Just in case you weren’t yet certain of how to mourn the death of lifelong divider and hatemonger Roger Ailes, good news: Bill O’Reilly has weighed in, and would like us all to know it’s all his fault that his old boss died.
“Opinion contributor” O’Reilly penned a half-tribute, half-sneer for USA Today, O’Reilly insists it was his “traditional philosophy” and “bluntness” which “made his life difficult, as enemies accumulated — some armed with a brutal hatred.”
In a glowing tribute to his old boss’s fairness and support, O’Reilly notes, “Over the years, I saw Roger literally save people from destruction. And more than a few.” Sit down, because you may not believe this: O’Reilly does not mention the many, many people Ailes sexually harassed. But then again, that’s something else they had in common. He dismisses the “cloud of suspicion” in which Ailes departed Fox News last summer, insisting he was “convicted of bad behavior in the court of public opinion,” and yeah, project much?
Anyway, here’s your money quote:
We are living in a rough age, with technological advances changing behavior and perspective. The downside of that is turning us into a nation where hatred is almost celebrated in some quarters. Roger Ailes experienced that hatred and it killed him. That is the truth.
So, two things.
1) As about a thousand people snarked on Twitter the moment that quote dropped, if hatred towards an accused conservative sexual predator is a lethal weapon, how is O’Reilly still with us?
2) The notion that Ailes (and, reading between the lines, O’Reilly) were somehow victims of frothing, divisive hatred shows a lack of self-awareness that, frankly, is breathtaking. Then again, O’Reilly has spent a lot of his adult life watching Fox News.