Madam Rachel Maddow vs. His Highness Bill O'Reilly: Who's Kicking Whose Butt?

on July 23, 2010 at 11:42 AM

boxing gloves maddow oreilly News hosts Bill O'Reilly and Rachel Maddow are battling over ratings, but in a very public way.

The other night during his show, O'Reilly had some choice words for the MSNBC news host regarding the ACORN scandal and then said, Fox News "kicks your network's butt every single night, madam."

Last night Maddow responded saying that facts were more important than ratings.

"Mr. O'Reilly, you and Fox get great ratings," she said. "It is so awesome how great your ratings are. You have very big ratings this year."

Maddow then gave examples of some shows, such as The Closer, WWE Wrestling, SpongeBob, and Hannah Montana, that get higher ratings than both her and O'Reilly.

"They are more watched than The O'Reilly Factor, my lord -- which is totally immaterial to the discussion at hand, because when you got all kicked your network's butt, and madam on me, you weren't really trying to tout your network's ratings. You were trying to take the attention off me saying that your network, Fox News, continually crusades on flagrantly bogus stories designed to make white Americans fear black Americans, which Fox News most certainly does for a political purpose even if it upends the lives of individuals like Shirley Sherrod, even as it phrased the fabric of the nation, and even as it makes the American Dream more of a dream and less of a promise.

"You can insult us all you want about television ratings, Mr. O'Reilly, and you'll be right that yours are bigger for now and maybe forever. You are the undisputed champion. But even if no one watches us at all, except for my mom and my girlfriend and people who forgot to turn off the TV after Keith, you are still wrong on what really matters and that would be the facts, your highness."

I understand why Maddow would want to respond to O'Reilly, but does anyone else think that it's kind of bizarre for news commentators to "converse" with each other on-air through their shows? Maybe they should just stick to commenting on the news.

Or maybe they're all in cahoots and this is just a big ploy for both to get better ratings.

Do you watch Maddow or O'Reilly? Both? Neither?

Image via markhillary/Flickr

About the author Suzanne Murray

is the Parenting & Political editor at The Stir/Moms Matter 2012.

Filed Under: media

Comments (6)

Nonmember comment from markmurphy

on Jul 23, 2010 at 12:00 PM

I'm in Maddow's corner.

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Nonmember comment from Patrick S.

on Jul 23, 2010 at 1:48 PM

Didn't Maddow say it's not about ratings, though? Yes, she did in fact. Twice. Also, the reason she called out O"Reilly is because he (and Fox News) continue to deceive the American people with bogus stories, and Maddow believes she has an obligation to correct their biased lies with truthful and to-the-point reporting. That's what a reputable journalist does...

Cafe Suzanne

on Jul 23, 2010 at 2:38 PM

Patrick -- I think she can do that without sinking to O'Reilly's level. Why address him personally at all? She does a great job of correcting lies. What I'm suggesting is she leave it at that and not get caught up in his stupid games.

Nonmember comment from Sheryl Whyte

on Jul 24, 2010 at 1:34 PM

All politics aside Maddow makes for a great looking guy.

Nonmember comment from CB

on Jul 24, 2010 at 9:31 PM

Hmm - ratings mean nada eh Rachel? Tell your boss that when your contract comes up! And to the one opine, how can you be in her corner if you minions sit in a round room?