LETTERMAN STICKS IT TO O'REILLY

From Media Matters for America courtesy of Eschaton:

LETTERMAN: I'm not smart enough to debate your point to point on this, but I have the feeling -- I have the feeling -- I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap. But I don't know that for a fact.

PAUL SHAFFER (Late Show music director): Sixty percent.

LETTERMAN: Sixty percent, that's just a -- I'm just spitballing here now.

O'REILLY: Listen, I respect your opinion, you should respect mine.

LETTERMAN: Well, I -- I -- OK.

O'REILLY: Our analysis is based on the best evidence we can get.

LETTERMAN: Yeah, but I think there's something, this fair and balanced, I'm not sure that it's -- I don't think that you represent an objective viewpoint.

O'REILLY: You have to give me an example if you're going to make those statements.

LETTERMAN: Well, I don't watch your show, so that would be impossible.

Click here for the rest, complete with video.

This transcript simply doesn't do justice to the exchange: Letterman tore him apart, which, of course, I loved. There is a valuable lesson here. O'Reilly, and pretty much anyone of his ilk, simply fall apart when they leave their carefully controlled media home turf. I'm reminded of how O'Reilly turned into a raving madman when he "debated" economist Paul Krugman last year on Meet the Press, or how, before that, he freaked out at some book event covered by C-Span because he didn't like what Al Franken was saying. What was surprising was that he kept his cool on the Late Show--I guess Letterman intimidates him; well, he intimidates me, too, for that matter. Anyway, the bottom line here is that these right-wing pundit guys are totally full of shit and can't even debate comedians away from their Oz-like reality-warping media machines. These guys are all smoke and mirrors, as is the vile conservative rhetoric vomiting out of their mouths every day.

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