Salon Vs. O’Reilly

Our current issue of the Commentator features a clever “O’Reilly Factor binge drinking game” penned by Brett Callahan (I believe). But I admit that I haven’t watched The Factor since this past summer, when I last had access to satellite television. I currently have bunny ears which pick up local networks and the much-maligned OPB, which I have been called to task for defending (even after I ripped Bill Moyers in print).

But to get to the point… Salon is challenging O’Reilly to an email debate with editor Gary Kamiya after Bill clearly used quotes out-of-context from a piece Kamiya wrote addressing the conundrum anti-war protestors faced after the fall of Saddam. If you don’t read Salon, then you may remember that Sullivan linked to the piece not too long ago.

Frankly, I’m rooting for Salon to pull O’Reilly out of the studio and into neutral territory. And I hope he loses. Have you ever read one of Bill O’Reilly’s columns? They’re awful. They read just like his talking points sound— condescending. The guy will never survive a debate where he can’t cut off the opposition’s mic.

I stopped being a fan sometime ago, certainly after he compared Eminem to Al-Queda. The guy’s an asshole. I don’t care if he can take Rosie O’Donnell and Janeane Garofalo in a debate. (Though his exchange with Amiri Baraka is still classic stuff…)

I have copies of both of his books if anybody wants them. He goes after Hillary Clinton! He goes after Al Sharpton! He goes after the ACLU! But it’s all fair and balanced.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2003 at 20:22 by pete and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.