Letterman takes on O’Reilly
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was put into the no-spin zone in his recent visit to “The Late Show With David Letterman,” as a seemingly fed-up Letterman decided to take O’Reilly to task on his views on Iraq and Cindy Sheehan, and his questionable journalism.
(You can watch video of the interview here and read the transcript here.)
O’Reilly has been on Letterman’s show numerous times before, but Letterman has never attacked O’Reilly with the ferocity with which he did during this most recent encounter.
It all got rolling when Letterman stated that the situation in Iraq has turned into a complete mess, which O’Reilly conceded was true, but argued that complaining about the administration wasn’t going to help anything and that we should all shut up. Letterman said we shouldn’t be there in the first place, then brought up the plight of people like Cindy Sheehan, who has protested the effort ever since she lost a son in combat. But O’Reilly brushed her off as someone being orchestrated by the far left, with nothing to back up his claim.
A somewhat flustered Letterman was obviously disgusted by the remark as he proceeded to take it to the next level, saying that because O’Reilly has never lost a family member in conflict that he “can hardly speak for her.” He then began to take shots at O’Reilly’s show — “The O’Reilly Factor ” — which Letterman said wasn’t fair and balanced.
“I’m not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling, I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap.”
Letterman didn’t exactly come off well though when he admitted that he didn’t watch “The O’Reilly Factor.” If he did watch it, he’d know that it’s about 90 percent crap.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Part of the problem with O’Reilly in general, but more specifically his comments about Cindy Sheehan, is the ethnocentricity that allows him to make a statement like “no way a terrorist who blows up women and children is going to be called a freedom fighter on my program.”
I don’t know that Cindy Sheehan agrees with the methods of “terrorists”, but atleast she can understand why they do what they do. The point is not whether it is right or wrong, but simply to have an understanding of why it is done.
I am also certain that terrorists are not the only ones who blow up women and children. Our president himself said that he estimates “30,000, more or less” Iraqis have died as a result of the war. I’m guessing that 30,000 includes some women and children.
January 6th, 2006 at 11:10 am
Did you ever see the SNL O’Reilly factor sketch in which Bill debates even the most obvious facts and yells “This is a no spin zone!” repeatedly? It’s pretty funny.