On the January 15 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly said of Shawn Hornbeck -- who was abducted at the age of 11, held for four years, and recently found in Missouri -- that "there was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstances" and that he "do[esn't] buy" "the Stockholm syndrome thing." O'Reilly also said: "The situation here for this kid looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents. He didn't have to go to school. He could run around and do whatever he wanted." When fellow Fox News host Greta Van Susteren pointed out that "[s]ome kids like school," O'Reilly replied: "Well, I don't believe this kid did."

The following day, during his "Talking Points Memo" segment, O'Reilly responded to viewer mail criticizing his comments about Hornbeck. O'Reilly concluded: "I hope he did not make a conscious decision to accept his captivity because" his kidnapper "made things easy for him. No school, play all day long."

Now, we learn this:

Devlin pleaded guilty more then 70 times Tuesday to a litany of horrific crimes.

Among them, kidnapping then 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck at gunpoint, then submitting him to years of sexual abuse. "He bound Shawn Hornbeck, tied him to a futon or a couch inside the apartment and duct taped his mouth closed," assistant prosecutor Rob Livergood told the court.

Shawn stayed with Devlin for four and a half years and told the court why. He said he tried to kill Shawn, but the boy talked him out of it and agreed to pose as his son.

"This boy made ... this deal with the devil in order to save his own life. This in the throes of it when this guy had his hand around the little boy's throat," Washington County prosecutor John Rupp told the court. "If there is any doubt why this boy lived up to the agreement, it was because the defendant gave him one choice, this or death."

And O'Reilly claims to champion kids? I think Bill O'Reilly owes Shawn Hornbeck and his family a big F'n apology. What a jerk!

O'LIEly is NEVER wrong....
And he's a Libertarian for crying out loud!

The first two paragraphs of Vitalogy's above post:

© 2007 Media Matters for America.
All rights reserved.

Others snipped from what appears to be ABC News and the Associated Press.

Media Matters for America is a great organization. The following link shows what an asshole BO really is.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710100009

On this side of the aisle, I prefer:

http://www.newsbusters.org/

Hot off the press! From the highly credible and professional "Newsbusters":

"Secondly, Coulter had a notorious run-in earlier this year with Elizabeth Edwards on an MSNBC episode of "Harball." Coulter would have every motivation to repeat a salacious tabloid sex allegation about John Edwards."

Harball? Hairball? Hardball?

As O'Rielly would say when corner by a (wo)man bearing the truth, "Shut up! Shut up, Shut up!"

I know it's 3 years old - but I had never read the actual complaint.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1013043mackris1.html

How much did he settle for?

He won't say, but rumor has it, it was a few million.

Getting back to the crux of this post, why was O'Reilly such an ass to Shawn Hornbeck? Why would he assume the kid liked being held hostage? O'Reilly constantly hammers on judges who don't prosecute child molesters, why was he against Shawn?

My hunch is that O'Reilly doesn't care about boys, only girls that are subject to abuse. Why that is, I don't know.