John Gibson won’t let it go

December 23, 2005

I really had no intention of returning to the John-Gibson-loses-it story, but an observant commenter brought one more interesting angle to my attention.

This week on BeliefNet, an excellent ecumenical site on religion, Gibson has been engaged in an online debate with the Rev. Barry Lynn about the so-called “war on Christmas.” (Full disclosure: Barry is a friend of mine) The exchanges began almost two weeks ago — long before Rob Boston, who works with Barry at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, appeared on Gibson’s Fox News show and caused Gibson to flip-out.

The online debate has been ongoing, and yesterday Gibson neglected the topic at hand to — you guessed it — go after Rob Boston again.

I have delayed my reply, trying to calm down after one of your subordinates called me a “liar” on my Fox News Channel television program, “The Big Story,” today. He is Rob Boston, whom you suggested as a replacement when your schedule would not allow you to accept a booking to appear on my television program, “The Big Story,” on the Fox News Channel. […]

[T]his is what the debate on the war on Christmas has become: rhetorical thuggery. And you, Barry, are complicit by sending out your goons to fill in for you in what would otherwise have been a civilized debate.

Yes, John Gibson, who threatened one of his on-air guests long after the cameras had been turned off, is concerned about “civilized debate.” (Also, for a published author, what’s with Gibson’s writing style? He mentioned the name of his and his network twice in the first two sentences?)

Barry got the last word in the debate and set Gibson straight. I could excerpt from it here, but I wouldn’t do it justice. If you’re interested, take a look. Since Gibson can’t shout down a written response, Barry went point by point, destroying Gibson’s foolishness.

Taking a step back, though, I still find it hard to understand what caused Gibson’s on-air meltdown. We’re talking about a guy who’s been in the business for a while and works for Fox News. Gibson is apparently rather touchy, but given his freak-out, you’d think he’d never heard anyone question his veracity before. Could he really be this thin-skinned?

Hey John, defensive much?

  • Do you mind a personal anecdote here?

    I haven’t had a TV since, approximately, the 2000 election. The crap just got to me. My only acquaintance with Fox since then came when I was a member of a health club in which you didn’t get much of a choice: you used the elliptical or the stair climber and you got Fox on the screen in front of you. (After several months of this, I dropped my membership and bought an elliptical for home use!!)

    The tipping point came one afternoon when (I may not remember this name correctly) ?Shepherd Smith?, a guy with a brush cut, was interviewing Scott Ritter.

    Try as he might, he couldn’t get Ritter to put a foot wrong, so he got madder and madder and finally went ballistic as Ritter got up to leave. (Ritter was so cool, so quiet, so precise; Fox guy was so abrasive, so loudmouth, so uninformed.) For the next ten minutes, on camera, the Fox guy couldn’t let it go. His face got red, he spit angrily at his co-host who was trying to laugh him out of it, but he couldn’t stop sliming Ritter (commie traitor! fag!).

    The great thing about all this is the discovery of satellite radio and Netflix — guaranteed to keep you informed, culturally up-to-date, and 100/70. And you don’t have to deal with Fox which, I’m damn sure, pays guys on camera extra to do precisely what so many find so appalling. Really, CB. I think this is part of the political shtick.

    Alan Wolfe said just now in an interview that the left is benefitting from all this: people are now inclined to look more favorably on the polite, the moderate.

  • The staff of FOX news reflects the Bush world just as much as Brownie did at FEMA. They hire incompetent blowhards (incompetent for any real job, at least) who are held to no standards whatsoever, and over the years they’ve developed a sense of entitlement, i.e., no one is ever allowed to question or doubt anything they say,ever.

    So when somebody tells them the truth on air where it can’t be hushed up or spun, their heads explode. Simple. And apparently Gibson has always been that way (thanks for the link, GMF) so naturally he’s a perfect fit at FOX.

  • You know, when my 9 year old nephew is really mad and really wrong at the same time he starts shrieking even louder.

    What’s that thing called when one carries childhood behavior into adulthood?

  • bcinaz, that is the only explanation I can think of, though I’m normally inclined to assume that adults (old enough to have grey hair, no less!) are capable of acting like adults.

    I’m afraid I don’t understand the format of the discussion between Rev. Lynn and John Gibson. Why is that the last word? Was this just an email exchange that was reprinted on the beliefnet site?

  • The WaPo has a long article today more or less demostrating that Brownie was a lesser part of the problem with FEMA
    It wouldn’t be the first time GW has sent the wrong Judas goat into the hills. Usually the one without horns, I note.

  • Drinking problem too, from the appearance of the review. But those things have zero credibility so unless there was something like a police report filed…

  • Was this just an email exchange that was reprinted on the beliefnet site?

    Sort of. BeliefNet organizes and hosts these “debates” in which two fairly high-profile people will engage in a discussion for the site’s readers. BeliefNet picks the topic and the participants, then one side goes first, laying out his or her case. Then the other side responds, which generates a response to the response, and so on.

    I happen to love the format. Unlike, say, Fox News, there’s no interrupting, shouting, or commercial breaks. Participants can take their time and choose their words carefully, and readers have time to consider the points before a pressure-packed two-minute segment moves on to the next story.

    As for why that’s the last word, BeliefNet’s debates don’t go indefinitely. Gibson went first, so Barry went last, at least until the pick this up again next year at this time.

  • As a member of Americans United, I am a big fan of Barry Lynn. I have seen him on TV interviews on several occasions and admired his verbal agility. Now, I find he is also a master of rhetorical smackdown as he writes this to Gibson:

    “Threats made by talk-show hosts about bar fights with their guests merely contribute to the already-pervasive public opinion that talk-show hosts rank only barely above clowns in the entertainment hierarchy.”

  • Having lived in Sacramento, and knowing people there who might be “in the know” about John Gibson’s time at KCRA, I gave one of them a call after reading this stuff this morning. While he didn’t know about groping 14 year olds, he said anyone who knew Gibson back then would have put nothing past him when he was drunk, since he’s a “mean, nasty drunk.” As he recalled, no one was sorry to see Gibson leave KCRA. Oh, and he was also a “liberal” back then, hosting an environmental show called “The West” (which is also mentioned in another of the Amazon reviews), until his ratings went down, at which point he had a “miraculous transformation.”

    So it sounds like Rev. Lynn was more right than he knew when he compared Gibson to a “clown.”

  • So he’s likely not really at all tied to the politics he (apparantly) pretends to espouse. It’s not the first time I’ve suspected that a talk show host does this. I wonder: can someone attest to any amount of this sort of thing? Does it happen often? Does, for example, Rush really believe the crap he sells? (Since after all he did allow the ACLU to represent him.)

  • T]his is what the debate on the war on Christmas has become: rhetorical thuggery. And you, Barry, are complicit by sending out your goons to fill in for you in what would otherwise have been a civilized debate.

    Just one thought on this: I am 5’8″ and weigh about 125 pounds. This is the first time I have ever been accused of “thuggery” (even of the rhetorical type) and being a “goon” — and I’m really enjoying it.

    It’s the best Christmas present John could have given me.

  • I haven’t seen the clip, but I’d guess that Gibson flipped out because he realized how completely and utterly wrong he was; and that he really was essentially a liar. Nothing will upset people more than the truth. And Gibson’s already such a wackjob that it didn’t take much to send him over the edge.

    That was a great response by the good Reverend, though I’m a little concerned that he’d debate such a mental cripple as Gibson. That’s like getting Johnny Knoxville to compete in the Special Olympics. As far as I’ve seen, he’s the dumbest of the dumb on Fox; and it’s only his tenacious partisanship that keeps him on the air. Even O’Reilly seems to think that the guy’s a bit of a nut. But I guess he’s their kind of nut, and they keep him around to do the dirty work.

  • BULLETIN!

    When I went to WalMart this afternoon, all
    the workers were saying “Merry Christmas”
    to the customers. I guess Gibson’s flipout
    shook the grinch world after all.

  • Mostly I think Gibson wants to be the next O’Reilly. O’R has done this kind of deep-end stuff, and John wants a piece of the action. It’s good TV, doggone it!

  • #17
    Or it wasn’t a war and nobody cared. I heard Merry Christmas when I went shopping. Who cares? What happens if you start a war and no one comes? It was all BS.

  • Rob Boston,

    Don’t worry, I.m 6’2″ and 210 with a black belt in Karate and I’ll watch your back.

  • Threats made by talk-show hosts about bar fights with their guests merely contribute to the already-pervasive public opinion that talk-show hosts rank only barely above clowns in the entertainment hierarchy.

    Hey, that’s unfair, clowns are quite entertaining.

    • Comments are closed.