wow.
i think i've got an idea for a south park episode.
j
On Monday, December 2, 2002, at 11:52 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> <http://www.boston.com/globe/magazine/2002/1201/coverstory.htm>
>
> Boston Globe - magazine - December 1, 2002
>
> The Meanest Man on Television
>
> Bill O'Reilly, host of the cable news show The O'Reilly Factor, is an
> arrogant, controlling know-it-all. And that's exactly why he's so
> popular.
>
> By Neil Swidey, Globe Staff, 12/1/2002
>
> In the late 1980s, Bill O'Reilly was a second-tier correspondent at
> ABC News, scrapping to get airtime. He walked with the same swagger he
> has today, but back then no one took it seriously. A good day was when
> Peter Jennings handed him the trifling task of doing the 30-second
> afternoon news breaks.
>
> So on October 16, when anchorman Jennings wrapped up his evening
> newscast and headed over to the Fox News Channel studios outside New
> York's Times Square to be interviewed by his former underling, it was
> yet another sign of how far O'Reilly has come.
>
> Like so many of the guests on The O'Reilly Factor, Jennings was there
> to pump a new book. That O'Reilly's nightly show - the highest rated
> in cable news - moves merchandise at Amazon is no secret in the
> publishing industry. There's no way it could be; O'Reilly boasts about
> it every time someone plugging a book appears before him. When the
> ever-urbane Jennings, in a brown blazer and brown-and-white tie,
> settled into his chair, O'Reilly smiled broadly. For most people, that
> delicious, how-the-tables-have-turned moment would have been enough.
> O'Reilly is not like most people. In terms of competitiveness, he's a
> different species.
>
> He quickly forced Jennings into an uncomfortable zone, badgering the
> Canadian native to explain a poll showing that 84 percent of our
> neighbors to the north partly blame the United States for September
> 11. He pestered Jennings to pronounce which is better, "socialistic"
> Canada or "capitalistic" America.
>
> "If you talk to Canadians - " Jennings began.
>
> "I'm talking to you," O'Reilly interrupted.
>
> When O'Reilly said the point of Jennings's visit was obviously to sell
> books, the newsman took offense. "It isn't about selling the book,"
> Jennings said. "It's about having had a wonderful time doing the > book."
>
> O'Reilly smirked. "Yeah, but nobody cares whether you had a wonderful
> time doing the book."
>
> Then O'Reilly moved to his burning line of questioning, which, of
> course, centered on him. "Here I am, not nearly as erudite as you or
> as experienced as you, shooting my mouth off every night, analyzing
> the news. . . . Doesn't it drive you crazy to sit there like a
> well-dressed robot and not be able to give your opinion?"
>
> O'Reilly would ask the same question, with almost the same phrasing,
> four times. Three times, Jennings said no, unequivocally no. He tried
> explaining the importance to the democratic process, with so many loud
> voices out there, of having half an hour of balanced news each night.
> After the fourth time, Jennings pulled his body close to the small
> round table between them and just as quickly leaned way back in his
> chair. Then he gave in.
>
> "Do you mean does it frustrate me sometimes that I can't - " Jennings
> started to say.
>
> "Yes!" O'Reilly thundered.
>
> Jennings: "Of course it does."
>
> [...]
>