What's the difference between someone with a “far-left” philosophy and a person who's a “liberal?” Bill O'Reilly received an interesting answer to that question while interviewing Democratic strategist James Carville during Thursday night's edition of “The O'Reilly Factor.”
Carville said that far-left people, including the protesters who clashed with police in Seattle on May 1, are criminals who are “breaking the law,” a standard he used when rejecting the conservative host's assertion that “the MSNBC people” are “starting to dominate the political conversation.”
After O'Reilly introduced his Democratic guest as a “liberal guy,” he asked Carville if he shares the far-left philosophy of the May Day protesters.
Carville responded that he considers persons like the Seattle demonstrators to be anarchists. “These people may be far left, but they're criminals,” he said. “Let's call people for what they are.”
In addition, O'Reilly's guest stated that those people “don't represent the liberals that I know, or progressives, or Democrats, or whatever the heck you call us over here.”
The host then noted that “liberal Americans, moderate-liberal Americans” are not “in favor of this crazy stuff.”
But the far left, the in-your-face people, the MSNBC people, they’re starting to dominate the conversation now. They're starting to put forth these things, and that's getting identified with the liberal people.
Carville replied: “I don’t think Lawrence O’Donnell or Joe Scarborough or Rachel Maddow can be compared to people who fight with police.”
“O’Donnell openly says he’s a socialist,” O'Reilly noted. “That’s not a far-left position?”
“Again, he’s not breaking the law,” the Democratic activist responded.
But “it’s not about a law,” the host said. “It’s about a mentality.”
Carville replied:
I can't be responsible for every goofy person that says something, I couldn't hold you responsible for every goofy right-winger out there. That wouldn't be fair, either.
O'Reilly then accused his guest of dodging the question. “I gave you some far-left people, right, and you're telling me they're not far left.”
“I don’t view Rachel Maddow as far left,” Carville responded. “I don’t view Joe Scarborough or Mika Brzezinski as far-left people. I just don’t.”
“If you don’t think Al Sharpton and the crew are really pushing the envelope to the left, that's a pretty generous thing,” the host said
At that point, Carville had to admit that “Reverend Al, he's a pretty liberal guy.”
“Pretty liberal?” O'Reilly asked sarcastically.
“OK, he's a liberal guy,” the guest conceded.
Apparently, Carville's view of the liberal anchors on MSNBC says a great deal about his own political philosophy. Along with many people across the country, he mustn't watch much of that channel's programming.
