On Wednesday evening, Bill O’Reilly returned from vacation to anchor his Fox News Channel (FNC) program live to discuss the situation in Ferguson, Missouri since the death of Michael Brown on August 9. In just over an eight-minute-long “Talking Points” segment, O’Reilly addressed multiple aspects of the story, but specifically slammed MSNBC host and activist Al Sharpton as “this charlatan” who “has the nerve to insult the American police community” while only caring “about his own self-aggrandizement.”
After airing a clip of Sharpton speaking at a rally in Ferguson on Sunday in which he indirectly called out law enforcement for “smear[ing]” Brown instead of “the principles of justice and dignity,” O’Reilly grew extremely agitated: “Al Sharpton has the nerve to insult the American police community, men and women risking their lives to protect us. This charlatan has the gall to do that and NBC News is paying him. My god! Why is that acceptable?” [MP3 audio here [1]]
Later, he emphasized the point that the officer who fatally shot Brown, Darren Wilson, “is entitled to the presumption of innocence that we all have under our constitution.” It is this tenet of the American criminal justice system that, in his opinion, is:
Something Al Sharpton will never give him because Sharpton only cares about his own self-aggrandizement and if he has to stoke racial hatred to get that, that's what Sharpton will do. I know this man. His record defines him. Yet, he has succeeded in bringing his brand of racial grievance to the White House.
In addition, O’Reilly addressed the “race hustlers” who he said have taken full advantage of this tragic incident. He declared that “[w]hat is going on in this story is beyond belief” and “[y]et these people get away with it and in certain places they are even respected.”
On the subject of the investigation of whether charges should be brought against Wilson, O’Reilly again held little back in voicing his disdain for what has transpired:
[T]o the race hustlers, Officer Wilson is already guilty. They have convicted him. There slogan is no justice, no peace. I guess that's lynch mob justice because if those people will never accept anything other than a conviction of murder in this case. They don't really care what happened. They want Officer Wilson punished and he should be punished if he murdered Michael Brown.
From the top of the show, O’Reilly told viewers that he was “[f]urious about how the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown is being reported and how various people are reacting to it.” He summarized the basic facts of the case and agreed with the federal government stepping in to oversee the investigation.
O’Reilly agreed with the decision to release surveillance footage of Brown allegedly committing a strong-armed robbery of a convenience store just before he was murdered, but lashed out at critics of this move and the news media:
You don't suppress an important piece of information in a case like this when only one side of the story is being reported by the media, which is generally terrified of any racial situation.
Further, O'Reilly reported that, according to work done by his program, only four out of the 78 people arrested on Monday night in Ferguson were actually from Ferguson. A statistic like this, he said, shows that:
Many of the others are trouble makers who just streamed into town, but the liberal media will never report that. Nor will they report the true picture of criminal justice in the U.S.A.
After praising President Obama for how he has handled the situation in Ferguson thus far, the aforementioned host of The O'Reilly Factor concluded an extended “Talking Points” memo wih this:
As you saw with the O.J. Simpson acquittal, our justice system can be very flawed, but it's all we have. It's the only thing separating us from the anarchy that Al Sharpton and others want to impose. What happened to Michael Brown should never happen to any American. What happened after his death should never happen in this country, but it is happening and only the truth will overcome the chaos.
The complete transcript from the Talking Points memo on Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor on August 20 is transcribed below.
FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor
August 20, 2014
8:01:27 p.m. Eastern
O’REILLY: The truth about Ferguson. That is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. I came back from vacation because I am furious. Furious about how the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown is being reported and how various people are reacting to it. So let's run it down. Mr. Brown is a victim, shot six times by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who up until August 9th, had a very good record. Now, some suspect Wilson of murder and a grand jury is hearing the case. Also, Attorney General Eric Holder went to Ferguson, Missouri today to meet with FBI agents and state authorities who are conducting separate investigations. Good. The feds should look into this case and their investigation should be transparent. That is Americans should get hard information as it comes out, which brings us to this video of Mr. Brown stealing from a convenience store and pushing the clerk around. Agitators call the release of the video a smear against Michael Brown and his family. Further inflaming the situation, but facts are not smears and this goes to Mr. Brown's state of mind on the day he was killed. Americans have a right to know what happened leading up to the shooting. You don't suppress an important piece of information in a case like this when only one side of the story is being reported by the media, which is generally terrified of any racial situation.
Then there is the looting, disgraceful and one guy, even has a gun, alright? Shoots the lock off the door while his cohorts break in, and steal the merchandise. It doesn't get any lower than this. The people rioting and looting in Ferguson are dishonoring the memory of Michael Brown and his grieving family. They are insulting them. Again, flat out disgraceful. The Factor has been investigating those arrested. On Monday night, 78 people were taken into custody and we believe about 30 of them have criminal records. Only four, four out of the 78 are from Ferguson. Many of the others are trouble makers who just streamed into town, but the liberal media will never report that. Nor will they report the true picture of criminal justice in the U.S.A. Instead, NBC News pays Al Sharpton to deliver garbage like this.
SHARPTON: A young man 18 years old shot down in the streets unarmed and rather than you address it, you tried to smear the young man, rather than uphold the principles of justice and dignity. I want you to know these parents are not going to cry alone. They're not going to stand alone. They're not going to fight alone. We have had enough.
O’REILLY: Enough of what, Al? Enough of what? Police efficiency? In 2012, the last stats available from the FBI, there were about 12 million arrests in the U.S.A. That averages out to 34,000 arrests per day. In 99.9% of those cases, the perpetrator was not killed by police. In fact, just over 400 fatal police shootings a year are recorded in this country, according to the FBI. So, let me restate, 12 million arrests a year, 400 fatal shootings, many of them justified and Al Sharpton has the nerve to insult the American police community, men and women risking their lives to protect us. This charlatan has the gall to do that and NBC News is paying him. My god! Why is that acceptable? Also on MSNBC, another agitator said this.
MICHELLE BERNARD: There is a war on black boys in this country. In my opinion, there is a war on African-American men. It is an absolutely deplorable situation that the United States, which is supposed to be the greatest country on Earth, sits back and allows black boys to be murdered.
O’REILLY: “Black boys being murdered?” In the context of Ferguson? Are you kidding me? The truth is that 91% of black homicide victims are killed by other blacks, 91%. Yet, that woman tries to mislead folks by accusing American law enforcement of shooting down young black men in the streets. It's beyond belief. What is going on in this story is beyond belief. Yet these people get away with it and in certain places they are even respected. Incredibly, Al Sharpton is going to speak at the funeral of Michael Brown on Monday morning. The slogan the racial agitators are using in Ferguson is hands up, don't shoot. They apparently believe that Michael Brown was trying to surrender when officer Wilson shot him dead. Maybe that's true. We'll find out, but MSNBC put a person on the air who said Mr. Brown was shot in the back. That turns out to be false, according to an autopsy.
We also hear today that Officer Wilson has an orbital blow out fracture of his eye socket. The Factor has not been able to confirm that, and we do not want to try this case on television. We're only reporting the alleged injury to demonstrate that there will be much more to come in this case. That is why there is an investigation, and a grand jury and a trial process, but to the race hustlers, Officer Wilson is already guilty. They have convicted him. There slogan is no justice, no peace. I guess that's lynch mob justice because if those people will never accept anything other than a conviction of murder in this case. They don't really care what happened. They want Officer Wilson punished and he should be punished if he murdered Michael Brown. If a jury finds Wilson guilty, he should be put in prison for the rest of his life, but Officer Wilson is entitled to the presumption of innocence that we all have under our constitution. Something Al Sharpton will never give him because Sharpton only cares about his own self-aggrandizement and if he has to stoke racial hatred to get that, that's what Sharpton will do. I know this man. His record defines him. Yet, he has succeeded in bringing his brand of racial grievance to the White House.
When President Obama announced his brother's keeper's initiative I was there. Sharpton was there. Finally, the president himself. He was completely correct to call for calm in Missouri. That is his job, to lead the nation, but now, the president should step aside and allow his own Justice Department headed by Eric Holder, certainly sympathetic to Michael Brown to uncover the facts.
As you saw with the O.J. Simpson acquittal, our justice system can be very flawed, but it's all we have. It's the only thing separating us from the anarchy that Al Sharpton and others want to impose. What happened to Michael Brown should never happen to any American. What happened after his death should never happen in this country, but it is happening and only the truth will overcome the chaos. And that's the memo.
— Curtis Houck is News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Curtis Houck on Twitter. [2]