The O’Reilly Factor: Jon Stewart vs. Bill O’Reilly

Jon Stewart gives a rare in-depth interview to Bill O’Reilly of The O’Reilly Factor.

There are two distinct sides of Jon Stewart. There’s the wittingly humorous fake news anchor that spends a considerable amount of time making fun of main stream media and the political establishments of our time. Then there’s the astutely masterful hard nose interviewer who has taken to task those who would use their position as a news pundit or a politician for taking themselves instead of the people and our democracy seriously, calling them out in a manner worthy of an investigative journalist.

Jon Stewart is the Tiger Woods of politics. He has taken something mind numbingly boring and tedious to the average person, interesting mostly to the well connected, sophisticated crowd and made it cool for everybody. Watching the news and keeping up with current affairs use to be for nerds and their parents. Now Stewart like Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report has merged it into pop culture, truly taking the acutely important issues coming out of Washington, DC and beyond as well as how they are covered in the media to a mainstream audience. No wonder he has been named the most trusted news caster, seriously.

Unlike his uncensored counterpart Bill Maher who not only is an interviewer but also often lends himself to being interviewed, Jon Stewart rarely gives interviews. But after seeing this interview with Bill O’Reilly, we definitely know it’s not because he’s uncomfortable in that position or because he cannot think on his feet enough to articulate the issues without aid and preparation from his brilliant writing staff. Watch as he discusses everything from the Obama presidency to Fox News to trying terrorists in civilian courts.

Highlights from the Jon Stewart Interview with Bill O’Reilly:

On Fox News Network:

“Here’s what Fox has done through their cyclonic perpetual emotion machine that is a twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. They’ve taken reasonable concerns about this president and this economy and turned it into a full fledge panic attack about the next coming of Chairman Mao. Why is that the narrative of your network?”

On Obama’s messaging for health care reform:

“Not articulating clearly enough where he wants to move legislatively allowing different narratives to take hold, a narrative that may eminate from a news organization of this ilk”

“Once you allow a vacuum of power what will assume power in Washington are special interests and lobbyists. If you allow too much nick picking on the edges of legislation it will be necessarily turned into a type of lobbyist gruel.”

On dealing with nations with ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons:

“Here’s what we can’t do. Our strategy for battling terrorist can’t be that you overthrow governments and then you make the United States military commit 150,000 troops to those lands until they can somehow stabilize the governments long enough so that you can prevent ten people from plotting destruction in a basement.”

Watch either the three part highlights or the entire fourty-two minute interview below:
Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

Full Interview