October 19, 2004
Friends Like These
New dirt on the Bill O'Reilly - Andrea Mackris tale, that doesn't really help anybody...
Information is starting to drip out about the O'Reilly lawsuits - and when we say drip, think... slime - and when all is said and done, this information is likely to leave everyone fairly covered in it.
As we noted during our first write-up on this event, many of the allegations and incidents lend themselves to corroborative testimony - records, witnesses, recordings. Well, the NY Daily News has our first bit of third party fame-grasping, someone who's tale seems to support O' Reilly, but isn't likely to really be good for anyone.
The biggest question about this account - that of a restauranteur - is how was he in a position to testify to the facts he claims? I have eaten in many restaurants, and never had occassion to detail my personal life with the ownership, much less the extent of my phone dalliances with Bill O'Reilly. This is not to say this is untrue information; however, credibility demands that the person testifying have a credible connection and avenue to the information being testified about.
Even if true - that Mackris really dug O'Reilly and engaged in intimate conversations with him - this helps Reilly's defense, but hurts his image nonetheless. This is the kind of third-party account you may welcome at first, to move the news momentum against your opponent - but later regret if it reveals a pattern of seedy behavior, at least for a 55-year old married man who makes his living as a straight-shooter.
When this is all said and done, everyone will look dirty, no matter who is right or wrong - you can't mud wrestle a pig and look otherwise...
UPDATE: There's tapes! Or at least O'Reilly's lawyers think so. The only think less appealing to hear than O'Reilly talking dirty to Andrea Mackris is maybe live audio from a slaughterhouse. And maybe not even that...
UPDATE PART DEUX: Drip drip drip... slime aplenty. The NY Post is reporting some unattributed, unreliable, unconfirmable, but let's-print-them-anyways dirt on Andrea Mackris and her time at CNN. Check soon - it'll archive out shortly into NY Post oblivion...
UPDATE AGAIN!: And now Drudge has seen her finances... in debt pretty heavily it appears, so I guess the phone hanky panky was okay then...
Posted by MEC2 at October 19, 2004 09:38 AM