Phil Donahue vs Bill O'Reilly

This happened about three weeks ago. My favorite liberal talk show blowhard, Phil Donahue, went into the Fox News lions' den to argue about the Iraq war with the man I love to hate, Bill O'Reilly. More than any other liberal I've seen challenge the big butthole on his own stinky turf, Donahue kicked ass. Indeed, he beat O'Reilly with his own tactics, that is, understanding when to interrupt, when to keep talking over his opponent's interruptions, when to back down, when to raise his voice, that sort of thing. O'Reilly doesn't really argue as much as he tries to bury the other guy in an avalanche of self-righteousness: trying to actually engage in real argumentation with him is usually unsuccessful; Donahue, a broadcast television veteran of many decades, understood this, and didn't even try. Instead, he just tore into O'Reilly, as O'Reilly has done to so many of his left-leaning "guests," keeping his cool while his host could not do likewise, making the big butthole appear to be as crazy as he really is.

Here's a sample:

O’REILLY: And he’s a patriot, so don’t denigrate his service or I’ll boot you off the set!

DONAHUE: I’m not…I’m not…

O’REILLY: That boy made a decision to serve his country! Do not denigrate him, or you’re out of here!

DONAHUE: I’m not Jeremy Glick, Billy. You can’t intimidate me.

O’REILLY: That’s right! You’re a little bit more intelligent than he is!

DONAHUE: I’m not somebody you can just spew all your flack…

O’REILLY: Don’t tell me I wouldn’t send my kids…

DONAHUE: Loud doesn’t mean right.

O’REILLY: My nephew just enlisted; you don’t know what you’re talking about!

DONAHUE: Your nephew is not your kid.

O’REILLY: He’s my blood!!!

DONAHUE: You are part of a loud group of people who want to prove they’re tough, and send other people’s kids to war to make the case.

O’REILLY: You have no clue about how to fight a war on terror or how to defend your country! You are clueless! So is Ms. Sheehan!

Wonderful.

Of course, reading about this in no way gives the same marvelous sense of triumph that actually watching the exchange does. God bless the video-rich blog Crooks and Liars for posting stuff like this. Click here for a link to video of the entire segment.

It's very amusing.

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