For the sake of full disclosure:
Am I a Democrat? Guilty!
Do I like Joan Walsh? Guilty, Guilty!
Do I dislike Bill O’Reilly? Guilty, Guilty, Guilty!
Since I stopped watching “The O’Reilly Factor” a long time ago, I did not watch last night’s Bill O’Reilly’s so-called interview with Joan Walsh.
The subject was Dr. George Tiller and late-term abortion.
In an article on Salon.com, titled “Why I went on ‘The O’Reilly Factor,'” Ms. Walsh tells us how she was warned against appearing on “the spin-stops-here, fair-and-balanced” Factor.
To her credit she did the interview.
As Walsh wrote her initial article before the O’Reilly segment aired, she tells her readers how much of her appearance was “a kaleidoscopic nightmare, a TV acid trip…” So much that she couldn’t quite remember whether O’Reilly screamed at her to “Shut up” or “Be quiet.” But she does clearly remember O’Reilly shrieking at her “You have blood on your hands!” and calling her “vile.”
After recalling more bits and pieces of this so-called “interview,” “debate,” whatever, Walsh seems to apologize for her performance: “I’m a little embarrassed because they make me look like a liberal Pollyanna, a lamb ready to lie down with the lion — to be eaten! Live and learn.”
By the time I read Walsh’s piece, the interview had been aired, so I watched it on the video reachable through this link on Walsh’s blog.
(Make sure you watch both segments)
Yes, it was tough, Ms. Walsh. O’Reilly was his usual fuming, boorish, uncouth, ill-tempered, insulting, arrogant, uninformed “personality.” And I may add in this case, when he was hosting a lady, totally unchivalrous. But, what else is new?
But, Ms. Walsh, by being cool, calm and collected—and, under the circumstances, as courteous as anyone could expect you to be—in my opinion, you won the debate, you won the day.
Now, since O’Reilly, as is so typical of him, did not give you the chance to fully express your opinions, or even respond to his truly vile accusations, I would like to take the liberty to quote from Salon.com what you would have discussed and debated, had you been given such an opportunity:
Thanks for having me Bill, maybe this is the first step in what I talked about on my blog: Dialing down the extreme rhetoric and hate. If we can sit here and talk calmly, maybe we’ll set a good example for others.
My basic issue is that we are a nation of laws, and abortion is legal. Late-term abortion is legal. It’s heart-wrenching, and it gets a lot of attention, but we should note that only 1 percent of all abortions in the U.S. are after 21 weeks.
What bothers me, Bill, is that you started a crusade against a doctor who was doing his legal job. You have an enormous audience, the top show in cable, and I think you have a responsibility to think about the impact of your words. And on the issue of abortion, there’s a terrible history of violence in this country. At least four doctors have been killed, multiple clinics have been bombed. Dr. Tiller himself had been shot twice in 1993, Bill. His clinic had been bombed and repeatedly vandalized. He was in clear danger, and yet you attacked him, 42 times over four years, and at least 24 times you called him a “baby killer.” (That’s from the nonpartisan fact-checker Politifact.) You accused him of “murder,” “you said he had blood on his hands,” you said he “had to be stopped,” and the people of Kansas were a “disgrace” for not stopping him — even though he was acquitted by the courts multiple times of various legal charges against him.
I know you have decried vigilante justice, and I believe you mean that, but we saw vigilante justice in this case. Every time I’ve written about it, Bill, I’ve been sure to say you did not cause it. The only person responsible at this point is Scott Roeder, unless we find he had formal accomplices, no word of that so far. I’m just saying that in the wake of Dr. Tiller’s tragic murder in a church, no less, you might have expressed some remorse. Instead, you turned your show into a pity party, and made yourself the victim, and honestly, Bill, I don’t often agree with you, but I thought you were better than that. I was disappointed. That’s what I said.
If you really wanted to be fair and balanced, you could have said in every segment, “Some call him Tiller the baby killer, others call him Dr. Tiller, the hero, because he has performed this legal but rare procedure for women in dire circumstances: Women who were diagnosed with breast cancer; for a 9-year-old girl raped by her stepfather, who didn’t know she was pregnant, for women who found late in their pregnancies that their babies had brain and heart deformities that would kill them early in their lives, but not without a lot of surgery and suffering. The two sides probably can’t meet, Bill, but there is another side. And again, only 1 percent of abortions are late-term abortions, taking place after 21 weeks. One percent, Bill.
I am a pro-choice Irish Catholic. I have agonized for years, but I am pro-choice. I have one Catholic aunt who works at Planned Parenthood, escorting women past clinic protesters. I have another Catholic aunt who loved Obama’s economic policies but couldn’t vote for him because of abortion. I love them both, and they love me. After prayer and soul searching I came to believe the only answer is that this is the woman’s choice. We live in a pluralistic country, Bill, people disagree. People don’t agree on when life begins. They’re not sure the right course here. So abortion stays legal. People stay uncomfortable with it, for sure. It’s true. But it is legal, and if you don’t think it should be legal, work within our great democracy to change the laws.
Finally, Bill, you yourself have demonized folks on the left for saying things that you believe could lead to violence: You’ve railed against Hollywood, you’ve railed against Rosie O Donnell and Janeane Garofalo and Michael Moore for saying things you believed were irresponsible and could foment violence. Just last month, you criticized Google Maps for making it easy to find the homes of people who gave money to Prop. 8, because they might get hurt. Antiabortion crazies regularly published the address of Dr. Tiller’s home, church and clinic. So I think you’re inconsistent on these issues, you call out the left if you think their speech could endanger conservatives, or just Americans, but I’m a pariah for raising the same questions about your Tiller speech? I don’t understand it, but I hope we’ve improved the terms of the debate tonight.
