Bill O’Reilly Debates Joe Klein On The Glenn Beck Phenomenon
Bill O’Reilly started the week by not only taking on Republican critics of Pres. Obama, but also Factoring in some liberal guests into the fold.
One of those, Joe Klein from Time magazine, has had a recent back-and-forth with Glenn Beck, and O’Reilly took the change to offer a defense, of sorts, of his colleague.
Klein wrote a column recently criticizing Fox News, and really, stupid Americans. That got a 15-minute epic takedown from Beck last week.
After discussing several other issues with Klein, O’Reilly brought up Klein’s FNC criticism, going back to last year as well. “You don’t like Fox News much,” said O’Reilly.
Klein said he likes and respects people like Carl Cameron and Major Garrett…and even O’Reilly. “Those are good guys, I think you’re a good guy, we come from the same neck of the woods,” said Klein. But surprise, surprise: “Your pal Glenn Beck is peddling a lot of hateful crap.”
Klein said sarcastically: “The stuff about Obama not being an American citizen that was hysterical.”
O’Reilly’s defense basically revolved around “he’s funny,” and “he is every man sitting on a bar stool, why shouldn’t every man have a show?” As TheRightScoop.com points out, O’Reilly really dropped the ball here.
First of all, Beck is so far from a birther it’s absurd for Klein to even cite in his argument, and proves he doesn’t actually watch or listen to the FNC host (see: Glenn Beck Thinks Birthers Are “Dumb”). Glenn Beck is a lot of things – he thinks a large portion of the Obama administration are Mao-loving progressive radicals intent on forcing a socialist regime change – but he’s not that. Also, O’Reilly’s defense that Beck is the “every man” is disingenuous as well. If you watch Glenn Beck, his appeal is that he’s doing things no one else can do. Maybe the “every man” can identify with what Beck is saying, but Beck is the guy leading the charge (quite literally in some cases), and that’s what makes him so uniquely loved and hated.
Besides Klein (who led the show as guest #1), San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made his Factor debut last night.
Here’s the full video, and below, the part where Klein and O’Reilly talk about Beck:
