Posted on 01/03/2006 9:20:35 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Displaying a hostility to President Bush and the Iraq war similar to that expressed by Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart, on tonight’s Late Show David Letterman will go further than I’ve ever heard him in revealing his derision for President Bush’s decision to launch the Iraq war. I know this thanks to the “Big Show Highlight," a two-minute streaming-only RealPlayer preview of tonight’s program, which is now featured on the Late Show’s home page.
In the posted clip, Letterman mockingly tells guest Bill O’Reilly: "The President himself, less than a month ago said we are there because of a mistake made in intelligence. Well, whose intelligence? It was just somebody just get off a bus and handed it to him?" Letterman demands: “Why the Hell are we there to begin with?" When O’Reilly points out that the British, Russians and Egyptians also presumed Iraq had WMD, Letterman retorts: “Well then that makes it all right?" Turning unusually serious, Letterman soon lectures: “I'm very concerned about people like yourself who don't have nothing but endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy Sheehan. Honest to Christ. Honest to Christ." That prompts O’Reilly to contend: “No way a terrorist who blows up women and children is going to be called a ‘freedom fighter' on my program." To which Letterman fires back: “I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap.” After the show airs in an hour, I will update this item with more from the Letterman/O’Reilly exchange, including a video clip. (Transcript of RealPlayer excerpt follows.)
It took me a while, but I managed to take down this transcript from the two-minute streaming RealPlayer “Big Show Highlight” video clip on the Late Show home page:
David Letterman: “The President himself, less than a month ago said we are there because of a mistake made in intelligence. Well, whose intelligence? It was just somebody just get off a bus and handed it to him?”
Bill O’Reilly: “No.”
Letterman: “No, it was the intelligence gathered by his administration.”
O’Reilly: “By the CIA.”
Letterman: “Yeah, so why are we there in the first place? I agree to you, with you that we have to support the troops. They are there, they are the best and the brightest of this country. [audience applause] There’s no doubt about that. And I also agree that now we’re in it it’s going to take a long, long time. People who expect it’s going to be solved and wrapped up in a couple of years, unrealistic, it’s not going to happen. However, however, that does not eliminate the legitimate speculation and concern and questioning of ‘Why the Hell are we there to begin with?’”
O’Reilly: “If you want to question that, and then re-vamp an intelligence agency that’s obviously flawed, the CIA, okay. But remember, MI-6 in Britain said the same thing. Putin’s people in Russia said the same thing, and so did Mubarak’s intelligence agency in Egypt.”
Letterman: “Well then that makes it all right?”
O’Reilly: “No it doesn’t make it right.”
Letterman: “That intelligence agencies across the board makes it alright that we’re there?”
O’Reilly: “It doesn’t make it right.”
Letterman: “See, I’m very concerned about people like yourself who don’t have nothing but endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy Sheehan. Honest to Christ.” [audience applause]
O’Reilly: “No, I’m sorry.”
Letterman: “Honest to Christ.”
“O’Reilly: “No way. [waits for applause to die down] No way you’re going to get me, no way that a terrorist who blows up women and children.”
Letterman: “Do you have children?”
O’Reilly: “Yes I do. I have a son the same age as yours. No way a terrorist who blows up women and children is going to be called a ‘freedom fighter’ on my program.” [mild audience applause]
Letterman: “I’m not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling, I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap. [audience laughter] But I don’t know that for a fact. [more audience applause]
I remember Dave when he had what appeared to be a genuine, emotional moment on his show after 9-11...and now he seems to have completely forgotten about it. Dave was never fit to fill Johnny Carson's shoes. He has become increasingly bitter and I suspect a lot of it does have to do with the fact that Bush got re-elected. Johnny Carson was also a lib, but he was smart enough not to tick off his flyover country audience. Dave, go back to Indiana and become a weatherman again. Turn him over with a fork like a baked canned ham, he is done.
Yeah, kinda...
CA....
Can you smell the Ozone? Here, kitty kitty kitty...
What proof have you for your claim that NBC prefered Letterman?
Excellent!
Great letter to CBS. Letterman is not smart enough to resist the Hollywood herd and their knee-jerk hatred of the President. So he mouths what sells with the people he typically interviews, and this time he revealed his mindlessness for all to see. I'm sure your letter is not the only one. He's on his way out. A comedian who's stupid and yet turns to politics as if he's Lenny Bruce is, well, stupid. As always, thanks for your service. (As an aside, I ALWAYS buy drinks for anyone in uniform I see in the restaurants and bars I frequent, and for everyone else at their table. Here in TX this happens frequently, and that's fine by me.)
Dave, shut up and tell jokes.
Letterman has always sucked. He has serious mental health issues as well. remember when he called Limbaugh "a big bag of hot gas"? Rush was on the radio the next day claiming letterman wasn't really calling him that. Pathetic.
Letterman is simply too stupid to do serious stuff. He should stick to comedy - it's fake / not based on reality so he's fairly good at it.
I was referring to Carson having no power in the choice in that Leno was hired by NBC and Carson preferred Letterman at that time.
I think there were two different groups in Letterman's audience tonight: The usual clueless liberal idiots who applauded, hooted and cheered on every clueless statement Letterman made, and the few sensible people who had the guts to applaud Bill O'Reilly's rational statements of FACTS, especially when discussing the war in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan.
THOMAS PYNCHON, IS THAT YOU???
THE JIG IS UP!
It's been many years, maybe a decade or more, since Mavis was working on this. I can't even remember how long ago. There was some video shown, probably on the Tonight show, of women being abused in Afghanistan, I can remember being horrified at what she reported. It was a long time ago, it seems.
Well, Jay's an equal opportunity jokester, but he probably realizes that it's night and day between the toon WH and the current admin.
I'm willing to bet a good portion of the audience has no clue who Sheehan is and the majority are unaware she referred to terrorists as freedom fighters.
Got the reference right (Pyncho is short for the man). But I can hardly pass myself off as the greatest living American novelist who is smart enough to avoid the press. If only politicians were that smart!
Just communicated your sentiment (which I share) to CBS via email.
Done!
Good-bye troll.
Limbaugh went to Afghanistan months ago. You need to stay in Appalachia and go froth at the mouth in the forest.
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