By Brad Friedman on 1/16/2009, 2:15pm PT  

TV and Radio flim-flam artist and Bush-era dinosaur Bill O'Reilly told listeners of his radio show today that his role in the next few years will be "to be Paul Revere." (Audio clip at end of article.)

O'Reilly had little explanation for his new-found patriotism and why he had decided, over the last eight years, to be a front line general for "the British" instead.

During much of this morning's Radio Factor w/ Bill O'Reilly, which he will soon be leaving for good, he chided so-called "Bush haters" who believe in accountability for the soon-to-be-former "President," for their unwillingness to simply "move ahead" and ignore the myriad crimes of the outgoing Administration.

The phrase, oft-repeated this morning by the wanna-be-patriot O'Reilly, was reminiscent of similar "get over it, move on" admonitions proffered by his ilk when Bush was awarded the Presidency by the Supreme Court in late 2000 despite his opponent, Al Gore, having received more votes in Florida [PDF] and across the entire nation.

"Move on" then, "move ahead" now, warns the new Paul Revere who has previously noticed no British either coming nor going...

As if the irony or the hypocrisy --- take your pick --- weren't enough, O'Reilly even claimed that he had been critical of George W. Bush when he first took office, for his willingness to "move ahead," instead of bringing accountability for whatever O'Reilly thought the outgoing Clinton ought to have been held accountable for.

"I even criticized him for it at the time," O'Reilly told his confused listeners. Apparently, it was the pardon of Marc Rich which O'Reilly believed Clinton ought to have been held accountable for. But bringing accountability to Bush "hurts the country," he now says.

So, when Bush failed to bring accountability to a former President for a questionable pardon of a political ally, and decided to "move ahead" instead, it was worthy of criticism from America's soon-to-be Paul Revere.

But when Constitutional scholars, legal authorities, and other actual patriots across the land now believe that Bush should be held accountable for, among other things: the unnecessary and violent deaths of thousands of American troops, and hundreds of thousands of others, through the waging of an illegal war based on known lies; the admitted violation of federal law, over and over again; the outing of a covert CIA asset (who had been monitoring the transport of WMD in the Middle East) for little more than cynical political ambition; the abuse of power in the illegal politicization across the the U.S. Dept. of Justice; proud violations of the Geneva Conventions; the illegal torture and abuse of prisoners held without charges, for years on end, across the world; and myriad other instances of violations of his oath of office to protect and defend the people of the United States and the U.S. Constitution, O'Reilly is against it. All of it. Because it "hurts the country."

With Paul Reveres like that, who needs Benedict Arnolds?

More later, after we clean the coffee out of our keyboard.

UPDATE: Here's the audio of Mr. Revere from today's Radio Factor. Two quick clips, one in response to a caller who feels O'Reilly should run for President, and the second, in response to a caller who feels he should bring more accountability to Rep. Barney Frank (appx. 2:15 mins)...

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