February 23, 2015

On Sunday morning, Bill O'Reilly went on Fox News with Howie Kurtz and trashed former CBS reporter Eric Engberg for calling BillO out over his own personal Brian Williams moment. On Monday, another former CBS News colleague of O'Reilly's named Charles Krause was interviewed by Media Matters and he trashed BillO as well, calling his claims "absurd."

Another one of Bill O'Reilly's former colleagues at CBS News is casting doubt on his claims that he reported from a "combat situation" in Buenos Aires during the Falklands War.

Charles Krause, a CBS News correspondent from 1980 to 1983 who reported from Buenos Aires during the same period as O'Reilly, is the latest to contradict the Fox News host. In an interview with Media Matters, Krause called O'Reilly's descriptions of his reporting "absurd."

He also recalls O'Reilly being there for a short period of time and not having "any significant role in our coverage of the war."

"I don't recall him doing any major story that anybody remembers and he was there a very short time, then he was recalled, I don't know why," Krause said. "He wasn't a team player and people thought he was grandstanding, basically."

I must admit I'm enjoying this very much.

"That's absurd because Buenos Aires was Buenos Aires," Krause said about the war zone claim in an interview Sunday. "It was just like it always was, there was very little evidence of the war in Buenos Aires. The war was being fought thousands of miles away."

Krause said he was one of the first reporters there covering the conflict and stayed through the end of hostilities.

"The only danger that we were in was we were staying at the Sheraton Hotel, which was this massive, modern tower overlooking the city. We were in no danger whatsoever," he said. "Except for people who had never been there before and didn't speak Spanish and might have felt a little bit odd. I had lived in Buenos Aires, there wasn't any particular danger. After the U.S. supported Britain there were some anti-American demonstrations a little bit and if you went out it was better not to advertise the fact you were American."

Krause also said he does not recall any CBS cameraman being injured and bleeding, as O'Reilly contends. According to Stelter, "CNN has interviewed seven people who were there for CBS, and none of them recall anyone from the network being injured." The photographer, identified by O'Reilly as Robert Moreno, declined to comment to CNN.

Everyone seems to be forgetting that Bill O'Reilly settled a very expensive sexual harassment suit with Andrea Mackris some years ago.

I bet you forgot O'Reilly, The Opera.


It's based on transcripts of BillO's phone conversation that landed him in hot water:

The piece is a setting of the sexual harassment complaint lodged against Fox News pundit, Bill O’Reilly, by staff producer, Andrea Mackris, in October 2004 and recorded at its world premiere in January 2007. It includes all memorable moments from the original complaint and more – paranoid rants, clumsy sexual innuendo, and the famous falafel fantasy. Composer Igor Keller has produced this concert-length work in the form of a baroque oratorio, in the style of an updated Handel’s Messiah, for 28-piece chamber orchestra, 26-voice chorus and three soloists. It’s an oratorio for the 21st century!

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