Bill O'Reilly is Skeptical About Imus's 'Battle' with Cancer

Just for kicks, Imus had promoted Bill O’Reilly’s book Pinheads and Patriots during an appearance last week on Glenn Beck’s radio show. Not surprisingly, he had been trying to irritate Beck, and to get Beck to say that O’Reilly was not the “king of cable.”
 
“He was having none of it,” Imus told O’Reilly today. “He’s very loyal to you, even when you’re not there.”
 
Happy to hear it, O’Reilly pointed out that Beck, being literate and all, has probably read the ratings.
 
The host of Fox News’s The O’Reilly Factor believes the country voted the way it did on Election Day out of a deep frustration with the current administration. “The country is basically saying, ‘Look, all we want is the economy to snap back, a little bit of job security, and we want to understand what the hell you’re doing, and we don’t,’” he said. “Because of those things, were going to vote for the other people—who we may not really like that much—but we don’t like you at all.”
 
O’Reilly agreed with Imus that the nuts on the front lines of the Tea Party do not represent the group as a whole, but he praised them all for their love of country, noting that the once “silent majority,” a term President Nixon used to describe those people not involved in war protests or the counterculture movement, is silent no more.
 
“Americans have watched cable TV and listened to talk radio for so long, and seen so many idiots…they go, ‘You know, I can do that!’” he said. This, he added, is a good thing. “You’re an American. Let people know what you think.”
 
One American unafraid to do so is Lou Dobbs, the newest member of the Fox Business Network family, whose stance on illegal immigration mirrors that of O’Reilly. “Secure the border, and then we’ll try to treat people who are here in a fair and balanced way,” O’Reilly said. “Nobody’s for persecuting housepainters and restaurant workers—that’s ridiculous. But secure the border.”
 
Much to Imus’s dismay, O’Reilly insisted he does not hope for other television hosts to fail. “If you’re good, you’re good,” said the man whose primetime cable news show has been on top for years. “And if you’re succeeding, why can’t somebody else succeed?”
 
Because that’s much less fun for Imus, who hinted there might be some tension between Dobbs, Neil Cavuto, and Stuart Varney. Along those lines, he wondered how O’Reilly really feels about Beck, and about Sean Hannity.
 
“I want to kill them all,” O’Reilly said. “I want to be the only successful guy in the country.”
 
A plight in which Imus has not been particularly helpful, having missed O’Reilly’s interview with former President George W. Bush last Thursday because he was busy battling cancer.
 
“So between 8 and 9 at night you battle cancer?” O’Reilly wondered. “Or is it all day?”
 
It’s pretty much anytime he needs an excuse for why he forgot to do something.
 
-Julie Kanfer