Letterman v. O'Reilly: Round Two

Bill O'Reilly returned to "Late Show with David Letterman" Friday night, after his previous notorious appearance. Billo (as Keith Olbermann likes to call him; of course, Olbermann likes to call him "Bill Orally" and a host of other things even less flattering) was on his best behavior; it was Letterman who kept pouncing and O'Reilly who kept deflecting his insults with surprisingly good-natured responses like, "This whole thing is a big act. We're friends! We go bowling together." Bill even came out with a toy sword and shield symbolizing their previous clash, which Letterman declined to accept as the vaguely amusing goodwill gesture it represented.

Which is not to say O'Reilly was not combative; hell, it's wet-wired into his system. Rather than the War on Christmas, however, this time, the contentious subject was the War in Iraq. "Do you want America to win in Iraq?" Bill demanded of Dave. "It's an easy question."

"It's not an easy question for me because I'm thoughtful," Letterman replied.

Letterman was intent on ending the deaths of Americans, while O'Reilly pointed out that it could be unwise to withdraw American troops from the country because it might allow Iran to take control of the unstable region. At one point, O'Reilly reframed the debate, something at which he's quite artful, but Letterman would have none of it: "You're putting words in my mouth, just the way you put artificial facts in your head."

O'Reilly kept his cool, and Letterman almost became conciliatory - key word, "almost:" "I have no idea what I'm talking about but I think you don't either." Later, he conceded, "If I knew what I was talking about, I'd really have something. I'll take this next guy (his pal, comic Jeff Altman) apart."

Ah, what do you need my description for? You can see it here.