Even NPR Feels Bad for O'Reilly: In a rather unusual move, the Ombudsman for NPR cops to Terry Gross going too far with her interview technique. Says the Ombud:

Even so, I agree with the listeners who complained about the tone of the interview: Her questions were pointed from the beginning. She went after O'Reilly using critical quotes from the Franken book and a New York Times book review. That put O'Reilly at his most prickly and defensive mode, and Gross was never able to get him back into the interview in an effective way. * * * By the time the interview was about halfway through, it felt as though Terry Gross was indeed "carrying Al Franken's water," as some listeners say. It was not about O'Reilly's ideas, or his attitudes or even about his book. It was about O'Reilly as political media phenomenon. That's a legitimate subject for discussion, but in this case, it was an interview that was, in the end, unfair to O'Reilly.

Of course this isn't the point.

The point is that O'Reilly went running away like a baby (err, if babies could run, that is). He wasn't in physical danger, and there was no reason he couldn't have used his scintillating intellect to match wits with Gross. But give up? That sets a dangerous precedent for his guests.

MORE: Here's O'Reilly's response to the vicious left-wing attacks. Don't look for anything cogent; he just whines even though he says he's "reporting" the facts. Someone who dishes it out as much as he does isn't allowed to whine. It's like Rush arguing for leniency for his drug problem. Live by the sword, die by the sword.