Whoopi Goldberg's chat with Bill O'Reilly tonight was bizarre. O'Reilly told the black, female, comedian that he had risen from the "bottom rung" just like her. But that's not what angered her.

No, the strangely warm conversation between the liberal comic and the conservative shouting head was most confrontational on the topic of Helen Thomas, whom O'Reilly had compared on his Fox News Channel show to the "Wicked Witch of the East" from Wizard of Oz. "If you're going to do a little humor, learn how to do it," Goldberg said. Zing!

Goldberg may have devised the most realistic strategy yet for effectively arguing with O'Reilly on his notoriously hostile show: hold your tongue. She endured absurd, delusional O'Reillyisms like the "bottom rung" comment and the assertion that O'Reilly understands "the Barack Obama phenomenon better than anyone else in this country." Her reward for ignoring this bait was the chance to make the point she was prepared to make, and the one that would most effectively rebut her host.

[via HuffPo]