Ideology and Virginia Tech

Visiting Dublin last week, I was struck by how anti-American the Irish press is. I mean, Eire is not France, the Irish people generally like Americans, and many of the Irish have family here.

But the reportage on America is shabby and sometimes downright dishonest. A reporter for the Irish Independent newspaper, for example, told readers that Fox News Chief Roger Ailes had callously compared Barrack Obama to Osama bin Laden. If you read the article, you'd think the company I work for assassinated Sen. Obama's character.

What really happened, of course, is that Mr. Ailes made a joke about President Bush mixing up the names "Obama" and "Osama." The jibe was directed at the president.

The reporter, a guy named Andrew Buncombe, surely knew that but distorted the truth to take a shot at what he believes is a "conservative" network. This kind of blatant dishonesty happens every day in the world press, which is now picking up garbage from American radical-left websites and printing the propaganda as fact.

Last Friday, I appeared on Ireland's version of "The Tonight Show," and the host had scores of cue cards from "Media Matters," the far-left Internet smear-factory.

When I asked the man why he was quoting from an obviously biased source, he blinked nervously and put down the cards.

There is no question that the anti-American media worldwide is now taking its cue from Americans, themselves. After all, if our own citizens are portraying the USA as evil, why would the foreign press not pick up on it?

Here's another illustration. Just hours after the Virginia Tech killer did his evil deeds, the far left websites began cranking up the hate.

On the Huffington Post this missive appeared: "Bush pretends he cares about life.

He has more blood on his hands than this guy (the Virginia Tech killer) or any other loser that senselessly kills."

That rant on Huffington had lots of competition, stuff like this: "Thirty-five innocent students have died because Republicans and George Bush were successful in using gun rights as a wedge issue."

Not to be outdone, the radical left Daily Kos posted this preposterous comment: "Compared to what the U.S. has unleashed in Iraq, this (the massacre) is pretty darn minor."

The day after those vicious postings appeared, the world press spit out waves of anti-American opinion. "Massacre in the Paradise of Weapons," blared a headline in the Buenos Aires Pagina.

"The United States should be looking at why these kinds of horrible crimes happen so often," offered Germany's "Der Spiegel."

Excuse me, but it might be instructive for the Germans and Argentines to take a look at their own societies and histories. Those nations have a track record of, well, dubious policies (to say the least).

The sad truth is that, at this point in American history, much of the world has turned against us. We are the villains, and only a more liberal governmental point of view can save us.

Deep inside his sanctuary somewhere in a remote part of the world, Osama bin Laden must be overcome with joy. Once again the world is turning away from lethal evil and directing its hostility in the wrong direction.

It's the 1930s all over again. God help us.

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Culture Warrior." To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. This column originates on the Web site www.billoreilly.com.

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