As we continue to report on Fox News host Bill O’Reilly stepping up to assist the family of a fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder with their mounting legal bills, here’s a look back at where it all began.
In June, 2006 on Fox News Channel’s “The Big Story Prime Time,” Julie Banderas interviewed Matthew’s father Albert. In a separate interview, she talked with Shirley Phelps Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church who picketed Matthew’s funeral a few months earlier.
In a moment of must-see-TV news, Banderas takes on Phelps Roper, who fires right back, with a slew of Bible passages, taunts and eternal damnation.
> Update: An emailer reminds us that radio talk show host Michael Smerconish interviewed Fred Phelps on this case while guest hosting on MSNBC, on April 11, 2006.
And like O’Reilly, Smerconish is writing his own check to the Snyder family and encouraging his audience to as well.