since i don't think it was posted earlier in the thread.
NY POST/By JOHN MAINELLI
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TEMPERS flared over the weekend in a face- to-face, TV showdown between Fox
News Channel's Bill O'Reilly and political humorist Al Franken. A visibly
shaken O'Reilly appeared to have been caught off guard by a blistering attack
by Franken in the midst of a usually sedate booksellers' luncheon in Los
Angeles on Saturday.
Franken, author of the forthcoming book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell
Them," accused O'Reilly - at length - of puffing up his credentials as the
former host of the TV news magazine "Inside Edition."
O'Reilly sat stone-faced during a detailed attack on his credibility - then
exploded into a verbal free-for-all with Franken that was as surprising as it
was intense.
"This guy accuses me of being a liar, ladies and gentlemen, on national
television," O'Reilly told the audience.
"He's a vicious - and that's with a capital V - a person who's blinded by
ideology.
"All he's got in six-and-a-half years is that I misspoke, that I labeled a Polk
Award a Peabody," said O'Reilly, referring to evidence that he had claimed
"Inside Edition" has won two Peabody Awards, TV journalism's equivalent of the
Pulitzer Prize.
In fact, it was the slightly-less prestigious Polk the show had won.
When Franken tried to interrupt, O'Reilly went ballistic.
"Hey, shut up! You had your 35 minutes - shut up!" he shouted, visibly furious.
"We're supposed to be on here for 15 minutes - this idiot goes 35."
"This isn't your show, Bill," Franken shot back.
Both men were pitching their upcoming books to booksellers at their annual
convention. The panel was broadcast live on C-SPAN2, the public-affairs
channel.
The subtitle of Franken's new book, due out this fall, is "A Fair and Balanced
View of the Right" - an obvious dig at Fox News Channel's slogan.
The dustjacket of Franken's book features a photo of O'Reilly between the words
"Lies" and "Lying."
According to co-panelist Molly Ivins, during a C-SPAN2 call-in show, "It was
the first time [O'Reilly] had seen the cover and he was teed off to the max."
O'Reilly bolted from the stage before the event concluded and made a beeline
for a group of fans - far from Franken.
Fox News Channel and The Post are owned by News Corp.
* * *
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES ? Bill O'Reilly, the conservative talk show host, first decried
political commentators who "call people names." Then he called Al Franken, the
liberal humorist, an "idiot." Both were on a panel Saturday to discuss their
new books at Book-Expo America, an annual convention for booksellers and
publishers where authors are not known for shouting insults at each other.
But when the convention ended Sunday, the buzz was less about the hottest
novels of the fall than the raucous debate between O'Reilly of Fox News, who
has written Who's Looking Out for You?, and Franken, author of Lies and the
Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.
Both will be published in September.
Unlike Ernest Hemingway's encounter with poet Wallace Stevens, no punches were
thrown, but both men walked away without a handshake after Franken questioned
O'Reilly's veracity and O'Reilly dismissed Franken as a "propagandist." During
the shouting, the moderator, former congresswoman Pat Schroeder, asked whether
anyone had a referee's whistle.
Franken's book cover pictures him in front of TV monitors showing President
Bush, Vice President Cheney, commentator Ann Coulter and O'Reilly.
Schroeder said that, backstage, O'Reilly said his photo was used without
permission. Franken said it was in the public domain. Later, O'Reilly said,
"Fox lawyers will handle this."
Before the shouting, O'Reilly, who has written two best sellers, said his new
book "takes on the powerful in a non-ideological way."
He said he's trying to "elevate the discourse" about politics. "I don't call
anyone a liar or fat," which Franken did in his best seller, Rush Limbaugh Is a
Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.
When Franken exceeded his 15-minute limit, challenging O'Reilly's claims about
a journalism award he said he'd won, tempers flared.
"This idiot has been going on for 35 minutes," O'Reilly said.
"Bill, this isn't your show," Franken replied.
O'Reilly called Franken "vicious" and said he was "blinded by ideology." The
third member of the panel, Molly Ivins, author of Bushwacked, just shook her
head.
One bookseller praised O'Reilly and Franken for "good entertainment" but warned
that such debates were divisive.
"I can't bring people together," O'Reilly said. "My job is to rattle the cages.
It's to put the bad guys on alert."
Franken said it's time for liberals "to stop taking it" and to call
conservatives on their lack of civility.
That set off O'Reilly. "You write a book called Liar, Liar and you talk about
civility. Unbelievable."
"That's not the title," Franken said, "but it's close."
As for calling Franken an idiot, O'Reilly told a reporter, "If I said it, I
misspoke." Then he said, "I stand by my description."
C-SPAN2 plans to air the panel on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.
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