FNC's Brian Kilmeade Takes on Janeane Garofalo

Media Research Center ^ | February 26, 2003

[Republican_Strategist]

FNC's Brian Kilmeade Takes on Janeane Garofalo

     A technical knockout for Brian Kilmeade against actress/comedienne/
anti-liberation of Iraq activist Janeane Garofalo on Tuesday's Fox & Friends on FNC. The tri-host of the FNC morning show was not deferential to Garofalo as are most who interview her as he took her on for about eight straight very heated minutes, which ended just before 9am EST on February 25 with her complaining about how FNC is “a mouthpiece for the White House.”

     MRC analyst Patrick Gregory painstakingly took down what each said, though that was quite difficult because of how each talked over the other. Space does not permit a full transcript, that alone runs to more than six pages, but here are some highlights:

     -- Garofalo: “...Madeleine Albright was very, unfortunately very vocal about 'compliance is irrelevant and sanctions don't get lifted until he's gone.' Okay, now, why you gonna disarm in the face of that? I think he is very well aware also that the hawks in this administration have no, they don't care at all whether he complies to arms inspections. In fact this administration is adamant that they don't want more inspections. And also, there's a myth that he kicked the inspectors out, UNSCOM inspectors out, who were very successful by the way. He kicked them out for spying, they were indeed spying, and then they went back in, and then Butler pulled them out before [drowned out]"
     Kilmeade: "Okay, so you're -- Saddam must love you, and I'm sure he must-"
     Garofalo: "Don't even, don't even try and do that inflammatory, I'm not a Saddam Hussein apologist."
     Kilmeade: "No, I'm just, how do you feel that Saddam Hussein held up the protest last weekend and said 'Isn't that great news for us guys?'"
     Garofalo: "No I don't think he said 'Isn't that great news.'"
     Kilmeade: "He was saying it in Arabic."

     -- Kilmeade: "They're still missing a hundred tons of anthrax and VX gas, where is it?"
     Garofalo: "As far, okay. That's what you say. There is no proof or evidence that we're missing a hundred thousand tons of VX gas."
     Kilmeade: "It's never been declared, and even Hans Blix himself says that Arab country kept better records than any Arab country that has ever seen, let alone Iraq itself."
     Garofalo: "I actually, I disagree with you, I disagree with you."
     Kilmeade: "You disagree with Hans Blix?"
     Garofalo: "Yeah, first of all Hans Blix like I said has been much more positive about Iraq-"
     Kilmeade: "Did you read Time magazine this week?"
     Garofalo: "No I didn't. Did you read Foreign Affairs magazine this week? Did you read The Economist this week?"

     -- Kilmeade: "So you just distrust this government inherently, you distrust Colin Powell when he sat there and said 'Here is intercepts of Iraqis trying to cover up nerve gas, you distrust that?" 
     Garofalo: "Yes I, first of all the British dossier, the British dossier was bogus and you know it."

     -- Kilmeade: "Okay can I just quote you Thomas Friedman, January 22? He says 'What liberals fail to realize about war with Iraq is that it's not some distraction from the war on al-Qaeda. That is a bogus argument. Just because oil is at stake does not mean it's illegitimate. Though disarming is legitimate, the real prize is regime change. Faltering Arab states are churning out these terrorists, and that's the only way to stop them.'" 
     Garofalo: "Well if we want get Arab states that are churning out terrorists, there are certainly a whole lot of places we should be -- Saudi Arabia and Pakistan-"
     Kilmeade: "So don't, unless we can do the whole Arab region, don't start it?"

     -- Kilmeade: "You don't think those people deserve a shot at freedom?"
     Garofalo: "Of course I do. And stop framing it that way. I absolutely believe-"
     Kilmeade: "Then, what [inaudible] frame it? These people are going to be liberated, why don't they have a shot at being liberated? Why don't those people have a shot at liberation?" 
     Garofalo: "They do have a shot at being liberated. First of all, negotiating with Turkey sure isn't going to accomplish that. Turkey with one of the worst human rights records in the world by the way-"

     -- Kilmeade: "Let me just, you know 60 Minutes, that right-wing organization, 60 minutes, here it is. He says, this is Mr. Sharistani [sp?]. This is the [drowned out] 60 Minutes."
     Garofalo: "Why did you just say 60 Minutes, why did you just say '60 Minutes, that right-wing organization'?"
     Kilmeade: "Because you've accused, you've accused this network of being a mouthpiece for the White House. So I don't want you to use this network-"
     Garofalo: "Because it is. Because it is. Everybody that watches Fox News-"
     Kilmeade: "How do you figure that? Did Dick Cheney leave talking points on my voice mail this morning?" 
     Garofalo: "Probably."
     Kilmeade: "Yeah? I'm willing to play that back here."
     Garofalo: "And I would say, and everybody knows that Roger Ailes, that everybody knows that Roger Ailes is in touch with the White House all the time."
     Kilmeade: "And what has Geraldo Rivera been in the past, and what has Alan Colmes been in the past? And do you ever watch any of these shows?” 
     Garofalo: "Yes I do."
     Kilmeade: "And who is actually an independent. Is it Bill O'Reilly?"
     Garofalo: "I would say that Fox News is one of the most conservative networks, and that's-"
     Kilmeade: "What does that say about the country when they made us number one?"
     Garofalo: "I would say -- cable news? It's still less, it's still-"
     Kilmeade: "Is cable news not that nice? 
     Garofalo: "Yes, it, cable's-"
     Kilmeade: "Is that not good? Is that beneath you?"
     Garofalo: "It's guys like you that are Fox. You. You're combative, you are combative-"
     Kilmeade: "Is that beneath you? No because I'm not going to let you sit in there and get off because you're a celebrity."
     Garofalo: "What? Why am I, what the hell does me being a celebrity have to do with anything?”
     Kilmeade: "Well that's the only reason you're-"
     Garofalo: "What does my occupation have to do with anything?"
     Kilmeade: "That's the only reason you're here."
     Garofalo: "Exactly, so why don't you book somebody you have more respect for in the anti-war movement?"

     Quite the combative session.

     For a picture of Garofalo and a full rundown of her roles, see her bio on the Internet Movie Database Web site: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Garofalo,+Janeane

     For a photo of Kilmeade: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1789,00.html

     The Fox & Friends Web page: http://www.foxnews.com/foxfriends/index.html

     If you go to the “Fox Fan” page and register, then via either RealPlayer or Windows Media Player, you can watch the entire interview. At least it was a featured video last night: http://www.foxnews.com/foxfan/index.html

     Last week on MSNBC, when asked by Mike Barnicle about whether she considers Bush or Hussein to be “a bigger threat to world peace?”, Garofalo maintained: “I say at this point, for different reasons, they are both very threatening to world peace and to deny that is to be incredibly naive.” Watch that via RealPlayer: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030221.asp#3

     For the Web site of the group for which Garofalo is a spokesperson, Artists United to Win Without War, and to see a TV ad she starred in for them: http://www.artistsunitedwww.org/

 

[RLJVet]

I thought Rush made a great point, so it was frustrating. Didn't get the whole thing, thought I'd heard most, but missed a very important piece. I didn't aim to rank out Rush, just tried to make the point that the right prepares so much for these few and far between debates that the left "grants" it/us, that it may be time to just get in and take the heat Like Hannity did today having Joseph Kennedy on the radio today. And let the constructive criticism (Rush) be aired, and the abuse risen above.
Humble appreciation for the info.

[bonfire]

It's about time they gave Lauren Green a shot at hosting!

[Nateman]

Even though Fox and Friends runs here in Arizona between 3am and 6am I am still a longtime fan. This whole episode gives the impression that the show is something of a shouting match. Its not. The normal atomsphere for the show is like sitting around with some of your best buddies and shooting the breeze. These folks are generally funny and friendly. In order to really rile them like this Saddamite did you've got to be extraordinarily dense and stupid.

[Charles Henrickson]

Sheryl Crow was forming some group called Musicians Against War. . . .

OK, so what group is Sheryl herself going to be a part of?

[Kip Lange]

Somebody set Janeane up the Kilmeade!!!!

And, of course, let's not forget how Mr. T would have dealt with her:

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO MR. T

(and more huzzahs to Brian Kilmeade, although this has got to be the last one, posted too many to too many threads already :p)

Launch all 'Zig'!

[awelliott]

I strongly suggest we email Brian Kilmeade with mega-kudos for this. He needs to know that he has about 100,000 new fans at FReerepublic.com!

Done. Thanks for the address!

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Brian is a what you see and hear is what you get kind of guy. He is straight forward and often very funny although I don't think he means to be funny, He is just so straight forward and says what he really thinks. He made mince meat of that liberal convoluted thinker, Garofalo, who spouts disinformation and prevarications like some great prophet of Islam. Now, she is funny! She takes herself so seriously. I enjoy watching Brian and the gang on FOX early AMs.

[TAIPAN22001]

No one can out-finesse the liberals like Rush Limbaugh, but under the rather spontaneous circumstances, Brian Kilmeade was awesome in dismantling that ARROGANT, HOSTILE, POMPOUS liberal airhead janeann buffalo, or whatever she calls herself. His best shot was to say that the only reason she was being listened to was because of her being a celebrity. Bravo for Brian for having the balls to stand up to just another obnoxious liberal celebrity a$$hole! A definite TKO for Mr. Kilmeade!

[Claire Voyant]

My neighbor's dog left a pile of Garofalo on my lawn that I have to go clean up.

[Claire Voyant]

has Sheryl Scarecrow made ANY other song besides ..All I wanna Do is Have Some Fun?? Or is her big claim to fame giving a BJ to Clinton??

[Kip Lange]

You know, I've heard Garofalo talk about how she's "attracted to men she shouldn't be" or something like that (she was saying this in reference to Craig Kilborn back when he was hosting The Daily Show), or rather, attracted to men she dislikes, so, I'd just like to add, since she fessed up to having fantasies about Kilborn...who also started as a sports guy...one has to wonder if she isn't having naughty dreams about Brian. ;-)

Bahahahaha. Oh man, it was rich to see her get slapped around like that. I don't know why you have to predicate your post with Rush-lathering -- yeah, he's great, but c'mon, this was more like a nice big uppercut from the Regular Guy to Fabian Socialists. Completely different set of circumstances. Plus, Garofalo ain't never going to show on Rush...she was probably all set up for a softball session on F&F, and quite unpleasantly surprised. And then *pow*. Yee-haw!

[George W. Bush]

That little twit, with her, "Boy do I feel so smart and superior with my glasses on" attitude

Yeah, she has those black glasses so she can look serious and intellectual and very Leftish. There's actually a long history of this sort of Left fashion. Sometimes they wear berets or adopt something like a Chinese Mao outfit to show their solidarity with the working classes of Communist countries.

Garofalo's problem is she isn't quite bright enough to pull off the role of Lefty dissident. She's not very well informed. But she is a useful idiot for the old communist groups that organized the protests.

[FreedomPoster]

A friend to whom I sent a link for the video clip of this observed that she's here in town tomorrow, I guess doing stand-up comedy. He was wondering if we should show up out front. My thought is, Why give this woman any more free publicity?

[George W. Bush]

I'd say Janeane is very lucky tht E.D. is still out on maternity leave. E.D. would have simply shredded her and a lot less politely than Brian did.

Even so, Brian did quite well and I'm more impressed with him the longer he's on the show. When he first came on, I thought he was a slow-witted sports guy. But he's getting more confident, has a real wit even when not being scripted, and can think for himself in situations where the scripts don't dictate his every word.

[repub32]

O'Reilly exposed her last night about that trip she took with Clinton's to Bosnia to entertain the troops, this is what it's all about folks, when the Clintons did it it was Just fine.

[Kip Lange]

Garofalo's problem is she isn't quite bright enough to pull off the role of Lefty dissident.

Don't you mean "stupid enough"? :p

It's getting to be REALLY enjoyable to make fun of liberals. I had forgotten how fun this *was*, after all those Clinton years. There's nothing better than seeing them out of power, because it's the one thing they lust for, and there's nothing better than seeing them go thermonuclear when they can't defend a point (where your average conservative would smirk or perhaps blurt out, "Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.")

[Kip Lange]

Shh. I'm hoping Lauren never leaves. Hush. :p

[PJ-Comix]

Kilmeade: "So you just distrust this government inherently, you distrust Colin Powell when he sat there and said 'Here is intercepts of Iraqis trying to cover up nerve gas, you distrust that?"

Garofalo: "Yes I, first of all the British dossier, the British dossier was bogus and you know it."

So that moron Garofolo thinks the phone intercept that we actually HEARD of one Iraqi telling another not to discuss nerve agents over the phone is fake. I guess she doesn't believe her own ears and believes Powell is a liar.

[Kip Lange]

She fell into the rhetorical traps SO easily. That was pure bait to bring forward the "Powell's report was plagiarized" horses**t to make her look stupid, and she didn't even recognize it. How many times have you seen conservatives laugh off stuff like this and turn it back on reporters? Liberals, no...again, they take themselves so deadly seriously. All good people are liberals, you see, and they just can't FATHOM how anybody could be anything else, because Republicans are Evil. It's not differing ideologies anymore. There are few real liberals left, and the few that are left that can hold coherent debate, I salute.

It's so easy to get these modern liberals in absolute temper tantrums, crying fits, and other absurd histrionics that it almost isn't even fun doing it anymore. Now, I did say *almost*... ;-)

[Kip Lange]

Well, not to mention that her stand-up routine is boring, dry, and nothing to write home about(she's a better actress). I even find Ellen DeGeneres and Paula Paundstone funnier, and that's saying a lot, because they...aren't funny.