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Well, first thing, his claim was that there were no or later on very few homeless veterans. It doesn't particularly matter what reason he gives for them being homeless, he still was wrong and refused to admit the fact.
Well, I can't see your videos thanks to a firewall, but I've seen O'Reilly jump up and down about this subject more than once and he hasn't denied their existance. He's angry that people are using the economy as a reason for it. Furthermore, he encourages more to be done to help them.
Here's a transcript of one of his Talking Points and an interview immediately following:
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But first, let's look at our pal John Edwards, who's running for president. Edwards contends there are two Americas, one for the rich and the other for everybody else. And that everybody else is getting hosed. The fix is in, the economy's rigged.
"Talking Points" doesn't believe that. Of course the rich do have advantages, but I am living proof that you can start with very little and prosper economically if you work hard and keep it honest. To hype up this class warfare, Edwards is now bringing in homeless veterans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARDS: Tonight, across this country, 200,000 men and women who wear our uniform and can serve this country patriotically, veterans, will go to sleep under bridges and on grates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Now I've said on this program that we will pay for homeless veterans to be taken to the Edwards mansion in North Carolina for shelter. Of course, that's an immature remark, I know that, but there's a reason I'm saying it. Certainly there are homeless veterans, but it's not because of the economy. It's mostly because of addiction and mental illness, something politicians can do little about. But if Edwards admits the truth, it takes away the class warfare issue, which is his only issue. My criticism of Edwards has reached his own ears.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARDS: I heard that last night Bill O'Reilly, who's a talk show host, just heard that I had said this about hundreds of thousands of veterans who don't have a place to live and were homeless. And he challenged me about whether that's true or not. Whether in fact we have that many veterans who don't have a place to live, and some of them are sleeping under bridges. Well, he ought to start by coming to Las Vegas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Fine. Here's the truth about poverty in America, Mr. Edwards. Listen up. You might learn something. And you need the lesson.
If you earn less than $10,000, you are poor. If a family of four earns less than $21,000, they are poor. Yet according to the government census, poor households in America have lots of stuff. 97 percent have a color TV, 78 percent a DVD player, 80 percent an air conditioner, 73 percent a car or truck, 63 percent cable or satellite TV, and 43 percent of poor households in the USA own the home they are living in.
So if the poor are not destitute in America, and they obviously are not, why are so many veterans sleeping under bridges, John Edwards? The answer again they're mostly addicted or mentally ill. It has nothing to do with the economy.
Edwards is a charlatan, a man either too uninformed or too dishonest to be elected to anything. I am tired of hearing this nonsense from him and other callow politicians. We deal with facts here on "The Factor", not fiction. John Edwards owes us an apology. And that's a Memo.
Now for the top story tonight, reaction to this. Joining us from Washington, Cheryl Beversdorf, the CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Here in New York City, our pal Joseph Califano, the president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, and author of the very fine book "High Society: How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What to Do About It."
All right, am I out of line here?
JOSEPH CALIFANO: Without dealing with Edwards directly at this point...
O'REILLY: Oh, you're a Democrat. You don't want to...
CALIFANO: Now wait a minute. But let me give you the facts on substance abuse. Our work and most of the research will show that about 90 percent of the homeless in this country have drug problems or alcohol problems or both. And most of those people also have mental health problems of one kind of another...
O'REILLY: OK, so that includes the veterans, too.
CALIFANO: The veterans -- we have 200,000 veterans who are homeless.
O'REILLY: Right.
CALIFANO: We have about 754,000 people who are out on the streets on any given night in the United States.
O'REILLY: OK, so 90 percent you're saying.
CALIFANO: Now one factor, a very important fact about the veterans. I mean, the veterans are -- the real tragedy here is most of those veterans have had combat experience that are suffering from drug and alcohol problems and mental health problems. And we are not taking care of them.
O'REILLY: And that is something that should be addressed.
CALIFANO: The Veterans Administration spends about half a billion dollars a year in substance abuse treatment and methanol maintenance for the heroin addicts. But that's not enough.
O'REILLY: OK.
CALIFANO: And it's not a...
O'REILLY: Nobody is arguing that, Mr. Califano.
CALIFANO: OK.
O'REILLY: What we're arguing about is this is being demagogued by a guy who's trying to put up a phony scenario, Ms. Beversdorf, that it's poverty driving the people who are in trouble out on the street. It isn't poverty. It is as Mr. Califano defined abuse of substance and mental health problems, which I think everyone agrees, particularly with combat veterans, should be addressed in a very urgent and aggressive way. But that's not what Edwards is saying, madam.
CHERYL BEVERSDORF, NAT'L COALITION FOR HOMELESS VETS: Well, I think that's true. I mean, there's a number of things that I want to comment on. First of all, using the figure of 200,000, I keep hearing about the fact that they're on the street. A homeless veteran may not necessarily be on the street. A homeless veteran could be in a community-based organization, which is the kinds of organizations that we represent, that provide support of services and housing for these individuals. They could be living with relatives. They could be...
O'REILLY: OK, but that's not what John Edwards is saying. He's clearly saying they're on the street.
BEVERSDORF: Well...
O'REILLY: Nobody will help them. The reason it is because the economy's terrible, because the rich people are taking stuff. We have a military analyst named Colonel David Hunt. He works with veterans who are in trouble up in Boston. And just as you said, just as you said, madam, there are places for them to go. There are services. We know they need more.
But here's what I want to get into with both of you. And I know you don't want to assassinate any characters, Joe. I know that. But this is wrong for a major presidential candidate to demagogue this issue and try to tell the people it's America's economic system that's causing this problem, is a lie, it's wrong, he should be called on it. And the resources should be put into the -- where you want them to try to make these people better.
I see little in in that transcript that's disagreeable or disrespectful of the troops. Also your second point in which you accuse O'Reilly of not understanding the nature of war and not caring about their mental health services is directly rebutted.
30 May 2008, 10:42 am
