I missed it when it aired, but now I learn that Bill O'Reilly had Bill Maher on his show last night.
As you may know, Maher was supposed to be on the new CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, in their "free speech" segment, but somehow, the segment got yanked. Maher says that CBS changed its mind when Maher told them that he wanted to free-speechify about religion. For its part, CBS said no, we didn't censor Maher. And there seemed to be some confusion, as to the real truth, in between the two sides. Yet of course, the fact remains that Maher hasn't been on CBS.
Enter Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly is no fan of Maher's political views, but he is a fan of free speech, and he does, of course, like a good rating. So he had Maher on last night, and let Maher have his say. Maher said, for example, that "We have preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, who in my view say crazy things, but nobody takes them that seriously here." That's Maher being Maher, love it or loathe it.
O'Reilly stuck up for his side, of course, but the point is that Maher got his chance. Maher got free speech, and FNC gets credit for promoting free spech.
