I don’t know how many of you remember that the Democratic Candidates decided early on in the process that they wouldn’t participate in a debate on the Fox New Channel (FNC). In fact John Edwards returned all of his campaign contributions from employees at FNC and called on all of the other candidates to do the same.

Since then Senators Clinton and Obama have appeared on the morning show, Fox & Friends a few times. Now with all of that in mind we have to remember that the Democrats and especially Liberals have decried Bill O’Reilly and his show The O’Reilly Factor as being one-sided and hate spewing ideological rhetoric. Anyone who watches this show knows that O’Reilly is an Independent and that he allows both sides of an issue to be aired. He also makes no secret that he is watching out for kids, families and fairness in everything, including our government. In fact some Republicans and Conservatives have said that he doesn’t go far enough in putting a spotlight on what is wrong in our country (which many would argue borders on purely ideological policies) even though he does ask some tough questions.

Because of O’Reilly’s fairness in reporting Senator Hillary Clinton agreed to an exclusive interview with him. He will have Senator John McCain on next week and Senator Barack Obama has agreed to be interviewed but he hasn’t set a date yet.

The video’s below show parts 1 and 2 of this interview (parts 3 and 4 will be aired tonight) and I came across a posting by Jennifer Rubin for the CommentaryMagazine.com blog site Contentions talking about this interview. (You can see her post here)

Jennifer says of Hillary’s appearance

“If you grade on substance, she’s fairly awful. She going to sue OPEC through the World Trade Organization and tax oil companies to bring down gas prices. (Honest. No, it’s not clear what happens if OPEC doesn’t answer the first set of written discovery requests.) She’s raising income taxes and she’s not willing to come clean on how much her health care plan will cost.”

I would have to agree. You can read some of my earlier posts on the energy situation (read CRISIS) that we are currently in and see where I think Senator Clinton (and for that matter Senator Obama and most of the Democratic Leadership) has this wrong. I also think some changes need to be made to Healthcare in this country but I don’t want government taking my money to pay for everyone’s coverage, which is the gist of her plan.

One has to readily admit that Hillary did a very good job of presenting herself. The questions were hard and she did side-step a few of them but, as Jennifer said

“on style it’s hard not to gape at her tour de force - pugnacious, funny (she says with a twinkle in her eye that she’d expect nothing but “fair and balanced” coverage from Fox), quick on her feet and, within the confines of her shtick, somewhat candid.”

This appearance was a smart move on her part. The people she is trying to reach; white, middle aged and middle class people are the majority of O’Reilly’s viewers. It is scary to think that she will actually win over some of the independent minded people that don’t research the facts about positions taken.

I remember when this campaign season started out and everyone thought Hillary would be the one to beat. It quickly became Obama when the press fell in love with him but that started to wane when he was asked the tough questions of character. Hillary has again stepped to the front of their race and she will be a formidable force to reckon with.

Watch the videos and you decide.

Part 1

Part 2