On Monday night, Bill O'Reilly responded to accusations that he helped fuel hatred and violence against Dr. George Tiller, the abortion doctor shot and killed on Sunday.
O'Reilly has mentioned Tiller 29 times on his show since 2005, calling the doctor guilty of "Nazi stuff," a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida, and saying that Tiller "has blood on his hands."
O'Reilly spent most of the segment accusing the "far-left media" of exploiting the murder of Tiller and refused to apologize for his previous comments, proclaiming to his critics: "No back-pedaling here."
At the outset, O'Reilly stated, "Clear-thinking Americans should condemn the murder of late-term abortionist Tiller even though the man terminated thousands of pregnancies. What he did is within Kansas law."
But then he quickly launched into his argument, saying "When I heard about Tiller's murder, I knew pro-abortion zealots and Fox News haters would attempt to blame us for the crime and that is exactly what has happened."
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O'Reilly took aim at New York Daily News reporter Helen Kennedy, Huffington Post bloggers, Daily Kos and Kansas City Star columnist Mike Hendricks, accusing them of exploiting the murder to attack him. He claimed, "Everything we said about Tiller was true."
Later, O'Reilly asked his guests, psychologist Brian Russell and University of Missouri law professor (and former chairman of the Kansas GOP) Kris Kobach, whether they agreed that "the far left is exploiting this issue."
Russell responded by equating O'Reilly critics with Tiller's killer, stating that "these people saying this drivel are as far off on their side of the issue as the shooter is on his."
Kobach agreed, saying that "It's absurd to pin blame on you. You didn't turn him into the criminal he is and neither did the pro-life movement."