The right has made some, shall we say, bizarre attempts to come to the defense of Bill O’Reilly. But prominent black conservative pastor Jesse Lee Peterson probably offered one of the worst, if not the worst, on Thursday. To hear Peterson talk, the ouster of O’Reilly was just another attempt by the big, bad libruls to bring down a strong conservative voice for good.
Peterson said—presumably with a straight face—that the dumping of O’Reilly amounted to “a modern day lynching of a straight Christian conservative white male of power.” No, this isn’t snark. Right Wing Watch got a clip.
To hear Peterson talk, white men of power like O’Reilly are “the only thing” keeping this country going—and the “children of the lie” (read: liberals, who are the devil’s offspring in Peterson’s world) are determined to bring down as many as possible.
The whole thing is even worse. Peterson laid into other people who are supposedly on “the side of good” for throwing O’Reilly under the bus once this story broke. He likened it to how Clarence Thomas’ confirmation was nearly derailed when the Democrats “drug Anita Hill out of the gates of hell” at the 11th hour. He thought that the rank and file people who are on “the side of good” should have boycotted anyone who unloaded O’Reilly. Don’t take my word for it—click over to my piece at Liberal America to listen to the whole thing. But be sure you’re sitting down.
What is at least as outrageous, if not more so, is what Peterson didn’t say. During his entire rant, he barely acknowledged the victims. I could be very wrong here, but Peterson was effectively saying that O’Reilly deserves unreserved support because of his history of standing up for “the side of good.” He was also saying—and again, I hope I’m wrong—that his accusers were being used by “the children of the lie.” This is coming from a guy who claims to be a pastor. Disgraceful.
Peterson’s stock in trade is “rebuilding the man” through his organization, the Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny. If O’Reilly is this guy’s idea of a rebuilt man, it’s time to take a wrecking ball to BOND. Let Peterson have it on Facebook and on Twitter.