Grey is such a complicated colour. It makes my brain hurt.

You have to give Bill O'Reilly credit for having the balls to appear on David Letterman's show last week after Letterman's humiliation of him was the talk of the internet for days after their first dustup. ("I have the feeling," Letterman said, during that encounter, "that about 60% of what you say is crap.")

Maybe he thinks he's smarter than he is. Those types often do.

Whatever. The internet will be abuzz for the next few days with people commenting on Letterman's second complete dismantling and exposing of O'Reilly for the ridiculous shill he is. The most common quotation from the confrontation being circulated is Letterman's testy claim that "You're putting words in my mouth. Just the way you put artificial facts in your head." I found another exchange to be much more compelling - and telling.

O'Reilly: Let me ask you something. And this is a serious question. Do you want the United Sates to win in Iraq?

Letterman: Well, you know in the beginning, here is my position in the beginning and I, I think I - I sort of felt the way everybody did, we felt like we wanted to do something, because something terrible had been done to us. We did not understand exactly why, all we knew was something terrible, something heinous, something obscene had been done to us. So while it didn't necessarily make sense to go into Iraq as it did perhaps to go into Afghanistan, I like most everybody else felt like yes, we needed to do something. And as the weeks turned into months, years and one death became a dozen deaths and hundred deaths and a thousand deaths - then we began to realize you know what? Maybe we're causing more trouble over there than the whole effort has been worth.

O'Reilly: Possible, but do you right now? Do you want the United States to win in Iraq?

Letterman: First of all, I don't -

O'Reilly: It's an easy question, If you don't want the United States to win -

Letterman: It's not easy for me because I'm thoughtful.

The full transcript is at Farleft.

ronnie