David Letterman had Bill O'Reilly on last night in a show taped the previous Monday. If you didn't see it, I'll summarize: Dave was practically yelling at O'Reilly about the Iraq War and how senseless it seems to him to keep getting American soldiers killed for reasons that, to him, don't make any sense. Bill largely avoided engaging the host in direct terms, preferring to joke to the audience that their relationship wasn't as sour as it appeared; that they really went bowling together all the time. To the extent he responded, O'Reilly fell back on his old line of insisting that "geopolitics" are too complicated to be understood by anyone who thinks we could or should just pull out of Iraq. That was not a bad tactic, given how Letterman constantly jokes about how little he comprehends of what's in the news.
It's nice in a way to see David Letterman passionate about anything but if he thought he was influencing the opinions of any significant number of viewers, he's probably wrong. Telling O'Reilly — here's a quote — "You're putting words in my mouth, just the way you put artificial facts in your head" is funny but Letterman also brags that he's never seen O'Reilly's show or read his new book so the insult lacks a certain gravitas.
The bottom line, of course, is that both men got what they wanted. O'Reilly, who's very smart when it comes to moving product, got the plug for that new book and probably looked like a hero to his target audience for being willing to venture into enemy territory. Rush Limbaugh hasn't done that in years…and wasn't even any good at it when his opponents couldn't razz him about his drug use. Letterman got a promotable guest and better than his usual ratings. (He had a 4.0 compared to a 4.2 for a Tonight Show rerun opposite him.)
Anyway, nice to see my old pal Jeff Altman in the guest chair after Bill. I couldn't help think that they consciously decided they had to follow a guest Dave clearly despises with one that he loves. Jeff tried a story about a time he and Dave went to a guy's house so that Jeff could see an old car he might purchase. The telling of the anecdote got a little awkward as Jeff, apparently on the spot, decided he'd better not mention that the fellow selling the car was Jay Leno.
To view a video of the O'Reilly segment (and a fact check on what little Bill did say, as scored by an admittedly Liberal site) go here.