Fri, October 8, 2004
Bill O'Reilly on The Daily Show—9:35 AM
Note the date and time, because I actually enjoyed a Bill O'Reilly interview. (What? This site notes the date and time for you? Wow, your job is easy. I guess you can have time on your own until juice and cookies.)
I'm not saying I necessarily agreed with O'Reilly but he surprised me. I'm aware of his extreme political views and his tremendously high opinion of himself, but I hadn't realized that he has the ability to tamp all that down and play nice. I've never seen him do it. But with Jon Stewart, he was affable, open-minded, and self-effacing. It was a really enjoyable interview – more so than Bob "Gigglebox" Schieffer – and that surprised me. I don't necessarily respect O'Reilly any more than I did before, but at least I'm impressed that he was able to check the self-promotion and "play along" with Jon Stewart.
Jon mentioned that he wouldn't have believed O'Reilly's claims that he's an Independent and not a Bush administration mouthpiece, but after talking to him, he believed it. I don't know if I believe it, but I believe he can play an Independent for the duration of a five-minute interview.
