O'Reilly Interviews Bill Maher But Talks About Himself Instead
Reported by Deborah - August 18, 2005
Bill Maher visited The O'Reilly Factor to plug his book, "New Rules" but O'Reilly got territorial during his exchange with Maher making sure that he knew that O'Reilly was #1. 8/17/05
O'Reilly treated Maher with respect and there was no hint of the conceited posturing often present when O'Reilly interviews. That being said, he did hit Maher right off with a "let's see what you got" kind of question asking how he would fight this war on terror.
Maher began his answer with a critique of Bush's handling of the terrorist issues and O'Reilly tried to redirect Maher away from touchy ground asking him for "concrete things" that he would do.
Maher suggested that since the President gets Secret Service protection we should all get protected the same way with a corp of highly trained people to expertly guard us everywhere. They chatted about that and then Bill got down to business.
O'Reilly mentioned that the book was amusing mentioning that he had fun with Fox News in the book. Then he asked Maher, "Why do you think we're so fabulously successful."
Maher replied that the conservative viewer is very predictable."They like to hear, what they like to hear," adding that they like to hear it repeated often. O'Reilly wanted Maher to acknowledge his superiority, at least in the ratings, asking him why Fox News is #1 but Maher only went so far, telling Bill it was because of the production quality.
Then O'Reilly congratulated Maher for driving a hybrid and that was that.
comment: O'Reilly had appeared on Maher's show last year and he seemed a bit uncomfortable off his own turf. I realized then that O'Reilly doesn't make too many appearances away from his own show because , maybe, it makes him feel vulnerable and I think Bill Maher threatens Bill O'Reilly no matter where they meet.
