# Biggest debate of the year! \[Stewart vs O'Reilly\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 6, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915 "2012-10-06T16:59:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/1 "2012-10-06T16:59:31Z")
Is anybody watching this live tonight? I thought it was Pay-Per-View, but now I see it is online only. That’s useless for me, unless I can go in to work very early or get it on iTunes. ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/2 "2012-10-06T19:47:01Z")
You get a video file to download after the event when you purchase through the site. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/3 "2012-10-06T23:56:21Z")
Seems like I should have made the purchase in advance. I must be one of a whole lot of people ordering at the last minute because the order page won’t load. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/4 "2012-10-07T00:09:08Z")
The whole site is shot. I can’t even log in. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/5 "2012-10-07T00:23:56Z")
I’m watching! Seems getting in a few minutes early was key. If it helps, it’s running at about 10fps ---
**Author:** ![KAndre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@KAndre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KAndre)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/6 "2012-10-07T01:34:19Z")
I was not surprised at how much I enjoyed it… ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/7 "2012-10-07T02:00:40Z")
I never managed to get on. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/8 "2012-10-07T02:06:53Z")
I only saw the last 10 minutes of the debate and the Q&A session afterwards. I enjoyed what I saw but I’m waiting for the download to be put up on the site. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/9 "2012-10-07T14:49:04Z")
I didn’t realise how tall Bill O’Reilly was. Was surprised at that toilet paper roll comparison, briefly wondered whether Stewart or one of his writers was a Dope fiend! ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/10 "2012-10-07T17:35:05Z")
Balls, sorry for the double post, but I’m updating as I’m watching (catching snippets at a time) - Bill O’Reilly was applauded for showing contempt for audience members? He comes across as utterly contemptuous of the plebiscite! Perhaps it’s because he’s non-partisan in his loathing, a surprisingly reasonable position for a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/11 "2012-10-07T18:08:36Z")
Now that it’s next day, and it’s known that their servers were overwhelmed, (and many who paid, didn’t get to view!), any chance it’s up on the net somewhere? Can be seen in it’s entirety? ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/12 "2012-10-07T18:23:02Z")
just watched it on you tube via, I think, huffpo ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/13 "2012-10-07T22:38:13Z")
I thought it was entertaining and definite worth my $5. Not surprisingly, I thought Stewart came off much better. In particular, it always impresses me that he makes the broader, more important points, and doesn’t focus too much on specific issues and details. It’s an INCREDIBLY important point that, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Obama about any number of specific issues, it is clearly NOT the case that Obama is some great and new terrible catastrophe who threatens the very survival and fabric of the US, which you sure wouldn’t know from the right’s rhetoric. I did think that comparing O’Reilly’s father’s private disability insurance with public was pretty weak sauce. I loved the little scissor lift. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/14 "2012-10-08T01:11:14Z")
[Here’s the entire debate.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A051B-uPopM) How did Stewart get that rising platform and O’Reilly didn’t get one? It was a cute gimmick, but how did the organizers allow such a one-sided presentation? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/15 "2012-10-08T02:31:27Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > How did Stewart get that rising platform and O’Reilly didn’t get one? It was a cute gimmick, but how did the organizers allow such a one-sided presentation? Because if Bill O’Reilly had one, he’d hit his head on the roof of the auditorium. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/16 "2012-10-08T03:28:47Z")
That was actually pretty great. Bill sounded almost reasonable more than once. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/17 "2012-10-08T04:59:41Z")
What I loved is how Stewart unintentionally made the point I’ve been making for years: there has been no change. Of course, he used that argument to defend the President. ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/18 "2012-10-08T07:18:20Z")
I haven’t seen it!! I paid in advance but couldn’t get on to watch the night of:(. I am looking forward to downloading it tonight:). ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-debate-of-the-year-stewart-vs-oreilly/636915/19 "2012-10-08T07:20:09Z")
I have actually generally found O’Reily reasonable very often in the past. I may not agree with some of his basic principals, but I can see how a logical person could come to believe as he does. Until Christmas comes… Every year at Christmas time, he just gets stupid and hateful.