Apparently, the talking heads over at Fox News have now decided to attack the father of recovered POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl due to the way he looks. It really was only a matter of time. With questions surrounding Bergdahl’s actions prior to his capture by the Taliban, and his views on America as a whole, Bob Bergdahl, his father, has now become a target due to both his appearance and some statements he’s made recently. Basically, because Bob Bergdahl has grown a beard to mark the time his son has been held captive, and he has taught himself Pashto, the language used by the Taliban, Fox media figures have decided Bergdahl must be a Muslim, a terrorist sympathizer and perhaps a member of the Taliban himself.
On Monday night, during an episode of The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly decided to lay into Bob Bergdahl. During O’Reilly’s ‘Talking Points Commentary’ segment, which started with O’Reilly ripping the Obama Administration and expressing disgust and surprise at the number of ‘scandals’ the White House has suffered recently (with absolutely NO HELP from Fox News, I’m sure), O’Reilly decided to attack Bob Bergdahl for both the way he looked and Bergdahl’s audacity for learning another language and not hating Muslims.
“But it is Robert Bergdahl, the father, who is also engendering some controversy. He has learned to speak Pashto, the language of the Taliban, and looks like a Muslim. He is also somewhat sympathetic to Islam, actually thanking Allah right in front of the president.”
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Below is video from Fox News:
Well, Tuesday morning, Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends decided to take the ball and run with it. During a discussion of Bob Bergdahl, where Kilmeade said that Bob Bergdahl had recently made some anti-American comments, Kilmeade made the following statement about Bob Bergdahl’s beard:
“Really? I mean, he says he was growing his beard because his son was in captivity. Well, your son’s out now. So if you really don’t — no longer look like a member of the Taliban, you don’t have to look like a member of the Taliban. Are you out of razors?”
Below is video of Kilmeade’s remarks, courtesy of Raw Story:
Ugh. Have we really sunk this far when it comes to our level of discourse? We now have news personalities claiming that someone is a terrorist because of the way that person looks? Seriously? At the same time, I’d doubt highly that either Bill O’Reilly or Brian Kilmeade would say that Phil Robertson or his clan of bearded grifters look like members of the Taliban. Of course, that’s because Robertson is a real ‘Murican who loves the Bible, so he can’t be a Muslim terrorist. However, Bob Bergdahl, whose son has a very conflicted tale, must be an anti-American Muslim terrorist sympathizer because he has made some statements and expressed sentiments that run contrary to the xenophobic narrative of Fox News. And he has a big beard.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
