O'Reilly Suddenly Distancing Himself From Past Tiller Rhetoric

On Monday, Bill O'Reilly boldly defended his vicious attacks on the late Dr. George Tiller. "No backpedaling here," he told viewers. "Everything we said about Tiller was true."

Two days later, it seems O'Reilly is, in fact, backpedaling. On Tuesday night he claimed his previous references to George Tiller as "the baby killer" were merely standard reporting.

"I reported what groups were calling him. I reported accurately." The host then went on to 'report' the number of abortions Tiller had performed and estimated the doctor's income at a million dollars a year. (O'Reilly is paid over $10 million a year.)

Watch, via Media Matters:

In 2006, O'Reilly reported that "if I could get my hands on Tiller -- well, you know. Can't be vigilantes. Can't do that. It's just a figure of speech." He has also reported, "No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands." In all, O'Reilly has mentioned Tiller on 29 occasions since 2005, most recently in April of this year.