the infamous Glick interview
The Franken - O'Reilly feud probably had little or no effect on the diehard Bill haters. They already had a bunch of reasons to write off the man as a hypocritical jerkoff. If you haven't noticed by now, Bill O'Reilly is obviously a touchy guy. For a person who makes his living hosting a confrontational news-talk show, the man has extraordinarily thin skin.
The perfect illustration occurred on February 4, 2003. That was the night when Bill tore into a guest whose father was killed in the World Trade Center attacks. In characteristic O'Reilly style, his verbal attacks got meaner and more egregious with each passing moment. The problem was, Bill's proven tactics abjectly failed when Jeremy Glick stood his ground, remaining cool and collected.
Even though Glick was obviously a dyed-in-the-wool leftie, for some reason Bill must have figured that he wouldn't try to pin the blame for 9-11 on the Republicans. When Glick started doing exactly that, O'Reilly discovered -- much to his dismay -- that it was impossible to shut the guy up.
Things quickly got ugly.
O'REILLY: I don't want to -- I don't want to debate world politics with you.
GLICK: Well, why not? This is about politics!
O'REILLY: Because, number one: I don't really care what you think.
GLICK: Well, okay.
O'REILLY: You're -- you're -- you're... uh... I want, I want --
GLICK: But you do care, because... the reason why you care is --
O'REILLY: No, I don't.
GLICK: -- you evoke 9-11 --
O'REILLY: Here's why I care --
GLICK: -- to rationalize --
O'REILLY: Here's why I care --
GLICK: Let me finish. You evoke 9-11 to rationalize everything from domestic plunder to imperialist aggression worldwide. You evoke, you evoke sympathy --
O'REILLY: Okay, that's a bunch...
GLICK: -- with the 9-11 families.
O'REILLY: That's a bunch of crap. I've done more for the 9-11 families by their own admission -- I've done more for them than you will ever hope to do.
GLICK: Okay.
Then a tiny corner of Bill's brain says Hm, what an odd response. Totally unemotional. Let's try again.
O'REILLY: So you keep your mouth shut when you accuse me of exploiting those people.
GLICK: Well, you're not representing me. You're not representing me.
Is that him getting angry? Let's keep pushing.
O'REILLY: I know. And I'd never represent you. You know why?
GLICK: Why?
O'REILLY: Because you have a warped view of this world and a warped view of this country.
GLICK: Well, explain that. Let me give you an example of a parallel --
Now things are starting to get creepy for Bill. He thinks, Does this guy have ice water in his veins, or what?
O'REILLY: No, I'm not going to debate this with you, all right?
GLICK: Well, let me give you an example of parallel experience.
O'REILLY: No, I won't.
GLICK: On September 14th --
O'REILLY: Here's, here's, here's, here's --
GLICK: On September 14th --
O'REILLY: Here's the record, all right?
GLICK: Okay.
O'REILLY: You didn't support the action against Afghanistan to remove the Taliban. You were against it, okay?
GLICK: Why would I want to brutalize and further punish the people in Afghanistan --
O'REILLY: Who killed your father!
GLICK: The people in Afghanistan --
O'REILLY: Who killed your father!
GLICK: -- didn't kill my father.
O'REILLY: Sure they did! The al Qaeda people were trained there!
GLICK: The al Qaeda people? What about the Afghani people?
O'REILLY: See! I'm more angry about it than you are!
GLICK: So, what about George Bush?
O'REILLY: What about George Bush? He had NOTHING to do with it!
GLICK: The Director -- senior -- as Director of the CIA.
O'REILLY: He had NOTHING to DO with it!
GLICK: So the people that trained a hundred thousand Mujahadeen who were...
Now O'Reilly realizes that he's in trouble. The guy isn't taking any of the bait and keeps spewing these pesky facts. So he tries to throw a little dirt in Glick's eyes:
O'REILLY: Man, I hope your mom isn't watching this.
GLICK: Well, I hope she is.
O'REILLY: I hope your mother is not watching this because you... That's it, I'm not going to say any more.
GLICK: Okay.
Now things are getting worse, and O'Reilly knows it. Glick hasn't taken the bait about his mother. So Bill tries to piss him off by invoking the guy's dead father:
O'REILLY: In respect for your father --
GLICK: On September 14th, do you want to know what I'm doing?
Now Bill realizes -- to his horror -- that there's just no way to distract this guy. He's unfazable. Here he starts grasping at straws:
O'REILLY: Shut up! -- Shut up!
GLICK: Oh, please don't tell me to shut up.
O'REILLY: As respect -- as respect -- in respect for your father, who was a Port Authority worker, a fine American, who got killed unnecessarily by barbarians --
GLICK: By radical extremists who were trained by this government...
O'REILLY: Fine. Out of respect for him...
GLICK: ... not the people of America.
O'REILLY: ... I'm not going to...
GLICK: ... The people of the ruling class, the small minority.
Nothing's working... this Glick guy is obviously inhuman! Finally, Bill has no other recourse but throw in the towel and pretend to claim victory:
O'REILLY: Cut his mic.
I'm not going to dress you down anymore, out of respect for your father.
We will be back in a moment with more of The Factor.
GLICK: That means we're done?
O'REILLY: We're done.
According to Glick, after the interview Bill completely lost his shit. He slammed his fist on the table and shouted "Get out! Get out of my studio before I tear you to fucking pieces!" In a radio interview, Glick later explained the lesson that Al Franken and innumerable other O'Reilly Factor guests would have benefited greatly from:
"O'Reilly's not there to debate. He's there to intimidate, he's there to bait his [guests]. And that's why, when he said that stuff about my Dad, the reason why I was calm is not because that wasn't hurtful or outrageous, it was because that's exactly what he wants to do. He wants to push your buttons."
