There’s a certain understood etiquette to network green rooms. You’re bound to run into high-profile guests from both sides, but no one actually argues in there. Everyone tends to be civil and professional. Indeed, the charming thing about green rooms is that they’re a great equalizer — all guests have to wait, get makeup, and kill time there.
With this in mind, I was floored to get word from The Gadflyer’s Paul Waldman yesterday about his run-in with Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, a right-wing “researcher” who is constantly in the media in order to complain about how the liberal media ignores people like him. (Yes, Brent, you’re an enigma wrapped in a contradiction.)
In any event, Waldman and Bozell engaged in a typical debate on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor on Wednesday night, in which Bozell seemed quite irritated that Waldman told him the truth about the Swiftboat hacks. Apparently, Bozell’s frustration spilled over into the green room and he got all Dick Cheney on an unsuspecting Waldman. It’s a wild story.
I feel as passionately about politics as anyone, but let’s face it, Brent Bozell and I are not going to convince each other of anything. In person, I try to be polite to everyone, even those whose political views I find repellent. Perhaps a little naïvely, I thought Bozell would feel the same way; we’d wipe our faces, wish each other good evening, and be on our separate ways.
But alas, it was not to be. The moment I walked in, Bozell looked at me angrily and said, “That was horsesh-t, what you said!” I reconstruct here the rest of the discussion as best I can recall. Although I wrote it down on the way home, a word here or there may be less than precise. Rest assured, though, the nasty parts from Bozell are verbatim:
WALDMAN: What part of it?
BOZELL: You’re a liar!
WALDMAN: What are you talking about?
BOZELL: That stuff about Kerry!
WALDMAN: What, about atrocities?
BOZELL: He called them war criminals!
WALDMAN: He didn’t accuse any individuals of anything.
BOZELL: You’re a liar!
WALDMAN: He never accused those guys of anything.
BOZELL: John Kerry is a liar, and you’re a liar!
WALDMAN: What are you talking about?
BOZELL: F— you!
At that, Bozell stormed out. I should note that throughout this little argument, I remained calm, partly in an attempt to diffuse Bozell’s boiling rage, but also because I was genuinely having a hard time figuring out what he was trying to get across. Bozell, in contrast, looked as though his head was about to explode, his voice growing louder and his face redder.
And Bush says we’re a coalition of the wild-eyed. Unbelievable.