Radio Sweethearts

Apparently Bill O’Reilly ran out of ideas. He went fishing though NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me,” looking for clips of Obama advisor David Axelrod making a fool of himself.

It’s clear that O’Reilly isn’t a dues-paying member of his local public radio station, even if just for the classical music that I’m pretty sure would soothe his grumpy little balding head.

I mean, seriously, he calls “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” host Peter Sagal an “NPR reporter.” Apparently, not a single Fox News lackey thought to tell poor Walrusbreath (for that is how I assume O’Reilly’s breath smells – like grumpy walruses) that Peter Sagal is – wait, wait… – a game show host.

Do you think that Mr. O’Reilly would similarly hold Howie Mandel to the same journalistic standards as, say, his own reporting staff?

If the following clip is any indication, then that answer is yes. And I don’t mean that he has a great deal of respect for Howie Mandel. I mean that Bill O’Reilly has no journalistic standards.

This is not news.

But it bears mentioning that attacking someone as they’re trying to just enjoy a cup of coffee, and then dismissing everything they say does not count as journalism. It’s not even the ambush journalism that bothers me. It’s the fact that O’Reilly then dismisses everything Janeane Garafalo has to say, simply because she’s a woman.

He doesn’t say outright that’s why he’s dismissing her, but when he sarcastically asks, “attractive, isn’t she?,” then I think it’s pretty clear what he means – the only reason Bill O’Reilly will ever listen to a woman is if he finds her attractive.

And it points out one more way I have to disagree with him. Janeane Garafalo is attractive. Very much so.

What’s more important is that she’s got more wit and brainpower than O’Reilly and his entire bevy of brainwashed, bosomy bottle-blonds can seem to muster.

(Also, he’s balding.)