And now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

Last night Bill O’Reilly hosted his show from Boston. Joe McQuaid, the editor of my state’s Union Leader newspaper, was a guest.
He has been on Bill’s show before and they butted heads. Not last night though. They found common ground and it’s refreshing to see that.

Four minutes was all it took for FOX News instigative reporter Bill O’Reilly and New Hampshire Union Leader Publisher and President Joseph W. McQuaid to join forces against an outspoken U.S. senator and a “nutty” UNH professor, and to join hands in victory, following their previously televised heated debate over whether New Hampshire was going to come down hard enough on sexual predators.

Uh it was more than heated.

McQuaid was one of several scheduled guests invited to discuss stories, ranging in interest from pop star Madonna’s latest publicity stunts and the demise of Australia’s crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, to the politics of possible Presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, and a roundup of national stories given tough editorial treatment by McQuaid.

O’Reilly characterized the brief and amiable interview halfway through the hour-long show with McQuaid as a “personal story segment.”

O’Reilly began with a Sept. 16 Union Leader front page editorial, “McCain fights the wrong war,” in which McQuaid took the Arizona senator to task over his opposition to President Bush’s call for revisions to the Geneva Conventions when it comes to interrogation tactics used on suspected terrorists.

O’Reilly told McQuaid he was on his side in the editorial dust-up with McCain.

Yep- the editorials caused some dust storms but you know what, someone has to tell McCain to get with the times. McQuaid did so in a sharp and biting manner. I like that.

O’Reilly wondered out loud whether McCain was, in effect, committing political suicide and handing over votes to someone like Romney by alienating the conservative vote in New England with his stance.

“He’s a pretty fancy foot-working guy. He’s written a piece for us tomorrow, explaining how we have to be virtuous in the world and can’t be equated with jihadist terrorists,” McQuaid said.

“”What good is it to be virtuous if we’re dead?” O’Reilly fired back.

“That was the point of the editorial, Bill,” McQuaid said.

I’m sick of McCain’s concern for the well being and feelings of the world. Screw that shit. The world could care less about us.
Time to show them how our lack of care back could effect them all.

From there, talk turned to University of New Hampshire psychology professor William Woodward, who was the target of an Aug. 29 editorial by McQuaid, after it was reported that Woodward wanted to teach a class exploring his theory that an “elite” group within the federal government orchestrated the September 11th attacks on America.

O’Reilly asked what action the newspaper took regarding Woodward’s views.

McQuaid attempted to answer: “What we want the university to do is audit this guy’s classes to make sure his beliefs . . .,” but O’Reilly, famous for talking over his guests, cut him off.

“I don’t know what happened to academic standards,” O’Reilly said.

“Academic freedom is the right to say ‘two plus two is four,’ not the right to say, ‘two plus two is five,’” McQuaid said.

Ahh yes the nutty professors. To date UNH isn’t going to do anything. Give it time. The professor will do something to get attention and that will change. They always do.

It was a great show- I rarely watch it because it gets so HEATED. I’m glad I sat through it last night.