Comments on: the modesty of Bill O’Reilly

By: Really?

Really? — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:10:45 +0000

Much ado sobre nada.

Terry Gross was asking O'Reilly to comment on his hypocritical comments and actions (he criticized a book reviewer for making personal attacks and in the same sentence called the reviewer a "pinhead", for example) and O'Reilly did what he always does: raise his voice and end the interview when he doesn't have control of it. He couldn't cut the mic, so he walked out.

Terry Gross did her job, O'Reilly did his usual. Fans of the infamous, hypocritical Fox carnival barker and his 11-word vocabulary (it is not possible to repeat the words "vile, despicable, denigrate" more often than he does) may try to defend him, but they all have even less capacity than he does.

By: tom brown

tom brown — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 19:53:14 +0000

it amazes me that someone could be "too hard" on o'reilly, concidering that's his whole "look-at-me-all-in-your-face" schtick. i found the interview to be overall borish with alot of softballing up untill the point o'reilly stormed off. it really is disarming how worked up he gets so quickly. what a baby.

of course this solidifies his role as a hapless bully who cant take his own guff...even as gross, in her ever lilly frail therapist tone, asks what seems to me too obvious questions. yes, she was concentrating on the negative but that's the bulk of o'reilly's self same approach

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 01:23:49 +0000

O'Reilly asked Terry why she went after him more than Al Franken. Well, I work at a bookstore and Bill O'Reilly's books are in the Political Commentaries section. Al Franken's books are in the Humor/Satire section not far from Garfield Comics and The Onion spoofs. So Bill O'Reilly should be held more accountable for what he says because he is presenting himself as a reliable source. Although Al Franken apparently seems to document his claims well, it is not necessarily even expected.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 18:11:25 +0000

What a stooge O'Reilly is. This interview exposed him to be as thin skinned as he appears. Interviewing is what he does for a living after all-what was he expecting? He goes from enjoying parts to stomping out like a petulant child. Go to your room ya big baby.

By: Deke

Deke — Thu, 27 May 2004 04:14:10 +0000

Just to clarify, Terry Gross was in her studio (Philadelphia?), and Mr. O'Reilly was in his studio in NY (Fox or wherever he does the "RadioFactor"). So if she seemed unsure of herself at times, chalk it up to not being able to read body english of her interviewee.

So actually, he didn't walk away, or walk out. He just shut the feed off.

Something I wish he'd do more often.

By: E-G-O

E-G-O — Sat, 15 May 2004 08:47:23 +0000

O'Reilly is mostly blind ego. As he showed on the court case against the Franken book, he can't take being made to look bad. As we know, that case was laughed out of court, no doubt irking him, as well as hurting his pride and sewing seeds of inadequacy with Franken, and comparing his interview to Franken's.

He went on the show to promote himself and his book (ego). He was presented with criticisms from others. That hurt his pride (ego). He showed that he can dish it out, but can't take it. Then he whined and ran away like a little girl.

But no matter how you try to spin it, even HE knows that he looked bad, and his ego can't stand the thought of others hearing him disgracing himself.

Unfortunately for him, like the Franken book, he drew a lot more publicity to it in the process of trying to squelch it. Or maybe that's what he really wants- the publicity. That's O-apostrophe-R-E-I-L-L-Y.

By: Analyzer

Analyzer — Sat, 15 May 2004 08:32:29 +0000

I believe the interview was even done at Fox- on his home turf. Listen to her stumble more often than usual- she was clearly nervous, probably intimidated. So she stuck to prepared questions and quotes which she knew would be provocative, giving him a chance to respond.

Gross may or not admit to being a liberal. True or not, NPR has been cast by many as a liberal network for liberals. In that context it is perfectly natural that, talking to a well-know bully of liberals, that she would bring some of these criticisms to him, let him respond, gve him a chance to present himeslf as more likable, and then go on to hype his book.

He blew it. I heard her giving softball questions and criticisms that he should have been able to handle easily. He couldn't. Then he threw a crybaby tantrum and ran away from his own studio!

By: Head Shaker

Head Shaker — Sat, 15 May 2004 08:24:07 +0000

He blew it. I heard her giving softball questions and criticisms that he should have been able to handle easily. He couldn't. Then he threw a crybaby tantrum and ran away from his own studio!

By: Steve Rhodes

Steve Rhodes — Fri, 14 May 2004 05:51:51 +0000

The NPR Ombudsman was wrong. One thing people kept on bring up at the time was the difference between her interview with Franken and O'Reilly. There were two differences more important than politics. First, she had interviewed Franken several times and they had established a relationship. Second, Franken has a sense of humor. And he actually listend to the show. He even made fun of Gene Simmons.

But the original issue was O'Reilly refusing to let relicense segments from the interview which is pretty astonishing when you consider he constantly uses clips of interviews and speeches to make his points.

You should contact NPR directly if you want them to start making audio available in streaming MP3.

By: Hack

Hack — Thu, 13 May 2004 19:08:18 +0000

The NPR Ombudsman was less than impressed with Gross's interview - he feels that she was scoring political points, and slaps her down hard for continuing the interview after O'Reilly left ("empty chair interviewing").