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Top Talkers' Sham Truce
UPDATE: Truce? What truce? The New York Times published a front-page story on Saturday announcing a cessation of hostilities between MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly. As The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove predicted below, the peace agreement didn’t hold. It lasted just long enough for Olbermann to return from vacation for Monday night’s Countdown, in which he blasted the Times story’s author, Brian Stelter, O’Reilly, and News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch as the “Worst Persons in The World.” For good measure, he called O’Reilly a “racist clown.”
Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
The peace between Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly is nothing more than a forced armistice. Lloyd Grove on why the slapfest will soon be back on—and why the two cable-TV megalomaniacs are essentially the same.
Xtra Insight: Plus, watch the best of the Olbermann-O'Reilly Feud
Judging by the hoopla surrounding the supposed truce between Fox News star Bill O’Reilly and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann—the Hatfield and McCoy of cable television—you’d think peace had broken out all over the planet.
A front-page story in The New York Times, no less, recounted a mid-May confab of corporate titans—Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox’s parent company, News Corp.; Jeffrey Immelt, Murdoch’s counterpart at MSNBC’s parent, General Electric; and, yes, Charlie Rose, Facilitator to the Famous—in terms worthy of the Yalta Conference.
If pressed to have a reconciling beer with one of them, I suppose I’d choose O’Reilly, who at least, on rare occasions, betrays a self-deprecating sense of humor. But I have almost come to think of them as the same person.
With Southern charmer Rose massaging the principals with his patented verbal balm, Murdoch and Immelt “expressed regret over the venomous culture between the networks and the increasingly personal nature of the barbs,” high-mindedly agreed to a cease-fire, and even shook on it, The Times’ Brian Stelter reports. “It was time to grow up,” an anonymous “senior employee” confided.
Maybe there’s something wrong with me, but I can’t get too excited about a forced armistice between two megalomaniacal cable-TV demagogues who really deserve each other. While I wouldn’t dare liken it to the Hitler-Stalin Pact—that’s the kind of overwrought sophistry best left to Olbermann and O’Reilly—there’s more than a whiff of self-serving opportunism in this image-burnishing deal.
Full disclosure: I am not an unbiased observer, having tangled with both as a gossip columnist over the years. To give them their due, they are both talented broadcasters (and very tall, each measuring in at well over 6 feet), and both have provided their respective audiences with some diverting moments of entertainment at 8 p.m.
If pressed to have a reconciling beer with one of them, I suppose I’d choose O’Reilly, who at least, on rare occasions, betrays a self-deprecating sense of humor. But I have almost come to think of them as the same person: Double O.
Olbermann’s impassioned and lengthy “special comments” about the outrages of the Bush White House, complete with angry glares and flying spit, were mesmerizing and occasionally informative; he is an accomplished writer and a facile ad libber. O’Reilly—who can be dour and distant in the flesh but lights up the screen with his magnetic persona—is a fearless interviewer. His incisive grilling of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were among the best TV interviews of the 2008 presidential campaign, peeling away layers of talking points to reveal each candidate’s core of grace under pressure. His more recent shouting match with Rep. Barney Frank—“You’re a coward!” he bellowed at the Massachusetts Democrat—was just plain riveting television.
Olbermann and O’Reilly also share some notable character flaws, many of them on public display. Both are surprisingly thin-skinned, unable to resist responding to the least little criticism with overwhelming force. I’d hear about it whenever I wrote something O’Reilly didn’t like, as occasionally my job required. Once he went on the late Tim Russert’s CNBC show, calling me a “weasel” and other such epithets in a five-minute rant; another time, according to a Fox publicist, he demanded that I be cut from the guest list of Fox News’ 10th anniversary celebration.
Olbermann, after taking exception to my selection of quotes from an appearance he made on C-SPAN, named not only me, but my 20-something assistant, as his “Worst Person in the World”—a strange tantrum against relative unknowns that surely baffled his viewers. Not satisfied, Olbermann sent a private side-letter to the newspaper owner demanding that my assistant be fired.
Their feud was just fine while it was boosting ratings and confined to name-calling between two schoolyard bullies—most of the nastiness coming from Olbermann, whose audience is a fraction of that of the man he enjoys insulting as “Bill-O the Clown”—but it got out of hand when Murdoch and Immelt became collaterally damaged victims. In recent years, Olbermann has personally attacked Murdoch as a dotty old man (doing his impression of an Aussie-accented pirate who keeps grunting “AAAARRH!”) and O’Reilly has attacked Immelt as an unpatriotic money-grubber who sells out America to enemies like Iran (while Bill-O incited his followers to flood GE’s switchboard and crash the company’s stockholders meetings).
Even all that would have been tolerable (and indeed Murdoch and Immelt have tolerated it) if the positive ratings impact of the Double O feud hadn’t reached the point of diminishing returns—which is also why the deal won’t last: The second the higher-ups make the calculation that there’s a legitimate business purpose in reviving the slapfest, it’s game on—and Double O, once again, will be a license to kill.
Lloyd Grove is Editor at Large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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avocado
a big difference between olbermen and o'reilly is that one is smart and the other is a dim bulb. guess which is which...
cineboy
What a wonderful democracy we have when any boob can be a lofty Editor-at-Large.
rahrah
I'd have to observe your body language in slow motion three or four times to figure it out.
rickjr82
Is this the new Rorschach test?
sophia5
Both are obnoxious.
Would love to see a cage match.
Olbermann's a smug condescending angry tool,
with his "Special Commentary."
Who does he think he is ? Groucho MARXIST ?
O'Reilly is self absorbed, occasionally
injecting himself into the topics,
and what about those almost nightly T&A segments ?
Journalism ?
MariosRight
O'Rielly's T&A segments are to keep the goobers interested.
shermanation
What a joke! This clown of a gossip columnist (who's not even in the same league as his subjects) writes a piece criticizing these two seriously successful commentators as if he's an equal. Like them or not (and I can't stand Bilo) they're both quite talented.
But to my point...
You can almost feel the jealousy oozing off the web-page as he describes them...He mentioned their height? What is that all about? I kind of got the impression that he might be attracted to these guys in a weird way...Either way, a wannabe (calling himself 'Editor-at-Large') who has the lack of vision to put Bilo in the same league as KO can't be very bright.
Bilo, like Rushbo, fuels the hatred of the far right and takes advantage of the ignorance of the uneducated. He rants and screams insults at anyone he doesn't agree with and often his arguments degrade to name calling and telling those he's debating to 'shut-up!'. Olberman may be self-righteous, but he makes sound arguments based in logic, he never name-calls and he's genuinely interested in what's best for America.
LitaMarieH
He name calls all the time! They even had a video posted on this very site not more than 4 days ago!!! I had to stop watching Olbermann after watching him every day for about 2 months because I couldn't stand how he just attacks and attacks and attacks....all I could see was O'Reilly's other half!!! And I despise O'Reilly! Hey, I'm a moderate liberal, just FYI, and any fool can see that these two are almost the same person, simply with opposite views and competing companies! This article is simply stating the obvious!!!
MariosRight
Grove should stick to the gossip columns. Nothing of substance here.
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guiltybystander
here's the real story-- that the left and the right can get together to say "enough"-- you realize that there are no left and right-- it's just all one big happy corporate religion, bowing to the god of mammon-- and they give us this bone of "liberal and conservative" to bitch about
edenscape24
gotta love false equivalency...the you're a coward moment was riveting TV???
maybe the "gentlemen's agreement" wasn't between O'Reilly and Olbermann but rather between Fox news and the rest of the media promising not to expose them as the filthy Repubican propaganda machine that they are...and this is the opening salvo...FOX and MSNBC are the same thing...give me strength...its a if MSNBC didn't give Scarborough three hours a morning to indoctrinate and Buchanan appearances all day to spread racial fear mongering
Grove, show a little pride and fall on your own sword already
Attica
What a chuckle. The Him-Lloyd Groove calling O&O "megalomaniacs". Hello? Pot meet kettle and kettle.
Ronym5
Oh this article is crap and Billo back massaging.
Olbermann earlier said he'd quit talking about Billo do to his role in the Tiller murder.
But seriously KO is not self deprecating and has a thin skin?
Have you watched and interviews with him?
And have you seen Billo react to criticism?
Hell have you seen Billo react to play us out?
Come on you're defending a man who sexually harassed on of his producers.
Sends his other producer to stalk people.
Was surprised blacks in restaurants don't order by yelling where's my mfing iced tea.
Said u.s. soldiers deserved to be slaughtered during WW2.
Said women wearing short clothing deserved what they get in reference to a murder of women in New York
Called the father of a vet who died in Iraq a moron
and said that a kid who was kidnapped and raped enjoyed it.
You defended that human being sir.
rahrah
Keith?
wlt911
Excellent post. The best yet.
fargo2222
Right On Ronym5... O'Reilly is a disgrace.
msn04061960
Billo had nothing to do with "the Tiller murder". Some nut job did that not Billo. you must not like Billo, but I can tell by your comment you think highly of Olbermann, I personally think he should go back to ESPN.
Ritarita
I suggest
You go and watch
The numerous shows
That 'Billo' did on Tiller
Saying he was a baby-killer
Who 'needed to be stopped'.
That's blood-
And it's on 'Billo's' hands.
vi-lontano
Insight blood lust and hatred against the Doctor for entertainment purposes
no less certainly helped create the climate that Emboldened a sociopath.
If you think not you are fooling yourself...
GreybirdK
I see both of these men as clever political commentators. O'Reilly is part of the extreme right wing nutjob enablers. When Olbermann's comments begin spurring people to violence and civil disruption and he cheers them on, then he will be as low as O'Reilly. Until then: advantage Olbermann.
homelesspoetco
Thank you Ronym5, I could not have summarized it better
LitaMarieH
I agree. Very good.
Lotto1
Mr Grove, dear heavens O'Reilly a "fearless interviewer"? Really now, when has shouting people down been interviewing? Both of them are show men and I agree should leave your assistant alone. Trust me when I say that they are equally non-plus and people should be watching Rachel Maddow.
newswoman
O'Reilly is hardly a 'fearless interviewer'. He attacked people on his show who were against the war as 'unpatriotic'. I was against the war and I AM as patriotic as Billo. Keith does rant sometimes but he is always truthful and he gets his facts right. None of this ''taking things out of context as is often done on Fox News.
whoreofbabalon
I agree with the Rachel Maddow comment. She's one of the few actually worth watching.
deegeezee
Rachel Maddow is just as much in the bag for the Dems as Keith is. if anyone thinks any of these talking heads (Fox OR MSNBC) are really truthful or accurate then they are ignorant of their own bias. you all should try watching the *News* and stop getting your opinions pureed, prepackaged, and spoon-fed.
vi-lontano
Yes but Olberman and Maddow actually quote sources They don't screech bigoted nonsense pretending it's information...
and how can all these "family values people" support this guy...who is a blatant sexual harasser of women...
steve80
It amazes me how some people think fox news is not in the bag for the GOP.
I DON'T SEE ANY NEWS ON TV THAT JUST REPORTS WITHOUT A SLANT
AlanD2
Watch the *News*? Full of 20-second sound bites? And focusing on Michael Jackson? Hardly a way of making informed opinions. You'd better check your own bias, deegeezee.
Today's TV news is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Not worth watching at all.
motrbotr
Rachel Maddow? Please. She is so biased she cant even turn her head to the right.
LitaMarieH
She's biased toward people with no logic, which is fine with me!
LitaMarieH
Maddow is amazing!! Such a breath of fresh air after putting up with "journalists" who just vomit opinions all over their cameras (KO and BO). A progressive, modern, witty, intelligent, polite professional is so rare!! She and Campbell Brown are my news goddesses. Way to go, ladies!!!
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vi-lontano
LOL
BasPos
You should have stated up front that you had been skewered as a "Worst Person." As for your producer, you might be a bit more forthcoming, were they an O'Reilly-stalker clone?
O'Reilly's slavish worship of the Cheney travesty was pure drivel. His role in the Tiller murder and subsequent non mea culpa afterward was the worst sort of journalism.
O'Reilly has high ratings due to the fact that he panders to the sickest and most unbalanced part of the American electorate - happily most of them nearing death from old age or advanced alcoholism. I would also guess that they live mainly in red states.
Equating Olbermann with O'Reilly is like equating Groucho Marx with Hitler. In spite of the silliness constructed by Groucho and his clan, they spoke a kind of truth. Hitler was, well, you know. O'Reilly has blood on his hands.
Old-Hippy
Well Said ! ! !
I wholeheartedly agree ! !
thebaker
I like O'Reilly. I live in a Blue state, am under the age of 30, have never drank alcohol. Perhaps I'm still part of the sick and unbalanced American electorate?
daisydog
i am so sick of hearing how conservatives are stoooppid. I am ivy league educated, catholic, (practicing) married 20 years (happily) and i am treated like a leper whenever anyone finds out my political leanings. What is wrong with liberals that you don't know your history? it was REPUBLICANS that ran the civil rights movement and implemented any and all changes for those in the minority status...check your textbooks quickly before they rewrite it! Abe and Teddy were our two greatest environmentalists! oh they were Republican, those idiots. Oh! Seriously, Robert Byrd has really done more for African Americans....oh that's right, he was a member of the KKK and oh yes, he REJECTED any and all civil rights legislation. HURRY read your text books before it gets changed. If you have any doubt, read Diane Ravitch and her book Censored.
LitaMarieH
Why are republicans no longer progressive then? They may have been so at one point, but that's history.
seeksense
Who is this Grove person? Bill-O's side kick?
Olbermann and O'Reilly are the same except...
one is a perpetual liar, promoting fear and hate.
The other tells the truth, calls out liars, fear and hate mongers.
Badly done Grove..check your facts before you spew next time.
duanes
unfortunately neither show is much for fair and balanced reporting,, obermouth has a straight liberal agenda,,,,you never hear what obama doesnt want talked about,, ever hear them say send the illegals back? Nope, and billylips while usually not the aggressor sometimes is just plain ridiculous but at least has a oplinion on most everything even if its not fair and balanced. The whole thing is ridiculous and not in the best interest of the viewers but obermouths continual bashing of billylips and whatever else is just so childish and the ranting and carrying on is not necessary. The people really want fair reporting not continual rants and raves. Hear him rant about immagration? nope or some other ridiculous program, nope! and billylips puts his foot in his mouth all the time but least he has a opinion,,,,,,,then comes the ridiculous list,,,,, morning joesy,,,, who runs the show him or her? then foxes nut case,(cant think of his name) always lying and making stuff up,, then comes hardball,,,, god this guy if he isnt spitting on someone hes interupting everyone! On fox you have the wife of the guy who helped create our finacial troubles telling us how good he is, and fox well we all know they use the talking points for the rnc. Isnt it time for us to have some really good news,,,, no wonder its party first and the hell with the country,,,,, our news cant even be honest
TruthCrusader
You have some good points...except you miss the mark when characterizing KO as unwilling to call out the Obama camp. And that's a pretty big mark to miss. It's the fundamental difference between these two camps. (Well, that and the lying. And the fact that only one of these "news" networks hysterically calls itself "Fair & Balanced." Keith calls out Obama. Rachel calls out Obama. Chris calls out Obama. Ed calls out Obama.
Scyldemort
Do you even watch Keith Olberman? He's criticized the Obama administration pretty severely, though admittedly for entirely different reasons than Bill O'Reilly and friends over at Faux News.
AlanD2
duanes said "The people really want fair reporting not continual rants and raves."
What a joke. People who watch cable "news" shows generally want their biases reinforced (in addition, of course, to being entertained). Fox News is especially good at spin, lies, and entertainment, but rather short on "fair and balanced" reporting.
tommytimp
Seriously? They're basically the same? Only where the pomposity ends. Olbermann doesn't pretend to be objective and dosn't give a shit what the other "side" thinks, which is why he doesn't have shoutfests with straw men, unlike O'Reilly, who clearly doesn't care about ANYTHING HE TALKS ABOUT. He just cares about being famous.
jorge999
Sounds like a 'personal vendetta' Mr. Grove.
your false equivalency is phony and unconvincing.
(see edenscape24 and Ronym5, above)
The only conclusions one can draw from this shabby hit job are that you are petty, spiteful, and angrier at Olbermann than O'Reilly.
Allegra
I agree.
It's so ludicrous to try to equate these two men. I have to laugh when I think of all the times I've seen O'Reilly simply scream and shout at a guest with whom he disagrees - or in many cases have their microphone cut off. What an obnoxious, insufferable bully. The whole Tiller thing.....O'Reilly has blood on his hands, without question. Just look at the YouTube clips and see the horrible lies he tells, the incitement is right there. O'Reilly is well aware of the deranged whack jobs who think he's great.
newswoman
Why must I sign in every time I want to comment, even if I already signed earlier in the day? What gives? Why don't you recognize my 'sign in' permanently? This is getting old.
Ritarita
The biggest difference
Between them is that none of
The targets of Olbermanns's 'Worst Persons'
Has actually been shot
And killed.
rpagan2
Excellent point ---
North49
Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the world" are identified and pointed out for the purpose of enraging the mob, otherwise why would he do it? Usually the worst persons are either a combination of O'Reilly, Hannity or Beck - sometimes all three on the same day. Even stranger is his obsession with belittling private citizens who have said something negative about the Obama Administration. Using his position to bully and intimidate private citizens and cheerleading the Obama Administration has to be a new low in a country that once respected freedom of the press and recognized the perils of expanding and over reaching government - MSNBC "journalism" = yellow journalism.
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RegularJoe
That's only 'cause nobody watches Olbermann.
Seriously, you're going to blame O'Reilly for what happened to Tiller, just because he reported the facts? Tiller WAS a baby killer. What else can you call it? Maybe you'd have some ground to stand on if you say a 13-week fetus isn't a baby (I'd still vehemently disagree with you); but to take a baby that's full term, reach in and turn it around so it comes out feet first, then deliver all but the head before suctioning out the brains -- and to do this repeatedly -- and your beef is with O'Reilly for letting people know it's going on? What kind of sick bastards are some of you, anyway?
ccrider27
With this article, Lloyd Grove lets himself out the door as a serious journalist.
Keith Olbermann was a lone voice of truth during and after the Bush Admin. deceived this country into an illegal war that has murdered hundreds of thousands. Olbermann never pulled a single punch in contrast to almost every other so called journalist in America. O'Reilly doesn't deserve to even be mentioned in the same article with Olbermann.
This column is a sham and an example of the degenerate road down which the Beast seems to be going of late.
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