On his Thursday broadcast, host Bill O’Reilly reacted to Wednesday night’s mass killing at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, SC that resulted in the deaths of nine people, in what he called “a bad day for America.”
O’Reilly declared the incident to be an act of terror and compared to the efforts of ISIS and al Qaeda.
“No question, that was an act of terror, no different that what ISIS and al Qaeda does — targeting civilians because of who they are,” O’Reilly said. “In this case, skin color seems to be the motivator. This is not a tragedy. This is an execution designed to terrorize people just like the Boston marathon bombing and the mass murder at Ft. Hood, TX.”
Later in his “Talking Points Memo” segment, he criticized those that would use the tragedy as evidence to condemn the United States.
“Sadly, there are those who will condemn America as being a violent place where racial animus is the rule and not the exception,” he added. “That is a lie. This is a nation of 320 million people who have freedoms beyond those in most other countries. We have 50 individual states that regulate public safety because each state is different with a unique set of circumstances. The United States is not Finland or Spain or even Canada where central authority basically rules.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor