CREEPY LIAR

I used to enjoy watching The McLaughlin Group.

Lately, I've been finding it a bit too difficult to stomach Eleanor Clift's shrieking.

The problem is Clift isn't the worst member on the panel. Yes, she provides stiff competition; but the most annoying participant on the show has to be Lawrence O'Donnell, hands down.

O'Donnell is a man of many talents. He is a senior political analyst for MSNBC. He also is a writer and producer of the NBC series The West Wing.

During the "predictions" segment, at the end of this weekend's McLaughlin Group, slimy O'Donnell shamelessly plugged his series.

His prediction was that the new time slot for The West Wing would send its ratings through the roof.

Cute.

I don't think I'll ever be able to look at O'Donnell without thinking of his meltdown last October on MSNBC, just days before the presidential election.



The man flipped out in what should have been a career ending appearance.

Maybe it would have been the end for O'Donnell if he had thrown his hissy fit on a channel that people actually watch.

I think almost anything can happen on MSNBC and go unnoticed.

Luckily, the transcript of O'Donnell's memorable performance is preserved for posterity.

If you're not familiar with his crash and burn, read it.

As you can see, even a commercial break didn't help O'Donnell to compose himself when he went nuts over John O'Neill, author of Unfit for Command.

(Excerpt)

O‘DONNELL: You lie in that book endlessly claiming that reports belonged to Kerry that don‘t have his name on it, John O‘Neill.

You lie about documents endlessly. His name is not on the reports.

You‘re just lying about it.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: And you lied about Thurlow‘s Bronze Star. You lied about it as long as you could until “The New York Times” found the wording of what was on the citation that you, as a lying writer, refused to put in your pack-of-lies book.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: Disgusting, lying book.

BUCHANAN: John, let me ask you this.

O‘NEILL: And you, Larry, are a professional liar.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: You have no standards, John O‘Neill, as an author. And you know it. It‘s a pack of lies. You are unfit to publish.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘NEILL: There are 254 of us, Larry. It‘s a little hard to call us all liars.

BUCHANAN: All right, John O‘Neill, let me ask you a quick question. How do you know for certain that John Kerry wrote the after-action report that said the boats were under fire?

O‘NEILL: It has been tracked down specifically in...

O‘DONNELL: Lies.

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: Oh, let him talk.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: He just lies. He just spews out lies.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: Point to his name on the report, you liar. Point to his name, you liar. These are military records. Point to a name.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘NEILL: I will, if you‘ll shut up, Larry. You can‘t just scream everybody down.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: There‘s no name. You just spew lies.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘NEILL: ... let everybody talk, isn‘t...

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: Look, Lawrence, take it easy. You‘ve made your point.

We‘re going to take a break. We‘re going to give John O‘Neill a chance to answer that when we come back. We‘ll continue this discussion after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BUCHANAN: Welcome back.

We‘re talking with the author of “Unfit For Command,” John O‘Neill, and Lawrence O‘Donnell is with me here in the studio Washington.

BUCHANAN: We have an e-mail, Lawrence, that says: “Why is Mr. O‘Donnell so angry? In fact, why are Democrats so angry? If they don‘t calm themselves down, they‘re going to have a heart attack.”

O‘DONNELL: I just hate the lies of John O‘Neill.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: I hate lies.

BUCHANAN: I know. Now, you‘ve argued that these are lies, but let me suggest...

O‘DONNELL: It‘s not an argument. They‘re proven lies. Every single journalistic look at this book has ripped it apart, left it in shreds. O‘Neill is a liar. He‘s been a liar for 35 years about this. And he found other liars to...

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: Why cannot John Kerry‘s band of brothers and Max Cleland come on and take this...

O‘DONNELL: They have come on. They have told you. Every single person who served with John Kerry...

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: I‘ve gone through every single incident.

O‘DONNELL: O‘Neill never served with them, never met them until Vietnam. Everybody who was on that boat with Kerry says all of this stuff is a lie.

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: Why have none of them signed the sworn affidavits that admirals and others have signed?

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: Those affidavits have no legal meaning. They are fraudulent.

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: They‘re fraudulent? Twenty people got up and lied and signed their name to it?

O‘DONNELL: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: Because some of those people have signed their names to reports that say John Kerry‘s conduct in Vietnam was exemplary, reports written at the time. You can‘t sign both documents. They are lying somewhere.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘NEILL: Can I say one thing?

BUCHANAN: John O‘Neill, go ahead, John.

O‘NEILL: Pat, Mr. O‘Donnell has certainly shown he has a good pair of lungs.

But to try and return a little bit to just basic information, you asked the question, how do we know the report was written by Kerry? The first way we know that is that the other four officers that day, all four of them, say Kerry wrote it.

The second way we know it is the journalist Tom Lipscomb tracked the report to a Coast Guard cutter and proved that the only one on the cutter to write the report was John Kerry. Third, the report is compatible with John Kerry‘s account, which as late as the Democratic Convention.

O‘DONNELL: What are the initials on the report?

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: Let him finish.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘NEILL: Mr. O‘Donnell, this is what you all did to the POWs.

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: Just tell me the initials, you liar.

O‘NEILL: You‘re afraid of the American people getting the truth.

That‘s why you scream and you yell.

O‘DONNELL: Creepy liar.

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: Hey, listen, we don‘t need the personal insults to you.

O‘DONNELL: Does that matter to you? They‘re not his initials? Does that matter to you at all?

O‘NEILL: You‘re totally afraid of the truth. Can I speak or you‘re going to yell...

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: ... liar who makes things up.

(CROSSTALK)

Better yet, watch the video.


I won't call O'Donnell a liar, but I will call him creepy.