Jon Stewart on O Reilly

[PainRack]

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2010 ... -unedited/

What do you think of the interview? It seems a bit odd that O Reilly is actually letting Stewart talk.

[Channel72]

What do you think of the interview? It seems a bit odd that O Reilly is actually letting Stewart talk.

I initially saw the edited version on Foxnews, and their exchanges are a lot more amicable than the unedited version. Stewart's most effective points critical of Foxnews, particularly the specific examples regarding various fear-mongering tactics ("Czar is a Russian word!"), not to mention the entire exchange regarding the coverage of the Teabaggers, were not in the edited version. But to their credit, Fox at least released the unedited interview on the web.

[JLTucker]

Here's a direct link to download the interview.

Did you catch where O'Reilly claims that he isn't a Republican shill because McCain and Cheney didn't go on The Factor?

[wolveraptor]

Is it just me, or is O'Reilly losing relevance with his party? It seems like his thunder has really been jacked by Glenn Beck and the Tea Party wing of the party. O'Reilly simply isn't screaming loud or crazily enough to gain any traction with that segment of the population. And it's not like anyone else ever took him seriously.

[weemadando]

O'Reilly has always been a dick, but he hasn't been an outlandishly crazy dick with delusions about how the world operates.

In fact, given a lot of his recent interviews (past few years - probably back to '07 or so) I wouldn't be surprised if he'd stopped drinking the right wing kool-aid and was simply still riding that bandwagon for the paycheck.

[Razorgeist]

Its a good thing Stewert has such a calm demeanor. I would have socked O'Reilly for talking down to me like that.

[hunter5]

Is it just me, or is O'Reilly losing relevance with his party? It seems like his thunder has really been jacked by Glenn Beck and the Tea Party wing of the party. O'Reilly simply isn't screaming loud or crazily enough to gain any traction with that segment of the population. And it's not like anyone else ever took him seriously.

O'Reilly never had an relevance with the Republican party. He pretty much attacked anyone he felt was wrong.
.

[Channel72]

O'Reilly never had an relevance with the Republican party. He pretty much attacked anyone he felt was wrong.

Or so he claims. But O'Reilly is obviously conservative, so he's more likely to support the Republican party on any given issue. But really, it's the same story with most Fox News heavyweights. They're not necessarily loyal to the Republican party itself in the way that someone like Mitt Romney is; rather they support conservative or libertarian values in general. I have no doubt that if a third, ultra-rightwing party which was further to the right than even the current GOP were to emerge as a significant player, people like Palin, Hannity and Beck would support it over the GOP. As for O'Reilly, he tries hard to sell himself as a common-sense, moderate guy; but he rarely disagrees with conservative positions. Sure, he's disagreed with the Republicans a few times (for example over the Dubai-port incident), but he almost always favors typical conservative solutions over progressive ones.

[PainRack]

Its interesting though. No idea whether its Stewart strong abilities as an interviewee or O Reilly is getting softer, but Stewart has been entirely able to sidestep Reilly attempts to railroad him or even bully him. An attempt to intimidate him early on failed when Stewart recoiled....... and then used humour to mock Reilly.

I mean, we all know Reilly is a lousy interviewer. He's there essentially to spout his own rheoteric, but Stewart ability to not just speak his points, but actually engage O Reilly in discussion............. wow

But then again, the last time I saw O Reilly shows was like... 2 years ago when we had extended cable.

[Ilya Muromets]

Part of that is how O'Reilly sucks as an interviewer, yeah, but i think a big part is how he underestimated Stewart. There's always the sense of right wingnuts underestimating the guy everytime I see something from them dismissing him as just some "comedy news show" guy, forgetting how Stewart can actually strike back very well, in both comedy and serious points.

[Medic]

Part of that is how O'Reilly sucks as an interviewer, yeah, but i think a big part is how he underestimated Stewart. There's always the sense of right wingnuts underestimating the guy everytime I see something from them dismissing him as just some "comedy news show" guy, forgetting how Stewart can actually strike back very well, in both comedy and serious points.

He wouldn't be the 1st or even the worst.

I think Stewart could've made Jim Cramer cry if he wanted to, when he interviewed him about the financial crisis some months back.

[jcow79]

This is exactly what Stewart and Colbert do though. They know these guys inside and out because their shows are about picking apart and dissecting what these guys say to make fun of them. Colbert's whole persona was actually built upon lampooning O'Reilly specifically. It makes sense to me that Stewart would do really well against O'Reilly's interview style simply because he's so well studied on it.

That isn't to detract from his intellect and wit though. He's certainly no slouch intellectually. But even someone well versed on the issues could be cowed by O'Reilly's aggressive style if they weren't prepared. Being a comedian, Stewart also has the option of "opting" out of counter points by cracking wise. He used the technique a few times. Not that O'Reilly really stumped him with anything. O'Reilly's only real defense on some of the issues seemed to be either play dumb or cry, "MSNBC does it too! Whaaaa!"

[Dragon Angel]

I liked the moment when O'Reilly mentioned that flying bit about the budget, blaming Obama for the mess, and Stewart looked back at the studio asking if he was supposed to let it slide. Good grace under pressure on his part, especially in that kind of a lion's den. He really did take control of the discussion, unlike what that other Fox commentator tried to claim about O'Reilly being "dominant", forgot her name.

The camera crew must've loved Stewart. Aside from the laughs, I had the impression that they gave him a lot more attention than O'Reilly here. Those extended Stewart facepalms after/during O'Reilly's dumb comments were hilarious.

[irishmick79]

I think O'Reilly respects Stewart. That, and I think they're trying to neutralize Stewart's charges of bias a bit by giving him so much time. Even if they know the encounter might not necessarily turn out well for O'Reilly's act, they can at least say to their viewers, "look, we're not just shills for the republicans! Stewart's no conservative and look at all the time we gave him!"

[UnderAGreySky]

I just saw Stewart interviewing Jenny Sanford. Not only is *he* bloody good at interviewing, but she showed why getting married to the Governor was a step *down* for her.

Doubly impressed.

[eion]

I loved the part about her missing the inmates who took care of the grounds and her dogs.

Was I the only one who thought Stewart was trying really hard not to make slavery jokes after that?

I wish she'd run and kick that adulterous hypcrite out of office.