On the November 24 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News' Bill O'Reilly the runner-up in his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment, saying that O'Reilly “called the media watchdog site, Media Matters, quote, 'the most dishonest website in the country,' because, well, it accurately quoted him, lying.” Olbermann then read portions of O'Reilly's comments from the November 20 broadcast of his radio show, in which O'Reilly claimed: "[W]e said the other day that, in Minnesota, that the election commission had certified the election and that -- what's his name -- Coleman, the senator, had won by 215 votes, which is absolutely true." Olbermann then pointed out that O'Reilly's claim was not, in fact, true.
As Media Matters noted when O'Reilly first made the false claim on the November 18 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board did not certify “Coleman's victory,” nor did it certify “the election.” Rather, the board signed a statement on November 18 declaring, “Except for the offices of U.S. senator, state senator District 16, state representative Districts 12b and 16a, the candidates who received the highest number of votes cast for each office voted on in more than one county is hereby declared 'elected.' ” Moreover, contrary to O'Reilly's November 20 claim that he said “the election commission had certified the election,” Minnesota election law states, “If a recount is undertaken by a canvassing board” in elections including those for U.S. senator, “no certificate of election shall be prepared or delivered until after the recount is completed.”
From the November 24 broadcast of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:
OLBERMANN: Our runner-up: Nice to see Bill-O the clown has stayed in shape during my absence. He's called the media watchdog site, Media Matters, quote, “the most dishonest website in the country,” because, well, it accurately quoted him, lying. “We said the other day that, in Minnesota, that the election commission had certified the election and that -- what's his name -- Coleman, the senator, had won by 215 votes. ... So, what I said was, Coleman's victory was certified by the state because it was. He had 215 more votes, which is absolutely true. Absolutely true. OK? Rock solid; in stone. That's what they did.”
Except they didn't. Minnesota State Canvassing Board has not only not certified that election, last Tuesday, it specifically said that, quote, “except for the offices of U.S. senator, state senator District 16, state representatives Districts 12b and 16a, the candidates who received the highest number of votes cast for each office voted on in more than one county is hereby declared 'elected.' ” There is, in fact, a Minnesota law, 204-C.40, that specifically demands that if there is a recount, quote, “no certificate of election shall be prepared or delivered until after the recount is completed.”
The only thing rock solid here is Bill-O's head.
