MSNBC 'smears' Palin from very 1st moment

From the very first moment that John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin for his Republican running mate was announced, the MSNBC news network was engaged in a deliberate attempt to smear the Alaska governor, according to Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

During Friday night's edition of "The O'Reilly Factor," the Fox anchor displayed MSNBC's "breaking news" graphic, which ran the message, "How many houses does Palin add to the Republican ticket?"

MSNBC's breaking news banner of John McCain's announcement of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate featured a message asking, "How many houses does Palin add tot he Republican ticket?" (courtesy "The O'Reilly Factor")

The comment was a reference to John McCain's recent difficulty answering how many houses he owned.

"This is under a breaking news headline," said O'Reilly. "It's not commentary. It's not their left-wing loons at night. It's not that. It's NBC News' version of hard news coverage of the presidential campaign. ... I am just  almost sick that this is going on."

O'Reilly called the message "snide" and "corrupt," and said it was "one of the most outrageous things that I've ever seen in my 35 years in journalism."

O'Reilly was interviewing radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham, who spent "a lot of years" working at MSNBC.

"Let me say that it's sad and it's disappointing, but right now, is it really surprising?" Ingraham said. "What's clear is that this is a left-wing network with a left-wing agenda. It's completely dishonest."

"I think women across the country should be insulted and look at what's going on at MSNBC very carefully because we're gonna see a lot more of this in the coming weeks and months, and that is a sad commentary," she added.

(Story continues below)

Ingraham said she felt sorry for NBC broadcast anchors Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw due to the MSNBC's pro-Barack Obama bias, but O'Reilly said both were part of the problem.

"I think if Williams and Brokaw had any courage at all, which they don't," O'Reilly said, "they'd go into [General Electric CEO Jeff] Immelt and they would say, 'You gotta stop this. You gotta stop it. You're ruining our reputation.' But those people, Brokaw and Williams, they're in it for the money, Laura. They don't care about the country. They don't care about the corruption. They care about themselves."

O'Reilly isn't the only media person ripping MSNBC.

HBO's Bill Maher, himself well-known for his left-leaning stances, commented on MSNBC's coverage following Obama's Thursday night speech after he accepted the Democratic nomination.

"The coverage after, that I was watching, from MSNBC, I mean these guys were ready to have sex with him," Maher said.

As WND previously reported, a comprehensive analysis of every evening news report by the NBC, ABC and CBS television networks on Barack Obama since he came to national prominence concludes coverage of the Illinois senator has "bordered on giddy celebration of a political 'rock star' rather than objective newsgathering."

If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.

Special offers:

Get Jerome Corsi's "The Obama Nation," autographed by the author, exclusively from WND's online store.

Get your NObama magnetized bumper sticker exclusively from WND's online store

Find out why you shouldn't vote for Obama or McCain this year in Joseph Farah's "None of the Above"

Revealing Reagan's spiritual secret of success

What liberals really mean when they talk

Rush Limbaugh praises kids' liberal-bashing book

Joseph Farah's "Stop The Presses," his personal story of the New Media revolution

Previous story:

Study: ABC, NBC, CBS strongly support Obama