Oh, to be a megalomaniacal populist demagogue. Wouldn't it be great to feel so good about yourself? Too many of us struggle with self-esteem issues.

Think Progress reports that in an interview yesterday with Neil Cavuto, Bill O'Reilly claimed that his reporting helped force oil companies to lower gas prices. Here's the exchange:

O'REILLY: I have guys inside the five major oil companies -- my father used to work for one of those oil companies by the way -- who have told me that in those meetings they look for every way to jack up oil prices after Katrina, every way, when they didn't have to. They got scared because of my reporting and reporting of some others. They said, "Uh-oh."

CAVUTO: So wait a minute, you're not, you're taking credit for gas prices being down from where they are?

O'REILLY: I said my reporting and some reporting of others. They got scared.

That's right -- even Cavuto couldn't believe it.

This while O'Reilly uses the Christmas season to torch "godless secularists" who prattle on about the separation of church and state -- as well as others who would presume to know "what Jesus would do."

That's his job, after all.

(Image via Salon)

Technorati tags: Journalism, Bill O'Reilly, Craven Demagogues, Media