function hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); bubble.style.display = "none"; } function hide_user_promo_bubble() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 0 } }, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100); } function handle_promo_username(params) { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image"); var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link"); if (params.has_photo == "true") { img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png"; } else { img.style.display = "none"; Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide"); } anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name; anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name; bubble.style.display = "block"; var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 1 } }, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); } if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) { YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i; if (parts.length < 2) return; for (i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) { if (parts[i].indexOf("sb=") !== -1) { shared_by = parts[i]; } if (parts[i].indexOf("b=") !== -1) { badge = parts[i]; } } if (shared_by == "" || badge == "") return; var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); if (!bubble) return; var entry_id = HuffPoUtil.GetEntryID(); if (!entry_id) return; var user_id = parseInt(shared_by.substr(shared_by.indexOf("sb=") + 3)); if (!user_id) return; var badge_type = badge.substr(badge.indexOf("b=") + 2); if (!badge_type) return; script = document.createElement("script"); script.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); bubble.appendChild(script); script.setAttribute("src", "/include/share_track.php?a=view&eid=" + entry_id + "&uid=" + user_id + "&b=" + badge_type + "&cb=handle_promo_username"); }); } Rachel Maddow Responds To Bill O'Reilly Over Shirley Sherrod, Ratings (VIDEO)

On Wednesday night, Bill O'Reilly had a message and a question for Rachel Maddow.

The message: Fox News "kicks your network's butt every single night, madam" — and the question: "You have to be kidding with this fake ACORN scandal stuff. Unbelievable. Do you live in this country?"

Thursday night, Maddow responded in full to both, taking particular delight in his use of the word "madam" and stating that O'Reilly fell back on ratings to avoid the substance of her argument, which is that stories like the Shirley Sherrod scandal are exactly what Fox News is all about.

"If by this country you mean is my office right across the street from yours? Yes," Maddow said. "Unless there's an unguarded border down the middle lane of Sixth Avenue, yes, I live in what you call this country."

After debunking O'Reilly's claims on the ACORN story, Maddow then homed in on his reliance on ratings to distract from her greater point.

"Mr. O'Reilly, you and Fox get great ratings," she said. "It is so awesome how great your ratings are. You have very big ratings this year."

Maddow then listed a variety of entertainment programs — from "Deadliest Catch" to "The Closer" to "WWE Wrestling" to "Spongebob" and "Hannah Montana" — that beat both her show and O'Reilly's show, and said that facts are more important than TV ratings:

They are more watched than "The O'Reilly Factor," my lord -- which is totally immaterial to the discussion at hand, because when you got all kicked your network's butt, and madam on me, you weren't really trying to tout your network's ratings. You were trying to take the attention off me saying that your network, FOX News, continually crusades on flagrantly bogus stories designed to make white Americans fear black Americans, which FOX News most certainly does for a political purpose even if it upends the lives of individuals like Shirley Sherrod, even as it frays the fabric of the nation, and even as it makes the American Dream more of a dream and less of a promise.

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You can insult us all you want about television ratings, Mr. O'Reilly, and you'll be right that yours are bigger for now and maybe forever. You are the undisputed champion. But even if no one watches us at all, except for my mom and my girlfriend and people who forgot to turn off the TV after Keith, you are still wrong on what really matters and that would be the facts, your highness.

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Comments

[filiusj]

I loves me a lesbian!!!! Go Rachel!!!

[marrig]

Yeah, Bill, more people eat franks than caviar - so franks must be better...bwahhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Randi Lynn Quackenbush]

A Rrhodes scholar with a Doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford vs. . .I dunno what

[rak6748]

Shirley Sherrod and her husband are unabashed race baiters. Her comments captured during her NAACP appearance proved that ('all who voted against the Healthcare takeover are racists', etc.) Here are some 'racial healing' comments from her husband.

Saint Shirley’s Husband Caught On Tape Pushing Black Separatism (Video):

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/look-theres-moresaint-shirleys-husband-caught-on-tape-pushing-black-separatism-video/blog-386801/

The Other Side of Shirley Sherrod:

http://www.counterpunch.org/wilkins08022010.html

[Donna Berry]

Are you my brother?! You give Boomers a bad name......to quote another Boomer: up your nose with a rubber hose.

[philosophicgirl]

"Mr. O'Reilly, and you'll be right that yours are bigger for now and maybe forever. You are the undisputed champion. But even if no one watches us at all, except for my mom and my girlfriend and people who forgot to turn off the TV after Keith, you are still wrong on what really matters and that would be the facts, your highness."

I remember this episode so clearly because it was classic Rachel, always about the facts but she's so funny too! Of course Mr. O'Reilly never responded to this on his show, but I watched and waited (wished) for him to. It's just like when Glenn Beck tried to do the same thing, she came back at him with the facts (which were from HIS OWN MOUTH) and he never said another word.

Rachel Maddow ROCKS!!!!

[Joy Erasmus]

Da&*&&mn! Rachel is smart!!!! Kill the thugs with intellect girl!!!!

[newsdudeATL]

Air America died so that Rachel Maddow could live...on MSNBC!!! And we are all the better for it!

[allis1]

Rachel blows FOX out of the water again with her wit and charm and the FACTS! Lover her!

[beatok]

She's so awesome! We need more Rachel Maddows in this country! I know she is a rarity, but surely there are others with her gifts!!! Please, step up!

[philosophicgirl]

Fanned and faved. You are absolutely right!

[Paul Anderson]

RACHEL YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!

[StopMakingSense2]

Smack down!

[McCainsDepends]

Goodness! Rachel just put her foot up Billo's tail and turned it sideways!

[idelwind]

Why can't this country find people of her caliber to straighten out the problems this country faces? She would be a good start. As a middle aged male, she would have my vote.

[Killashandra]

Actually, just watched the clip, I take it all back.

Rachel Maddow totally called Bill and Fox News out, and she did it elegantly and
thoroughly.

God, when America shines, it really does shine doesn't it?

[GetSome]

RACHEL, you go girl!!!