Tonight Bill O'Reilly, apparently oblivious to the fact that others at his own network have contributed greatly to inflaming the Birther madness, attacked Lou Dobbs for pushing the story. He then turned around and defended Dobbs' shameless Birther ratings pandering.

A few days ago the Southern Poverty Law Center called on CNN to fire Dobbs. In a letter to the cable news network, SPLC President Richard Cohen said that "respectable news organizations should not employ reporters willing to peddle racist conspiracy theories and false propaganda," so O'Reilly invited Cohen on his show to discuss the issue. After attacking Dobbs for peddling the widely dispelled conspiracy theory in the segment's opening, O'Reilly vigorously defended Dobbs for what he sees as merely "bloviating" to "stir the pot" on a hot-button issue to improve his crappy ratings, something O'Reilly has no ethical issues with, as we're all too well aware.

So to summarize: O'Reilly is disgusted with Dobbs for giving credibility to the insane Birther movement, but he has no issue with Dobbs flying the Birther freak flag on the air to spark controversy and enhance his ratings. Are you as confused as we are?

What's funny about this clip is that Cohen kind of kisses O'Reilly's ass in a "I know you'd never do such things for ratings Bill" sort of way, and we can't tell if his comments were laced with sarcasm or if he's just never watched O'Reilly's show before. You decide.