Wow - apparently I missed quite a Letterman last night. A Fishbowl tipster (ok my dad) called to tell me that he'd never seen David Letterman so combative as when he called Bill O'Reilly on the carpet for his "War on Christmas" campaign and the above-referenced crap (my dad said that Letterman "seemed to imply that 60% was a generous figure).

Wish I'd seen it; didn't. But after the jump there are some excerpts from political newsletter "The Frontrunner" (danke, Nexis) which describes the interview as "contentious" (Fishbowl corroborates all tips, even parental ones. Though Dad agreed with "contentious"). Said contention/contentiousness probably seemed obvious when Letterman referred to O'Reilly's "friends in the Bush Administration" before asking O'Reilly about the Iraq war. Here's their exchange about Cindy Sheehan:

O'REILLY: We believe that the United States, particularly the military are doing a noble thing. The soldiers and Marines are noble. They're not terrorists. When people call them that, like Cindy Sheehan called the insurgents freedom fighters, we don't like that.

LETTERMAN: How can you possibly take exception with the motivation and the position of someone like Cindy Sheehan?

O'REILLY: Because I believe she's run by far-left elements in this country. I feel bad for the woman.

Honesty, debate - fine. But here's where things got a little nutty: Letterman hauling off on O'Reilly...but admitting he didn't watch the show. Which does make it hard to justify saying "60% of what you say is crap." Here's the full exchange, courtesy of TVNewser:

LETTERMAN: This fair and balanced -- I don't think you represent an objective viewpoint--

O'REILLY: You have to give me an example if you're going to make those statements--

LETTERMAN: But I don't watch your show so that would be impossible--

O'REILLY: Then why would you come to that conclusion if you don't watch the program?

LETTERMAN: because of things that i've read, things that I know--

O'REILLY: Oh, cmon. You're going to take things that you've read? You know what they say about you? C'mon. Look. Look. Watch it for half an hour, you'll get addicted, you'll be a Factor fan, we'll send you a hat.

Letterman told O'Reilly to send Cindy Sheehan the hat. Yikes.

Other notes: Letterman asked O'Reilly how his "holidays" were; O'Reilly responded that he'd had "a nice Winter Solstice," thus easing nicely into the "War on Christmas" debate which triggered the exchange mentioned above. Also, a note of comparison from my mom, who saw O'Reilly on Jon Stewart and thought it was "much more pleasant" (and please note that the audience booed O'Reilly on that show, and Jon asked him why he had to be "so angry"). Feel free to send me your own impressions of the show (and a screengrab would be great); otherwise, more excerpts after the jump.

Update: Here's a link to the vid and here's the transcript (thanks to Crooks & Liars for the pic).

Update to the update: An now, of course, there is the shirt.

Musical update: Apparently Paul Schaeffer struck up The Who's "Baba O'Reilly" (otherwise known as "Teenage Wasteland") for Bill's entrance. Hmm. Trying to figure out the significance of that (Thanks, rock n' roll tipster!).

The Frontrunner
January 4, 2006 Wednesday
SECTION: WASHINGTON NEWS

LENGTH: 466 words

HEADLINE: In Contentious Letterman Appearance, O'Reilly Defends Support For Iraq War

BODY:

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in a contentious interview on CBS' Late Night With David Letterman (1/3), was asked by Letterman about his "friends in the Bush Administration. Things seem to be darker now...than they might have been heretofore. How do things look to you?" O'Reilly replied, "It's pretty rough" adding "I think the Iraq thing is a vital thing for the country and it's absolutely brutal. We should all take it very seriously. This simplistic stuff about hating Bush or he lied and all this stuff, does the country no good at all. We've got to win this thing. You have to win it. Even though it's a screw-up, giant, massive, all right, right now for everybody's protection, it's best for the world to have a democracy in that country functioning and friendly to the west. Is it not?"

Letterman Criticizes Bush Decision To Topple Hussein, WMD Intelligence.

During O'Reilly's interview on CBS' Late Night With David Letterman (1/3) Letterman said, "Why are we there in the first place? The President himself less than a month ago said we are there because of a mistake made in intelligence. Whose intelligence? Somebody got off a bus and handed it to him? No, it was the intelligence gathered by his administration. So why are we there in the first place? I agree with you that we have to support the troops" but "I also agree that now we're in it it's going to take a long, long time. People who expect it to be solved and wrapped up in a couple of years, unrealistic. It's not going to happen. However that does not eliminate the legitimate speculation and concern and questioning why the hell are we there to begin with?"

Letterman Defends Sheehan Criticism Of Iraq War.

O'Reilly, in his interview on CBS' Late Night With David Letterman (1/3) said, "We believe that the United States, particularly the military are doing a noble thing. The soldiers and Marines are noble. They're not terrorists. When people call them that, like Cindy Sheehan called the insurgents freedom fighters, we don't like that." Letterman asked O'Reilly, "How can you possibly take exception with the motivation and the position of someone like Cindy Sheehan?" O'Reilly replied, "Because I believe she's run by far-left elements in this country. I feel bad for the woman." O'Reilly later added that Sheehan "has a right to grieve any way she wants. She has a right to say whatever she wants. When she says to the public that the insurgents are terrorists or freedom fighters, how do you [think], David Letterman, that makes people who lost loved ones by these blowing the hell out of them, how do you think they feel? What about their feelings, sir?" Letterman later replied, "I'm very concerned about people like yourself who don't have nothing but endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy Sheehan. Honest to Christ."