Bob Beckel didn’t realize when the commercial break ended during tonight’s final segment of Hannity, caught in a heated off-camera argument with fellow panelist Neal Boortz. Off-air debates, we thus learned, are granted a much more colorful range of vocabulary than on-air debates, and as the cameras started rolling, the first words on national television were, “You don’t know what the f**k you’re talking about.”
BOORTZ: There is only one place in this country where this whole story is at issue at all. It's not a controversy in Georgia. It's not a controversy anywhere but on your show, and one might suspect that you're running to this to give you some cover maybe for this alleged hubcap incident** that happened at your fundraiser.
O'REILLY: Well, let's -- that -- you know, you're a vicious son of a bitch for saying that.
In April 2003, Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly hosted a fundraiser for Best Friends, a charity benefiting inner-city schoolchildren. As reported in the Washington Post (4/15/03), O'Reilly was trying to fill the time before a singing group connected with the charity, called the Best Men, was set to perform, and quipped: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."
Hannity explained the situation– the two were in a heated debate while he and Tea Party activist Jennifer Stefano played catch with the famed Hannity show football. Beckel didn’t look over at the producer giving a five-second warning and inadvertently went off on-screen. When he finally realized what happened, Beckel was beyond contrite, instead saying he was going to get fired and refusing to speak for the rest of the segment. Both Stefano and Boortz tried to comfort him– Stefano trying to continue the policy debate, Boortz adding, “if they try to fire you, we’ll defend you.”
I used to have nothing but contempt for Beckel when I saw him on other cable programs in five minute blurbs where he was called upon as a "Democratic Strategist " . I thought he was nothing but a mouthy , arrogant , bullying son-of-a-bitch . That is until he began appearing on "The Five" . I still find his politics indigestable but I think the big dummy basically has a good heart . He has a lot more to recommend him than I had previously thought and is apparently well liked by his collegues at Fox . I have a couple of liberal friends who remind me of Bob . I think apaologies are in order but I don't want to see him fired .
I used to have nothing but contempt for Beckel when I saw him on other cable programs in five minute blurbs where he was called upon as a "Democratic Strategist " . I thought he was nothing but a mouthy , arrogant , bullying son-of-a-bitch . That is until he began appearing on "The Five" . I still find his politics indigestable but I think the big dummy basically has a good heart . He has a lot more to recommend him than I had previously thought and is apparently well liked by his collegues at Fox . I have a couple of liberal friends who remind me of Bob . I think apaologies are in order but I don't want to see him fired .
So it's just Beckel being Beckel.