To be honest I actually forgot it was on until late in the evening, but I had also decided earlier that I would not watch it because, well essentially because I pay a pretty substantive cable bill and flatly refuse to pay even more by watching anything on pay-per-view.
In other words I am a cheap bastard.
However according to Politicususa it looks like it was possibly something worth paying the additional handful of dollars to watch:
The debate contained a surprising amount of substance. O’Reilly brought his Fox News talking points, and Stewart brought facts. As O’Reilly and Stewart battled over entitlements, The Daily Show host asked why it is okay for a businessman to take advantage of tax break, but poor people can’t take advantage of program that will give them something they need? Stewart pointed to the connection between government investment in infrastructure and the success of the country.
After questions about the Middle East, the discussion turned to media bias. Stewart said he doesn’t believe that the mainstream media networks are activist organizations, but Fox News is an overreaction to perceived media bias. Stewart compared Fox News to Lupus. O’Reilly launched the standard defense of Fox News being the conservative equalizer. Stewart answered that anytime you have audience where more people believe the president is a Muslim than believe in evolution, you have a problem.
When they discussed healthcare, O’Reilly gave the standard conservative position about buying insurance across state lines, and Stewart argued for single payer.
Jon Stewart was really on his game with his messaging. O’Reilly seemed to be there to play his foil, and offer up the standard conservative/Fox News talking points. There were long stretches of the debate that were lacking in jokes, but heavy on substance. Stewart was intent on calling out the b.s. of the right and especially the right wing media.
The comedy weight was on Stewart, and it turns out, so was the intellectual burden. O’Reilly was in full bloom, and playing his Fox News character. Bill-O was there to represent the right, and he put their flimsy arguments and talking points on full display.
Wow, well that sounds fairly entertaining. I kind of wish I had seen it.
To be honest part of my hesitancy was that I thought it would be played for laughs and not a weighty enough debate about anything of substance. But it sounds like Jon Stewart took this seriously enough to use it as an opportunity to shame Fox News and the Right Wing concerning their ridiculous arguments and fact free assertions about the President. And THAT is something I wish I had not missed.
If any of you saw the debate please weigh in and let us know what your thoughts, and if perhaps all, or a portion, of it shows up on the internet at some point send me a link and I will certainly post it.
Update: Here is the debate in full for those who missed it. (H/T to cuppajava.)
Budget is pretty tight here, so the little 'extra' I had for the week, I spent on an oil change and gas for my car.
ReplyDeleteI did follow it on Twitter, and wished I'd actually watched.
I watched the debate this morning on YouTube. Here's one link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A051B-uPopM
ReplyDeleteStewart OWNED it.
Thanks for the link. I enjoyed the banter. O'Reilly can be civilized when he's pulled away from his little fiefdom at Fox.
DeleteIt was worth watching (as I did today on YouTube), sometimes hilarious, sometimes loaded on substance. Both O'Reilly and Stewart were informative, respectful and feisty. The real presidential debates should have some power as this one had.
ReplyDeleteI would have like to have watched it also, however I am also a cheap bastard. And, after getting my cable bill just yesterday and it having gone up $20.00 in ONE month, I probably won't have cable or internet in the very near future!
ReplyDeleteYes, I am a cheap bartard(ess)? too :)
DeleteWatch almost everything here:
http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/
Maybe a day late but the good stuff is there.
This was a fantastic "Debate" loved JS smackdown of fox as "Bullshit Mtn"!
♥ Jon!
Thanks for the info. I'll be on the phone early tomorrow morning to my cable/internet/phone provider bitching. I cannot believe this has happened, but it has.
DeleteI already canceled my 'movie' channels. We get no movie channels, haven't for months now, other than Lifetime (yuk) but we do get my favorite, TCM. But my gosh, going up $20 in one month??? We don't order movies on demand, or anything like that.
Sorry to complain in a completely different thread here that Gryphen has provided, but I'm frustrated!
I'm suffering from political burnout. Didn't watch.
ReplyDeleteI alternate between that and heart palpitations that Romney will win. The super-rich aren’t hiding their goals anymore; they want it all. Mr. and Mrs. Low Information Voter won’t know what hit them until they’re sitting in the street.
Delete"Mr. and Mrs. Low Information Voter won’t know what hit them until they’re sitting in the street, wondering if they can get ID to vote them all out in the next election."
DeleteThis was my first PPV online show and I'm glad I sprang for it. 50% went to charity and I'm guessing the remainder to the cost of the production.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I really liked it. I thought the audience was with Jon more than BillO which works for me.
There was a good deal of substance along with the laughs. I enjoyed it.
And I got to use my Roku players to stream it to the TV for all family to enjoy. That was a highlight as far as I'm concerned.
It sounds like exactly what I thought it would be.
ReplyDeleteThese two, especially Jon Stewart, are no light weights. But I think Jon consistently beats Bill when it comes to facts AND being able to use them to support his viewpoint oratorically. They're both wordsmiths.
I expected Jon to win and it sounds like he did.
I love Jon Stewart because he's a great comedian. I hate O'Reilly because he's a phony overblown stuffed shirt and his philosophy is nothing but greed and hate. However, I really wish that Jon Stewart didn't do that thing. O'Reilly's cards that he held up has a huge impact in getting the right's message accross. In a couple of days that could be seen in Obama's diminishing poll numbers that resulted from the debate. And if anyone doesn't think it's getting bad then just have a look at HP's speculatron. This mess up could keep Romney's momentum going. That is, if the internet is going to play a part in the polls. It will.
ReplyDeleteI don't think BOR cards had any impact except to show what idiots fox news viewers are!
DeleteI thought it was telling that BOR claimed to "no know" about the Veterans Job bill our "do nothing congress" killed!
Very telling.
HP is just as fake a news organization as is Fox News. You should not believe a word that is printed there, especially any sort of poll or "speculatron" as you called it.
DeleteRomney's momentum will keep going regardless of what we on the left do or don't do. He will flip flop and change his game plan as a means of keeping himself and his campaign on the front page, he's shown that he will even lie if it keeps him at the top of the news cycle.
As far as the Stewart/O'Reilly debate goes, Stewart held his ground and said what needed to be said, thus making O'Reilly The Fox News Pundit character look like a lying blowhard, which of course, he is and very proud of it. Stewart and O'Reilly always have an interesting vibe when appearing together and I think there is an actual friendship between them, albeit a very odd one. I think Stewart has witnessed O'Reilly the man and not O'Reilly the Pundit character on more than a few occasions, which may allow him to stand up to him as he does, since he truly knows the man behind the Fox News mask.
"Jon Stewart was really on his game with his messaging. O’Reilly seemed to be there to play his foil, and offer up the standard conservative/Fox News talking points."
ReplyDeleteJon Stewart's audience demands truthful reporting. Billo's audience demands snarky talking points. They're both very good at what they do.
Thanks for the link! I totally forgot to tune in as the event began at 4pm here in AK, which was an odd viewing time for us.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't always agree with BOR I liked that he and Stewart were able to discuss this like gentlemen who agree and disagree without being rude or obnoxious. I feel that Bill doesn't like Romney and is really NOT THE MAYOR OF BS MT but he is an old conservative with progressive ideas more so than his colleagues at Fox TV; whom he doesn't really like - ie: Glenn Beck & Rush LB. This debate was fantastic. Both of them brought up great ideas and worked together to disagree AND AGREE. This is important - one is a Republican and the other is a Democrat who worked together and made an enjoyable time together with facts, figures and interesting thought provoking opinion - both won -
ReplyDeleteBut, and O'Reilly did not and would not say this, if America votes in Romney - WE WILL ALL LOSE.
CATHERINE HAIG BONJUKIAN
I STAND BY THIS STATEMENT
You are incorrect. Only 99% of us will lose. -:)
DeleteYou and I share the last name.
DeleteOkay now that I have actually watched this thing, I have to say that Jon Stewart KICKED O'REILLY'S ASS!
ReplyDeleteThis is much better than I expected and I almost cannot believe that O'Reilly subjected himself to such a shellacking.
Stewart was totally on message, and refuted EVERY SINGLE bullshit Fox News talking point that O'Reilly trotted out.
Color me very impressed with Jon Stewart right now.
Bill O'Reilly: Mayor of Bullshit Mountain.
ReplyDeleteIt's official now. Jon Stewart made his case. That must mean, however, that Mitt Romney is King of Bullshit Mountain.
http://youtu.be/8P5tIxg4VDg
ReplyDeleteIf only Sarah Palin would get out and actually debate the issues instead of instigating hatred and regurgitating the tired same-old, same-old conservative talking points.
ReplyDeleteShe's always talking about debating the issues, (earlier this year when she extolled the candidates to debate and really talk issues) but when she actually could have, by really throwing her hat into the Republican sewer and running for president, she hid. She retreated to her familiar 'do I really need a title' bullshit.
She doesn't know enough to be in a debate. Stupid bitch knows about a dozen lines and just repeats them. She's about worthless.
DeleteI just finished watching the debate and I agree it was well worth it. It is a fact that Jon really does like Bill as he knows Bill really doesn't believe most of what goes on at Fox. I wish Jon had elaborated a bit more about the basic GOP lies this cycle, but he did constantly state that Obama hasn't encouraged anyone taking more out of the system. Bill Mahr said this about the Bush legacy...we still blame the rats for the Bubonic Plague, AMEN to that.
ReplyDeleteIt might be boring to remember, but it's true. When you hear the GOP whine about Obama not kissing their asses with dinners and golf games and all those social get togethers, I really think when Obama took office, we were in such a crisis...he expected everyone to work hard at their own jobs. It pisses me off to hear he is not a leader...the best leaders delegate the right people. It's not his fault the morons of this country elected all those no nothing tea baggers that rule the congress, and the so called leaders of congress...have no leadership qualities at all. Sorry...but polls consistently show Fox viewers are the least informed and Jon Stewart is the most trusted man on TV.
Bill O was the bug and Stewart was the windshield.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, we don't do ppv in our house
The posted link had been removed (but I sent you the uTube link I found)...what an amazing debate of ideas and philosophies! Jon is a very eloquent speaker for the liberals and Bill is a coherent (generally) speaker for the conservatives. It was wonderful to see them go head to head...and to watch Jon decimate Bill's arguments and "facts" :)
ReplyDelete