Scientist vs O'Reilly

I just don't even know what to make of this one. Actually, I do know what to make of it; there's so much wrong I don't know where to begin.

So, I'm not going to go into detail why this whole exchange depresses and outrages me, you'll have to follow the links.

Bill O'Reilly defended Intelligent Design recently on his nightly show, here's the transcript.

Evolutionblog has a detailed treatment of the exchange, as does The Panda's Thumb.

The only comment I'm going to make on this whole mess is in regard to this statement by the author of Evolutionblog:

As I said yesterday, these chat shows exist for the sole purpose of aggrandizing their hosts. What O'Reilly understands that many of his guests do not understand is that talking to his viewers is like to talking to babies: It doesn't matter what you say. All that matters is the tone you use. You will never be able to nail someone like O'Reilly because he works completely unfettered by any regard for the truth or the facts. All that matters is that he is the one talking most of the time and that his tone is one of complete confidence.

All of cable news and all of talk radio is like this. The only comforting aspect of this I can think of is that O'Reilly is by far the most successful cable host and he only gets about three million viewers a night.

Three million viewers a night?? While that might not be very many in the world of TV, that's a hell of a lot of people watching this guy shout down people who dare to disagree with him. "Only" three million viewers a night watching Bill O'Reilly does not make me feel any better.