Paul Waldman over in the Washington Post gives a neat summary of the case against Bill O'Reilly on this charge that he fibbed about his experiences covering combat back in his news days. I don't care a whole lot about this because like Waldman, I don't think O'Reilly's employer or audience cares.
In fact, I think a lot of those who watch O'Reilly know and don't mind that he's full of excrement on some topics. They just like the show he puts on and a lot love that he often fights dirty, up to and including distorting facts, to slap the people they want to see slapped.
What's interesting to me about O'Reilly is that, first of all, I think he's a great showman. If you just see his job as putting on a program that people will watch…well, he's really good at that. Then again, he has a huge audience for his pronouncements on what's right and wrong with the world but I don't get that anyone in his audience sees him as a wise pundit. I spend way too much of my life debating issues with right-wing friends (I have more than you may think) and they'll quote Rush or Hannity or Mark Levin or Beck or Krauthammer or someone else like that.
No one ever quotes O'Reilly and I don't think I've ever seen him cited with Rush-like reverence on a right-wing blog. He must be in some corners of the web but it doesn't seem to me to be proportionate to the audience he reaches.
Last night, Jon Stewart — who had much on his plate upon returning from a vacation — did a pretty fine job of making Rudy Giuliani look like a remarkable hypocrite and exploiter of 9/11 for selfish partisan reasons. Okay, so he had a lot to work with. Giuliani's not doing very well as he tries to back off his Obama slam without offending anyone who loved his Obama slam.
I'm guessing Stewart — who actually seems to be in a mutual-admiration society with Bill-O — will get to O'Reilly tonight or tomorrow night. I'm further guessing his message will be, "Hey, Bill. Just accept the fact that you got caught in a lie and be thankful that you work at a company that doesn't mind that kind of thing." But maybe not. Mr. Stewart has surprised me in the past with his take on some controversies.