Complete Bill O’Reilly Interview with Jon Stewart (Unedited Video)
Fox News broadcasted an edited version of the Bill O’Reilly interview with Jon Stewart on cable. Not inherently a bad thing to do, perfectly acceptable, but some have suggested that it made O’Reilly look like he nailed Stewart. Here’s the entire unedited version of the interview.
Fox News Bill O'Reilly
For some reason the White House has picked a fight with Fox News. On Sunday, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said that the cable news network was not in fact a news organization but rather an extension of the Republican Party.
“The reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party,” Dunn told CNN’s Howard Kurtz. “Take their talking points and put them on the air. Take their opposition research and put them on the air, and that’s fine. But let’s not pretend they’re a news network the way CNN is.”
Fox News commentators jumped at the chance to strike back at the White House.
Fox News Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck blew Dunn’s remarks way out of proportion. On his show, he took out a tourist map of Manhattan, drew a circle around Fox News headquarters, he then played army with military toys, putting a fence around the Fox building and encircling it with tanks and missiles.
“We’ve got the missiles pointed right a Fox,” Beck screamed into the camera. “And let’s make sure that everybody understands this is the enemy America. Everything that’s going wrong with the country – happening right here.”
Dunn didn’t say that Fox News is responsible for everything that’s going wrong with the country. What she said was that Fox News is a “wing of the Republican Party.” In true Beck fashion, he’s creating the illusion that the White House is actively seeking to destroy Fox News – to get them off the air. Dunn didn’t say anything about stopping Fox News from broadcasting.
“Free speech under attack. Sure. In the coming days,” Beck assured his audience. “I’m going to show you how this administration is consolidating power, and that you’re right to speak out, and your right to hear simply opposing voices – people who are asking legitimate questions – all under assault.”
Bill O’Reilly chimed in during his Talking Points Memo segment. He said the White House is attacking Fox News because they’re the only cable news network willing to ask tough questions. O’Reilly said that Fox News is “fair and balanced” and he challenged anyone to prove him wrong.
The other news networks, such as CNN and NBC, O’Reilly said “clearly favored” Obama over McCain during the election and NBC continues to give the president good coverage. O’Reilly demanded evidence that the network’s hard news is anything but honest, objective and fair and balanced.
Well, it just so happens, that last month, Fox News producer Heidi Noonan was caught on tape rallying the crowd while reporter Griff Jenkins delivered some of that “fair and balanced” hard news coverage O’Reilly was bloviating about.
Oh and the 9/12 rally was sponsored and promoted by Fox News and Glenn Beck in particular. The network’s commentators over-reported the turnout, and even ran a newspaper ad chastising the other news networks for not covering the event, even though they actually did.
David Brooks
Now that William Safire has succumbed, the only reasonable conservative worth listening to is David Brooks. Brooks takes on Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly in his column today.
What I take away from Brooks’ column is that he thinks these “men” are merely entertainers creating the illusion of real political power while the Republican party pees its pants every time one of these shock-jocks takes a poke at the party.
He’s undoubtedly correct.
As for Beck, I’m trying to get through his book “Common Sense.” It’s a difficult book to read. It’s full of sentences in all-caps and exclamation points. When you can’t write very well, you have to use these tricks to create the feeling that you’re outraged. Beck should look up how to use active verbs and descriptive nouns, but I digress. What also makes it a hard book to read is that I’m also reading Hemingway, so when I have to choose which book to read, Beck tends to lose.
But kudos to Brooks for standing up against Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and O’Reilly. They all do a disservice to the political discourse in this nation and should not be given even the illusion of any real political power. They’re entertainers.
Glenn Beck’s Common Sense on Amazon
Al Franken’s Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot on Amazon
Bill O’Reilly books on Amazon
Sean Hannity’s book Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism on Amazon
Bill O’Reilly says “Yes” to government run health care program
It’s kind of shocking, but apparently Bill O’Reilly is a proponent of a government health care plan. On his show Wed., he said, “I want that. I want, not for personally for me, but for working Americans, to have a option, that if they don’t like their health insurance, if it’s too expensive, they can’t afford it, if the government can cobble together a cheaper insurance policy that gives the same benefits, I see that as a plus for the folks.”
It looks like O’Reilly trying to put some space between him and Glenn Beck.
The Lunatic is a series of videos highlighting the nutcases that anchor cable news programs. This first video stars Bill O’Reilly. Future editions will highlight the antics of other “people” anchoring shows on cable.
