Bill O'Reilly wants you to know that slavery wasn't that bad

from http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/27/1553097/-Bill-O-Reilly-wants-you-to-know-that-slavery-wasn-t-that-bad?_=2016-07-27T06:17:16.751-07:00?detail=email&link_id=2&can_id=044d338b965603b306dd9a511d6b2cea&source=email-elizabeth-warren-gets-under-donnies-very-thin-skin-again&email_referrer=elizabeth-warren-gets-under-donnies-very-thin-skin-again&email_subject=elizabeth-warren-gets-under-donnies-very-thin-skin-again


"While the rest of the world was busy being smitten all over again with Michelle Obama's grace, intelligence, and eloquence, Bill O'Reilly still had time to take offense.  

In one of the most powerful moments of her Monday speech, the first lady reminded the nation of an essential truth.

"I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn." 

It's a statement that swiftly pulls together the sweep of history, bringing ugly facts often hidden in the "Founding Fathers" glow of the past, against moving evidence of real progress—of history's arc bending joyfully toward justice.

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However, Bill O'Reilly wants to take this moment, in his role as national historical revisionist, to inform everyone that slaves were just fine.

On his program, "The O'Reilly Factor," Tuesday night, the top-rated cable news host said working conditions were relatively favorable for slaves who helped build the White House more than 200 years ago.

"Slaves that worked there were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802," O'Reilly explained. "However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor."

Conditions were "relatively favorable for slaves." Who were slaves. And some of them worked for subcontractors … because that's important."