A couple nights ago I caught a snippet of an interview between former talk show host Phil Donahue and current Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. The latter runs the Bill O’Reilly Show. Then last night, I saw the same O’Reilly – after all, it’s his show – interview former general Wesley Clark.
While both interviews covered a range of topics, each came down to Cindy Sheehan, the mother of the fallen solider who has taken on the Bush Administration. I suspect this is because Donahue and Clark have shown support for her, while O’Reilly does not. And, to keep viewers interested, it’s important to have controversy.
O’Reilly was his usual rude self, interrupting whenever he could, bombasting with the best. Donahue’s response was to bombast back while Clark’s was a more moderate voice. The fact of the matter is that the people involved have already formed strong opinions and are not willing to consider anything the other side had to say.
I know Earl and I are on opposite sides of the ideological fence and we get to interrupting each other if we’re not careful. So if we watch O’Reilly together, it is with an unspoken agreement that we can’t opine about our person’s point of view. Or the opposition’s point of view either.
We also know we’ll probably never change the other’s opinion. In fact, Earl has repeatedly said that if something happens to me he will search for his next companion at National Rifle Association meetings or Republican National Conventions. As for me, I won’t search for another companion. Phil Donahue and Wesley Clark are probably already taken.
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