Bill O'Reilly Ruffles Feathers on "The View"

On October 22^nd, the ladies of popular television show "The View" had the Fox Channel staple, Bill O'Reilly on the show. The discussion was filled with arguments over partisanship and emphasized Joy Behar's obvious disgust with O'Reilly.

The purpose of the interview was to talk about O'Reilly's book about his life, "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity." Initially, the reading of the title was received with sneers, most notably from Behar until O'Reilly explained the title. In 3^rd grade when O'Reilly was causing trouble, the teacher grabbed his wrist and smacked it, saying as she did so, "William, you bold fresh piece of humanity!"

O'Reilly immediately raised feathers when he called Barack Obama a Communist (in reference to Obama's distribution of wealth plan), then recanted, calling him a Socialist. When the women tried to get him to see that the recent bailout was a Socialist move, O'Reilly agreed that sometimes Socialism is good, but "you can never count on the government for anything."

O'Reilly incited laughter when he stated that he was not partisan, saying,

"I keep an eye on all of these people. They're all in the theater of the absurd to some extent."

He then upset Behar by telling her that she took politics too seriously, berating both her and Barbara Walters for their behavior when John McCain was a guest on the show in September.

"You wouldn't even look at him, you were talking to the floor!" O'Reilly told Barbara Walters, "What's the matter with you guys?"

Further high points included O'Reilly calling Behar a Kool Aid drinker because she would believe anything anyone said. She snapped back, saying O'Reilly "drank the Kool Aid on George Bush for eight years!"

After discussing O'Reilly's life, the discussion took an abrupt and ridiculous turn when Barbara Walters brought up a chapter in the book in which O'Reilly picked on "certain things that people take very sacred: you are against "American Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars."

Amidst the outrage and shrieking, O'Reilly brought up possibly his one good point of the interview:

"I understand the diversion, but I don't think that people should build their lives around that kind of stuff because there's important things going on. The more you know the more aware you are. People in America need to pay attention."

The interview was loud and rowdy, with occasional moments of concurrence-- in other words, a normal show for "The View." The points against Barbara Walters' behavior with John McCain were justified. During the September program, she stared viciously at a spot in the floor like a blind person, never looking McCain in the eye. The tune of "The View" was much different in March when Obama appeared on the show. Walters called Obama "sexy" and Joy brought up the important fact that he was related to Brad Pitt.

In the end, O'Reilly's points and insistence that he was not partisan were met with a grain of salt--just another day in the life of "The View."

Bill O'Reilly on "The View"