This is the implicit accusation made by
Salon columnist Gabriel Winant:
When his show airs tomorrow, Bill O'Reilly will most certainly
decry the death of Kansas doctor George Tiller, who was killed
Sunday while attending church services with his wife. Tiller,
O'Reilly will say, was a man who was guilty of barbaric acts, but
a civilized society does not resort to lawless murder, even
against its worst members. And O'Reilly, we can assume, will
genuinely mean this.
But there's no other person who bears as much responsibility for
the characterization of Tiller as a savage on the loose, killing
babies willy-nilly thanks to the collusion of would-be
sophisticated cultural elites, a bought-and-paid-for governor and
scofflaw secular journalists. Tiller's name first appeared on
"The Factor" on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O'Reilly and his guest
hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including
as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller
is described as "Tiller the Baby Killer."
And it was not an inapt description, as any
pro-lifer acquainted with Dr. Tiller's late-term abortion
practice would tell you. He performed abortions involving
pregnancies in which the fetus was well past the point
of "viability." That such abortions are legal is a fact. Whether
Dr. Tiller's own practice was entirely within the law was much
disputed in recent years. The reason O'Reilly addressed Dr.
Tiller's practice in so many episodes is because the doctor's
Kansas clinic was the subject of criminal investigation.
There is no evidence to suggest that O'Reilly had anything to do
with the murder in which 51-year-old Scott Roeder is reportedly a
suspect. Reports by
the Kansas City
Star indicate that Roeder had for many years been a
particular type of crackpot. Roeder was reportedly involved in
the so-called "Freeman" militia movement long before the first
episode of "The O'Reilly Factor" was aired on Fox News.
However anyone might reproach O'Reilly for his rhetoric, the Fox
personality is not responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller.
Indeed, he is less responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller than
Bill Ayers is responsible for those left dead by the
1981 Brinks armored car robbery in Nyack, N.Y., perpetrated
with the assistance of some of Ayers' former Weather Underground
comrades.
