Whatever you think of Lena Dunham or her interview with Hillary Clinton, is this kind of childish derision from Bill O’Reilly and guests Bernard McGuirk and Greg Gutfeld appropriate for a prime time news program?
For the record, let me state that I am not a fan of Dunham and, frankly, I find the revelation in her recent book about her childhood sexual play with her sister creepy and repulsive. However, Dunham was seven at the time and since then she has gone on to create a hit television show and she is obviously deemed important enough, at least to young women, that Hillary Clinton sat down to do an interview with her.
I’ve got no problem with a news show criticizing Dunham or Clinton for doing an interview with her or even the “substance” of the discussion. In the clip showed on The O’Reilly Factor, Dunham told Clinton about Lenny Kravitz splitting his pants and his “stuff” falling out. Clinton facetiously replied, “I’ll look for that” on YouTube.
But the juvenile, personal attacks that were presented as “analysis” from O’Reilly, Gutfeld and McGuirk were way more ridiculous.
“You have one liar interviewing another liar,” McGuirk sneered. He was referring, no doubt, to questions raised – not lies proven - about Dunham’s account of being sexually assaulted in college.
Meanwhile, McGuirk was sitting across the table from O’Reilly, who recently has had numerous lies – about his experiences as a journalist, no less – exposed and debunked.
“It would be like Donald Trump sitting down with Josh Duggar,” McGuirk now said. Actually, though, Josh Duggar was 14 and 15 when he molested his sisters and a babysitter. He has also been exposed as a wife-cheater and a porn addict while holding himself up as a beacon of family values. In other words, Dunham is not at all like Josh Duggar.
O’Reilly let the comparison stand. He moved on to engage in his own kind of smear by imitating Dunham with a high-pitched voice that could have belonged to a witch or a very dumb girl. Whatever he was trying to do, it was derogatory and demeaning. Noting that Gutfeld has a new book, O’Reilly said, “Lena Dunham calls” and then began to imitate her: “'Greg, will you come over to talk about Lenny Kravitz and I’ll mention your book.' Will you do it?”
Gutfeld thought the impersonation was hilarious and he doubled over with laughter. “I would have to do it because that voice was irresistible." he said.
“Thank you. I think I got it pretty close, did I not?” O’Reilly asked.
“Yes,” McGuirk agreed.
Gutfeld agreed, too. “It is. It was like two dueling smoke alarms between them. I think you can get PTSD from this interview. I’m not sure. I’m not sure. It really was, like incredible. But she does get a free ride, she does get a free ride from the media.” But then he adcknowledged, “But I think you have to do these interviews. It’s a modern era, Obama ushered us in and if you want to be persuasively correct, you gotta do it.”
“You gotta do it. You gotta reach the kids. And Lenny Kravitz,” O’Reilly concurred.
McGuirk piped up again. “It would be like Donald Trump sitting down with (adult pedophile) Jared Fogle, for God’s sakes.”
If you ask me, what O’Reilly et al. really accomplished in this interview was to make Dunham look like the professional and themselves as the low-class entertainers.
Watch it below, from the September 29 The O’Reilly Factor.
McGuirk piped up again. “It would be like Donald Trump sitting down with (adult pedophile) Jared Fogle, for God’s sakes.”
As Stephanie Miller would say, “Thanks for playing Really Bad Analogies”.
My gawd, these 3 are embarrassing. And the fact that they all think they are being clever and funny make it even worse.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting here listening to Brian Williams on MSNBC reporting on the horrific murders in Oregon. Williams, who was taken off the air for exaggerating and fibbing about his experiences – while BOR, a known liar, sexual harasser and, if his daughter’s reports are true, wife abuser still has a show where he sits around snarking, lying, spewing venom and presenting propaganda as truth. Unbelievable.
No — but, it’s perfectly appropriate for Fox.
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