Bill O’Reilly On WI Protests: “The Tea Party Doesn’t Shout Anybody Down”

As we covered here and here, Fox News correspondents have not been greeted favorably by the Wisconsin union protesters and instead have been subjected to screams of “Fox lies!” Bill O’Reilly also noticed this behavior and concluded Tea Party protesters were more civil since the “Tea Party doesn’t shout anybody down.”

O’Reilly’s Tea Party comparison came in response to liberal commentator Alan Colmes suggesting Wisconsin protesters had a right to be upset with Fox, since he believed the network’s attitude towards the Tea Party was much more favorable than it is towards the movement in Wisconsin. In addition, Colmes was upset that the issue in Wisconsin is being portrayed as a budget issue when he believes it is actually a union-busting issue. Conservative commentator Monica Crowley was also upset, and snuck in an insult at the democratic state senators who fled the state, calling them “schmucks.”

However, it was O’Reilly’s potentially controversial assessment that the civility of the Tea Party beats out that of the Wisconsin protesters which is most interesting. O’Reilly claimed “the Tea Party doesn’t shout anybody down – they’re not attacking CNN, screaming at their correspondents.” Later in the show O’Reilly corrected himself and said there was one incident where a Tea Party protester did in fact shout down a reporter. Overall Tea Party protesters may have shouted at their elected representatives at town hall meetings, but for the most part Tea Party members have been wise and don’t attack the messenger. One explanation for such behavior could be that the Tea Party viewed all media outlets as a tool towards defeating their real enemy: big government.

Given the Tea Party’s influence and success, such civility towards all reporters might not be such a bad idea for Wisconsin protesters to emulate. Instead, when an “idiot” (as described by O’Reilly) repeatedly yells “Fox lies” over and over again, and when crowds of union protesters heckle Fox reporters, it’s clear that protesters strangely perceive Fox News as the enemy, and even more damaging, viewers may begin to perceive the protesters as unsympathetic and irrational.

Watch both the clip of O’Reilly’s original statement and his correction from Fox News below:

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.