President Obama v. Bill O'Reilly
We finally broke down and watched this and were surprised to find it's not as bad as we thought it was going to be, based on past experience and comments we've heard. Some of our favorite media blogs have scathing analyses of this interview, for example Newscorpse.
Not that we disagree, but the sad truth is we've
seen worse questioning and disrespectful treatment of the president
by journalists and interviewers of the so-called “liberal” or mainstream
media. It's not just the segment of the media that we consider right-wing, that fails us.
O'Reilly was on good (for him) behavior before the bi-partisan Super Bowl audience. And we have to say, we thought O'Reilly did a better interview than Steve Kroft of Sixty Minutes who is supposed to be a real journalist, and some say, a liberal. [See BFIA Archives, “President Obama Deserves Better Than Sixty Minutes Interview”]. Our only real criticism of O'Reilly was his feigned cluelessness as to why people would think Obama's ideas are socialist – but I've seen Chris Matthews do the exact same thing – Obama deftly handled this with humor and a compliment, saying something like, “they're listening to you, Bill, and you have great ratings.”
So, apart from that, let's see if O'Reilly sticks with the professional tone when they continue the conversation this week on the Factor. For now, enjoy this lively and for the most part, not all that exasperating, exchange.
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