Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Bill O'Reilly and Paul Krugman went head-to-head on Saturday's "Tim Russert" (generic show link). Highlights:

The tail end of a long exchange during which Krugman was able to say no more than two words in a row:
Prof. KRUGMAN: Well, I'm tired of...
Mr. O'REILLY: Look, if you think it's bad, fine.
Prof. KRUGMAN: You know...
Mr. O'REILLY: And if Bush made a mistake in his estimation of job creation, you're probably right.
Prof. KRUGMAN: Look, let's...
Mr. O'REILLY: But you paint Armageddon; so does your newspaper. And it's baloney.
RUSSERT: All right. We need to stop.
Prof. KRUGMAN: Well, this is what--yeah, OK. This is not your show; you can't cut my mike. Look, what...
Mr. O'REILLY: Oh, another cheap shot.
Prof. KRUGMAN: No, I--well, it's true.
Mr. O'REILLY: You know, you're a cheap-shot artist, and you know it.
RUSSERT: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on.
Prof. KRUGMAN: Good man.

Later on, after O'Reilly has called Krugman a "quasi-socialist":
Prof. KRUGMAN: And you take a look at anything I've written about economics, and I'm not a socialist. You know, that's a slander.
Mr. O'REILLY: I said quasi.
Prof. KRUGMAN: Well, that's a wonderful--then you're a quasi-murderer. I mean, why--what...
Mr. O'REILLY: I'm a quasi-murderer?
Prof. KRUGMAN: Well, quasi is a pretty open thing.

Even later, O'Reilly argues that FNC puts more liberals on the air than conservatives:
Mr. O'REILLY: If you look at the Fox News commentators in prime time, starting with Hume and ending with Van Susteren, it comes right down the line, OK? Van Susteren is a liberal, Colmes is a liberal, Hannity is a conservative, I'm a traditionalist, Shepard Smith is really nothing and--you know, he's just in--a neutral guy, in the neutral zone, and Hume, I would say that he's slightly conservative, but certainly no bomb thrower. All right?

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