Sullivan is "right on" on O'Reilly.
The Weekly Dish
By Andrew Sullivan
DRUDGE AND O'REILLY
You've got to love it when the holiday spirit rises anew among your favorite media mavens. Last week, Matt Drudge of the online Drudge Report did the unthinkable and published the latest rankings for best-seller books in 2003, recorded by Nielsen's BookScan. Mr. Drudge wasbeinga little naughty, as is his custom. On Monday, Fox News star Bill O'Reilly had bragged to NBC's Today Show that "We've outsoldthatguy [Franken] all over the place. We're running against Hillary for most copies of non-fiction books sold this year!" The results, alas, showed that Bill O'Reilly's oeuvre, "Who's Looking Out For You," was easily bested by Al Franken's screed "Lying Liars" and way behind Senator Clinton's largely unreadable account of meeting lots of African prime ministers, "Personal History." What was Mr. O'Reilly's response to being caught out in an inaccuracy? He called Mr. Drudge "a threat to democracy." But he didn't deny the facts because he can't. I never used to understand the appeal of Mr O'Reilly. Then last week, I finally got cable. Yeah, I know. How did I do without it? Quite well, actually. I read more; got all the info I needed from the web; but I missed those VH1 list shows, "South Park" re-runs and "Queer Eye." So, now I get to see O'Reilly consistently for the first time as well. Suddenly, you see why he reacts so obtusely to simple criticism. He's unhinged! Alarmingly, I find myself agreeing with him on many issues. But he is so obnoxious, so transparently phony, so gung-ho in a crude populist know-nothing kind of way that I'm almost embarrassed to be on the same side much of the time. Does anyone say "I may be wrong" more disingenuously? Is there anyone more aggressively watchable because he is so awful? Okay, there's CNN's Bob Novak and Paul Begala. And, in the old days, John McLaughlin. But Bill O'Reilly is so compellingly odious you almost can't take your eyes off him. I wonder how much of his ratings are based on 'hathos' — the enjoyment you get from hating someone, the same delicious feeling you get reading a Paul Krugman column or listening to Joe Biden.
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