Fox News host and former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee defended his series of "educational videos" Thursday by drawing a comparison between himself and Steven Spielberg.
Retired New York City firefighter Jim Riches lashed out at Huckabee Tuesday for the latest in his series of "Learn Our History" cartoons, which offers children a slanted retelling of the horrific 9/11 attacks.
"I think he has no shame at all," Riches told MSNBC Martin Bashir. "It's like blood money... Going out there trying to make money off the bodies of dead people. I saw the video. The video is -- it should be done by educators and child psychiatrists, not done by politicians. They don't know what they're doing."
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly allowed Huckabee to respond to Riches Thursday, giving his cartoons a free plug in the process.
"Nothing surprises me anymore when we are talking about networks like BS-NBC and others who go after conservatives," Huckabee opined. "It's to take kids through American history in a positive way... You know, it's, again, very frustrating that this network, who has fewer viewers than you have people going to the bathroom during a break, go after us like this."
Riches "looks like he is annoyed that you may be making money from this exposition," O'Reilly noted.
"The irony is Michael Moore made $222 million off of Fahrenheit 9/11. I don't remember anybody on that network screaming about blood money or talking about the profiteering," Huckabee complained.
"This is like saying that Steven Spielberg was cashing in on World War II or the Holocaust because he made [Saving] Private Ryan and Schindler's List. I mean, that's absurd."
"This is actually helping you because it brings the DVDs to the attention of millions of people who might not know about them," O'Reilly concluded. "So, it does work in your favor as well."
Huckabee has planned as many as 75 cartoons for $19.95 each. The first episodes, revealed in May, taught kids to idolize Reagan and suggested Hitler worked alongside skinheads in 1938.
