

Common read at a White House poetry event this week. (Cass Bird/AP)

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Rapper Common performed at the White House’s poetry event Wednesday night, spouting such controversial lines as, “I was dreaming I walked into the White House with love on my sleeve. And love for each and every one of you, reminding you to believe.”

Okay, so the poem turned out to be pretty agreeable.

But even though the performance has come and gone, Bill O’Reilly is still taking issue with the rapper — and a new target.

On O’Reilly’s “The Factor,” which aired before Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” Thursday night, the Fox host shifted his critique from Common to Jon Stewart. He challenged Stewart to a debate over comments that “The Daily Show” host made about Fox News’ objections to the rapper and his White House invitation on his Wednesday show.

According to O’Reilly, Stewart didn’t address the criticism that Common ”had defended two ... convicted cop killers,” referring to the rapper’s songs about Assata Shakur, who was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper, and Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was sentenced to death for killing a Philadelphia police officer.

If O’Reilly took issue with Stewart’s characterization of Fox on Wednesday, he may have more issues with Thursday’s.

While Stewart didn’t devote much time to O’Reilly’s comments, his few words were particularly strong. Stewart said that most people would interpret the message of Common’s White House performance as positive. But... “For those who huff only the heady mix of partisan hackery, character assassination and manufactured outrage known as ‘Fox-ygen,’ it looked a little ... more like this,” Stewart said before showing a clip of the parody song “I’m Black Y’All” from the mockumentary “CB4.”

“You get the sense that when Fox News hosts and pundits are done with their programs, they look both ways as they leave the office and run as fast as they ... can to their cars,” Stewart concluded.



It’s easy to predict that O’Reilly will have something to say about that when the two men face off next Monday on “The Factor.”