Bill O’Reilly seems unbothered by Bill Maher calling him a liar, but rants at David Axelrod

As questions continue to swirl around his reporting, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly painted himself and his network as the target of a conspiracy on Monday.

"If FNC did not exist, America'd be a far different place, and the far-left ideology would have a far easier time. But we do exist, and now dominate the primetime news cycle. Not good news for progressive politicians, the liberal media and crazed zealots on both sides," he argued. "Therefore, meetings are held strategies devised, political assassins hired. Is there any doubt for whom they are gunning?"

O'Reilly singled out former presidential advisor David Axelrod for criticism, following Axelrod's telling Bill Maher on Friday that "Fox News isn't a real news organization. And Bill O'Reilly isn't a real journalist."

The Factor host accused Axelrod of acting hypocritically when he ripped the network not long after appearing on his show for an interview promoting his new book.

"That was a mistake," O'Reilly warned. "Being two-faced? Not a legacy-builder, Dave. Perhaps he just made a verbal mistake. If so, we are ready to accept Mr. Axelrod's apology."

However, O'Reilly did not respond to Maher calling him "a blatant, bald-assed liar" that same night.

O'Reilly's remarks came hours after by investigative reporter Edward Jay Epstein undermining his claim that he was nearby when a friend of Lee Harvey Oswald's, George de Mohrenschildt, shot and killed himself inside his daughter's home.

"How do I know? I was the actual -- and only -- reporter interviewing de Mohrenschildt on the last day of his life in 1977" Epstein wrote.

Instead of presenting evidence to contradict not only Epstein's account, but reporting by Media Matters and MSNBC, O'Reilly said that his network and the Wall Street Journal editorial page are the only two national news agencies challenging "the progressive agenda with authority."

"MSNBC and CNN are getting hammered economically by Fox News, so those agencies are hungry to participate in the attack process," he said. "The failure of those operations to compete effectively against us has cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. Some who work for those channels are desperate, their own jobs now in jeopardy."

Watch O'Reilly's commentary, as posted online on Monday, below.