Such appeared to be the case last week when Stewart on Wednesday's "Daily Show" harshly criticized O'Reilly and FNC for suddenly coming out in support of protesters, and O'Reilly struck back on Thursday's "Factor."
Who's right?
We report, you decide (videos embedded below the fold, Stewart first followed by O'Reilly with a full transcript):
BILL O'REILLY: "Personal story" segment tonight, I like Jon Stewart. He's a clever guy, usually not mean-spirited, and puts on an entertaining program. But last night, Stewart went off the rails deriding FOX News
for its coverage of the health care controversy. So I, your humble correspondent, feel it necessary this evening to set Mr. Stewart straight.Let's begin with the set up. Stewart told his viewers that FOX News has become liberal, because we defend legitimate protesters on the health care front. Stewart then he ran a clip of "The Factor".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: When we cover the town hall meetings, we don't describe the protesters as loons.
STEWART: Of course you don't describe the protestors are loons. What kind of monster would describe honest Americans voicing their political opinions that way?
O'REILLY: Surveys show many protesters are simply loons.
STEWART: To be fair, those were protesters he disagrees with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: To be fair? Ha. Once again, Jon Stewart took the loon clip out of context. Here's what I really said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: There are the anti Bush protesters here in New York City. While most of these people have been peaceful, more than 1,000 have been arrested. And surveys show many protesters are simply loons, calling for the destruction of the American system, calling for retreat in the face of terrorism.
Here's a bulletin for you Bush haters. These protestors are not helping John Kerry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: And we were talking about the arrested protesters. Quite a different tone than what Steward played.
But to be fair, John, you're a satirist. You know? You have the license to distort. But everybody should know what you're doing and why. 45 percent of "The Daily Show" audience is liberal, according to a Pew research study, the biggest liberal percentage on TV in that study.
So in order to retain his viewers, Stewart has to play to them like he does here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: I'll tell you, if there's one thing that really chaps my ass about liberals is this.
SEAN HANNITY: Liberals do make themselves out to be victims.
STEWART: Oh, poor us, everyone is against us. I'm a liberal . Everyone makes fun of us. And in this regard, FOX News is on the extreme left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody gets beat up worse in the mainstream media than a woman conservative or an African-American conservative.
GRETCHEN CARLSON: In this PC society, Christians are the easy targets.
STEWART: Dial 911. Somebody call an wambulance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: But here's what Gretchen Carlson really said in the discussion about media attacks on Christians during Holy Week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETCHEN CARLSON: Christians are the easy target.
O'REILLY: They're the easy target, absolutely.
CARLSON: They're not going to do it to Muslims, and they're not going to do it to Jews. As they shouldn't, but they shouldn't do it to Christians either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: They shouldn't do it to Christians either. They shouldn't do it to anybody. Absolutely true. Perhaps even Jon Stewart would agree as he did when I said this on his program last November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: I like Barack Obama. I think he is a brilliant guy and ran the best campaign I've ever seen anyone run. Okay? And I've made that quite clear. But.
STEWART: You're not an ideologue. I will say that.
O'REILLY: Now, and I have a cheap shot at the ever, but I don't know what he's going to do. Well, that's what you get paid to do.
STEWART: I get paid to cheap shot people.
O'REILLY: Isn't that a great job?
STEWART: It's not a bad job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: And he does it very well. But is it an honest job, Jon? We now do know how Barack is governing. And some of us are very worried about that, but not Jon Stewart. No. He continues to dance down the liberal yellow brick road, mocking folks who might call far left orthodoxy and actually protest a liberal president's policy.
Again I like Stewart. But some young people actually believe he's presenting an accurate picture of the country on his program. And that is frightening.
By the way, Jon Stewart's welcome on "The Factor" any time.
So, who won this round?
