Continuing his pattern of denying his own controversial remarks when confronted with them, FOX News host Bill O'Reilly denied claiming that “the progressive movement” uses the term “economic justice” to advocate socialism. When a caller to O'Reilly's radio show objected to O'Reilly's remarks about progressives earlier in the program, O'Reilly simply denied making them.

From the December 1 broadcast of Westwood One's nationally syndicated The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

CALLER: I just kinda resent ... creating evil monsters out there, like Rush Limbaugh did. Rush went out and defined what liberals are. And said they're evil because what they really want is to ... take from the rich and give to the poor. Let everybody stay -- and that's ridiculous. I think you're doing the same thing with defining what progressives are. “What they really want is socialism”? No --

O'REILLY: I didn't say that. The professor [Indiana University history professor Michael E. McGerr, who was a guest earlier in the show] said they want “economic justice.” Economic justice.

In fact, barely ten minutes earlier on the same program, O'Reilly had explicitly (and baselessly) interpreted McGerr's use of “economic justice” as advocating “a socialistic system.” McGerr was discussing the history of progressivism in the United States:

McGERR: I think, like most Americans, progressives think really only in terms of their own country not as much being somebody else. They want what they would call “economic justice,” which is something progressives have wanted for a century. And, which they wanna use the power of the state to try and create more economic equality.

[...]

O'REILLY: All right, when you talk about economic justice, that means they want a socialistic system where the government controls the money. So if you're wealthy, the government takes that from you and then gives it to other people to try to boost them up.