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/

 

[George W. Bush]

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

Yes, a quiet and mysterious beauty. A real lady. And said to be a very fine pianist.

[PJ-Comix]

Even though Fox and Friends runs here in Arizona between 3am and 6am I am still a longtime fan.

I like them too because they sound like REAL people in stark contrast to the Ivory Tower mentality of Matt & Katie. The latter sound like they are trying to talk DOWN to us "peons." Also the chatter of the latter sounds VERY atrificial.

[Kip Lange]

A real lady.

Indeed, and they're in very short supply these days.

[Kip Lange]

Heh, the worst thing is that I know a crazy lib. (who wears glasses a lot like Garofalo's) who does some of the scripting for F&F. Won't reveal his name, as he would be very embarassed & might screw up his career, and besides, I stole his hairbrush eight years ago and he hasn't forgiven me, so, etc., but I still laugh when I think that this kid is writing stuff for them. I mean, you gotta know the kid. ;-) Crazy whacko Columbia-grad snotty lib. He must hate it there. MUHAHAHAH! I wonder where he put his copies of Marx & Engels...

Bwahahahaha. And I still have his hairbrush.

[Judith Anne]

We've been very impressed with Loren Green this week--she's amazing! Very fast thinker and obviously bright and conservative, not to mention pretty. It's just frosting on the cake that she's a pianist--

And we've long been fans of Brian. He is amazing.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I saw the segment. It was classic! My favorite part was this exchange. He really nuked her with this one:

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 here"
Garofalo: "What does my occupation have to do with anything?"
Kilmeade: "That's the only reason you're here."

[oyez]

Most of the loud mouths seem to be unemployed at this time. Hmmm.

[bert]

I sent him a note and he replied"Thanks"

[martin gibson]

SEE...SEE...Kilmead hates her just because she is a womyn!!!

[FreedomPoster]

BTW, if you haven't seen the Kilmeade/Garofalo face-off, you can view the streaming video at FOXNews.com:

http://www.foxnews.com/foxfan/index.html

It's currently on the upper-left of the page; don't know how long it'll be there. Standard news site mini-registration required.

[Kip Lange]

Thread's old, but I did want to add this: I couldn't disagree more with Janeane Garofalo if I was a Professional Disagreer with a PhD in Disagreeing from the finest Disagreement University in the land -- *but* -- at least she had the ovaries to climb down out her Ivory Tower and show up on Fox. It's a shame. Garofalo has delivered great performances, and even some of her standup I think is alright (and standup is grueling work -- so I give her another slight notch of respect, which is that she really did put in her hours working the circuit and refining her material), but now I can't flip on anything with her in it without getting annoyed at her. Anyway, point is, I doubt Richard Gere and Sean Penn etc etc would have had the balls to show up. They'd rather hide out and preach to the choir. So, Janeane may be fabulously WRONG, but at least she showed up.

Where have all the good liberals gone? I mean, they're all fantastically wrong, but f'r'instance, out here in MA in the old days when our liberal governors actually ran as liberal governors...Dukakis, contrary to what the press used to say about him ("politically savvy but a personality dud") I found to be the exact opposite; in fact, he managed to charm a family of three conservatives (this was back when a...relation of mine...was doing work on a show called "The Advocates" on PBS...anybody remember that one?). Incredibly cheap, though, he was. I recall a story about him and Keriotis...I *think* it was Keriotis...he offered to take him out to lunch and he'd "pick up the tab" -- and the Duke took him down to a hot dog stand. ;-)

In a way, I mourn the passing of Donahue's relevancy. Where there used to be liberals of conscience -- albeit misguided in their information and opinions -- all over the place, there are now liberals of convenience, "lifestyle liberals" (liberal because it's hip and acceptable), celiberals (Garofalo being both a lifestyle lib and celib), and people who aren't liberal but rather are just completely filled with hate against anybody who's conservative, which they somehow think qualifies them as a liberal (the former bunch being the most prevalent).

I mean, where's the fun in engaging in lively debate with your "enemy" when your enemy is...no longer capable of reasonable discourse? When nobody is even LISTENING to your "enemy" (for rhetorical debate purposes)? I often fear the current disarray of the Dems will lead us 'Pubs into starting to tear into each other over our single-issue pet peeves since we all love debate and we can't find much worthwhile with the liberals.

There are a few left I respect. Since we're patting Fox and Brian Kilmeade on the back, I'll also go ahead and give Alan Colmes a pat on the back. He's affable, smart, informed, and, of course, completely wrong, but able to laugh it off easily and still manages to connect with a viewer/listener on some level. Or, to rephrase: "I don't run for the remote control like I do when I see Susan Sarandon being interviewed."

Perhaps the libs forgot how to debate after so many years in power. I pray it doesn't happen to us.

[Nateman]

I like them too because they sound like REAL people in stark contrast to the Ivory Tower mentality of Matt & Katie.

Couldn't tell you what I think of those two because during the dark years of Clinton's reign I stopped watching any nitwork news broadcasts. They might say something nice about the disgusting piece of s*** that was in the Whitehouse at the time and get me so mad I couldn't concentrate anymore. I use to watch the evening news every night. Not anymore.Perhaps once or twice a year now to see what I'm NOT missing.

[boltCutter]

I had thankfully never heard of janine goofalo until this "hideous dropping of the veil" at Fox. I don't keep up with hollywood and I don't understand why others do. But I digress. She strikes me as being like most people who are:
1.) very wealthy - but superficially conceal it
2.) not very bright - but have all the hollow, store-bought trappings of it.
3.) free of time obligation - nothing meaningful to do with their time and often seasonally or intermittently employed.
4.) arrogant and elitist - but preachy to everyone else about the very same trait.
That combination spells disaster and it is why so many celebrities disproportionately get caught up in crime, premature death, kindergarten political views devoid of reason, controversy and so many other sad trials of the marginally conscious.

[ConservativeMan55]

semajj Since Jan 1, 2004.

ZOT!

[ConservativeMan55]

[dighton]

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL

[JohnHuang2]

Brian Kilmeade pulverized Janeane Garofalo. I saw this exchange.

[ConservativeMan55]

I saw it too. He made mincemeat out of her.

She mentioned that Foxnews was Conservative.

Brian responded by saying that Foxnews was number 1. Then he said "What does that say about America?"