O'Reilly Flip-Flopped On Picking Debate Winner

One week before the first presidential debate, FOX News Channel host Bill O'Reilly promised his radio show listeners: "[W]e're going to give you a numerical system -- who won the debate and then how they won." Following the September 30 debate, however, as a consensus emerged that Senator John Kerry had "won" the debate, O'Reilly changed his mind. "I'm not going to tell you who won the debate because I really don't have any right to tell you that," he said.

Here's O'Reilly before the debate, on the September 23 broadcast of the nationally syndicated Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: We will be down in Miami for that debate, giving you the best coverage. And I'm going to do it like a prizefight. I'm going to kind of come on the radio the day after the debate, and we're going to give you a numerical system -- who won the debate and then how they won. Is that fair?

All right, I'm going to be as objective as possible, because I don't have a dog in the hunt.

And here's O'Reilly on the radio the day after the debate, on the October 1 broadcast of The Radio Factor:

O'REILLY: I may surprise you, but I'm not going to tell you who won the debate because I really don't have any right to tell you that. You should make up your own mind on that, and if you didn't see it, you can call me at 1-877-9-NO-SPIN. I'll give you my opinion on various aspects of the debate, but I'm not going to tell you who won it. I mean, I think that's a little haughty. It's a little haughty to do that.

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--from Media Matters