air -- feels justified in comparing Huffington to the KKK, and insisting that there's "no difference" between her and the Nazis.

There has to be some kind of medication available for this guy.

It's worth noting, as Media Matters does, that the Nazi/KKK comparison seems to have become something of a default criticism for O'Reilly. Someone bothers him? Bingo, the object of his ire immediately reminds him of the Nazis and the KKK.

That obviously includes DailyKos...

During the July 18 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, while discussing JetBlue's decision to sponsor the YearlyKos convention, host Bill O'Reilly asserted that the blog Daily Kos is a "hate website[]" and opined: "There's no difference between the KKK and the Nazis, who have websites, than the Daily Kos. Because the Daily Kos is basically saying, 'We're allowing this kind of thing to come on.' " ... O'Reilly previously compared Daily Kos to the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan on the July 16 edition of his program.

...not to mention Michael Moore, Al Franken, and Hollywood libs.

One week after right-wing radio host Michael Savage compared progressive financier, philanthropist, and political activist George Soros to Hitler's minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, TV and radio host Bill O'Reilly compared both author/documentarian Michael Moore and radio host Al Franken to Goebbels. O'Reilly also likened a group of Hollywood celebrities who attended a recent premier of Moore's new film, Fahrenheit 9/11, to the Nazi faithful.

If ever there was a clown in need of some new material, it's O'Reilly.

Tagged as: o'reilly, huffington, fox news, nazis, moore, franken, kkk

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.