It Takes a Village to Debate Bill O'Reilly?

Yep, according to Joan Walsh, " It takes a village to debate Bill O'Reilly!":

I was surprised when so many people I respect told me not to appear on "The O'Reilly Factor." I'd attacked Bill O'Reilly for his jihad against Dr. George Tiller, and he asked me on to discuss my "accusations." I thought that was fair. I could explain my point of view to his face; to say no felt like being a punk. But smart and supportive friends, family, co-workers, Twitterers and media stars all over the country reached out and suggested I skip it.

I thought about it, but not for long. I like doing TV. I'm not terrible at it. I criticized him, I should have the guts to repeat it to his face. I also need to say that when I announced I'd said yes, every one of the doubters, and more, sent me great advice and good wishes. (Thanks to Media Matters who, unbidden, just had staff start sending me clips to watch, about O'Reilly's lies. And if you're not on Twitter, well, Twitter rocked for me.) My daughter coached me; so did my litigator ex-husband, so did my friend and Salon co-conspirator Kerry Lauerman. It takes a village to debate Bill O'Reilly!

His producers also helped by doing that thing they do: "Hey, Bill really respects you for coming on the show! He wants to have a conversation! It'll be fine!"

More at the link. (Also, Digby calls O'Reilly a monster ... but really, for wanting to prevent late-term abortions, and being willing to stand up for his views? Kind of like how Carrie Prejean was treated, no?)

I've already said O'Reilly's pretty much a bully (see, "O'Reilly Hammers Pro-Choice Extremist Joan Walsh!"). But Walsh is as much an "extremist" as O'Reilly. She says he's "driven by demons. God bless him and save him." But really, if she believes in God, why does she think the unborn have no right to life?

This is a strange, even awful woman ...

Care of Memeorandum.