MSNBC's Lawrence O’Donnell Dismisses ‘Faux Irish Tough Guy’ Bill O’Reilly As A Mere ‘Joke’

(By Frances Martel, Mediaite) - The new, shaken up MSNBC 8 PM hour has been a relatively mum place in its infancy, at least with respect to how loud the anti-Fox News rhetoric once was there. It may have not hit the ground running, but tonight, Lawrence O’Donnell finally defined the post-”Special Comment” war on Bill O’Reilly and made one thing crystal clear: there will be no vein-popping fury at O’Reilly as long as O’Donnell has his say, because, at the end of the day, “he is just a joke.”

“When I look at O’Reilly, I also see dozens of guys I grew up with just like him: overbearing, argumentative Irish guys who think they know everything and can back up nothing. Those guys have always been a joke to me, which is why O’Reilly almost never has the capacity to outrage me. Because he is just a joke to me most of the time. But when he blares homicidal encouragement for killing physicians who perform abortions he deserves all the serious minded condemnation he has received.”