What Tension? Bill O’Reilly Shares Tough Love (And Laughs) With Glenn Beck

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by Steve Krakauer | 9:40 am, February 3rd, 2010

» 14 comments

Besides the lengthy, professorial takedown of Arianna Huffington‘s comments about him, Glenn Beck also had Bill O’Reilly as a guest on his show last night for the first time (although Beck on the Factor happens every week).

The two star FNC hosts were jovial (they’re currently on tour together), but they also delved into some interesting current topics in the news – and O’Reilly displayed some tough love in his frank assessment of Beck.

“You know Bill, I come to your studio, you’re down the hall,” joked Beck to O’Reilly, who appeared live from his studio. “No, I’m afraid you’re slaughtering people or something in there,” said O’Reilly, ribbing the 5pmET host back over Huffington’s comments.

Beck first spent time to fact-check, Professor-style again, what Joe Klein said on The O’Reilly Factor Monday night. And yeah, as we pointed out, Beck was right and Klein didn’t cite any real evidence. But it also followed a very personal (albeit funny) 15-minute attack by Beck on the Time columnist. Said O’Reilly:

You give an opinion, I give an opinion, so what?! He gives his opinion every week. You know, you don’t like the opinion you say you don’t like the opinion, why demonize the messenger?

Needless to say, this is a pushback of Beck’s tactics. You could make the same argument about many who Beck takes on personally – Anita Dunn, maybe, or even Van Jones. The difference is that Beck thinks being a wine-sipping liberal is the worst Klein is, while his thoughts on some in the Obama administration are far more sinister. “You’re a guy who Fox News hired, and CNN hired before that, to give your opinion as an ‘every man’-type of guy,” said O’Reilly. “Remind me not to have you ever write my resume?” said Beck at one point.

But the discussion ranged farther than this week. O’Reilly specifically citing the poll putting Beck’s ‘popularity’ ahead of his, called out the Huffington Post report about “angst” withing O’Reilly’s camp over Beck.

Didn’t Arianna Huffington by the way say I threw a fit when you were named #2 most popular TV guy?…If you got the Huffington Post and you’re expecting accurate information about anything, it’s ridiculous.

The two joked about it – but the implication was clear: all is just fine between the two biggest stars at the biggest cable news network on TV.

And while the two shared laughs, there was another point that became obvious – O’Reilly was positioning himself as top dog, mainstream, against Beck who was slightly outside of that. Beck mentioned how he and O’Reilly could never even go on ABC News, a point which O’Reilly denied. “I could get on there, sure,” he said. “You, they would never let you.”

O’Reilly’s right – he appears semi-regularly on GMA. And it’s not like Beck never shows up on the traditional news outlet (he was a “fascinating person” last year). But Beck’s status has changed – while his star has shot up during his year at FNC, he no longer has the potential to be a regular contributor to ABC, like he was at one point when he still had his HLN show.

There was much more. “You and Sarah Palin are in the same soup bowl,” says O’Reilly at one point, which could be taken a lot of different ways. There’s also a lengthy discussion about the merits of Jon Stewart, who will be interviewed on The O’Reilly Factor tonight and tomorrow. Just like “Presidential Question Time,” the O’Reilly/Beck Show should happen a lot more.

Here’s the multi-layered first and second segments between O’Reilly and Beck:

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Bill O'Reilly, fnc, fox news, Glenn Beck, Glenn Beck Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck interviews Bill O'Reilly, The O'Reilly Factor

The Real Royal King

Who would have ever thought O’Reilly would have become the voice of reason at FOX? Has O’Reilly changed or as FOX simply made the Great Leap Backwards into extreme rightism, Nay, I Say, nutty rightism. I think FOX has, to which witness Beck, Hannity, Palin and their ever more lunatic shenanigans. Maybe it’s time for an ESPN, HBO or Showtime-like split. FOX LR (Lucid & Reasonable), with people like Shep, Major Bill; FOX CPS (Clinton and Palin Stalking), with Van Susteren; FOX LM (Lunatic-Maniacal) with Beck, Douchey, Hannity and the Gretch.
JimW

I think it’s very difficult for media organizations to realize that all their attempts to control public opinion are being thwarted by one network with an opposing point of view. From Mediaite down to MSNBC, it’s basically all the same talking points. Here comes Fox, and despite being ridiculed daily, they seem to be controlling the agenda. Even The New York Times and The New Yorker have become very highly partisan and resentful that Fox seems to have the same amount of influence. I love it! Glenn Beck’s attacks against a “New York Elitism” in the news have struck a nerve. It must kill Mediaite to have Glynnis watch every minute of Beck every single day, and try as hard as she will, her snide innuendos just don’t work. I may just be a very typical Mediaite reader. I mostly come hear to see what you all are saying about Fox News.
http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

This may be beside the point, but it came up during the whole Adam Lambert fiasco and this is a media site… Does ABC have any ownership interest in the Barbara Walter’s specials or are they just the contracted distributor of her product?

Otherwise and to the post, it looks like the Big Dog is amused by the young upstart and he’s willing to milk him for all he’s worth in sort of a John McCain/Sarah Palin kind of way. But, he’s also more than willing to make a distinction between the two and their opinions and this marks at least the second time, he’s had a genial exchange with Beck after what appears to have been a thinly-veiled exchange with Bernie Goldberg.

IOW: Between Goldberg and Beck, O’Reilly is positioned in the “middle”.
The Real Royal King

JimW: You seem to gloss over what a very, very small portion of the American public watch Glen(n) or FOX or any other cable “news” personality or network. Profound criticism of Glen(n) and FOX is warranted, as is criticism of Keith and MSNBC. For my part, I am glad that the extreme right wingers have Glen(n) and FOX. Has we such effective containment in Vietnam, we should have won.
sarainitaly

And while the two shared laughs, there was another point that became obvious – O’Reilly was positioning himself as top dog, mainstream, against Beck who was slightly outside of that. Beck mentioned how he and O’Reilly could never even go on ABC News, a point which O’Reilly denied. “I could get on there, sure,” he said. “You, they would never let you.”

I think Bill and Beck are so different, and I have no doubt that O’reilly thinks becks methods are *out there*. I think they like each other, but they are very differnt in method. I think that is probably a little hard for O’reilly, because he is pretty serious, and a former teacher… Beck probably reminds Bill of some old student. haha

Beck and Sarah are in the same soup bowl as far as they are both wildly popular, but widely hated, and the hate is largely based on lies and misinformation. They were/are both threats to Obama, and Obama supporters will go to any lengths to take down threats to Obama.

It doesn’t seem like it would be hard to believe if Bill was in fact a tiny bit jealous… I don’t think it wold surprise anyone that TV people have delicate egos. haha
The Real Royal King

Sara(h) N. Italy, dearest, I certainly hope Sarah runs. I think her doing so would be a fatal blow to liberalism and to the Democratic party. I don’t think the Democrats would win a single state, and I’d be surprised if Sarah got less than 75% of the popular vote. As for fundraising, it would be hopeless. I doubt the Democrats would be able to raise a dime. The debates. If we think Sarah shredded Biden, imagine what she’d do to President Obama. Shred, dice and mince. What a bloodbath. Please, please don’t let it be Sarah. I implore you. I pray. It would be the utter death of the Democratic party.
sarainitaly

The Real Royal King says:
February 3, 2010 at 11:44 am

QUIT HARRASSING ME! YOUR COMMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS POST, AND I AM SICK OF YOUR INSULTING TONE TOWARDS ME. STOP IT!
http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

@sarainitaly: I don’t think O’Reilly is jealous because…

1) He was there before Beck entered radio.
2) He’ll be there after Beck is gone.
3) He enjoys enough respect from his superiors, he could show Beck to the door.
sarainitaly

Magister says:
February 3, 2010 at 12:15 pm

he might not be. *shrug* i just don’t think it would be hard to believe if he were, maybe even a tiny bit. it is a pretty natural emotion/reaction.
The Real Royal King

Sarainitaly says:
February 3, 2010 at 12:03 pm

The Real Royal King says:
February 3, 2010 at 11:44 am

QUIT HARRASSING ME! YOUR COMMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS POST, AND I AM SICK OF YOUR INSULTING TONE TOWARDS ME. STOP IT!

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Thanks for the loud encouragement. If I might ask, didn’t you tell us you were calm and unflappable? Nothing said on a blog gets to you? Seems like you might have been mistaken. And wasn’t I responding to a Beck and Sarah in the soup bowl comment in the post? One which you also picked up on? Sorry the truth about your much beloved Sarah so stings. She would be an electoral disaster as she was on the McCain ticket. Hurts, I guess …. But, there is really no need to shout.
m

Bill O’Reilly is a social manipulator. He has no problem pretending to be nice to someone when in fact he actually despise them. He’ll smile at you when stabbing you in the back. This was one of the of the first things I noticed about him when I started to watch his show.
Ted

BillO is most definitely top banana at Fox and he could indeed show Beck the door. To make sense of it think of BillO as Moe and Beck as Curly. Now, where is Larry?
DEO

It is so interesting that this knobcheeses are always musing about WHY, SARAH, DO they CALL YOU STUPID? GLENN WHY DO THEY SAY YOU SPREAD HATE, WHY ARE THEY SO AFRAID OF YOU GUYS? Maybe it’s just a reaction to ignorance and poison, maybe some of us just vomit it up, can’t swallow it…will not drink the new republican Kool-Aide.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

Glenn Beck is Pee Wee Herman, complete with props and hand puppets, after only a few hits off the crack pipe.