Phil Donahue on the warpath

While I do find Bill O'Reilly fun to watch, I also often find him arrogant and intolerant of anyone who makes a decent point with which he disagrees. We can all be cranky about the possibility of losing a debate, so I understand. As a socially liberal conservative he annoys me sometimes.

Still... I tune in.

Imagine my salivating glee over the recent Donahue debacle. Phil Donahue, once an innocuous (if often shrill) media icon has, in recent years, become so blatantly ridiculous in his views that even the left is shuffling to the right to avoid him, refusing to make eye contact.

Donahue was on the Factor to defend Cindy Sheehan, a woman who loved her son so much she is spending all her free time completely invalidating his choices as an adult male while her mother slowly wastes away without any direct contact from her. So you know-- she's obviously a swell gal.

What I found so interesting about the appearance was not any point made by Donahue (he didn't make any), but his aggressive, belligerent manner. The normally short-fused O'Reilly repeatedly found himself shouted down by a rather hysterical Donahue, who shouted, pointed, and childishly continued to goad O'Reilly by calling him "Billy." While O'Reilly did, at one point, lose his temper and become very overheated, it was in response to a rather personal (and pointless) question that hit too close to home-- literally. Donahue had no right to drag families into the conversation. It's a tactic employed by poor debaters and cheap hacks.

The irony of a man who claims to be working for peace so diligently appearing so rabidly offensive, combative, and physically overwrought is thicker than a whale omelet. I mean, this is some serious irony. It could cure anemia.

Donahue, like Michael Moore and Al Franken, has lost touch with reality. He seemed intent on causing O'Reilly to vapor lock in anger and either take a swing at him or throw him off the set. It was a clear case of bear baiting.

Kudos to Bill O'Reilly for reigning in his temper. Donahue looked like a schoolyard brat with low SAT scores who thinks his big trust fund makes him equal to his betters. He is, to put it more directly, a rather dull snob trying to pick a fight. Thank goodness O'Reilly's manners-- and, at least this time, his emotional control-- were far better.