I actually watched OReilly last night

[telcoman]

NY Times op ed said it well

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September 5, 2008The TV WatchObama Steps Into O’Reilly’s ‘No Spin Zone’ By ALESSANDRA STANLEYIt was billed as the ultimate smackdown, and it certainly promised to be a wonk vs. wacko match: the cerebral, conciliatory Senator Barack Obama versus Bill O’Reilly, Fox News Channel’s most irascible, combative anchor: a commentator who calls liberals “loons” and “pinheads” and on Thursday’s show described reporters scrutinizing Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as “sniveling, left-wing, wine-drinking, brie-eating.”

The topic was national security, and their tone was civil, but thankfully not too civil: Mr. O’Reilly, as is his wont, spoke brusquely, interrupted, argued and didn’t let his guest off the hook. He told Mr. Obama he had “bloviated” in parts of his convention speech, but congratulated him on his early opposition to the war, saying he had been “perspicacious.”

Mr. O’Reilly then demanded that his guest admit that he was wrong to oppose the military surge. Mr. Obama didn’t give in; he repeated previous qualifications but did go farther, and less equivocally, than before in acknowledging that the surge had worked. “It’s succeeded beyond our wildest dreams,” he said. Mr. Obama is known for the subtlety and nuance of his answers; Mr. O’Reilly has no patience for either. And accordingly, they had a bracing exchange, in what was the first of four segments to be spread over four days.

Mr. Obama has talked to Fox News reporters quite a few times since the primaries began: he sat down with Chris Wallace in April. But this was his first appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor,” and its host has had a prickly relationship with the Obama campaign. Mr. O’Reilly has had to apologize for an unfortunate turn of phrase when discussing Michelle Obama, played videos of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. early and often, and is still underscoring Mr. Obama’s association with William Ayers, a member of the violent Weather Underground in the 1960s (a topic Mr. O’Reilly gleefully said would be debated in Monday’s segment).

Mr. Obama gave no hint of rancor and remained pleasant, respectful and good-humored, but he did adjust his pace and wording to suit his speed-talking host.

The best political interviews knock the subjects off their chosen script, either by getting a rise out the guest or eliciting an unexpected answer. Mr. Wallace of Fox News, who has managed to rattle both Bill Clinton and Karl Rove, is one of the best at goading subjects into unplanned sincerity. And of the network anchors, Katie Couric has stood out more than her rivals.

Her move from NBC to CBS was supposed to be a triumph for the network, and turned out to be anything but. CBS News is still a distant third in the ratings, behind NBC and ABC. Yet during this political cycle and especially during the conventions, CBS’s political team has provided some of the best coverage and Ms. Couric has had more notable interviews. Charlie Gibson of ABC News has a more soothing, avuncular style, and Brian Williams of NBC News is more polished and urbane, but Ms. Couric gets more interesting answers.

On Wednesday night, the CBS anchor asked Senator John McCain’s wife, Cindy, about her views on abortion, and discovered that Mrs. McCain, usually so impenetrably poised and well prepared, had difficulty describing her husband’s position on Roe v. Wade, or her own. (She said he did not want to overturn it, until Ms. Couric assured her that he did oppose Roe v. Wade. Mrs. McCain, looking a bit confused, then said she, too, wanted the legality of abortion to be determined by individual states.)

At the end of the interview, Ms. Couric told her viewers that the campaign had clarified Mrs. McCain’s position: “They told us that, like Laura Bush, Mrs. McCain does not favor overturning Roe v. Wade, which guarantees the legal right to an abortion.”

Especially on a day when the staunchly anti-abortion Governor Palin was being acclaimed by the Republican convention, it was a good question to ask and as, it turned out, a hard one to answer.------------------------------------------------------------------------If only O Reilly would just STFU and let his guests speak and finish an anwser to a question. He continually bashes NBCNo wonder Keith Olberman is pissed at him.

Damm, now I'll have to TIVO O Reilly next week

Telcoman

[Cold_Zero]

I dont like OReilly, so I didnt watch. Plus the Redskins were on TV.How did it go?bud

[Jimefam]

Oreilly is a nut. He must be related to Lou Dobbs. That is one thing I critize the democrats for, wtf is obama doing on the oreilly factor?? Is there any chance of him winning over any of that audience?? They are pretty far to the right and love the name calling and other rants bill goes on. Its lose lose for obama, if he does well as he did last night no big deal no new voters. But if he f's up like alot of politicians do when faced with that type of personality it will cost him voters if he says the wrong thing. You'll never catch mccain doing something like this.

[smockers83]

I usually don't like O'Reilly and I wanted to watch that segment, didn't have the time, so I watched in on YouTube. I thought it was a pretty good interview to be honest on both of their parts. Seemed to me that actually agree more than they disagree.

[rn79870]

I watched the show. My complaint was Bill kept arguing while Obama was speaking. Fair journalism?

[Encryptshun]

One of my coworkers yesterday made a comment that I LOLed at:

"Fox News is fair and balanced. They have Bill O'Reilly. He alone balances against 40 million liberals."

[srellim234]

Fox is absolutely "fair and balanced". Between the "fair right" and the "fair, fair right". Somebody missed the typo at the station and never corrected it when "far" was typo'd to "fair"..

[AZhitman]

I agree with Andres - Why was he even ON that show?

I'm leaning towards it being an ego thing, which wouldn't surprise me... but it could just be a judgment thing (he's got a habit of speaking a day too soon).

Regardless, why put yourself in a lose-lose situation?

[Cold_Zero]

I watched the show. My complaint was Bill kept arguing while Obama was speaking. Fair journalism?

Since when do talk shows (which O'Reilly Factor is) constitute journalism?

[Jimefam]

Just curious but how did you know my name? Anyway yeah I think it's more bad judgement then ego he probably thought it was a bold move and in some ways it is but nobody will take into account any victory he may achieve over bill but if he misspeaks it'll be in McCain ads for a month

[AZhitman]

Click on your screen name.

[Jimefam]

ohhh. Don't even remember putting that in there. Good to know

[rn79870]

Since when do talk shows (which O'Reilly Factor is) constitute journalism?

My bad...O'Reilly, journalism - good catch.

[ishkabibble]

The sad thing is, a lot of the older generation LOVE O'Reilly, think he is a good American, and hard-hitting journalist.

[Encryptshun]

^

But stand him up beside a Tim Russert (RIP) and the difference between "journalist" and "pundit" becomes clear.

[telcoman]

^

But stand him up beside a Tim Russert (RIP) and the difference between "journalist" and "pundit" becomes clear.

Give his son Luke a few years. He looks and speaks well in front of the cameras. He just needs a little more experience to go after O Reilly.

Telcoman

[rn79870]

There is more "hard hitting" interviews with Obama on Mon, Tue and Wed of next week. I certainly hope O'Reilly lets Obama speak uninterrupted, and I hope Obama doesn't let O'Reilly get to him.

[Encryptshun]

I don't know. I'd really like to see how Obama deals with it.

[The Wicker Man]

Regardless, why put yourself in a lose-lose situation?

I disagree, it was a definite win situation for Obama .

The fact that Obama differentiated Iran from Al-Qaeda due to their Sunni and Shia relation is enough to get me to vote for him. I mean, when compared to John McCain, who claimed that Iran was training Al-Qaeda operatives to kill American soldiers in Iraq. Should any person who claims that Al-Qaeda, an extremist Sunni group bent on the destruction of Shias, is being trained by a Shia government, Iran, even deserve ONE vote from an American?!

[Jimefam]

In defense of Mccain I'm sure he knew the correct info he just got confused. You have to remember this is a 73 year old man he is going to get confused and be forgetful. My 75 year old grandfather forgets his way home sometimes. If you've ever watched him before you'll know he's worthless when discussing facts unless they are part of his stump speech.

[The Wicker Man]

I don't think Mccain would ever do an extensive interview with a Liberal counterpart of O'Reilly. But really, O'Reilly has never been a great interviewer or debater. He yells and tells people to shut up and hasn't shown much competence on the facts of the issues. There are far better conservative minds that could've conducted this interview.Case and point,O'Reilly here brings up a hypothetical situation and then brushes off Obama for bringing up hypotheticals.

[telcoman]

There is more "hard hitting" interviews with Obama on Mon, Tue and Wed of next week. I certainly hope O'Reilly lets Obama speak uninterrupted, and I hope Obama doesn't let O'Reilly get to him.

It is a shame that Fox will not run the entire piece on one night.

I guess they feel that by having Obama on successive nights will help stem the loss of viewers that they have been experiencing?

My TIVO's are all set.

Telcoman

[wingFeather]

had difficulty describing her husband’s position on Roe v. Wade, or her own.

Good for her! It is not an easy subject to discuss.

[wingFeather]

In defense of Mccain I'm sure he knew the correct info he just got confused. You have to remember this is a 73 year old man he is going to get confused and be forgetful. My 75 year old grandfather forgets his way home sometimes. If you've ever watched him before you'll know he's worthless when discussing facts unless they are part of his stump speech.

Prejudice against age is no better than against race. McCain's 96 year old mom seems to be doing just fine.

To put this in perspective, I'd rather have Yoda running the country than young Anakin Skywalker. Age & experience can be an asset.

[HashiriyaS14]

Regardless, why put yourself in a lose-lose situation?

Because Obama KNOWS that he's good enough at on-the-spot conversations that he could survive on O'Reilly.

I mean, he got hammered, but he did okay. He never had to stonewall or try to force the conversation off a tangent. He more or less had an answer for everything.

The POINT of putting himself in this situation is that he knows he's better at it than McCain is. Now, if McCain doesn't go on, say, Keith Olbermann's show, McCain is going to look like a wussy. McCain or Palin (really McCain) now MUST go on some hardcore liberal guy's show.

Naturally though, McCain isn't as good at it, and he's going to get slaughtered. It was a tolerable risk to force the GOP into a situation that is going to be very very bad for them.

EDIT:

To put this in perspective, I'd rather have Yoda running the country than young Anakin Skywalker. Age & experience can be an asset.

^^This is absolutely, without a doubt, the stupidest analogy I've ever heard in a political discussion.

[The Wicker Man]

[wingFeather]

This is absolutely, without a doubt, the stupidest analogy I've ever heard in a political discussion.

Other than being a personal attack, can you explain WHY you feel this way?

[Jesda]

OReilly isn't exactly going to sway any undecided voters. It was completely pointless for Obama to go on his program. It didn't make Obama look tough, it made O'Reilly look nutty and Obama look uncomfortable, at least based on the previews so far.

Any half decent candidate will tell you that some forums and interactions are SETUPS. I learned this eight years ago when I ran for state rep, and wondered why I was the only non-Democrat to show up at a few debates. The questions were one-sided, the audience already made up their minds, and nothing was gained. Basically, every question at these BS candidate forums was framed as "So how much money are you going to throw at my problems?" I expressed my frustration at the questioning and noted the obnoxious bias, but no voters were won over.

A smart candidate will find more well-balanced venues where they can be challenged while having the breathing room to sell their goods.

[HashiriyaS14]

OReilly isn't exactly going to sway any undecided voters. It was completely pointless for Obama to go on his program. It didn't make Obama look tough, it made O'Reilly look nutty and Obama look uncomfortable, at least based on the previews so far.

I just think it was all done to goad McCain into going onto a similarly biased show, which will hopefully be even worse for him than O'Reilly was for Obama.

I guess they can't force him to do it, but it seems like it would look bad if he refused now.

[szh]

If you've ever watched him before you'll know he's worthless when discussing facts unless they are part of his stump speech.

Age has nothing to do with that ... I have seen Obama do the same.

Z