We Distort, You Deride, Scott Co. State's Attorney Bill Davis gets the Fox "fair and balanced" treatment

Scott County State's Attorney Bill Davis has found himself a victim of typical Fox news lies and distortion by Bill O'Reilly, the bombastic blow-hard and kinky phone-sex aficionado (Falafel anyone?) Surprise, surprise, O'Reilly and his guest distorted and blatantly lied about Davis in their attempt to feed red meat to the gullible right-wing morons in their audience. O'Lielly, who calls his show the "No-Spin Zone", spun a local story like mad to try to rile up the fundy rubes that soak up his drivel like so many sponges. And notice how the Dispatch felt it necessary to put "lies" in quotes in the headline. I guess a blatant lie isn't a lie when it's uttered by the right wing.

Scott County prosecutor miffed by Fox `lies'
Bill Davis is riled about The O'Reilly Factor.
The veteran Scott County prosecutor said a guest on Bill O'Reilly's show on the Fox News Channel disregarded the facts from an interview with him Tuesday.

"I was stunned. I wasn't misquoted. They actually lied about what I said," Mr. Davis said Friday.

Lis Wiehl, a Fox News legal analyst, interviewed Mr. Davis over the phone about Rebecca Mann, who was arrested May 8 in Davenport and charged with public intoxication and prostitution.

Davenport police say Ms. Mann, who was 7½ months pregnant, had a blood-alcohol limit more than three times Iowa's legal limit to drive. The officer originally charged her with child endangerment for being drunk and pregnant. Mr. Davis said he stated the arresting officer's "heart was in the right place" by charging her.

On the show that aired Tuesday, Mr. O'Reilly said Ms. Mann "walks out the door with no charges."

That, Mr. Davis said, was a lie.

"They portrayed it as if I was confused, the country bumpkin, and that I dropped all of the charges, which is untrue," Mr. Davis said.

Ms. Mann still faces charges of prostitution and public intoxication, court records show.

Mr. Davis only dropped the child endangerment charge against Ms. Mann on Monday because Iowa law says a fetus is not considered a child.

Ms. Wiehl said Mr. Davis should have tried to take Ms. Mann off the street until her baby was born. Ms. Mann bonded out of the Scott County Jail hours before the show aired.

Mr. Davis also was critical of the show's portrayal of his role in the case.

Ms. Wiehl said Mr. Davis "threw his arms up" because Iowa doesn't have a law protecting fetuses. She later said "any regular person, not a prosecutor, would say I'm going to have to look out for this fetus."

"It's a low-level beef to him (Davis), right?" Mr. O'Reilly asked Ms. Wiehl.

"Yes, but it shouldn't be," she responded.

Ms. Wiehl continued her attack on Mr. Davis by saying with the facts of the case, Mr. Davis could have done more.

"A prosecutor can always find a way. There is some charge. There's some avenue to go with," Ms. Wiehl said.

But Mr. Davis said he has done all he could according to the letter of the law. The facts of the case only warranted the prostitution and public intoxication charge. As for keeping her in jail, Mr. Davis has no say in it.

"What really upsets me is that we are a nation of laws, but they don't want that," he said. "There is no criminal charge for endangering the well-being of an unborn child."

Since being discussed on The O'Reilly Factor, Mr. Davis has been inundated with e-mails and phone calls from all over the country who are disgusted with his treatment of the case. A few have apologized after Mr. Davis told them the show was full of errors.

"I'm just flabbergasted that people take his (O'Reilly's) word as scripture," Mr. Davis said.

Dana Klinghoffer, spokesperson for Fox News, said Mr. Davis shouldn't be angry with Mr. O'Reilly because Ms. Wiehr was only a guest on the show.

Until Ms. Mann's next court appearance on May 26, Mr. Davis can do little to her.

"She has rights to her privacy, and we have the right to inform the Department of Human Services to her and her child," he said. "I can tell you we've done our job, and they're doing theirs."

Davis should visit Media Matters for America and find out how this is business as usual for "Faux News" and the rest of the right wing noise machine.