Goldberg cited a number of quotes from Costas bashing Putin during the Olympics on the air, and so determined that rather than being borne out of genuine outrage, the whole thing’s been terribly overblown by conservative news outlets.

“[This is about] a constant need for a supply of bad guys and controversies, and the controversies can’t be small controversies, because that’s not interesting enough, so every little thing has to become a big controversy because that’s good for business.”

He reminded O’Reilly of the freakout over President Obama shaking Raul Castro‘s hand and said it just adds to the “depressing puzzle” of the right’s “constant need for controversy.”