Asked by Bill O'Reilly Thursday night on FNC whether she's a liberal, Mary Mapes, the CBS News producer fired in January for her role in the forged National Guard memos and representations she made to her colleagues, first put up the usual avoidance device of a liberal -- “I'm not sure what a liberal is” -- before insisting that “like a lot of Americans, I'm all over the map.” In the taped interview, O'Reilly then pressed her: "Are you registered Democrat?" Mapes seriously responded: “I don't know." O'Reilly scoffed: "You don't know?" Mapes claimed: "I don't know if I'm independent or Democrat. I know I'm not -- in Texas, I'm not sure how I'm registered." (But apparently she's quite sure she's no Republican.) O'Reilly returned to his original interest: "So you would describe yourself politically as?" She maintained: "Oh, my goodness. I'm liberal on some things, I'm conservative on some things."
Video excerpt in Real or Windows Media. (Transcript of this exchange follows.)
Wednesday night on CNN's Larry King Live, when asked if she had an agenda against President Bush, an indignant Mapes fired back: "Oh my God no, no of course not." Go here for the NewsBusters item about that, with video. Check this NewsBusters article for defense, on ABC's Good Morning America, of the accuracy of the original story.
Mapes made her in-studio guest appearance on The O'Reilly Factor as part of her book tour for Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.
From near the beginning of O'Reilly's two segments with Mapes, which started just past the halfway mark of the November 10 O'Reilly Factor on FNC:
Bill O'Reilly: “Now the right wing thinks you're a raving liberal, you and Rather contrived to put Bush in the worst possible light. That's what the right, far right, right believes.”
Mary Mapes: “When they're at their nicest, that's what they say.”
O'Reilly: “Alright. So are you a liberal?”
Mapes: “Well, I'm not sure what a liberal is. I'm more liberal than some people. I can tell you my eight-year-old son thinks he's being raised by the most conservative parents in the world.”
O'Reilly: “No, but politically you know what I'm talking about.”
Mapes: “Well, I think like a lot of Americans, I'm all over the map and it's something, I mean for me like who I vote for-”
O'Reilly: “Are you registered Democrat?”
Mapes: “You know, I don't know.”
An incredulous O'Reilly scoffed: “You don't know?”
Mapes: “I don't know. I don't know if I'm independent or Democrat. I know I'm not -- in Texas, I'm not sure how I'm registered.”
O'Reilly: “So you would describe yourself politically as?”
Mapes: “Oh, my goodness. I'm liberal on some things, I'm conservative on some things.”
