The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

28 October 2006

David Letterman, Bill O'Reilly

LOGIC VS EMOTION

Against O'Reilly, Letterman's In Over His Head






In a testy rematch of their previous late night bout, Bill O'Reilly and David Letterman duked it out over Iraq, President Bush and the upcoming elections. And once again, Letterman tried to use name- calling and emotional outbursts to win the argument, with no more success than the last time around.

For his part, O'Reilly remained calm, stuck to the facts and made his case that regardless of how one may have felt about the war in Iraq from the beginning, it makes no sense to exit now without a sensible plan. Letterman, however, could barely contain his unhinged inner rage, hurling more nasty insults at Bill.

Calling the FOX News Channel talker a "bonehead" and accusing him of utilizing "artificial facts", the Late Show host admitted he has no idea how to find the FOX News Channel on his dial and apparently has never seen The O'Reilly Factor. Bringing no facts to the table, Letterman made an emotional argument that based on the number of casualties, Americans shouldn't be in Iraq.

Dave also accused O'Reilly, Limbaugh and others of faking their stances, in what he called "horsing around".

Here's how the AP is covering the story today:


NEW YORK - David Letterman and Bill O'Reilly got into it last night about the war in Iraq on Letterman's late night show.

Letterman called the Fox commentator a "bonehead" and O'Reilly told Letterman to "stop it" when Letterman questioned whether the situation in Iraq is better now than it was before the U-S invaded in 2003.

O'Reilly told Letter- man that Saddam Hussein slaugh- tered hundreds of thousands of his people, so it's wrong to portray the United States as a bad country and President Bush as an evil liar.

Letterman shot back that O'Reilly was putting words in his mouth, "just the way you put artificial facts in your head!"

And after O'Reilly noted that people make mistakes in war, Letterman asked whether the way to get out of a mistake is to "stay there and kill as many Americans as we possibly can."


An edited, CBS- supplied clip is below, otherwise, Brent Baker at NewsBusters has links to the entire segment, here.




And here is their previous slugfest:





For both hosts, one might wonder why these somewhat bizarre match- ups are even occuring on Letterman's show. Both have much to gain, however: O'Reilly gets a chance to put his views out there and reach a very different audience just in time for upcoming sweeps, while Dave attracts a rare bit of publicity for his slowly fading late night program.

Letterman, however, ought to realize that his audience expects comedy, rather than anger. And if he really wants to enter the political arena, The Late Show is the wrong place to do it. In addition, Dave should treat guests with far more respect than he has given O'Reilly in these match- ups.

For his part, O'Reilly was smart to keep his cool, to the point of trying to diffuse tensions a bit with humor. Isn't that normally supposed to be Dave's job?

No doubt O'Reilly's friend Keith Olbermann has already watched this segment 50 times or more.

Olbermann image: Pete at IHillary

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10 Comments:

  • Go frak yourself Maloney. O'Reilly has made a career of disrespecting guests.

    The only thing worse than Bill's documented perversion is your sick reverence towards him.

    By Blogger none, at 28 October, 2006 12:21  

  • I think O'Reilly got his ass handed to him..

    By Blogger The Humanity Critic, at 28 October, 2006 15:02  

  • I don't usually watch 'Latenight' but last night I was changing channels and heard Letterman mention Bill O'Reilly's name.

    So, I stayed tuned. Before Mr. O'Reilly even came out Letterman was trying to undermine Bill's integrity.

    As Mr. Letterman pathetically tried to make some point, I couldn't help but think...that's the problem with liberals. They have NO point.

    I can't remember the last time Letterman made me laugh. Maybe because he's not funny...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 28 October, 2006 16:53  

  • Maybe it's that gap between his teeth! All that spare air must've sent Letterman's brain cells out to dry!

    By Blogger The Real Bob Anthony, at 28 October, 2006 16:55  

  • "Put that pipe down, and get my pipe up...."

    More brilliant writings from yet another pedophiliac Rethug "culture warrior" and author, in case you had forgotten (I haven't).

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 28 October, 2006 20:40  

  • Letterman and his producers knew it would draw mega viewers (to this episode anyway).

    and O'Reilly was there to sell a book.

    Each met his objective; but, in the long term, Dave may have lost a lot of right-of-center viewers.

    By Blogger Howdy, at 28 October, 2006 22:02  

  • Oweee, I'm sure if you crawl on your knees and approach him from the correct perspective, Mistah Loofah will let you shower in his stall too...

    (If he can still walk, after having his ass whipped, that is...)

    Come back McSoon!

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 29 October, 2006 01:01  

  • "Letterman and his producers knew it would draw mega viewers (to this episode anyway).

    and O'Reilly was there to sell a book.

    Each met his objective; but, in the long term, Dave may have lost a lot of right-of-center viewers."


    That in essence Howdy is the gist of the matter--and I couldn't have said better myself.

    By Blogger The Real Bob Anthony, at 29 October, 2006 12:03  

  • Oriley is another low life pathological liar. He even lied about where in Long Island he grew up in. A perverted sexual prededator, a liar and a low life. Once more a role model for the mentally sick, sexually inept radical right.

    Ever notice how the family values radical right on the radio and T.V are the opposite of what they claim to be. Amazing. Franken= family man, Limbaugh, Oriley and Savage= not family men. Sedar= family man as well. Malloy, family man as well. Amazing how the radical right passes judgement, yet never raised a child themselves, amazing. These guys are the lowest of the low. Limbaugh and Oriley deserve to be smacked right accross their faces, they are low lives. Shame on the complict right wing media for even having these degenerates on as guests. Anyone wh defends these low lives are mentally sick as well. Flame away conservafreaks, I post the TRUTH

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 30 October, 2006 10:34  

  • I saw the last bit. I now know the animosity between Letterman and OReilly. I had known of the Olbermann and Franken connections but didn't know this one.

    As a continued supporter of the Iraq War, I thought Letterman outdueled O'Reilly. Letterman controlled this venue and it is not setup for a discussion but 10 second soundbites, which Letterman does well in.

    By Blogger tradersmith, at 30 October, 2006 11:00  

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