I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Terry's giving him the whole hour? Cripes.
Rumor is that he walked out on her.
Can't imagine why. She's the meekest, nicest personality on the air today.
Oh joyous day! Is the population in general witnessing the breakdown of the Idiot Right, or is it just a mass-halucination here in BlogLand?
Will Spiteful Bill spend the next month of the No Brain Zone spewing hate at NPR?
I caught just the tail-end of his pre-walk-out spiel on my local station. The prick went off like a fussy little cherry bomb, whining about how Terry Gross didn't pick on Al Franken like she was picking on him.
Please!
The bastard can dish it out on his own show but gets his panties in a knot when someone does the same to him.
You bet NPR will be his next victim. He's hideous. They're all shameless.
I caught just the tail-end of his pre-walk-out spiel on my local station. The prick went off like a fussy little cherry bomb, whining about how Terry Gross didn't pick on Al Franken like she was picking on him.
Please!
The bastard can dish it out on his own show but gets his panties in a knot when someone does the same to him.
Expect the Slate Hack Brigade to start piling on NPR anytime now.
He's always hated NPR. He has, in the past, blamed NPR for the need for all AM stations to be all wingnut, all the time. In his twisted mind, NPR is so devistatingly liberal it takes him and Rush and Hannity and all the local want-a-bes to counter NPR.
It's about to come on....3pm EST
Of course, it could all be an act!
Just remember, FNC's high ratings include us, watching to see what dumb things O'Rielly or Hanniety (sp?) say next.
Makes you wonder who is the dumb one, doesn't it?
I listened to the whole hour, and found that Terry, in an exceedingly polite fashion, asked for O'Reily's take on a number of the accusations that had been made about him. For the most part, she allowed him to say his piece, and almost never interrupted, and rarely pursued controversial issues further than one question and a simple followup. Many of the questions were simply neutral "so, you went to a Catholic school" or "when did you first become political". She played O'riley's comments on "The Factor" beforehand which catagorized the interview as "the outrage of the day."
What set O'riley off was when Terry wanted to read a criticism made of him that had been written by a reviewer of his book- the reviewer had been savaged by O'riley' on his show after the piece had appeared in People magazine. This may have been the trigger, but it seemed that O'Riely was more outraged at the fact that Terry hadn't taken Al Franken to task as strongly or continuously as him than any of the specific questions that she asked.
I think what happened was that O'riley got to the near end of the interview, found that very little had been said about his book, and was insensed that Al Franken (a man whom he repeatedly referred to as libelous) got to plug his without many difficult questions.
The funny part is that O'Reilly probably thinks he really showed-up Terry Gross by walking out. C'mon, this is a woman who had to endure being propositioned by Gene Simmons on the air! A pipsqueak like Billy walking out ain't nothin' to her.
Amazing how much he sounds like the boors I went to (Catholic) high school with. Oh, that's right...
And he and Terry had been playing so nicely most of the hour, too bad the date went bad before Bill had to pay the check.
(He also lays bare his misogyny quite nicely in the course of this interview.)
(He also lays bare his misogyny quite nicely in the course of this interview.)
Where?
one wonders what would've happened if she just told him to "Shut up. Shut - Shut up!" or told the producer to kill his mike....
Amazing how much he sounds like the boors I went to (Catholic) high school with. Oh, that's right...
And he and Terry had been playing so nicely most of the hour, too bad the date went bad before Bill had to pay the check.
(He also lays bare his misogyny quite nicely in the course of this interview.)
It should have been David Sedaris interviewing him, cutting O'Reilly's mike at every opportunity. Probably he woudl have walked out after five minutes, but Sedaris woudl have gotten a great esssay out of the experience.
The book that FAIR has put out on O'Reilly, the Oh Really? Factor is invaluable. Get it.
calling her "madam" early on when things get a little bit heated and then dismissing Maslin.
And, frankly, in hanging up. Terry Gross is a woman...how dare this little woman question me!
O'Reilly, like so many of the reactionary talking head blowhards, is essentially a cowardly schumck.
His visit to the Duck Pit will be a most delicious event. I hope to be there in person to enjoy every moment of his pleadings for mercy.
Did he really walk out?? Oh, that's too funny.....
I caught a few seconds of him on his show this afternoon, talking about how NPR is by far the most biased media outlet in the country.
O'Reilly is bragging about his victory of the commie pinko NPR as we speak, on his website, in freeperland, on FAUX.
And people really LIKE this guy??
What a whiner!!
I sat through the whole thing, gritting my teeth the whole way, but by the end all I could think of was the conclusion to Katha Pollitt's latest column in The Nation ("After You, My Dear Alphonse"): "They can dish it out, but they sure can't take it. Check out the intro to the Paul Krugman's _The Great Unraveling_ and his discussion of Henry Kissinger's (!) definition of revolutionary governments' inability to stand any criticism. That's what this-all sounded like...
Can't imagine why. She's the meekest, nicest personality on the air today.
That's probably what caught him by surprise, when she started reading an article from a book reviewer responding to Billy Boy's response to the book review. It's a complicated sentence, but just go listen to the show. It's priceless.
woops! missed the close quotation mark at the end of the Pollitt: "They can dish it out, but they sure can't take it." Apologies!
Here's what Billy says on his website today about hour 2 of the Radio Factor show:
We'll also have the latest on Bill's interview with National Public Radio's Fresh Air show yesterday. You won't believe how it turned out!
Terry introduced today's interview by saying "you already probably know Bill walked out" and then played a clip from Bill's show in which he gets all indignant about his experience. He felt it was not fair and that Terry gave Al a "free pass" during Franken's interview.
Now he's claiming that reportts he told Jeremy Glick to "shut up" are "blatantly dishonest" and taken out of context. Somebody get him a dictionary.
Terry''s reaction was just perfect. She laughed. In a way by walking out before she could read the excerpt from the People review, O'Reilly made the point for her: He can dish it out, but he can't take it.
'If someone was losing it on your show, Terry, with four-letter words and such, I would expect you to abort the interview jsut like I did'
paraphrased...
I listened to the last part of the interview on his radio show today and all it demonstrated is what ass O'Reilly is. Terry attempted to get his impressions about what a reviewer in People magazine said about him in his book and he refused to let her read the quote from the reviewer.
It was also obvious that he was doing his best to intimidate her and it was succeeding. I get the impression that Terry is not used to guests who are so hostile.
He also made a point of putting the whole transcript on his website -- implying that it would be edited to make him look bad. I guess he figures that other reporters have about the same level of integrity as he does.
I can understand why Bill O'Reilly might have been upset about the line the conversation took if he was wanting to flog his new book and not spend time on other topics. But I don't think walking out of the interview with Terry Gross was the right thing to do, and his little rant on Fox about Gross & Fresh Air and NPR is just plain classless and does O'Reilly no credit whatsoever.
"I never said I won a Peabody." OK, Bill, that might be "technically" correct. But, um, as far as I know, when the word "we" is used it implies that the person using it is included.
Terry didn't even have to follow up on that line because O'Really almost immediately revealed that he was lying by saying that he "misspoke" about the Peabody.
What a jackass. Ha-ha.
Wow, Bill just called Terry "madam" in a snotty manner, then basically said she can't read. What an asshat.
joycamp - yeah, that was a weird contradiction. I was like "you never said, but then you said"? Whaaaa?
In addition to Bill's other fine attributes, he certainly displays great modesty on this show. I was unaware that he does what he does so well until he so modestly informs us, and that he is the only one who has 3 NYT bestsellers besides Bob Woodward. Thanks Bill for letting those of us who usually cannot tear ourself away from other things to catch you show most of the time what an open minded gentle man you are. What crap.
He's really sad.
The only other person I can recall walking out on Terry Gross was Monica Lewinsky. Monica left on the first question, though.
[ Terry read a section from Lewinsky's book describing her "instant connection" with Clinton, and that they obviously sexual soul mates. Terry asked how that could really be, given that the first encounter involved a blowjob. ]
Good grief, what an asshole!! (O'Reilly, that is)
I love her trying to explain to him what a mixed review is (refering to NYT's review of Moore's new book, which wasn't totally supportive, or totally negative, but overall dismissive).
I'm frankly skeptical that Gross thought she'd get a decent, civil interview.
GARY FRAZIER IS GONNA KILL BILL OLIELLY IN TEH DUCK PIT CAUSE OREALLY (THATS WHAT I CALL HIM!!!!!!!!1) IS A MORONIC BROWNDSHIRT FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!111
WE R GONNA KILL TEHM ALL!!!!!!!!111
Now he's claiming that reportts he told Jeremy Glick to "shut up" are "blatantly dishonest" and taken out of context. Somebody get him a dictionary.
So O'Reilly's a lying liar who tells lies.
Shocking. Truly shocking.
What is such an undignified truth abuser doing on the fair and balanced, totally truthful FNC? In their prime-time slot, even?
Oh, what will we tell the children.
I'm frankly skeptical that Gross thought she'd get a decent, civil interview.
She didn't. But she had him on because she'd had Franken on earlier, which is...wait, what?...balanced?...fair?
I'm frankly skeptical that Gross thought she'd get a decent, civil interview.
I also doubt she thought that, but being a truly fair reporter, she realized that she couldn't have Franken on her show saying derogatory (albeit true) things about O'Reilly and not give O'Reilly a chance to say his piece. That he chose instead essentially to confirm Franken's picture of him is his problem, even if Gross wasn't stunned to see it happen.
p
Great minds, upsidedownblue.
Well, maybe not. But superior to O'Reilly's, that's for sure.
p
Hey, everybody,
Ol' Joe Eschaton is back. How's that electronic monitoring ankle cuff working out for you?
One neat moment is his line to the effect that the liberal press is always going out of its way to portray his "prestigious" show as a "circus."
Hey, can we have a "talk like Terry Gross" day?
"If you read the transcript of the interview... you'll see that that person came into the show and said that the attack at 9/11 was a quote-unquote 'alleged' attack... we were surprised, we thought he was going to be a rational person..."
I saw the interview. Jeremy Glick was calm, reserved, and made his statements in an even tone. O'Reilly completely lost it, and at one point I expected him to physically assault Glick. And now O'Reilly is trying to play victim because people published a transcript of his disgraceful behavior.
The man is in serious need of therapy.
Awesome interview. O'Reilly took the bait perfectly. She gave him enough rope and he hung himself.
I heard the promo for Fresh Air this morning and cringed. Definitely will make sure to NOT listen. O'Reilly? Why? Stupid stupid stupid. Why have on as guests those who call American citizens traitors, who want to execute Americans, who represent the most venal undemocratic segment of the public realm?
Oh, because NPR doesn't want to be labelled as "liberal".
Right.
Because God forbid ANYONE having an opinion left of Rupert Fucking Australian Murdoch. They must be TRAITORS. Biased. Partisan. UnAmerican.
Hey, can we have a "talk like Terry Gross" day?
"I don't know if I have mixed feelings about that or not."
That's all I got.
You should listen, squiddy, because, as Paul Witt points out, he hangs himself.
"Mean NPR bullies! They hit me with their tote bags! They don't like me as much as Al Franken! Waaaaahhhh!"
Bill O'Reilly
_____________________
Just goes to show: you can take the boy out of FoxNews, but you can't take FoxNews out of the boy. If somebody doesn't suck up to him, why, he'll just take his mic and go home. This is a "man" whose idea of "fair and balanced" is "2 conservatives vs. 1 liberal," and he can't stand up to little Terry Gross. What a blowhard.
About five years ago Terry Gross came and spoke to a journalism class I was taking at UC Berkeley. She had some amazing stories about interviews that went bad, and even played a couple that were never aired. She's had much worse that O'Reilly to deal with.
Yes, if I remember correctly, the guy from KISS was particularly insulting to her.
I love when he tells her that she's in the wrong profession. She's been national since 1987. Heh.
Also, Fresh Air actually has won a Peabody, Bill.
Ooops.
Could someone do me a favor and give the URL of the transcript that O'riley published. I've Googled it, but can't seem to find the right page.
My favorite Terry Gross interview of all time was the one she did in about 1990 with Nancy Reagan. Nancy, while defending her husband's record, was completely clueless about the true state of the country. Also, she had no qualms about consulting an astrologer and advising her husband on when to schedule meetings based on the advice she got from them. I wish the transcripts went back that far.
Wow. This guy isn't just an asshole, but he's paranoid as fuck. That's wonderful.
Freaking A Jesus! This interview is scary and painful. O'Reilly is going off the deepend really, really, really badly. I'd almost feel bad for him, that is, if he wasnt a complete asshole.
But he just made the point that Terry wont "have the courage to put this on air". I guess she did have the courage, yet it was Bill who walked off the set. Good Lord!! I know the Factor fans and are incapable of self-reflection, but even his most stalwart fans would cringe if they heard this.
Spoiler Ahead...
Just getting to his rant where he bashes Terry and her attempt to "trap" him, and he wonders whether she'd "have the guts" to play the interview.
Then, sayeth Bill: "And that is the end of this interview."
And Terry gets a nice parting shot about his need to have the last word. The book review that set him off was funny.
Only one word fits O'Reilly:
Pussy.
Man, I'd never been to billoreilly.com before. Have you ever noticed that it's nearly impossible to find any content on RW websites due to all the ads? Oh the thrill of the shill! (Maybe an O'Reilly mug would make a good white elephant gift for the office exchange this year!) It's like reading Vanity Fair on my 'puter....
Real question: why can't I get the stream to play from oblowhard.com or npr.org?
"Also, Fresh Air actually has won a Peabody, Bill."
Is that a Peabody, or a Polk, i always get them confused.
Hahahahaahahahahahaha.
Justice is Not Blind, she just takes a little longer getting the job done these days.
Ole Bill just insulted the daylights out of Terry Gross. She's just about the most unflappable interviewer I've ever heard. He, OTOH, is a complete idiot with no sense of irony. He's full of ad hominem attacks on anyone who doesn't see the world as he does, yet he accuses those people (and those he THINKS are among those people) of being guuilt of ad hominem attacks on him.
That, and he's an asshat.
grytpype: Only one word fits O'Reilly:
Pussy.
Please, don't make me form an association between one of my favorite organs and O'Lielly. My libido will shrivel forever.
Awesome interview. O'Reilly took the bait perfectly. She gave him enough rope and he hung himself.
I just finished listening and I must say I wasn't impressed with Terry Gross at all. She was unprepared for him to lie to her directly, and she didn't follow up agressively (admittedly, its not her style), but if he hadn't walked out on her I would have said it wasn't much of an interview from any perspective. ON the Glick thing, I had to turn the radio off and missed her response, but she should have a) screened the thing first herself or read the entire transcript before bringing it up. Not because it wouldn't show he was a liar (oreilly I mean) but because he made her look like she hadn't done her homework. And she should have been prepared with some putdowns. Anyone who has ever watched his show, or seen atrios's imitation of O'reilly, knows that he simultaneously plays the blowhard and the victim but can't stand to be held up to ridicule when he does both simultaneously. When he began complaining about getting different treatment from franken she should have had a better comeback (not that I can think of one). Mostly, I felt that she had not done enough prep to deal with someone who will lie directly to your face (I also thought she should have explored his self description as someone who "does what works" without ideology, but taht is just me.--aimai
still, he did walk out. It won't hurt him with his fans, and he knows that.
Anyone have Billy boy's email address? You have to be a "member" (brown shirt included?) to email him from his web site. I would like to personally sympathize with him and let him know that we all know what a mean woman Terry Gross is and how awful it was for her to beat up on him, and how courageous he was to walk out on her when she wanted to read him something he did not like.
Sadly, I think Terry got him to admit the truth about himself. His father apparently beat the shit out of him when he as a kid. Bill said that's what everyone did back then. Talk about being a poster child against child abuse.
Having heard the entire interview, I do wonder whether Terry was tempted not to grace it with airing. It _was_ taped yesterday, afterall. So she played it after he went apeshit on his show.
To me, the whole thing sounded like O'Reilly had planned to become offended and storm off so that he could brag about it on his show. Terry's interview essentially hit the same tone throughout. O'Reilly must have looked at the clock, figured he had 5 minutes left, and gone into his pitch.
Totally scripted, totally lame. The 3kids in the car - 12 year old boys- don't know who O'Reilly is, but they were laughing at him, mocking the "Did you treat Al Franken this way?" "He's such a whiner," is a quote.
Spoiling the end here:
Whoa. Just ended here. He gives a long speech slamming her and ends with "And that is the end of this interview." She says, "So that's it, you're just going to give a speech and not give me a chance to ask a follow up? Hello? Oh, he left. Well, I guess that's the end." But then she read the paragraph he hated, anyway, with just a great tone of voice. The paragraph ends with "Consistency, it would seem, is not his strongest feature." She lets it hang for an instant, and then moves on.
A fine moment.
"The 3kids in the car - 12 year old boys- don't know who O'Reilly is, but they were laughing at him, mocking the "Did you treat Al Franken this way?" "He's such a whiner," is a quote."
Louise, thank you, that was the best thing I read all day 
There IS hope for our future!
I only caught the first part but MAN is he a whiner! All it was was "liberal media this" and "Al Franken that" and how everyone is trying to "destroy" him. Geez, what a paranoid egotistical matyr you are Bill.
You'd think if you were walking into "enemy territory" (as Bill probably would frame it) you'd want to come off as a little less of a whiny twerp and come straped with a little more facts rather than blame, blame, blame. But then, I suppose he is what he is.
I wish Terri would asked him if his three NYT best sellers were with or without bulk buy asteriks next to them and what ever happened to "if they don't find WMD by May (whatever the date was) I'll never trust the Bush administration again."
Still, "give him enough rope" indeed. Hmm...none of these rightie blowhards seem to function well outside the confines of their tightly controlled shows. Wonder why that is?
I think Terry handled herself beautifully by not having prepared putdowns and just letting him do himself in. Why should Terry have taken the bait to get into a shouting match like his exchange with Franken?
I suspect Louise may be right that he had it scripted all along. If so, he's an idiot because the tantrum followed the long section where she let him wax nostalgic about his formative years.
So in his mind it's sympathetic to share memories of his 17-year-old self's standing up to his dad, and then go apeshit on an interviewer?
Heh. Very telling.
I suppose I shouldn't be shocked but O'Reilly does occasionally trick me into believing he is a reasonable person. But oh man does he lose it in this interview. It reminds me of the C-Span book review. I'm surprised he hasn't pulled a Limbaugh and refused to give interviews or even speak with people who disagree with him.
I think my favorite part is when he talks about the powerful people who are out to destroy him. Sounds like an entry into the tinfoil hat zone.
-Priceless Breakdown-
Give 'em enough rope. Sure. Just make sure we don't give these thugs enough rope to hang us all.
"This is NPR! I think we all know what this is!"
wow. are you sure you weren't paying attention to politics in '50's, Bill? That sort of paranoid red-baiting is worthy of McCarthy himself.
Also, Bill, as an Irish Long Islander, may I say that neither my family nor, AFAIK, my grandfathers, made a habit of beating the crap out of each other. ("That's the way Irish people did things" -- fuck you.)
I also very much liked O'Reilly talking about a fight with his father when he was 17. Gross reads the passage from the book and there O'Reilly says "there were lamps on the floor" and his mother was really upset. And then two minutes later he's telling Gross it was only "he hit my arm and I hit his and that was it." What an utter maniac.
He also said something like "we had a fight and worked it out. It's how Irish people do things."
No, Bill. First we eat a potato and wash it down with whiskey, then the 16 kids drunkenly brawl and me wee mudder is after singin' about the troubles in the Auld Sod. Or some shite like that.
Can someone get Bill to switch from his morning dose of Rage-ahol? Maybe some decaf or 7 Up instead?
The reason she is a great interviewer is precisely because she doesn't get into it with her subjects. She just lets them go. And a good interviewer who lets the subjects go can give the audience an idea of what the subject is really like. Isn't that the point? And isn't that what she did. It's not about her, and she knows it.
Shut up! Shut up! Why won't you all just shut up?!?
Wow. This guy isn't just an asshole, but he's paranoid as fuck. That's wonderful.
I was noticing that too. I'm beginning to think O'Reilly has some serious delusions of persecution. He completely lost it with Franken, then he was accusing Terry Gross, of all people, of laying a trap for him.
The man is seriously unhinged.
Shut up! Shut up! Why won't you all just shut up?!?
A really fascinating part is when BOR explains why he believes in a God: everything Man does is screwed up. Nothing Nature does is screwed up. There's no way Man created Nature.
Did she ask him about the recent PIPA "three misperceptions" poll that found that Fox News viewers are the most misinformed people in the country? And NPR/PBS folks are the best informed?
The reason she is a great interviewer is precisely because she doesn't get into it with her subjects. She just lets them go. And a good interviewer who lets the subjects go can give the audience an idea of what the subject is really like. Isn't that the point? And isn't that what she did. It's not about her, and she knows it.
That's it exactly. That's why the show won a Peabody. 
Cable teevee is making people used to the idea of ambush television, confrontational screaming head shows, and that sort of thing. Terry Gross isn't as vicious as she really could be (and I sometimes wish she would be), but in many ways that low-key, almost passive style gets the point across so much better than yelling.
This interview is a perfect example of that method.
George had asked eariler what O'Reilly's email address is. O'Reilly certainly makes it hard to contact him via his own webpage but he does have an address at Fox News:
oreilly@foxnews.com
By the way, writing him and telling him how much you think he is a (a) bully, (b) whiner, (c) liar, (d) hypocrite, or (e) all of the above won't get you a response. At lease he never wrote me back. The thought of his inbox being swamped with negative messages IS appealing, though.
NittanyLion:
Thanks
"By the way, writing him and telling him how much you think he is a (a) bully, (b) whiner, (c) liar, (d) hypocrite, or (e) all of the above won't get you a response. At lease he never wrote me back. The thought of his inbox being swamped with negative messages IS appealing, though."
Why do I have a feeling that any mail he receives that ISN'T from an AOLer is routed to his junk mail folder?
George had asked eariler what O'Reilly's email address is. O'Reilly certainly makes it hard to contact him via his own webpage but he does have an address at Fox News:
oreilly@foxnews.com
By the way, writing him and telling him how much you think he is a (a) bully, (b) whiner, (c) liar, (d) hypocrite, or (e) all of the above won't get you a response. At lease he never wrote me back. The thought of his inbox being swamped with negative messages IS appealing, though.
Ack, I refreshed/reposted myself! Mea culpa.
oreilly@foxnews.com
Terry is too sly to need preformed bits in her interviews; I'm sure she knew all along that he would do himself in. As usual, Bill can dish it out but can't take it.
I feel another "Talk Like O'Reilly Day" coming on..........
Ha! Now he says we have to wait 9 more months to for that WMD apology.
As if...
email: oreilly@foxnews.com
This guy just shoots himself in the foot. I can't stand him usually, but I thought he was doing really well. Then he totally lost it and freaked out at the end. If he had just hung on a few minutes longer without running away in a huff, he
would have won! Just amazing.
The interview is available at npr.org.
I don't know what O'Reilly has a problem about. She gave him plenty of time to answer the question. Even if they were tougher questions than she gave Franken, she never interupted him and gave him all the time in the world to reply. What's the problem? Well, the problem is that O'Reilly, like Limbaugh, is ruler of his own little kingdom. When he ventures from that little kingdom where he is worshipped, he finds finds the world an ugly place, and he'll be damned if he's going to put up with that.
Does anyone have a transcript of the Al Franken interview?
I think he has a good point if she wasn't as critical of him as Al Franken. But the issue is that Al Franken is critical of someone for how critical they are of everyone else.
Listening to the interview with O'Reilly, it appears that while what he says makes sense in his conservative world view, if he would allow for a little more leeway he could see how others interpret things differently. But, failing that, one can not say that he is fair and balanced.
Terry did get the last word...and in her mind, I can only imagine, that she saw it so clearly that Al Franken's work is one of Satire: sat·ire ( P ) Pronunciation Key (str)
n.
A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
While O'Reilly's latest book is one of utmost seriousness and him trying to tell you how things should be...well, I dare say that deserves a little more in-depth look at the views and person. I am looking forward to listening to the Al Franken interview to see what that interview was like.
I have to say that she started the interview off with a bit of an attack or an assumption that I think might have shown her true intentions to O'Reilly...but then again, she never claimed to be fair and balanced, she just acts that way.
O'Reilly always forgets that he isn't on the factor in these sorts of situations.
He was getting the scrutiny and the ability to voice himself that his guests rarely, if ever, get.
He is fairly unbalanced.
she was just trying to be a real interviewer. you also have to remember that you're taking his statement that the interview was supposed to be about the book, whereas she in no way introduces him that way: that was his introduction to the interview, and yes, he's probably on a book tour... but that doesn't mean that journalists don't have the right to ask you certain questions, or rather have to ask you certain questions (since NPR is a public radio station, and not one that you pay in order to be advertising your book) just because you want or don't want them to. that's not how it works with real journalism... maybe with the spinmaster. journalists are supposed to expose... they are the final check and balance in the check and balance system. is terry gross liberal? i'm sure... she's also very intelligent and able to ask tough questions. she asks everyone tough questions, without yelling at them or appealing to emotion. she reads the citation from the review of m.m., she reads passages from the review of al frankens book... she's got the facts, not the emotion and the hubris.
Does anyone have a transcript of the Al Franken interview?
I don't really have a homepage, but I was trying to get the URL reset to something less annoying than the one it seems to have in there for some reason.
I thought O'Reilly was doing pretty well until he blew his top. He'll say something reasonable, then come off like a complete egomaniac with a persecution complex. It was definitely a hostile interview (except for the middle part), but if O'Reilly can't handle a hostile interview with aplomb, he should be in another line of business.
The answer to "Did you treat Al Franken like this?" should have been "No, because no one has made accusations against Al Franken, so there was nothing for him to defend himself from". Gross disappointed me with her lame, "That was a different interview".
after hearing the interview, it's official-
oreilly is where all the lost irony goes
Favorite moment:
She reads the last paragraph of Maslin's (unfavorable) review of Michael Moore's book ('bluster. . . a bumper sticker that doubles as a book'), and he responds something like: "You don't think that's a positive review?!"
Ha ha ha.
Bill O'Reilly is a VERY sick man.
I almost pity him.
Rick...lol...that hilarious...he probabaly thought by claiming the review was positive, it would end there....he looked like a dumbass when Terry read the review and then asked him if(more like how on God's freaking earth??) he actually thought it was positive....then Bill goes.."er...well....I'll have to go read it again...but...er..."
Bill was, of course, shocked that someone from the NYT could give a mixed review to Michael Moore. Because in his world, they would never have anything but effusive praise for a RIGHTY idealogue....
I've been a fan of "Fresh Air" for years. First,I agree with Louise,O'Reilly's tantrum seemed staged like a pro-wrestling stunt.Second,being a fan of Terry's,I wanted to slap the shit out of O'Reilly after he pulled his little stunt.He must know where his head's out from the smell.
O'Lielly is trying to sell his latest book. Walking off the NPR interview is like throwing red meat to the morons who adore him. He's a shill,a huckster and a fraud. Oh yeah, and a liar.
C'mon. you know why O'Lielly walked out. He's trying to promote his book and the last thing he needs is to not be in the papers. Don't fall for this bait. He's pissed as hell that he f'ed up and made Franken a best seller now he's trying to get some of that Franken magic to rub off on him. If he really wants some magic he'd be better off passing himself as a close friend of James Lee Witt - it almost worked for Gore...
Romario - Rick:
Yep, that was great. He even went so far as to identify the last paragraph as what was favorable when the review had started off mixed.
For posterity, the last paragraph went:
"Mr. Moore has marshalled all of his impassioned, populist bluster to effecting that change. That makes 'Dude, Where's my Country?' a bumpersticker that doubles as a book."
I actually laughed out loud when she read that last paragraph and he had the nerve to say, "You don't think that review is favorable to that book?"
He just went totaly Captain Queeg at at the end, strawberrys, ball-bearings, and geometric logic bouncing out the door with him. Funny.
This morning I was wondering what Terry Gross could discuss with Bill O'Reilly that wouldn't end with a tantrum and walkout.
Is there ANYTHING that doesn't take O'Reilly down tin-foil alley?
Here's the link in case I missed seeing it up top.
http://freshair.npr.org/
day_fa.j...dayDate=current
It's not a bad interview actually and Terri does needle him a lot. But my goodness if he can't take heat outside of the confines of his show then you have to wonder about the guy's stability.
Be sure to listen to her opening and closing statements. She makes a good point about hypocricy.
O'Reilly got off easier than Franken (or Krugman). Al had to answer follow-up questions...
I'm curious, does anyone have a URL for the Jeremy Glick interview? I to have only seen the tail end summaries, and listening to the Fresh Air interview I realized that not having read the whole thing is a valid complaint. Since I hate the idea of O'Reilly having a valid complaint, I want to read it for myself.
Romario - Rick:
Yep, that was great. He even went so far as to identify the last paragraph as what was favorable when the review had started off mixed.
For posterity, the last paragraph went:
"Mr. Moore has marshalled all of his impassioned, populist bluster to effecting that change. That makes 'Dude, Where's my Country?' a bumpersticker that doubles as a book."
I actually laughed out loud when she read that last paragraph and he had the nerve to say, "You don't think that review is favorable to that book?"
Ha, guess you shouldn't hit refresh after you've posted a comment ...
>Here is a google cached version of the transcript. There are others, but this one looks pretty.
I think Franken has said the following . . . and I'm not pointing it out because I'm a partisan but because I truly believe it's true. . . . Baba O'Reilly is UNBALANCED, he needds to go into therapy. He'll go off some day, and of that I'm sure.
Best--
Oops, sorry, that is for the Jeremy Glick interview on The Factor. Should have clarified.
He was a real "dick" in the interview. One should at least try to be civil.
It's actually the fact that people like Franken more than him that makes him see red.
Anybody that goes on his show should keep throwing Franken in his face and sit back and watch the fireworks.
He's loud and 6'4" and feels he's been unfairly treated his whole life: classic recipe for a bully. It's hard to have a rational discussion with someone who shouts down his opponents. Did you notice how he defined "spin" as having not the slightest relationship to "opinion"?
O'Reilly couldn't cut Terri Gross' mike, so he walked out.
ROFL
Al Franken doesn't need to satire O'Reilly... O'Reilly is self-satire at its finest.
My 15 year old borderline C-student daughter was listening when O'Reilly was clumsily trying to explain the "Peabody Award" lie and said "Dad, he just said that he said he won that award, then turned right around and said he never said it!"
There is hope...
In other radio related news Limbaugh was going on today about the 3 misconceptions survey and true to form hollered, "The liberals are saying you folks who watch Fox News are stupid."
Well, you are. There's your proof. Suck it up, you ignorant junkie, and your idiot followers too.
Also speaking of unrepentant whiners, he was shilling his brother's book about how the so-called christians are being persecuted in the US of A. Yeah, we only have them in all three branches of government, controlling the media and just about goddamn everything! I feel so fuckin' sorry for them it makes baby Jeebus weep.
I feel so dirty.
Oh how I wish NPR would put transcripts on the web. But they don't. Only Audio. You have to pay for the transcripts and order them from Burelle's.
How about we start up an NPR transcript fund? I'd love to earmark $$ to get them to put transcripts online in a timely fashion. It would certainly help spread NPR's presence on the web...
Didn't he say something like his classmates used to stuff him in a closet?
I loved the part where Terry asked him whether having very opinionated people shout past each other might be having deleterious effects on the quality of political dialogue. He answered -- seriously -- that he's the only one on his show who gets to yell! Gee, Bill, now that I finally understand what "spin" really means can you define "bully" for me?
O'Reilly:
"we had a fight and worked it out. It's how Irish people do things."
Unlike those lazy blacks, or the Jews who are so tight with a dollar...
Didn't he say something like his classmates used to stuff him in a closet?
No, that was the nuns in his parochial school.
IMHO, the penguins didn't whup his ass enough.
As unpalatable, bullying, hypocritical, condescending, vicious and downright wrong as O'Reilly often is, I thought Gross's interview was very poorly done.
I'm with aimi...
She wasn't prepared for him, she was frequently hesitant and clearly intimidated, and she didn't take any of the numerous opportunities presented by O'Reilly to follow up on questions she had asked and really corner him. Sad to say, he pretty much cleaned her clock (I know her style isn't to enter into pissing contests, but I see that as a lack of flexibility and agility as an interviewer on her part as much as a virtue, considering that she interviews people like O'Reilly).
She provided him with a lot of fodder for his Fox schtick and his fans will be thrilled that he--as he and they will see it--stuck it to another whiny liberal.
Muahdog writes, "O'Reilly's tantrum seemed staged like a pro-wrestling stunt," and I agree. That's exactly what he does and he's kind of an evil genius at it... it's precisely why he's so popular. The terrible thing is that he'll spin this in his "no-spin zone" six ways to Sunday and use it to "prove" to his enormous constituency that NPR and the "liberal media" aren't "fair and balanced." It's great PR for him and his already-best-selling book--it plays to his base and reinforces everything it already believes about "leftists" (I'd say "leftist intellectuals," but I'm not sure Gross qualifies as an intellectual).
I'm somewhat disappointed in Gross for letting him conduct the interview on his terms, but with him you really can't do much else. You'd better be ready to fight back, and fighting back isn't her thing, which is probably why he agreed to the interview in the first place--he could play cat and mouse with her and then make his theatrical exit, just as he does every day on his show.
I realize most of the posters here are big fans of hers, but I think she's a rather weak, predictable and slow interviewer. I want to like her but can't.
One of many opportunities she missed was to throw him off balance (since it *was* a wrestling match, whether she wanted it to be one or not) by pointing out that Harper's--which he derided as being a part of "the liberal press" or some shit--published Curtis White's attack on her as being a "Schlock Jock," a criticism repeated in his book _Middle Mind: Why Americans Don't Think for Themselves_ (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/
isbninquiry.asp?cds2Pid=280&isbn=0060524367). Unfortunately, I think White's got something there.
So many missed opportunities... Gross could have pursued O'Reilly's comments on the death penalty, marijuana and the need for Bush to come clean on the Iraq debacle, getting him to provide some quotes that could have undercut his popularity with his rabid fanbase if they got out.... She asked him first off why *he* sued Franken, giving him an immediate chance to correct her (FOX sued), an
dude, what's with the word count limit in the comments section...?
I listened to the whole interview with O'Reilly, and I kept thinking to myself, "this guy is really smooth." If you just flew in from another planet, you'd think he was the only fair, balanced, independent, and unbiased person in the American media today. He made sure that all of the listeners were aware that: 1) he never lies, 1a) if he is caught lying, it was an honest mistake, 2) he is the only one with all of the facts, 3) he never takes things out of context, 4) all of his opinions are based on the facts and only the facts, and of course 5) if you disagree with him, you are wrong.
But then he completely lost his cool and went nuts at the end, and he no longer seemed so smooth. The interview was quite even-handed and never seemed confrontational until that point -- Terry let him respond to some criticism and asked him a number of questions about his life and his new book. He made a number of statements that had me shaking my head in disbelief, but she didn't challenge him on them. She seemed quite well prepared for the interview, so she probably could have called him on some of those statements.
It seems pretty apparent that he planned his little tirade against NPR all along. He was probably surprised and disappointed that the interview hadn't been more confrontational as he hadn't been given an opportunity to deliver his rant about her "hatchet" job and "defamation" of him and how unfair and unbalanced NPR is. He knows his audience will eat this up -- more damning evidence about "the liberal media." He's got to give the people what they want. Time was running out, so he pre-emptively blew a question out of proportion, gave his speech (it was probably scripted), and stormed off.
And now the guy who doesn't take things out of context is playing a snippet of this interview to his audience as some proof of how all those evil liberals are out to get him.
O'Reilly's doing a bit about this on his show. He has a Republican politician on whose agenda is to kill NPR and PBS.
He only plays the last chunk, where he goes crazy and walks out. He didn't play the part where he lied about his treatment of Jeremy Glick.
He's saying they invited NPR on to give their viewpoint. I wonder if that's true.
Fair. Balanced. Paranoid psychotic.
"He only plays the last chunk, where he goes crazy and walks out. He didn't play the part where he lied about his treatment of Jeremy Glick."
And it's somewhat surprising that they didn't play part of the Glick bit, because Gross admitted she had only read the excerpt in Harper's and thereby gave O'Reilly the opening he was waiting for to blather about how irrational Glick was (getting his own show, wrong, of course, but Gross couldn't call him on it BECAUSE SHE WAS UNPREPARED AND HADN'T DONE HER HOMEWORK... she should have interrupted him and told him he was full of shit, but COULDN'T)... not to mention his bit about the "liberal media" taking things out of context to malign his poor fair & balanced soul. That Glick bit from the interview would have served his purposes on Fox beautifully, and may well yet get an airing, along with some artful editing.
Gross is a very limited interviewer. She blew it. I can't understand her popularity.
I'm beginning to think O'Reilly has some serious delusions of persecution.
I used to be unsure about this, but his appearance on Fresh Air convinced me that he's a paranoid nutcase on the level of Richard Mellon Scaife. I thought before that maybe it was just an excuse to be an asshole, but I was wrong. I still think he has a bad case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (the old term for a person with this was 'sociopath'), though.
And, yeah, Terry Gross was horribly unprepared. She didn't call him on his quote that if we didn't find WMD, he'd apologize to his audience and "never trust the Bush Administration again." She didn't know that what Glick really said on O'Reilley show that bin Laden was trained by the US government. Still, O'Reilley kicked his own ass by being, well, himself.
Damnit, I can't even spell "O'Reilly" correctly! [hangs head in shame]
The terrible thing is that he'll spin this in his "no-spin zone" six ways to Sunday and use it to "prove" to his enormous constituency that NPR and the "liberal media" aren't "fair and balanced."
It would not have made one iota of difference if she had played hardball tactics with him or not. He'd spin anything "six ways to Sunday" even if she had shut off his mic, or otherwise interrupted him, and proceeded to lay out a perfectly logical step-by-step explanation of why he's full of it. He would then have used that hypothetical interview as proof that the rabidly left NPR (haha) is out to get him.
Instead, she did what she always does best. She let him reveal himself for who he is. When she does that with guests who are not psychotic, the result is almost always revealing in ways that pre-scripted sound-bite interviews never are. When she does that with guests who are psychotic, they get the chance to reveal to the rational folks in the audience that they are in fact, uh, psychotic. She's not out for warfare, she wants to reveal the character of her guests.
I met Terry Gross in the eighties at a party in Philly, just as FA was going national. She's not only an extremely classy person, she's also remarkably well-read. By no means your average talking head. That's why, unlike her guest today, she has a raft of genuine awards reflecting her genuine accomplishments.
Hey, If you pop enough OxyContin, you feel none of it.
(in other workds, maybe it makes you a righteous blowhard)
For the record, the Franken interview transcript can be found here:
http://www.alfrankenweb.com/fres.../
freshlies.html
Personally, I am more inclined to agree with the people who say that Gross could have had all of the dirt on O'Reilly and he would have come off just the same. She should have read the entire Glick transcript, no question, but even if she nailed him on it, he would have spun it the same way he spun the Moore review.
What's more, it seems like some people think that she should have set out to make him look bad. Her style is not to try to "corner him" or "fight back," it's to conduct an enlightening interview by getting the guest to talk about topics that would interest whatever audience the show brings in, which, in this case, probably included some O'Reilly fans.
For the record, I don't see how she could have challenged Franken more than she challenged O'Reilly. Franken's book points out clear instances where O'Reilly was lying, so she asked him about them and followed up. The only thing that O'Reilly says about franken is that he's "extreme" and "radical" and "vicious" and whatever else it is. Since he doesn't bring up any facs to back up his namecalling (he says that Franken is lying by saying that the lies in Al's book are are "mistakes," but there's no dispute about the facts Franken uses) there is therefore nothing to use if you want to ask Franken the kinds of questions she asked O'Reilly. The only thing that comes close, the abstinence education letter, Gross had Franken read in full.
One last thing: I know someone who is fairly old (a grandmother) and who is a fan of Limbaugh, Hannity, and even SAVAGE. She has said that she finds O'Reilly is no longer listenable because of is growing insanity. So, I think that this stuff might not play to the base at all, though I agree that the walkout was probably staged and he thinks it will help him. He is smart enough to realize, though, that if people start to believe that he's a liar, his whole schtick is in jeopardy; that's why he is so defensive about his lies and the myth surrounding himself. If people start to believe that he is as dishonest as he is and that he can't be trusted, his non-wingnut audience (which is fairly large) will shrink and disappear.
First — O'Reilly is undeniably... um... I'm having trouble here. What's worse than an oversized, flabby schoolyard bully who only picks on kids two grades below and eats his own boogers? That's what O'Reilly is.
Second — Terry Gross is wildly over-rated as an interviewer. She should never have brought up the Glick interview without having the complete transcript; she should have pushed the hell out of him about the WMD thing. The best interviewer I've ever heard, bar none, is Lenny Lopate on WNYC in New York. Go to WNYC.org and do a search for his interview with Henry Kissinger. Anyone who can make war criminal Henry the K. sputter and spit like an overboiled teakettle is a-okay by me.
twenty five minutes plus into the interview, and I have to stop...
I'll come back and finish the listening tomorrow....
a man can only take so much...
Already posted this OT downstream. An email I sent to O'Lielly (copied to Al Franken's publicist, Fresh Air, others):
Dear Mr. O'Reilly:
I heard the interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. I must say, I was impressed. However, one of the things that stuck out for me as being strange was hearing you say that Al Franken wrote in his book that as a child you and your family took "lavish" trips to Florida. It stuck out because I'm currently reading his book and I didn't recall the use of that adjective. So I went back and reread that passage. Let me quote it for you here:
"Trouble is, an inside source (O'Reilly's Mother) tells a different story. Mrs. O'Reilly proudly told the Washington Post that the family regularly took vacations in Florida..."
You also said in the interview, by the way, that your family only went to Florida once, on a Greyhound bus. So, not only did you lie about what Al Franken wrote (when in fact he was only quoting the WaPo--isn't that slander?), you also imply that your mother is a liar. Do you sleep OK?
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXX
Chicago (not the Evanston "neighborhood" of Chicago, either)
I was disappointed in Terry Gross. Making Bill O'Reilly cry is NOT a challenge. She started the interview with Franken's book.
It would have been much more interesting if she's asked him about why he does what he does.
He started talking about how he was too quick to believe the WMD justification for the war in Iraq, but she didn't follow up.
"Okay, you say that Bush needs to explain the "flawed intelligence", who do you think should be held to account for this?
or
"Okay, this is kind of hypothetical, but if it turns out that the President, or some of his close advisors, deliberately exagerated the threat posed by Iraq, would you support the President for reelection? And, if you wouldn't support the reeelection of the president, are there any Democratic candidates you'd endorse?"
or even somthing like
"Interviewer to interviewer, there are some folks you really want on your show, because you know they will be entertaining and provacative even if they aren't very well known-- and there are some people you want on your show, because they are newsworthy, and you know your audience will be interested. Can you tell us what interview or interviews you found most rewarding...?
he started to say some interesting things about the birth of his political consciousness, but quickly retreated to the "I am an independent", "I am inot solutions/problem solving." why couldn't she have asked:
"Okay, do you find that you are more often in sympathy to one political party or philosophy?"
"What Democratic president do you most admire?"
"What Republican president do you most admire?"
etc.
He probably would still have ended up stalking out -- but it would have been for a more interesting reason than hurt feelings.
Kate, thank-you.
Why on earth should Terry have changed her approach, shaped over decades by now, becaues Bill O'Reilly was her guest. The comparison to Lopate on Kissinger misses the point that O'Reilly thrives on conflict; he was pushing her to challenge him; I had the feeling he'd planned to walk out much sooner, but she caught him by surprise by that genuine interest in her guests answers she always projects. She'd clearly read his book carefully and gave him ample opportunity to talk about it.
It doesn't matter that O'Reilly is making a stink his show; that was going to happen. This mania some commentators have that Terry or anyone actually show O'Reilly up to his listeners is a hopeless quest;his regulars can't hear anything but his voice, his style of crazed discourse.
I think she was stunned when it was tantrum time; it would have been better if she'd asked him him what questions he'd thought were tough, and I wish she hadn't given him the point about Franken's interview, but Terry was being honest, the shape of the Franken interview was certainly different from what had been happening with O'Reilly.
BTW, a lot of Slate authors appear on Terry's show.
O'Reilly has shown himself here to be unfair, unhinged, and unprofessional, both a bully and a whiner. Anyone who isn't an insane fan of Fox News will see that.
Don't bother to write to O'Reilly; call and write to FRESH AIR; let NPR start to count up the number of supportive responses they get.
Think of all the heavyweights she's interviewed over the years, from literature, media, broadway, movies, science, philosophy, very mainstream people, like Tom Brokaw, Nancy Reagan, Steve Martin. Rosalyn and Jimmy Carter, John Cleese, poets, musicians, for all I know she may have interviewed Arnold. Wouldn't it be nice if some of these muckymucks got themselves organized to take out an ad in the NYTimes, not to attack O'Reilly, but to state their support for Terry Gross, Fresh Air and NPR?
I am not a frequent listener of _Fresh Air_, but it seems pretty clear that her goal is not to make anyone "sputter and spit like an overboiled teakettle."
I agree that she blew the Glick interview line of questioning, but the bottom line is that she was not out to GET O'Reilly. Despite what he said, she did not have an agenda and she was not looking to sink him. He ended up doing pretty well in that regard himself, especially on the Moore review.
But the bottom line is that NPR, in general, has standards. Their goal is not to invite people on to talk and then do what O'Reilly does. The goal is to let the person being interviewed do the talking.
For those who think that Terry Gross is "biased", the only other person I remember who hung up on her was Alan Dershowitz, who was talking about Bush v. Gore with Richard Posner, and Alan thought that Terry was being too favorable to Posner, who was taking the republican side.
I also copied Fresh Air on my email, among other places. Calling him out was so much fucking fun.
uri,
I agree. She could and should have nailed his dick to a post. Let him talk about his little book awhile and then "blammo!" Or some such.
I wrote her a while back regarding her softball approach with Bill Kristol, saying ,"I know you haven't actually earned the moniker 'Titanium Terry' or anything, but..."
I think she's starting to get a clue, though. She's got to work more on that.
I was surprised at how shaky Terry seemed to be, from the beginning to the end. When she started to ask him about the Glick debacle, she gave this nervous little laugh.
I'm not sure how to interpret that... e.g., is she unused to asking tough questions, or was she apologetic for bringing up something that could not possibly reflect well on her guest, or was it because she doesn't know how to act around wingnuts, or was it because she knew he could blow up at any moment..?
pj,
Alan Dershowitz is not really a liberal. Read this for starters. He is a huge supporter of Israel's war on the Arabs.
Here's the Glick transcript
SECTION: News; International
LENGTH: 1129 words
HEADLINE: Man Whose Father Died in Trade Center Signs Anti-War Ad
GUESTS: Jeremy Glick
BYLINE: Bill O'Reilly
BODY:
O'REILLY: In the "Personal Stories" segment tonight, we were surprised to find out than an American who lost his father in the World Trade Center attack had signed an anti-war advertisement that accused the USA itself of terrorism.
The offending passage read, "We too watched with shock the horrific events of September 11... we too mourned the thousands of innocent dead and shook our heads at the terrible scenes of carnage -- even as we recalled similar scenes in Baghdad, Panama City, and a generation ago, Vietnam."
With us now is Jeremy Glick, whose father, Barry, was a Port Authority worker at the Trade Center. Mr. Glick is a co-author of the book "Another World is Possible."
I'm surprised you signed this. You were the only one of all of the families who signed...
JEREMY GLICK, FATHER DIED IN WORLD TRADE CENTER: Well, actually, that's not true.
O'REILLY: Who signed the advertisement?
GLICK: Peaceful Tomorrow, which represents 9/11 families, were also involved.
O'REILLY: Hold it, hold it, hold it, Jeremy. You're the only one who signed this advertisement.
GLICK: As an individual.
O'REILLY: Yes, as -- with your name. You were the only one. I was surprised, and the reason I was surprised is that this ad equates the United States with the terrorists. And I was offended by that.
GLICK: Well, you say -- I remember earlier you said it was a moral equivalency, and it's actually a material equivalency.
And just to back up for a second about your surprise, I'm actually shocked that you're surprised.
If you think about it, our current president, who I feel and many feel is in this position illegitimately by neglecting the voices of Afro- Americans in the Florida coup, which, actually, somebody got impeached for during the Reconstruction period --
Our current president now inherited a legacy from his father and inherited a political legacy that's responsible for training militarily, economically, and situating geopolitically the parties involved in the alleged assassination and the murder of my father and countless of thousands of others.
So I don't see why it's surprising...
O'REILLY: All right. Now let me stop you here. So...
GLICK: ... for you to think that I would come back and want to support...
O'REILLY: It is surprising, and I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why it's surprising.
GLICK: ... escalating...
O'REILLY: You are mouthing a far left position that is a marginal position in this society, which you're entitled to.
GLICK: It's marginal -- right.
O'REILLY: You're entitled to it, all right, but you're -- you see, even -- I'm sure your beliefs are sincere, but what upsets me is I don't think your father would be approving of this.
GLICK: Well,
'REILLY: You're entitled to it, all right, but you're -- you see, even -- I'm sure your beliefs are sincere, but what upsets me is I don't think your father would be approving of this.
GLICK: Well, actually, my father thought that Bush's presidency was illegitimate.
O'REILLY: Maybe he did, but...
GLICK: I also didn't think that Bush...
O'REILLY: ... I don't think he'd be equating this country as a terrorist nation as you are.
GLICK: Well, I wasn't saying that it was necessarily like that.
O'REILLY: Yes, you are. You signed...
GLICK: What I'm saying is...
O'REILLY: ... this, and that absolutely said that.
GLICK: ... is that in -- six months before the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, starting in the Carter administration and continuing and escalating while Bush's father was head of the CIA, we recruited a hundred thousand radical mujahadeens to combat a democratic government in Afghanistan, the Turaki government.
O'REILLY: All right. I don't want to...
GLICK: Maybe...
O'REILLY: I don't want to debate world politics with you.
GLICK: Well, why not? This is about world politics.
O'REILLY: Because, No. 1, I don't really care what you think.
GLICK: Well, OK.
O'REILLY: You're -- I want to...
GLICK: But you do care because you...
O'REILLY: No, no. Look...
GLICK: The reason why you care is because you evoke 9/11...
O'REILLY: Here's why I care.
GLICK: ... to rationalize...
O'REILLY: Here's why I care...
GLICK: Let me finish. You evoke 9/11 to rationalize everything from domestic plunder to imperialistic aggression worldwide.
O'REILLY: OK. That's a bunch...
GLICK: You evoke sympathy with the 9/11 families.
O'REILLY: That's a bunch of crap. I've done more for the 9/11 families by their own admission -- I've done more for them than you will ever hope to do.
GLICK: OK.
O'REILLY: So you keep your mouth shut when you sit here exploiting those people.
GLICK: Well, you're not representing me. You're not representing me.
O'REILLY: And I'd never represent you. You know why?
GLICK: Why?
O'REILLY: Because you have a warped view of this world and a warped view of this country.
GLICK: Well, explain that. Let me give you an example of a parallel...
O'REILLY: No, I'm not going to debate this with you, all right.
GLICK: Well, let me give you an example of parallel experience. On September 14...
O'REILLY: No, no. Here's -- here's the...
GLICK: On September 14...
O'REILLY: Here's the record.
GLICK: OK.
O'REILLY: All right. You didn't support the action against Afghanistan to remove the Taliban. You were against it, OK.
GLICK: Why would I want to brutalize and further punish the people in Afghanistan...
O'REILLY: Who killed your father!
GLICK: The people in Afghanistan...
O'REILLY: Who killed your father.
GLICK: ... didn't kill my father.
O'REILLY: Sure they did. The al Qaeda people were
GLICK: ... didn't kill my father.
O'REILLY: Sure they did. The al Qaeda people were trained there.
GLICK: The al Qaeda people? What about the Afghan people?
O'REILLY: See, I'm more angry about it than you are!
GLICK: So what about George Bush?
O'REILLY: What about George Bush? He had nothing to do with it.
GLICK: The director -- senior as director of the CIA.
O'REILLY: He had nothing to do with it.
GLICK: So the people that trained a hundred thousand Mujahadeen who were...
O'REILLY: Man, I hope your mom isn't watching this.
GLICK: Well, I hope she is.
O'REILLY: I hope your mother is not watching this because you -- that's it. I'm not going to say anymore.
GLICK: OK.
O'REILLY: In respect for your father...
GLICK: On September 14, do you want to know what I'm doing?
O'REILLY: Shut up. Shut up.
GLICK: Oh, please don't tell me to shut up.
O'REILLY: As respect -- as respect -- in respect for your father, who was a Port Authority worker, a fine American, who got killed unnecessarily by barbarians...
GLICK: By radical extremists who were trained by this government...
O'REILLY: Out of respect for him...
GLICK: ... not the people of America.
O'REILLY: ... I'm not going to...
GLICK: ... The people of the ruling class, the small minority.
O'REILLY: Cut his mic. I'm not going to dress you down anymore, out of respect for your father.
We will be back in a moment with more of THE FACTOR.
GLICK: That means we're done?
O'REILLY: We're done.
LOAD-DATE: July 11, 2003
listened to both. while i think he's too damn fragile and easily rattled, he did have a point. he and al were both on to talk about their books and they are both political and somewhat controversal. al got softballs and bill got hard questions. he didn't like it. i may not have either.
i mean, bill is still a jerk and got a taste of his own medicine...but...meek or not, she was a lot harder on ol bill...
and i don't mind...'cept he's got more to rant about since he's so easily 'hurt'.
Well, JP, see how many on the right get thrown softballs on his show, as opposed to lefties who are repeatedly told to shut up.
Don't dish it out if you can't take it, so the old saying goes.
"Exactly" to the post above. That's the whole point about O'Reilly - he complains of double standards but uses them himself all the time. He allows right-wingers to spin freely (at least he has ween I've seen him) and he's harsh with people not on his favored list.
Franken doesn't have a TV where's he freaked out about his critics so it is a different situation so maybe some criticism is due. But I bet it could be done without spitting all over the interviewer.
What a nut.
Will conservative Americans ever look at the Rushs and O'Reillys as they are and not as the fountains of home-spun wisdom they want them to be? And don't get me started on how the right-wing press coddle each other. And I'm not just talking the blowhards like O'Reilly - I'm talking about the people who used to be seen as serious people.
I can't believe Bill O'Reilly is touting this interview in his favor. I'd stay away from this interview like the devil from holy water were I O'Reilly.
o'reilly really sounded like a jackass, yelling at a woman who barely speaks above a whisper.
i would have thought he would welcome the chance to refute all the negative stuff about him, instead he throws a childish tantrum. no sane adult would walk out under those circumstances, it was obviously planned.
and the idea that comparing moore's book to a bumper sticker was a positive review is absurd.
but when he asked her if she was as "tough" on franken, i just would have said "that's subjective, you'd have to ask al franken". she's just too nice, but that just make o'reilly look worse.
Weirdly enough, I saw most of Terry Gross's questions as potentially positive for O'Reilly. There are a lot of questions people have about the man (who proclaims himself, in so many words, something like "king of all media") that haven't been directly asked very many times. Terry, I think, asked those questions in a manner that would have, had he chosen to answer them correctly, allowed him to make a very good case for himself.
In a sense, she was saying, "Here's a bunch of stuff people have said about us, could you tell us why they're wrong." Indeed, by her manner, never accusatory always citng a source, she always left open the possibility that the implication of the question might be incorrect.
That he doesn't see this, is, to me, the most damning thing about him. It says to me that when he thinks he is right and has made up his mind, he is not really willing to continute to explore a question or issue (though he insists otherwise). He's right, he knows it, end of story. Indeed, he's said as much many times on his show which I do watch from time to time.
I agree that Franken got comparatively "Softball" questions this time around, I don't necessiarly think that this was the result of some favorable bias towards him. There are simply not a lot of public questions about his admittedly far less public personna and stances. Once Al becomes "King of all media", I'm sure a great many questions will arise about his ineviatble mis-statements and hyperbole and opinions and Terry would do an interview that would reflect this.
Here's a question that Al Franken took from Terry Gross that, I suspect, O'Reilly might have taken differently:
GROSS: Now Fox accused you of being shrill and unstable, not a well-respected voice in American politics, a C-level political commentator who appears to be unstable, a parasite, and they said that you were intoxicated or deranged at a press correspondents dinner in April
... the similarly "negative" questions Gross put to O'Reilly were couched in similar "someone said this, please tell us your side" terms.
Fair to the extreme, I'd say...
Only one word fits O'Reilly:
Pussy.
As my wife said when I used that description last night:
"I'm insulted! The difference between O'Reilly and a pussy is, he's never given anyone pleasure or happiness."
Weirdly enough, I saw most of Terry Gross's questions as potentially positive for O'Reilly. There are a lot of questions people have about the man (who proclaims himself, in so many words, something like "king of all media") that haven't been directly asked very many times. Terry, I think, asked those questions in a manner that would have, had he chosen to answer them correctly, allowed him to make a very good case for himself.
In a sense, she was saying, "Here's a bunch of stuff people have said about us, could you tell us why they're wrong." Indeed, by her manner, never accusatory always citng a source, she always left open the possibility that the implication of the question might be incorrect.
That he doesn't see this, is, to me, the most damning thing about him. It says to me that when he thinks he is right and has made up his mind, he is not really willing to continute to explore a question or issue (though he insists otherwise). He's right, he knows it, end of story. Indeed, he's said as much many times on his show which I do watch from time to time.
I agree that Franken got comparatively "Softball" questions this time around, I don't necessiarly think that this was the result of some favorable bias towards him. There are simply not a lot of public questions about his admittedly far less public personna and stances. Once Al becomes "King of all media", I'm sure a great many questions will arise about his ineviatble mis-statements and hyperbole and opinions and Terry would do an interview that would reflect this.
Here's a question that Al Franken took from Terry Gross that, I suspect, O'Reilly might have taken differently:
GROSS: Now Fox accused you of being shrill and unstable, not a well-respected voice in American politics, a C-level political commentator who appears to be unstable, a parasite, and they said that you were intoxicated or deranged at a press correspondents dinner in April
... the similarly "negative" questions Gross put to O'Reilly were couched in similar "someone said this, please tell us your side" terms.
Fair to the extreme, I'd say...
Terry Gross? Terry Gross getting Big Bad Bill to walk out on her? What a brittle glass jaw Ol' Bill's got. In the years I've heard hear I only remember two people she gave a edgy interview to, Arl Secter and the Kiss asshole and she wasn't exactly hard on the rock jock either.
Cry baby, Billy!
Terry knocked him silly!
Terry Gross? Terry Gross getting Big Bad Bill to walk out on her? What a brittle glass jaw Ol' Bill's got. In the years I've heard her I only remember two people she gave a edgy interview to, Arl Secter and the Kiss asshole and she wasn't exactly hard on the rock jock either.
Cry baby, Billy!
Terry knocked him silly!
What hardware can I get that will fix this?
brad h writes above:
"Here's a question that Al Franken took from Terry Gross that, I suspect, O'Reilly might have taken differently:
GROSS: Now Fox accused you of being shrill and unstable, not a well-respected voice in American politics, a C-level political commentator who appears to be unstable, a parasite, and they said that you were intoxicated or deranged at a press correspondents dinner in April
... the similarly "negative" questions Gross put to O'Reilly were couched in similar "someone said this, please tell us your side" terms"
The thing about the question that bradh cites, along with the rest of the interview is that, as well as it reads in transcript form, when you hear it you also hear the tremulousness in her voice.
Unfortunately, that play straight to O'Reilly's strengths and strategy--the odious bullying that alternates with his Mr. "Fair & Balanced" rational & objective BS stance (note though how well he modulats his voice). That counts for a lot in this kind of argument, even if it shouldn't.
As Bruce notes above, "I was surprised at how shaky Terry seemed to be, from the beginning to the end. When she started to ask him about the Glick debacle, she gave this nervous little laugh." Many people respond to the paralinguistic stuff more than they do to the content of what's actually being said. O'Reilly *sounds,* when he's not blustering, confident and rational, whereas Gross comes off as sounding nervous and uncertain--which people tend to interpret as shifty and dishonest.
If you check out her demeanor with Franken in that last interview she did with him (it's one of, I think, 7 she's done with him in the past 5 years), it's not just that she's tossing him "softballs," but also that she exudes a sort of warm and playful comraderie. You can tell from the sound of her voice that she already agrees with him and that he's in a safe space.
If she could find it within herself to maintain more of an even demeanor across interviews and not get psyched out by a pushy brat like O'Reilly *and* not be so exceedingly friendly to guests she digs, I think she'd be a much stronger interviewer. Of course, I think many like "Fresh Air" precisely because of her personality, so it wouldn't be the show it is (and O'Reilly might well not have agreed to appear on it).
Well, the O'Reilly interview seems more obtainable today from NPR.org after yesterday's big rush. Finally listening to it, I'm again struck by what a liar O'Reilly is. One dubious claim is that he has only told a guest to "shut up" five times in the last seven years (the other times, he says he was joking). More damningly, he claimed that Jeremy Glick called 9/11 "an alleged attack." Is something missing from this transcript? http://www.oreilly-sucks.com/
ore...reillyglick.htm
For a little insight into what might be eating Bill O'Reilly, let's turn to the American Psychiatric Association:
NARCISSISM (n. sing.)
A pattern of traits and behaviours which signify infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one's gratification, dominance and ambition.
WHAT IS NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder)?
The Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) has been recognized as a seperate mental health disorder in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM) in 1980. Its diagnostic criteria and their interpretation have undergone a major revision in the DSM III-R (1987) and were substantially revamped in the DSM IV in 1994. The European ICD-10 basically contains identical language.
An all-pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), need for admiration or adulation and lack of empathy, usually beginning by early adulthood and present in various contexts. Five (or more) of the following criteria must be met:
1. Feels grandiosity and self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).
2. Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance.
3. Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions).
4. Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation - or, failing that, wishes to be feared.
5. Feels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favourable priority treatment. Demands automatic and full compliance with his or her expectations.
6. Is "interpersonally exploitative", i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends.
7. Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with or acknowledge the feelings and needs of others.
8. Constantly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her.
9. Arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes coupled with rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted.
The language in the criteria above is based on or summarized from:
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition (DSM IV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Sam Vaknin. (1999). Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited, first edition. Prague and Skopje: Narcissus Publication. ("Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/...aksam/
faq1.html )
here is the text of my SIGNED (complete with phone/fax/vmail/toll free #s email to O'reilly (cc'd Terry Gross too).
what a 'tool'
Mr. 'Fair and Balanced'
08 OCT - Just heard the 'Fresh Air' interview you cut short... what a wuss! Bailing out because you got your 'feathers' ruffled by little Terry Gross, the truth must have hurt, huh?
Poor little Billy... railing about Al Franken getting ' a pass', and you being the focus of a 'hatchet job'. Perhaps you should go back and read the text of your mutual admiration a** kissing 'interview' with then candidate Schwarzenegger (on your web page - right next to the New York Times Subscription AD! You apparently no problem taking their ad dollars, eh bill?) , this was a PASS.
Oh..., I forgot. The Harvard grad (obviously) has a 'reading disorder'. Really Bill, checking the 'Republican' box on the voter registration form was an 'oversight'...'there was a lot going on at the time' blahblahblah? This from the same guy who in DEC 2000 belittled elderly, ethnic, and under privileged Palm Beach County voters for saying they made a mistake/were confused about a ballot with admittedly confusing alignment of the candidates? (SURE Pat Buchanan got 3,407 votes in Palm Beach County)
No. I think Al Franken is right. I 'heard it' in your response to Terry Gross. You ARE a liar.
You know it (or you don't because your pathological) and so do your Fox 'handlers'. You know, the same guys who produced the {US and now the European versions of} Joe Millionaire deceptions. Lying is endemic at Fox because it 'sells'.
HEY!! I've got a concept you can 'pitch' to your handlers, Bill for 'Joe Millionaire' III. They take a married 'famous person' (I can't believe you called yourself that in your interview with Gross) and have him (you) lie to a group of women telling them that he is going to dump his wife and make one of them the new 'Mrs.'s. (Call Newt Gingrich if you need some help on storyline development).
Not your friend, and certainly not an admirer.
Ken
Steve,
No. Glick was obviously referring to the assasination attempt on Bush pere in Kuwait as "alleged" (at least in terms of Iraq's participation). O'Reilly obviously had rehearsed this argument, seizing on one out-of-context word to excuse his disgusting rudeness and mind-boggling hubris in asserting that he was somehow more qualified to speak for 9/11 victims than the victims themselves. Also note that the facts Glick cited were, being inconvenient, completely ignored by Mr. "No Spin Zone."
Gross's interview was typical--she often has that little laugh, comes across as vulnerable, obviously does some homework, but doesn't script her questions, and listens to the interviewee. Of course her O'Reilly interview was different from the Franken interview--Franken is a comedian, satirist, and at most (historically) a C-list political commentator. O'Reilly has 5 prime-time hours on national TV to spout his political views, and is a subject of national controversy. When FA aired the Franken interview last month, they repeatedly promoted the upcoming O'Reilly interview...O'R was invited on specifically to get equal time to respond to Franken. So he knew that the interview wasn't going to be solely about the new book--though Gross dutifully flogged the book, quoted from it, and allowed him to do the same. If that's O'Reilly's idea of a "hatchet job" or a "trap," then I'm curious what he would call what he did to Glick...
I just thought it would have been amusing if she had managed to call him on more of his lies, and inform him that he was in a "No Prevarication Realm."
I've listened to the interview twice now, and have yet to find the "hatchet job" that caused O'Reilly to storm off, if that is what he did. Terry Gross was her normal self - soft-spoken, well-read, and willing (for the most part) to let her interviewees run with the questions to whatever land they inhabit.
On one hand, O'Reilly exhibits signs of paranoid delusion, of extreme clinical narcissism, and of a deep and abiding terror and guilt. You can't say that he's lying, exactly, because he might actually believe what he utters the moment it comes out of his mouth, even as it contradicts statements he's made only seconds prior. And he gets most furious when the contradictions are pointed out to him.
That said, he's got an almost unnatural effect of spinning everything to reflect the best possible light on himself, and himself alone. While conservative listeners may love him, they are missing the point. He's not a Republican, Democrat, or even an Independent - he's an O'Reillian. He doesn't subscribe to any particular political philosophy so much as have a personality disorder which requires that every idea he's got, no matter how poorly informed or reasoned, is the ultimate Truth.
Personally, I'd love to see him on The Daily Show.
Forgot to say, the bit about "That's how Irish people settle things sometimes..."
As an Irish Catholic Long Islander: thanks, Bill, for perpetuating some of the stupider stereotypes about our culture, just to perpetuate the myth about yourself as a hardscrabble everyman who just happened to go to Harvard and the U of London, instead of the millionaire showbiz phony you are. You've done real proud by the heritage of Yeats and Joyce and Beckett and the Kennedy's and Mary Robinson. When the likes of you and Pat Buchanan parade your supposed Shanty Irish roots it makes me want to vomit.
I think the idea that Terry Gross should maintain an even demeanor across different interviews kinda' misses the point of Fresh Air. It seems to me that, more than anything else, Terry Gross asks questions that probe into the popular perception of the person being interviewed. O'Reilly has a somewhat controversial image- and gets an interview that allows him to address this. Franken is seen primarily as a goofy political satirist- and gets asked where this comes from. I remember an interview with Clint Eastwood in which she spent a delightul two minutes discussing the tough-guy mystique he developed from his Sergio Leone movies. When asked about the inevitable Squinting, he replied "It's bright." I laughed out loud. When asked what he was thinking about at those moments in order to achieve the intensity he does, he said "Not much, mostly that it's bright." Big laugh...
She certainly has a left-of-center viewpoint and seems more comfortable in the presence of folks whom she agrees with, but a pure softball interview is not what I think she is after in these cases. She seems to want, no matter who is on the show, to confound our expectations about this person by finding something unique and interesting about them.
The most interesting thing I could possibly think ofl, in the case of Bill O'Reilly, is that he would be asked to address a number of issues surrounding his personality, and he were to give a surprizing, reasoned, and intelliget defense of his manner. Failing that, we get a pointed illustration of many of the charges that have been made against him.
So no, I don't think she should change her demeanor for each interviewee.
Forgot to say, the bit about "That's how Irish people settle things sometimes..."
As an Irish Catholic Long Islander: thanks, Bill, for perpetuating some of the stupider stereotypes about our culture, just to perpetuate the myth about yourself as a hardscrabble everyman who just happened to go to Harvard and the U of London, instead of the millionaire showbiz phony you are. You've done real proud by the heritage of Yeats and Joyce and Beckett and the Kennedy's and Mary Robinson. When the likes of you and Pat Buchanan parade your supposed Shanty Irish roots it makes me want to vomit.
Michael
Yes, I havent' disliked a fellow Irishman so much since the Southie anti-bussing riots.
He's the kind of Irishman who will smile in your face while he pisses in your lap. That's what my grandfather would have said.
&tm
Bill O'Reilly is a bumper sticker masquerading as a television commentator.
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