| Thursday, October 9, 2003 |
11:51 - O'really?
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In between legs of a journey once again to Home Despot to pick up trifling little tidbits like MORE GIANT CREOSOTE-SOAKED RAILROAD TIES, which I sincerely hope is the last we'll ever have to see of these things, I heard the Fresh Air interview that aired last night with Bill O'Reilly. Bill walked out fifty minutes in, after telling Terry Gross in no uncertain terms that he thought her interviewing tactics were despicable and that he was being made the unfair victim of a hatchet job.
The audio stream is here. And it's worth a listen, because both O'Reilly (on his own show) and Terry proudly broadcast the interview, each thinking that it exonerated him/herself and made the other person look like a dunce or bitch (as the case may be). O'Reilly said, "I rather enjoyed telling her off; go listen to the archived interview on my own site and see what I mean"; but Terry actually used that quote in her packaging of the show, appealing to the "I'm the unbiased one! See? Look, I don't even use any adjectives in describing how the interview went!" contingent.
And I listened. I was interested in hearing exactly how the interview deteriorated.
The subject was nominally O'Reilly's book, Who's Looking Out For You?-- though it turned out to be more about Al Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, which skewers O'Reilly. And the very first question that Terry led off with was, "Are you sorry you sued Al Franken?"
This was only the first in a long string of erroneous accusations that Terry leveled at him, and O'Reilly deflected them all with facts and personal statements of purpose. Now, I can see how some people might consider O'Reilly to be a pompous ass-- he says things like "I have three bestselling books, Terry," and unless you realize the context is that he's trying to explain that he doesn't want the Times reviewing them because he knows they'll only turn it into an excuse to attack him, it sounds rather high-handed. But by the time O'Reilly got to the point where he drew himself up to his full height and really told her off, it was clear (to me, at least) that he was entirely right in thinking that the interview had been very little but a long string of attacks that he was expected to fend off, hopefully saying something potentially embarrassing along the way "that they can print in Harper's Magazine". Terry's questioning consisted almost entirely of reading disparaging quotes against O'Reilly that other authors and reviewers had made, and then asking him: "So, is that a fair assessment?" It's like "Al Franken here calls you, and I quote: A snooty nutcase who's brainwashed into going lock-step with the party line and clubs baby seals. How do you respond to that?" Over and over and over. The only thing that wasn't along those lines was in the middle of the interview, where she asked him, in effect, So you're conservative, huh? How did you get that way? Did you have a bad childhood? Were you abused by your father? Is it maybe some kind of medical condition? Please explain to our listeners; I'm sure they really want to know.
O'Reilly seemed unaware of what Fresh Air is about. If he had, he might have been well aware of how "balanced" Terry's choice of guests and interview formats is. She had clearly not been as confrontational with Al Franken when she'd had him on a previous show, as O'Reilly charged in a surmise-- she admitted as much. And last week, when she hosted the guy from Americans For Tax Reform (who, incidentally, was erudite and genuinely pleasant and inspiring to listen to-- especially his bit about being a "Reagan Federalist", in the sense that he believes each State should have to compete for "customers"-- citizens-- by providing the best bang for the buck, or else they'll move to a different State), she listened to what he had to say with genuine and abject horror. When the guy explained how any kind of tax that divides people based on their income is sold to the public based on how many people are likely to be alarmed by it ("Don't worry-- it's not you that's being affected by this, it's them-- it's someone else"), it's based on the same kind of mentality that led to the Nazis' actions, Terry audibly blinked a few times, interrupted him, and said, "Did... did you just compare a progressive tax to the Holocaust?" And the guy had to explain it all over again-- he didn't backtrack or rethink what he was saying, but he had to drive it all home again to try to counter Terry's Godwin-esque attempt to drive her shiv into his credibility. It's a real shame that she didn't simply listen to what the guy was saying, and respond intelligently, rather than just using her unassuming and melodic voice to caress and massage and look for just the right chink in the guest's armor where she can zero in for the kill.
As for O'Reilly, I think he acquitted himself with dignity, though Terry did her best to damage-control her way out of it with matter-of-factness and making a big show of how unemotional she was in presenting The Facts. I think O'Reilly was plenty justified in feeling threatened and under attack by her questioning-- I know I wouldn't have enjoyed spending an hour countering disparaging remarks made against me by my rivals. I'm proud of Fresh Air for posting the transcript, because I do think it's more damning against Fresh Air than it is against O'Reilly.
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