I agree 100% with O'Reilly.
O
Discussing the media coverage of Whitney Houston's death with conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly got Matt Lauer to lose his composure during a "Today??? show segment Thursday.
During an interview with O'Reilly, Lauer brought up the Fox News host's controversial comments after Houston's death last weekend in which he said the singer, who had a long history of documented addiction, "wanted to kill herself. Nobody takes drugs that long if they want to stay on the planet."
Lauer told O'Reilly that a lot of people view addiction as a disease ??? and then the fireworks started.
PHOTOS: WHITNEY HOUSTON, 1963-2012
"I don???t believe that anyone is a slave to addiction," O'Reilly said. "I believe it is a disease, it's a mental disease, but you have free will and you can get through the disease, as millions of people have chosen to do it.
"You don???t have free will when you have lung cancer. You do have free will when you???re a crack addict."
O'Reilly didn't stop there, chiding the American media for "looking the other way on Whitney Houston."
"Everybody knew she was a drug addict for two decades," he said, complaining that he had never seen a public service announcement from a celebrity urging the public to not follow Houston, Elvis and Janis Joplin???s examples.
Lauer, though, disagreed abut the media's handling of Houston's tribulations over the years. "I have seen dozens of stories over the years detailing the addiction, the erratic behavior, the denial of behavior," he said.
"You know what we in the media do, Lauer, we wink-wink it," retorted O'Reilly, pointing to the glorification of open pot smokers like Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson.
"Are journalists supposed to be in the business of conducting interventions," asked Lauer.
"They're supposed to be in the business of telling the truth ...," answered O'Reilly.
To which Lauer could be heard muttering, "Oh, for ..."
"... and the truth is if you get into hard drugs you can go at any time," O'Reilly continued.
The exchange lasted just over two minutes, before Lauer tried to shift to O'Reilly's book "Killing Lincoln.??? ???Let???s move on a little, because you and I could do this for hours,??? said Lauer.
???Because I???d always be right,??? O???Reilly quipped.
???I know you???d always think you???re right,??? Lauer said.
Read more: Whitney Houston
O