Jonah, Ramesh: Your insouciance about the prospect of Bill O’Reilly going

down in scandal is, I believe, misplaced. You may not like the guy; a lot

of conservatives don’t like him; any time I have put in a word for O’Reilly

on this site I have got a sheaf of e-mails from conservatives telling me at

great length why they don’t like him.

Sure, O’Reilly’s no movement conservative. Sure, his positions on actual

issues are all over the place. Sure, he’s way too full of himself. Sure,

he thinks the feddle gummint should get into all sorts of things you and I

would much rather it keeps out of. Sure, he’d split the difference between

Churchill and Hitler in his efforts at “fairness.” Sure, sure. Consider

the following points, though.

1. My enemy’s enemy is my friend. O’Reilly is a **huge** hate figure for

the Left. They loathe the guy. His downfall would be immensely energizing

for them. Whatever you think, *they* consider him a conservative.

2. In war, you take what allies you can get. You’re not going to get Edmund

Burke hosting on prime-time TV. Heck, you’re not going to get William F.

Buckley, Jr. This is *TV*. It’s junk. If there’s a junk-conservative, a

sometime-kinda-conservative, a not-quite-our-kind-of-conservative running a

popular prime-time TV show, go down on your knees and give thanks. It’s

more than we can expect. It’s more than we had for 50 years.

3. Conservatives have taken too many of these lifestyle hits. If O’Reilly goes down on a lifestyle charge, it’s bad for us, whether you

like his program or not.