Two myths were destroyed on national television Sunday.  One was the myth of Peyton Manning as world’s greatest quarterback who could never be defeated.  Peyton Manning is a great quarterback and by all acocunts he is a great human being.  But he looked very mortal during that game.  It takes a team to win and it takes a team to lose.  But, it is Peyton Manning who suffered the big blow to his image.  In some ways this is ridiculous.  In less than 24 hours he went from hero to has been, at least in the minds of some of the fickle sports media clowns.  But, regardless of how fair it is, the myth of Peyton Manning took a really big hit yesterday.

The other myth was that of President Obama.  He was absolutely shredded by Bill O’Reilly.  I sometimes get very annoyed with Bill O’Reilly who just may have the biggest ego in the history of television.  It was particularly disgusting to hear O’Reilly pump up himself as the world’s greatest interviewer prior to this session with Obama.  But  at least on this day, Bill O’Reilly did a pretty good job.  He asked questions no one else has dared to ask Obama and he exposed Obama like never before.  Obama’s answer on Benghazi  was absurd and obviously evasive.  His answer on the IRS scandal ridiculous.  O’Reilly had Obama on the defense the entire session and when Obama tried to take a cheap shot at Fox News, O’Reilly just dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Most people who listened to the Kennedy – Nixon debate in 1960 thought that Nixon won hands down.  If you read the transcipt, Nixon won hands down.  But on TV, Kennedy, who was actually seriously ill, showed up with a great tan and he looked healthy.  Nixon, who really was healthy, looked pathetic.  Those who watched the debate thought that Kennedy won.  The point is that sometimes what is said doesn’t matter nearly as much as the image of the encounter.  That is why I think this interview really hurt Obama.  He looked and acted defensive.

The main stream media will try to spin this as a good showing by Obama, but they will be wrong.  When a President of the United States sits down with a news reporter, the President is expected to dominate.   If he doesn’t win,  despite the spin, he loses.

TDM