Sour Grapes
Reported by Marie Therese - June 25, 2004 -
On June 23, 2004 at 11:00 PM ET, during a rebroadcast of The O'Reilly Factor, the Talking Points Memo segment was edited out and an exchange between O'Reilly and Tony Snow was subsituted.
The two men discussed Bill Clinton's book, My Life, and focussed on the ex-President's dislike of former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr as well as Bill and Hillary's refusal to appear on the Fox News Channel.
On KEN STARR:
O'REILLY: But Starr didn't do a very good job. We called him yesterday to come on because Clinton was denying on "60 Minutes" that Starr found out anything and that's not true. I mean, Starr found out a lot. But, we called up Starr and he's never been one to really lay out the case to the American people.
Comment: Earth to O'Reilly. Maybe the reason he didn't tell us anything is - there was nothing to tell. Maybe the $70 million was spent on smoke and mirrors.
On CLINTON'S FANS
O'REILLY: Now, what is the phenomenon here? We have people waiting in the rain here. I thought when I drove to work today and saw these people in the rain, I thought, this was a casting call for "Dawn of the Dead", you know, the zombie movie, (Snow breaks into laughter) ya' know, 'cause these people are like there for five days! What is this? They love him!
Comment: O'Reilly sticks his foot in it bigtime! Insult TV lives!
On NOT BEING INVITED TO CLINTON"S BIG BOOK PARTY
O'Reilly and Snow comment over videoclips of various celebs arriving at the Clinton Book Party, June 22, 2004.
SNOW: People want to be part of it.O'REILLY: Yeah. They love him. You didn't get invited to the big party last night, did you? I was showing ... Andy Rooney got invited, and Barbara Walters. Oh, there's our pal, Al Sharpton, got invited. You didn't get invited. I didn't get invited. I never get invited anywhere, but you're much nicer that I am.
SNOW: Well, it didn't help me any, either.
O'REILLY: I don't think any - even Alan Colmes didn't get invited. I don't think - they don't like us at all. Why do you think the Clintons don't like the Fox News Channel?
SNOW: Let me put it this way. When Fox News Sunday, which started six months before the cable channel, when Fox News Sunday first went to air, somebody in the Clinton administration said "We want to strangle this baby in the cradle" and I think that's been - they look at Fox as an unalterable enemy, when, in fact, we have always reached out and tried to be fair. You know what happens a lot of times, these things do become personal. People just get it in their heads that Fox is going to be mean and nasty, where, as a matter of fact, we get 'em more viewers, more news and have more fun. Sooner or later, they'll figure it out, I suppose.
Comment: Whine. Whine. Snivel. Snivel.
On GETTING AN INTERVIEW WITH BILL CLINTON
O'REILLY: I don't know if they'll ever figure it out because this program sells more books than any other cable news program by far. And, you know what they said to us, Tony? "You're on the list." (Snow laughs loudly) The problem is we're right below al-Jazeera. I don't know if they're gettin' around to us anytime soon. I'll give you the last word on 'em.SNOW: That's about right. They looked at their calendar and said "Cold day in Hell." OK? That's your day, O'Reilly!
O'REILLY: That's when O'Reilly will get to see the former President.
Comment: Bill, it's time to drop the al-Jazeera line. It's getting really old.
