Glenn Beck is a crazy, stupid, evil liar. Bill O'reilly may be an evil liar...

[Bicoastal]

...but I've never thought of him as crazy. And I don't think he's stupid either.

Last night he demonstrated that, though an arrogant, tactless, oafish blowhard, he knows when to stand on the winning side of an argument.

Believe it or not, on Wednesday night, in clear, articulate language, O'Reilly endorsed the Public Option.

But that's not all. He gave the (more-or-less) accurate head count to the 9/12 event. He recently pointed out the most clear signs of fear-mongering and racism at these Tea Party events. And he acknowledged that Barack Obama has no link to the recent scandal at ACORN. As you can imagine, the Freepers are pissed at his behavior--they claim he's acting in this (gasp) civil way because he's losing to Beck in the ratings game, which actually makes a whole lot of sense. You can't out-crazy Glenn Beck, so why try?

It may mean nothing. But it also may mean we're about to see a whole host of GOP Moderates coming to their senses. (And God help us in a political environment where Bill O'Reilly is now a Moderate.)

[MellowDem]

1. If it can get some of his Fox viewers to change their minds...

then I'll take it. O'Reilly isn't stupid. He'll change as much as he needs to to keep relevant yet still be able to be a conservative blowhard generally.

[DesertFlower]

2. OMG. wonders never cease.

[Journeyman]

3. Makes you hope the axe is about to fall on Beck's neck and O'Reilly is trying to distance himself...

You're absolutely correct though: Few mortals can out-crazy Beck, so O'Reilly may have decided the wiser course is to position himself as "inside the box" instead of out in loony-land with truly gone.

I'm gonna reserve my hopes, however, until I see how this begins to play out. . .

[Beetwasher]

4. He's A Self Serving Douche Who Reads The Writing On The Wall

He's not doing this out of any sense of justice, honor or fairness, but the mere fact that a weasel like him is changing his tune is good news.

[Andy823]

5. Well I tend to agree

With Bill it is about ratings! Beck is insane, pure an simple, and he knows how to whip up the nuts, because he is one himself. Bill likes to be number one, and not that Beck is getting the nuts to watch him, and his ratings are going up, the only think Bill can do is be the more "moderate" voice on things, and as has already been said, if it gets some of the nuts to mellow out, I am all for it!

Bill is not stupid and I think that he sees that what Beck is doing is going to end in violence. I think a lot of right wingers know this, and don't like what is happening to their party, but they don't have the power to stand up to Beck and Limbaugh. Someone on the right with some power behind them needs to take a stand, but the longer they wait the more likely some of the nuts are going to go to far and violence is going to erupt!

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. WE'LL DO IT LIVE!

F'in thing sucks!

Yeah, he's not unhinged or anything. NEVER yells over his guests or anything.

While I appreciated his comment to the Heritage Foundation lady, I remain unconvinced.

[Cass]

7. Wow, I wonder what this is all about.

I would just love to be a fly on the wall backstage at Faux.

[amborin]

8. maybe it's a 2010 strategy?

[Winterblues]

9. O'Reilly could actually position himself to be a levelheaded spokesperson

for the Republican Party. Someone needs to step forward and speak in a moderate and sane fashion to unite the Party and it appears any politician is scared to death of Rush and Beck so it will take someone that isn't afraid of losing a Primary election.. O'Reilly could really pull off a tremendous coup if he uses his head..