There was a lovely debate between Bill O’Reilly and Paul Krugman on Tim Russert’s Saturday show this weekend (see transcript here), and I have to say that in my humble and unbiased opinion O’Reilly mopped the floor with the man Lying in Ponds consistently rates as the number one or two most partisan columnist in America. That’s not to say that O’Reilly wasn’t way over the top or that he didn’t come across as a loon and a bully, just that Krugman’s arguments were weak and his general personal demeanor was sad to the extreme – at several points his voice cracked and his hands were visibly shaking. I’ve seen Krugman on the air before, and he always has this weasly demeanor like a little kid who’s just learned that he can get attention by using big words, or cuss words, or by reciting obscure facts, but he was at a real extreme this time.
There’s a real nice account of the show over at Donald Luskin for your enjoyment:
This marks the first time that anyone has really stood up to America?s most dangerous liberal pundit on television. And Krugman simply didn?t know how to handle it. At several points in the show Krugman was practically in shock, with hands visibly trembling.
O?Reilly was masterful. He didn?t for one moment grant Krugman the undeserved respect that everyone else grants him, thanks to the prestigious aura of his Princeton professorship and his New York Times column. And O?Reilly didn?t let Krugman get away with any of his usual stunts.
O?Reilly uncompromisingly held Krugman to account for some of the outrageous (and outrageously wrong) things Krugman?s written in his Times columns.
Check it out.
Rebut: