On the August 3 editions of their respective MSNBC shows, Tucker host Tucker Carlson and Countdown host Keith Olbermann commented on a segment from the August 2 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor in which, as Media Matters for America noted, Geraldo at Large host and former Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera suggested host Bill O'Reilly refer to a media figure -- presumably Olbermann, who has repeatedly given O'Reilly his nightly “Worst Person in the World” award -- as “that schmuck from MSNBC.” Earlier in the segment, O'Reilly declared that media figures who criticized Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks are “smear merchants” who have “blood all over their mouth, these vampires,” and said he refuses to call them out by name because it would “give them more publicity.” O'Reilly also targeted the media figures' “corporate masters,” who are “the truly evil people.”

Carlson, contrasting O'Reilly's claim that press coverage of Gibson is “sadistic” with his subsequent discussion of the role of the media in the Gibson scandal, asked if O'Reilly is “telling us it's wrong to cover the Mel Gibson story, even as he covers the Mel Gibson story, or covers the Mel Gibson story on his own show, thereby allowing him to tease the Mel Gibson story?” Carlson concluded: “There's a reason he's number one in cable news. Very clever, very diabolical.”

Olbermann asked if O'Reilly felt he had “to keep my name and show a secret from your viewers or all of your viewers will all leave you in one night?” Both Countdown and The O'Reilly Factor air at 8 p.m. ET. Olbermann, noting that the media's “corporate masters” must include Fox News president Roger Ailes and News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch (News Corp. owns Fox News), concluded: "[I]f you are going to call Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch truly evil people, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to step outside." Olbermann read aloud part of the O'Reilly-Rivera exchange, using his Ted Baxter voice for O'Reilly and another voice for Rivera.

From the August 3 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:

CARLSON: Time now for “Beat the Press.” Last night on Fox, Bill O'Reilly interviewed Geraldo Rivera about the Mel Gibson drunk-driving story. Why Geraldo? Who knows? But the larger question is, why was O'Reilly doing the story at all? Listen to this.

[begin video clip]

O'REILLY: I think it's sadistic now. I think it's crossed the line. I should mention the networks, but I'm not going to do it tonight.

RIVERA: What do I give a damn about these cable people who talk about you or me or Mel Gibson? What do they mean to us?

O'REILLY: But we've had this argument before.

RIVERA: But they mean nothing. They can't even get a rating.

O'REILLY: You're right. I think we should call these people out.

RIVERA: Well, then call them by name, then.

O'REILLY: No.

RIVERA: Then don't, then don't --

O'REILLY : Because then you give them more publicity.

RIVERA: Then just say, it's that -- that schmuck from MSNBC who is doing that, and call them that.

[end video clip]

CARLSON: Geraldo says “you, me, Mel Gibson.” What an echo chamber! But the larger question is, is Bill O'Reilly really telling us it's wrong to cover the Mel Gibson story, even as he covers the Mel Gibson story, or covers the Mel Gibson story on his own show, thereby allowing him to tease the Mel Gibson story? Amazing. There's a reason he's number one in cable news. Very clever, very diabolical.

From the August 3 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: So, on the “No-Fact Zone” last night, Bill-O went off again somehow meandering from a defense of Mel Gibson into another one of these epic, “Golly, Mr. Science, is O'Reilly's head gonna blow off this time?” rants. You know the drill: We hear what he said, then I translate it into human. But there's a new twist. Evidently, Bill-O has a new assistant.

[Reading from O'Reilly-Rivera exchange] “But there comes a point where the media and individual Americans start to enjoy the suffering of rich and powerful people.”

“I agree.”

“All right? They wallow in it. They can't get enough of it. They've got blood all over their mouth, these vampires. OK? They're in the media, these people. This is what they live for. That's wrong. It's morally wrong. It's maybe not as bad as what Gibson did, but it's approaching that. Because there comes a point were every human being does stuff wrong. Everyone. We all do wrong things.”

“Agreed.”

“And everybody celebrating your suffering is a bad person.”

“I agree with you.”

Does Geraldo Rivera realize he has now been reduced to being Bill-O's sidekick? “I agree. Agreed. I agree with you.” We get it. Bill's done something wrong and you agree! Let us continue.

“What do I give a damn but these cable people who talk about you or me or Mel Gibson?”

Nothing, obviously, except when Rivera complained publicly in 1997 that NBC was advertising my old MSNBC show instead of advertising his old CNBC show even more than it already was, or the blog he wrote about me in 2003 after I pointed out he'd given away our troop positions at the start of the Iraq war.

“They can't even get a rating.”

I can't even get a rating? You can't even get a prime-time show! Now, we all know Bill enjoys it most when I read his words, but this next part, we have to show you the original of, or you won't believe it.

[begin video clip]

RIVERA: You said we should call these people out.

O'REILLY: I think we should call these people out. I think we should call these people out.

RIVERA: Then call them by name, then.

O'REILLY: No.

RIVERA: Then don't, then don't --

O'REILLY: Because then you give them more publicity.

[end video clip]

OLBERMANN: Here kitty, kitty, kitty. That statement didn't even make sense to Rivera. There have been 3 million articles about this feud. There was one this morning. How much worse could you make it by using my name, Bill-O? What are they going to do, build a statue of me? You're so confident in your success that you have to keep my name and show a secret from your viewers, or all of your viewers will all leave you in one night?

“Just say that schmuck from MSNBC who's doing -- and call him that.”

“No. You go after the master. It's like going after the rappers. You don't go after the rappers. You go after the masters.”

Hold on, now let me get this straight. Rappers have masters? Like slaves had masters? First you defended the Nazis, then you accuse the media of beating up your business partner, Mel Gibson, now you're invoking slavery?

“But I'll tell you this. And you need to think about it, and so does everybody else. These corporate masters that have allowed our society to degenerate into a society that rejoices when this stuff happens and makes money from it, these are the truly evil people.”

Now you listen to me, O'Reilly: If you are going to call Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch truly evil people, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to step outside.