Back to Franny Ward, who accused Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly of being nothing more than "paid blathermouths for the Chimp".

Kind of amusing, since O'Reilly often disagrees with "the Chimp" (the far Left's derogatory du Jour for President Bush). Besides, what does an opinion journalist have to lie about anyway? He's giving an opinion. Is she suggesting that Bill is lying about what he really thinks or believes? That sounds more like her sweetheart "Bubba" (my favorite derogatory for Clinton), who did it routinely during his campaign, during his presidency, and continues to do it, as he did in the recent interview with Chris Wallace.

Anyway, I promised to look through a Bill O'Reilly column in search of these supposed lies, so here we go ...

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the Fox News Channel and because of an early gift by President Clinton, the operation is getting maximum exposure. As you may know, Mr. Clinton became very annoyed when Chris Wallace, the anchor of Fox News Sunday, pressed him as to why Osama Bin Laden did so much damage on Clinton's watch without being held to account.

No lie here. Everything in this paragraph is established fact. Tenth anniversary of Fox News, President Clinton making an ass of himself both in his handling of Osama bin Laden and in an interview about the same.

The President responded that Mr. Wallace was conducting a "right-wing hit job."

The President did say that. No lie here.

Having lived through the past ten years anchoring a news analysis progam on FNC, I found Mr. Clinton's annoyance amusing. The Bin Laden question is certainly valid, and while Larry King would not have asked it, most other CNN correspondents, I believe, would have. So what's the real beef here?

Unless you are of the position that Bill doesn't really believe that Clinton would have been asked this, you can't posit that he's lying.

To understand what's going on, we begin with the founder of CNN, Ted Turner, who greeted the arrival of FNC a decade ago with the quote, "We'll squash them like a bug."

That squishing sound you hear is Mr. Turner's prediction ground into pulp. FNC hammers CNN in the ratings all day, every day. That is not making the liberal Turner and his fellow travelers very happy, and that is the heart of this matter.

No lie here. If Fox wasn't hammering CNN and the other liberal networks in the ratings, you wouldn't hear the clamor you do every time something comes out on Fox. That and that's what's coming out in the ratings book.

For decades, the left in America was treated with deference by the electronic media. As I chronicle in my book "Culture Warrior," nearly every past and present network anchor and commentator is either a committed liberal or leans left. Just look at what Walter Cronkite and Bill Moyers have done since they left CBS News; both men allied themselves with the far-left and are proud of it.

All absolutely true.

So there was certainly room in America for a network that gave equal time to the conservative point of view and actually hired, God forbid, some right-leaning commentators. To those used to getting information from enterprises like CNN, PBS, and NPR, this sudden departure from liberal orthodoxy was shocking and terribly annoying. There was a new kid in town, and his game plan allowed the right to be heard as well.

... and it was about fucking time ... and all 100% true. Franny, where's the lie? Where's the stump speech for the Bush Administration? I'm still not hearing it.

As Fox News gradually began dominating the cable news landscape, bitterness grew along with FNC's ratings. The media establishment was aghast; it was being openly challenged and, worst of all, it was losing influence to a bunch of outspoken barbarians. So the attacks intensified.

Barbarians from the persoective of the media establishment, of course. Bill's calling attention to that perspective is NOT a lie. Sorry, Franny.

Hollywood put out a hit movie about FNC, liberals like Howard Dean openly disparaged the network, and the far-left blogs did everything they could to damage those working at the network. It was, and is, very nasty.

I dunno about the movie being a hit - maybe Bill's just giving them the benefit of the doubt, but the libs, including Weird Howard and Kos and DU all did exactly as Bill said they did. He should know. He was the victim of one of those smear campaigns.

But think about it; what is the beef? Even if FNC is a conservative think tank, which it is not, there are five other networks that give enormous benefit of the doubt to the left. So what if one operation leans right? Shouldn't there be room in this country for one newsroom that doesn't think like Ted Turner?

CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC. Yep. That's five - and all major ones, too. Of course, we all know what the beef is. Someone is actually paying attention to the one network that doesn't actively ignore the conservative position. People actually WATCH Fox News. Instead of analyzing Fox's way of doing things and implementing those things that make Fox successful, they just bitch and moan just like the whiny liberals they are. That alone is reason enough to have a newsroom that doesn't think like Ted Turner.

Last week on my program, I challenged Democratic strategists James Carville and Paul Begala to give me one example of an unfair presentation on FNC. They could not cite one. Certainly, Chris Wallace's questioning was professional. The liberal Alan Colmes balances the conservative Sean Hannity, and the rest of the FNC cast is evenly split between the right and the left. The guest list is the same way.

As far as I know, Fox does have about the same number of liberals as conservatives. Those on the Left can bitch all they want. Fox News is a stand-up organization with an emphasis on being fair and balanced. No wonder Carville and Begala couldn't cite any real examples of an unfair presentation. Of course, that won't stop liberals from continuing to go around saying that Fox is unfair. Oh well. Fox will succeed despite their rantings - perhaps even because of them. It's all just a bunch of liberal bullshit.

That's why FNC is so lively and, yes, so loud. We embrace robust debate and want to hear all sides. We challenge the powerful and do it with panache and a sense of humor. Like us or not, Fox News has changed the entire broadcast news business and provides a trusted service to far more Americans than every other cable news channel.

All true. Still looking for the lie.

Sounds like a great recipe for success, and I, for one, am glad President Clinton could be a part of it. As with all our guests, Mr. Clinton had his say, was challenged, and is free to think whatever he wants.

He doesn't even have to be nice to us on our birthday.

Again, all true.

And a pretty good closing if I might add.

Of course, calling non-liberals liars (O'Reilly is a conservative-leaning centrist) is par for the course. They do it in the hopes that people will believe it, since conservatives were so successful in calling Clinton a liar. There's one problem, though. Clinton actually WAS and IS a liar, and was actually CAUGHT in that lie. If there are as many liars on the right as on the left, I'm not seeing it. That's because the one lie the conservatives do tell ("I'm not a socialist!") is usually given a pass by the left because it works in their favor.

Oh well. Here's to the all the lies found in this article (if you can find them).

RWR