Bill O'Reilly apologized on-air Wednesday for calling liberal commentator Alan Colmes a liar during a particularly passionate outburst on his show the night before, saying that although he "should not have used that word," he stuck by his point.
O'Reilly unleashed on Colmes during a Tuesday night discussion over spending cuts, after the latter said the president promised to cut funds to entitlement programs like Medicare. "You are lying," O'Reilly shouted several times during the exchange.
O'Reilly explained that he and Colmes "got into it" during Tuesday's "shootout," but added that the president had never been "specific" about cuts to Medicare:
"Lots of folks talking about my shootout with Alan Colmes last night where I asked him what specific budget cuts President Obama has proposed. Colmes hemmed and hawed saying the president’s promising to cut Medicare or something. But the truth is Mr. Obama has not put forth any specific federal spending cuts. It's all a bunch of general nonsense and so Colmes and I got into it. Even though I’m sorry I said Alan was lying -- I should not have used that word -- I'm glad the exposition occurred."
Later on Thursday's show, O'Reilly launched into the same argument with Fox News analyst Kirsten Powers, who defended Colmes' statements from the night before.
When O'Reilly maintained that his proposals were not "specific enough," Powers hit back saying, "Because I use facts?"
