Like me, you've tangled with the rightwing lunatics in Salon's letter pages and presumably found them as impervious to reason as I do. Why would you possibly think that O'Reilly would be any different, if not worse?

The only compelling reason to appear on O'Reilly is to goad him into raising a hand against you so that you have a good excuse to kick him in the balls.

You went on The O'Reilly Factor.

WTF did you think was going to happen?

Was today going to be the magical first time he treated guests with dignity?

Was today going to be the first time he debated someone on the merits of the issue?

Or did pride go before a fall and you thought, "I'll outwit him!"

Duh. Please spare yourself the agony of falling for it and us the agony of skimming through another "Oops, my bad" piece.

It's O'Reilly. Stop lending him credence by even bothering to mention his name.

given that he makes all the rules and creates his own fantasy on his show. I'd say don't go on and don't encourage people to watch the show. It needs to be boycotted and boycotted hard. I recently asked my dinner hostess to turn off faux news when I was visiting a few weeks ago. She turned off the sound and left on the talking heads... talk about surreal. I am continually amazed that they don't all have strokes given their physical symptoms. They fight hard and dirty to maintain their hate.

I just can't watch that show Joan Walsh of Slate... hahahaha.

At least you know never to go on that show again.

1. You have a massive ego.

2. you are a glutton for punishment.

3. You like seeing yourself on TV.

(FWIW, the first two are also why you edit Salon.com.) And by the way, I intend none of my usual negative criticism of you: it took major something (I won't say "balls") to face that shiteater. Kudos to you for that at least - in a nation of elitist cowards, you are at least an elitist with backbone.

I can't believe you are making me watch this.

You're in SF, and he's in some frickin' cave somewhere.

Go have the chicken at Zuni and a bottle of Pinot. If it's still light after, head to Ocean Beach. If not, go up the headlands. Shake it off girl. You were dumb to do it, but you're OK now...

Joe

You've got courage, Joan, for putting up with that jerk for more than 5 seconds, but I'd have to agree that it wasn't the place for you. You have to play his game to win. Refuse to answer his baiting, leading questions, stick to the facts and your talking points, and ask your own baiting leading questions. In other words, your friends were right, it isn't a debate. It's the political-show equivalent of Jerry Springer.

I've been watching you grow, in terms of your tv appearances, and have been greatly impressed. You have a ways to go before you match Maddow or Garafolo or Stewart; you're not quite ready for O'Reilly.

I think you'll get there though, and I hope this one turns out better than you're thinking it did.

You were brave to do it.

like beating a skunk to death with a stick. It's just not worth it.

You go in assuming this will be a debate. You go in assuming that he's looking to expose the facts, to get to the truth. The problem is that there is no "truth." Liberals and conservatives both see the facts through the prism of their beliefs, so there is no common "truth" that both sides can agree upon.

The game is set up for you to lose. If you don't appear, you are 'afraid of him' and 'unwilling to discuss the issues.' In fact, if you don't appear he may have his producers ambush you and demand that you answer his attacks at your local grocery store. If you do appear, you are walking into an ambush.

What I'd find intriguing would be a real public debate. Get someone mutually agreeable as a questioner, agree on rules (similar to the presidential debates), and have a televised debate. Perhaps get a university debate team to host, question, and judge. Might not work, but it would be interesting.

Just my $0.02 worth.

You and me

We've had our differences in the past

But checkin' that discourse out

You came like a rose

He like a jackass

came out like a rose

You have guts Joan, I'll give you that. Most peopel who go on O'Liely's show do it either being on his side, or not knowing his reputation for treating his guests like shit and editing the interviews to make it look so. The only way to have a legit argument with him is to have it moderated and aired by a third party.

Remember, this is a man who called a teenaged boy a traitor for being mad at the Bush administration for not stopping 9/11. Since you actually disagree with him and are an adult, I wouldn't be surprised if he fabricated some story about you having multiple late term abortions done by Tiller that culminated in satanic sacrifices aided by Osama bin Laden and Rev. Wright.

*shakes head* On the upside, he's only going to be villifying you to a bunch of dittoheads anyway.

I'll make this short -- your article posted before the show ended -- which makes you a moron. With no original thoughts of your own, you put ideology before people. Suck off!

How sad that you think that it is okay to abort a baby in the third trimester.

One day I am confident that you will see the truth; and I feel sorry for when that happens, because i don't think you will be able to live with yourself.

it is not okay for a woman to abort her baby; anymore than it is okay for China to murder their baby daughters.

shame on you.

I think you were right to go on its show for the reasons you gave, but you were never going to win any arguments with someone who isn't interested in the truth or fairness, they appeal to a very low type of person, monists, like o'really et al, will damn you with faint praise, because they're blind, they have already made up their minds (sic) and just want to show their similarly blinkered audience that they told them so, see, just as I said etc.

The fact that its audience is so big is the real worry, but then with an average age of 71, there's no need to worry really, what he says or think, if that isn't an oxymoron.