Posted on 09/26/2004 5:00:49 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
(CBS) Who is Bill O'Reilly? Is he a patriot? A blowhard? A braggart? A bully?
Well, it turns out, there's a lot more to him than any of that. When Correspondent Mike Wallace sat down with him recently, O'Reilly said it was going to be the last time he would talk about himself on TV. And he began with a surprise.
"You know, you're responsible for this O'Reilly deal," he said to Wallace. "And I always tell everybody, 'You got a problem with me? You call Mike Wallace. He's responsible for the O'Reilly deal.'"
"What are you talking about?" asks Wallace.
"When I was growing up, I didn't care about the news at all. I had no interest in the news. But my father liked you," says O'Reilly. "No spin. … And I said, 'That guy, he's pretty interesting because he's giving people a hard time.' Which is what you did. So then, when I got older, there were three guys that I watched: you, Howard Cosell … and Tom Snyder, because Snyder knew how to work that camera. You were the three. So you’re responsible."
Wallace called O'Reilly on his constant finger pointing. "I can't stop," says O'Reilly, who does a lot of pointing on his nightly Fox News Channel program, "The O'Reilly Factor."
Does O'Reilly enjoy the arguing? Does he enjoy taking on people on his show? "Sure. It's a battle of wits, who's the quicker draw intellectually," says O'Reilly. "I enjoy the joust. And I think people enjoy watching the joust -- one of the reasons we're real successful."
"The O'Reilly Factor" is the highest-rated hours on any cable news channel. O'Reilly told Wallace that over 20 million people a week watch the show. But there are millions more who hear him on 420 radio stations.
He's also a syndicated columnist and a best-selling author - his fifth book comes out next month - all of it made possible by the enormous success of his cable show.
The concept was simple enough: bring the Op-Ed page to television. "The O’Reilly Factor" was all about opinions, O'Reilly's opinions. And the Factor Formula works. It's made him incredibly popular, and incredibly unpopular too.
"When I tell people I'm gonna do a profile of O'Reilly, 'Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Don't let 'em off the hook. Go get 'em. Bring 'em down. You're the guy who can do it,'" says Wallace on reaction to his interview with O'Reilly.
So why do they want to bring O'Reilly down? "I don't know who you hang around with," says O'Reilly. "I suspect they're 'pinheads,' but I don’t know for sure."
People dislike O'Reilly because of statements like these:
"I'm more angry about it than you are!"
"What about George Bush? He had nothing to do with it."
"Why did you have to tell them you were an atheist? Why didn't you just shut up?"
"That's not an interview," says Wallace to O'Reilly. "That's a lecture."
"Oh, I lecture, where I'm a commentator. We went back and did research on the last six years of 'The Factor.' Do you know how many times I told people to shut up? Six. Three times in anger and three times just, 'Ahhh, he didn't want to shut up about things,'" says O'Reilly.
"My program, my house. You're disrespectful in my house, you're putting things out there that are defamatory in my house, you're gonna get taken to the cleaner."
And outside his house is no different.
On Tim Russert's cable show last summer, O'Reilly was paired with The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
O'Reilly: You are in with the most vile form of defamation in the country. … You are pandering to it, and I resent it, sir.
Krugman: Well, we resent you, too.
But his most notorious encounter developed last year at a book fair, when he took on humorist Al Franken about a book Franken had written that said O'Reilly had lied publicly on a number of occasions. Franken also used a splotchy picture of him on the cover.
O'Reilly: …writes in his book, he tries to make me out as a liar...
Franken: "no, no, no, no that's..."
O’Reilly: Hey, shut up! You had your 35 minutes! Shut up!
Franken: This isn't your show, Bill.
Their very public battle was about a number of things, one of which was that O'Reilly had said he was an Independent. Franken showed that he'd actually registered Republican.
O'Reilly: He is a vicious, and that is with a capital 'V,' person.
What upset him more – that Franken called him a liar, or that he proved it? "Proves it, bull," says O'Reilly. "He's a character assassin. Why lower yourself to that kind of a discourse?"
So why does it make him so upset? "Because it's dishonest, it's parasitical. And it’s character assassination," says O’Reilly. "Why wouldn't I get upset?"
But right or wrong, O'Reilly likes to get upset. He was raised Irish-Catholic in Long Island, N.Y. This son of a middle-class accountant says his dad was an underachiever who came to blows with him as a teenager. But his dad made him scrappy, which has served him well in his career.
He worked his way through college painting houses. And his first job in TV was in a small market, Scranton, Pa.
"Not like Maria Shriver, with all due respect to her. Nice woman who started in Los Angeles. Why? Because her name is Maria Shriver," says O'Reilly. "O'Reilly starts in Scranton, Pa., with the coal miners. I loved it. My folks."
"Give me a break," says Wallace. "Why are you comparing yourself all of the sudden with Maria Shriver?"
"Because I'm telling you that this road I took had to be taken," says O'Reilly. "There was no other way to do it."
For the record, Shriver started in Philadelphia as a low-level assistant. As for O'Reilly, his career took off in 1996, when the fledgling Fox News Channel bought his idea for a high-energy Op-Ed TV show. By 1998, it was a bonafide hit, must-see-TV for the conservative right.
A month ago, at the Republican convention, the old boys club there, including Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich, welcomed him with open arms.
Some folks would expect this reception for O'Reilly, a favorite of conservatives. But what you don't expect are his views, which sound more like they're coming from a Democrat.
O’Reilly says he’s pro gun control, against the death penalty, and supports civil unions, not just for homosexuals, but "for everybody."
He says he's for gay adoptions as a last resort: "I'd rather have nice, responsible gay home than the system for kids. What else?"
And about the environment? "Government’s gotta be proactive on environment," says O'Reilly. "Global warming is here. All these idiots that run around and say it isn't here. That's ridiculous."
But there's more. He supported President Bush on the war in Iraq, but declared that he would never trust the Bush administration again if no weapons of mass destruction were found.
With none yet found, O'Reilly grilled the president on Saddam Hussein's chemical arsenal in an interview last week that hasn't aired yet.
And Iraq is why the O'Reilly finger is increasingly being pointed at the Bush White House. "A huge mistake was made in underestimating the aftermath of Saddam," says O'Reilly.
"I think Rumsfeld has to take the responsibility there, because he's the defense secretary and it looks like he didn't have a clue that this was gonna happen. But, just like a baseball manager, I think he should take one for the team."
As for the president, O'Reilly says he hasn’t made up his mind yet.
"You're going to vote for George W. Bush," asks Wallace. "Oh, yeah," says O'Reilly.
"You think he's a great president, right," says Wallace. "Wrong," says O’Reilly. "I'm one of those Independent, man. I'm open to be persuaded right away. I've known Kerry for 25 years. He's a patriot. I'm listening to what he has to say."
What does he think about the men from the swift boats who have been bad-mouthing Kerry?
"Awful. It's terrible," says O'Reilly. "It makes me sad that this happens."
And one more surprise. He doesn't consider himself part of what he calls "right-wing radio."
What does he think of talk show host Rush Limbaugh?
"I respect Limbaugh for basically making a success out of himself and putting on an entertaining program. But he's not a primary source of information, or shouldn't be," says O'Reilly. "He's an entertainer. I'm a journalist who provides a program that is entertaining."
Still, he says he's just a regular guy from Long Island, despite the fact that he makes an estimated $10 million each year from TV, radio and print.
"You're addicted. You are addicted to the power. You are addicted to the money," says Wallace. "You are addicted to the fact that I am Bill O'Reilly, and everybody knows it."
O'Reilly’s response?
"Dr. Phil is back. How did he get in the room? You're crazy," says O’Reilly. "I couldn't care less about Bill O'Reilly being known in Iowa. Doesn't matter to me. I don't throw my weight around. I'm not partying with Puff Daddy. I'm not cuttin' a line. I'm not drivin' a Mercedes Benz."
Again, for the record, his wife has a Mercedes, but he says he won't get in it. Bottom line though, he is one of the most provocative news figures in America. And for him, that's enough.
"I'll never win any awards for stuff I'm doing now," says O'Reilly. "Because the intelligentsia who distributes the awards thinks that I'm misguided. I'm a barbarian. I am a Hun."
Does it bother him?
"No, I love it," says O’Reilly. "I love to be the outsider."
© MMIV, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
That was a smear piece if I ever saw one. O'Reilly should have known better than to trust those tabloid journalists at SeeBS.
Well I for one have as of today written Mr. O'Reily of my to watch list, arrogant man! The viewers did not make him, the nerve.
Let the spin begin.
It was a big nothing. O'Reilly takes himself very seriously and was rewarded with seven minutes of piffle. O'Reilly got what he deserved for trusting Wallace.
Well, what's the verdict? Was O'Reilly done in by his own insane ego this time?
Gratuitous statement. More than meets the eye here.
I'm not really liking Bill that much anymore. He is all over the place in regards to his beliefs and I think he has to many ties to the mainstream media. I bet he wants Dan's job at BS news.
O'Reilly is a LOSER! He dismisses the swiftboat vets AGAIN! He is a kerry suck up and should come clean, anyone at this time in the election cycle who still hasn't made up his mind is either playing a game or is seriously mentally ill! Gosh I can't believe I ever liked this commie pinko liberal kerry arse kisser.
O'Reilly said Kerry is a patriot and the Swift Boat Veterans deal was awful. Enough said.
I'm cured of O'Reilly.
I could never turn my back on the Swift Boat Vets and dismiss Rush Limbaugh like he has.
" I've known Kerry for 25 years. He's a patriot."
Gratuitous statement. More than meets the eye here.'
do you mean he's still being non-committal because he's trying to suck Kerry onto his show?
I was real mad when he whacked the Swifties..."disgraceful" or some such comment...
I didn't think I could dislike O'Reilly anymore than I already do. But this article proves me wrong.
He dismissed Rush? Wow. If there were not Rush, there's be no O'Reilly. What a fool.
Is this interview on-line somewhere?
Huh?
I'm cured of O'Reilly...That makes two of us.
If he said that, I will never watch him again. The total disrespect is unbelievable. He is maniacal.
FMCDH(BITS)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.