I thought Kristinn did a good job.
Kristinn clearly brought out the key point. He said, “It costs money, Bill.” (or something like that) Bill’s response showed that he did not know that Free Republic is a volunteer site. FR is totally FREE!
On the other hand, I’m pretty sure that “premium members” at O’Reilly’s site have to pay. It’s America, and he’s allowed to do that. But, I don’t believe that “paid free speech” is the same as “free speech.”
One recommendation I’d make for Kristinn is to smile a bit more when on TV. His voice is very friendly, and his attitude was clearly balanced and respectful. In America, though, the visual means of communicating that same thing is with a friendly face...i.e., smile. The other recommendation is to find a way to communicate through someone talking over top of you. The way I’ve seen this work best on shows like O’Reilly in the past is to ask the host directly: “Bill, can I say something? Bill can I respond?” Something like that.
But, the key information got out, and that only took his performance from an A- to a B+ is all. It was a good solid presentation.
I especially liked the point about someone signing up JUST to post awful things.
I have NEVER seen anything like “I hate blacks” on FR. And it was unfair of O’Reilly to pull out that one post from multiple thousands. There is no way that post would survive since the rule is “NO RACIST posts.” It’s just a matter of the mod finding it.
Having NEVER seen such a thing as that around here before, one has to wonder how it happened along at such a time.