Special Guest on Bill O'Reilly: Ted McGinley

So... did Bill O'Reilly jump the shark?

Read Geraghty's summary of his radio interview on O'Reilly and decide for yourself:

I also mentioned that while the original story may have been an error, it’s tougher to say that it was just an innocent mistake to not present the opinions of the forensic experts CBS consulted who said the document wasn’t real, and for misrepresenting Marcel Matley as a forensic expert when his expertise is solely in handwriting. They also didn’t mention that Matley said he can’t verify a photocopy, and CBS only had photocopies of the memos.

(At what point does a mistake in vision become willful blindness? Didn’t Rather himself say “the camera never blinks�?)

O’Reilly said he had covered all of this on his show earlier, and that no one was tougher on Rather than him. Okay.

I said that Rather kept insisting that the memo’s source was “unimpeachable�, which, I added, only told us that the source wasn’t Bill Clinton.

(Bill didn’t laugh.)

“Rather is defending his people,� O’Reilly said, attributing Rather’s actions to loyalty to a longtime employee. (It’s ironic, just last weekend I just watched the last half hour or so of the movie “Shattered Glass.� One of the big themes of that film is the tension of New Republic editors who wanted to defend the reputation of reporter Stephen Glass, in the face of building evidence that Glass’s magazine journalism was largely imaginary. Loyalty to your subordinates is often an honorable trait, but it shouldn‘t be a higher priority than the truth.)

And then O’Reilly denied that he was too easy on Rather or anyone else, because he had reduced Rather “a puddle� when he had interviewed him. And he had interviewed Peter Jennings, and all these other mainstream media figures.

Hmmmm... "just looking out for the folks," Bill? Since when did Dan Rather -- who used transparently false documents to drive Bush out of the White House and then dishonestly used inexpert experts to defend them, all the while accusing his critics (his provably correct critics, let me add) of being "politically motivated internet partisans" -- become one of the "folks" that needed "looking out" for?

Again: did O'Reilly jump the shark?

Let's just say that he made a perfect splashdown just outside the shark pen barely getting his leather jacket wet, to be immediately hugged by Joanie, Richie, Pinkie Tuscadero and Jennie Piccolo.

More... And in The Corner, they're citing O'Reilly and some CBS blowhard whining about that bloggers are exploiting this whole damned "freedom of expression" loophole.

Nice job, O'Fonzereilly. I think you've got three seasons of declining ratings left. Richie was the heart and soul of the show, and he just left to direct Eat My Dust.

Irony is a Bitch Update: So... did Ace of Spades HQ jump the shark, too?

I'm worried it has. I began worrying especially when I read more about Ted McGinley. If you don't know who he is, the link in the title tells you; but suffice to say he's the patron saint of jump-the-shark-ings. If he joins your cast, you've almost certainly jumped the shark. Married With Children, Happy Days, The West Wing...

... and even The Love Boat, where, damn it all, he played a character called Ashley Covington Evans, also known as ACE.

Not even a win in the Wizbang Top 100 Blogs polling can save this site now.

Oh, well. A year is a decent run.

Ted McGinley&bodytext=So... did Bill O'Reilly jump the shark? Read Geraghty's summary of his radio interview on O'Reilly and decide for yourself: I also mentioned that while the original story may have been an error, it’s tougher to say that it was...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 02:43 AM

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