O'Reilly vs. Jon Stewart

I had the misfortune this evening to see Bill O'Reilly interview the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah (Mayor Rocky Anderson). This was regarding the Mayor's opinion that was voiced over the weekend to impeach Pres. Bush and Dick Cheney regarding the false information provided by the administration that led to the Iraq war. Keep in mind that this was the 4th anniversary of the beginning of the war, and the Mayor's speech over the weekend was at an anti-war demonstration. Bill was obnoxious during the interview; he did not give a chance to the Mayor to complete his sentences, and upon repeated attempts by a very calm Mayor to finish his point of view, Bill resorted to calling him names and insulting him. It was very sad to watch. There was absolutely no respect for the Mayor. Unless you agree with Bill's point of view, please do not ever get on the show. This surely was NO debate. The Mayor had interesting stuff to say, or at least it seemed that way, until Bill barged in every time the Mayor began speaking. Bill alluded to the Mayor blogging for the extreme left wing, to which the Mayor (who was rather surprised) responded that some speeches of his were put in those blogs. Does that suggest that the Mayor is actually blogging for the left wing??? And it was so very ironical since Bill's initial 'talking points' memo was about his problems with New York Times publishing "factually incorrect" statements. Bill wasn't even interested in hearing the Mayor's opinions on the impeachment of our President. Shame on you Bill!!!
On the other hand, on the same night, Jon Stewart interviewed John Bolton (US Ambassador to the UN) on the Tonight Show. John Bolton is a well-known "loyal Bushie". What a stark contrast between him and O'Reilly!!!! Remember, Jon had the advantage of having a live audience, who applauded after every comment of Jon and even sarcastically laughed on a comment or two from Bolton. Jon could have easily shut up Bolton every time he opened his mount and disagreed. But of out respect for the Ambassador, Jon let Bolton complete every point he wanted to make, even though he disagreed with the POV. Jon even ended it by thanking the Ambassador for coming to the show and debating on topics on which they had completely different POVs.

I do watch O'Reilly once in a while just to get a sense of what the 'right wing' media and news is all about. I don't agree with a lot of his opinions, but I don't feel it necessary to hurl abuses at him. But today, O'Reilly was obnoxious, and does not deserve to be on Air and given such importance.

PS: During the interview, the Mayor finally got 15 secs to speak without Bill interrupting, and it looked so obvious that Fox News cut the Mayor off so that Bill could ask him another ridiculous question. Sick!!