This one gave me a bigger jolt than my gas station coffee, this morning. Senator Obama will be on Bill O’Reilly’s show tonight at 20h00, right before Sen. McCain’s convention speech.
[pause for shocked breath intakes, shouted opinions & objections]
I’m not a fan of the Factor or the factotum of the “fair and balanced” set, but I do have a prediction.
I bet we’ll see Mr. O’Reilly on his best behaviour, this being a relative term. I’m guessing that he’ll be doing a bit less sneering, a bit less interrupting and talking over, in dealing with Sen. Obama. He’s shown a couple of times in the past that he can dial back the Bill-ness with a high-profile guest, even one who has been a frequent target of his wrath.
I’ll go so far as to take reasonable odds that this interview might see just a hint, a flash, a suggestion of respect from the host.
I expect some Democrats will cry “No, don’t do it, Barack!”, with concerns about legitimizing Mr. O’Reilly’s profile, or that the senator will be ambushed. But I think it’s terrific. It says Sen. Obama has no fear of lions, in their dens or anywhere else.
The questions will be hard, and they will be the ones Sen. Obama least enjoys parrying. And parry them he will, if he’s on his game. This will be interesting, but the senator knows what he’s doing. Both dancers know the steps and the tune for the odd cotillion tonight.
###
Cam Battley lives quietly in rural Ontario, Canada.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Kerry Lauerman
Madame Bitch
Sandra Stephens
Liz Emrich
pretend_farmer
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
Defuse them by facing them down.
I am going to have to decide what I'm going to do about live-blogging tonight -- do I blog the Convention, or Obama?
You have to watch the O-O bout, then Sen. McCain's speech.
I personally need you to do both--I have clients until 9:00 tonight and am missing everything.
I don't know--I think you're being a little soft on Bill O, but we'll find out tonight.
Barack is going to be on Countdown with Keith Obermann on Monday night.
I'm almost glad I have clients from 4:00-on tonight. My nervous system is getting worn out from all this. I'm heading to the mountains at noon tomorrow...but I'll still have wireless!
I'm glad you brought this to everyone's attention, and I hope Liz does do the live blogging on the O/O show.
I'm either really brave or tragically stupid. There is, of course, a possibility that I am both.
But Cam - you are wrong about Obama's reason for being interviewed, dear...even his campaign manager admits the Thursday night slot is to steal the thunder from McCain's acceptance speech...besides, you can just about bet he's got conditions on the interview and will be prepped in advance. Obama would be to scared to come in like Sally Quinn and be questioned.
It wouldn't surprise me a bit if one of the reasons for Sen. Obama's decision to appear on the Factor tonight was to steal some of Sen. McCain's thunder. It's a fair strategy. And of course he'll be prepped in advance. I wouldn't let anyone, of any stripe, in any walk of life, ever speak to the media on an issue of substance, without being properly pepared. You don't go deep into the Yukon woods without being ready for bear.
I don't know about conditions on the interview, but I'd be interested to hear if there were any.
And I agree with your hope that Mr. O'Reilly asks the toughest questions he can think of, as long as he's polite about it. I just suspect that Sen. Obama is more than ready. He's become very good at what he does, over the past couple of years.
Thanks for commenting, Leslie, and come back and do it again, anytime!
That said, I'll be at my 29th annual Back To School Night, simply wowing the parents (not unlike Ms. Palin last night - humor! spunk! wearing glasses! I think I'll leave the mean girl schtick out though...).
Since I'm going to miss all the "fun" I'll be counting on you all (yes, you, Liz!) to have a full report (double spaced, proper punctuation, fully footnoted) on OS when I get home.
I'll have my red pen ready. :-)
I'm curious: Why don't you think Sen. Obama has the guts to hammer back at Mr. O'Reilly?
Fox News is a propaganda arm of the Republican party and a dumb one at that. It's the biggest Republican constituency. 88 percent of FNC viewers voted for President Bush. That's more than evangelical Christians, who generally vote Republican by about 80 percent. You're better off trying to appeal to them.
I think you inflate their importance and grant them legitimacy if you go on. Does McCain do Democracy Now? Of course, not. If you go on, you are endorsing the point of view that they are a news channel. But they are not. They're not like an aligned newspaper, for example, which is editorially conservative, such as the Wall Street Journal, but who's news stories you can trust to be of a fairly high journalistic standard. Fox News is just junk -- like Pravda.
Sen. Obama is running to be President. Not just president of the Democrats. Not just president of a plurality of the electorate. President of all Amercians - of the "one America" about which he spoke so well. President even of those who vote against him. He has things to say, things that matter, to people for whom Fox may well be their primary source of news.
It doesn't matter if, the instant he leaves the studio, they go back to throwing spitballs. It doesn't matter if he doesn't persuade one person, or garner one vote. Some things really do transcend political calculation, and one of them is respect for your fellow citizens. Tonight he has the chance to speak to those who are the antithesis of of his core constituency. It's the right thing to do.
All other considerations aside, and even if this wasn't his key intention, he's doing something good and profoundly democratic. For that reason alone, I salute him.
While Fox News is a propaganda machine, it does reach a segment and in some cases, a market that other channels do not. Before we upgraded to digital cable, we had basic only and the only news channel that Comcast deigned to provide was FoxNews.
[oh, yes, they got letters and phone calls from me]
Thus...in 2004, I had to watch both the DNC and the RNC through the lens of FoxNews. No CNN, no MSNBC. I did watch mostly on PBS or the broadcast networks when I could. but still...and some people have no clue that it is a propaganda machine (which is scary) and just like the all-missing-teenagers-all-the-time take on the news.
The other thing is...if he refuses to go on the show, then they can claim all sorts of scared, lightweight, etc. about him.
Back-back atcha...
He can reach those people through another medium. FNC does nothing for him either practically or morally, in legitimizing a propaganda network as real news.
Actually, it's not. That's a reasonable position.
Vive le Canada, hoser!
Looking forward to your blog when I get am done at 9:00...
Leslie, I cant resist, so please don't hate me: Fox News is leaning into the pits of hell. Sometimes they actually reach it.
And, I'd like to state for the record that Liz gets my vote for working class heroine of the week. Wish I could munch some hamachi and quaff a bit o'sake with her tonight.
Always listen to Canadians.
Alexandria...it's your opinion. There seems to be a lot respect around here for opinions...but let me add, please, no tv program is worth hate, only worth none of your time!