Commentators combine for the outrageous

LOS ANGELES — By far the most raucous, outrageous session I've ever seen at the annual Bookexpo occurred at this year's event, which was held at the end of last month. Four of the media's top commentators were discussing their new books, all scheduled to appear in September. A last-minute cancellation was Tucker Carlson, of CNN's "Crossfire," whose book "Politicians, Partisans and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News" exemplifies conservatism.

The other three were Molly Ivins, syndicated liberal columnist from Texas and author ("Shrub," which was popular during the last presidential campaign), whose latest book, "Bushwacked," reflects her evaluation of President Bush thus far in his term; Bill O'Reilly, Fox Television's very popular conservative talk-show host ("The O'Reilly Factor"), whose new book is "Who's Looking Out for You?"; and Al Franken, comedian (formerly of "Saturday Night Live") and liberal author ("Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and Other Observations"), whose upcoming book has a very long title, "LIES, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."

O'Reilly was infuriated to discover that his picture (one he didn't like) is featured on the jacket of Franken's book, which is intended, at least partly, to be tongue-in-cheek. Thus, for the entire 90-minute session, O'Reilly remained stoic. He was, after all, odd man out.

The moderator (or pretending to be one) was Pat Schroeder, former Democratic congresswoman from Colorado, who now presides over the National Booksellers Association. She introduced each of the three to deliver a short introduction to their books. Ivins spoke in understated satire, claimed she is not a liberal ("I'm just Molly Ivins") and attacked Bush for what she alleged are his economic failures.

O'Reilly was next. He seemed nervous and described his book as "something for everyone," and definitely not conservative. He is only interested, he said, in bringing up issues that need resolution, and, in an obvious reference to Franken's book title, he "certainly does not believe in calling people names."

Then it was Franken's turn. He did a funny comic introduction, lampooning

the entire occasion with ease, admitted he is liberal, then turned specifically to O'Reilly and apologized for the picture on his book's jacket. "If your people from 'Factor' will give me a better photo, I will see it gets on the final copy of the book."

Then he felt compelled to explain O'Reilly's picture is on the jacket "because he is a liar." One example was O'Reilly proclaiming in an interview that his previous TV show, "Inside Edition," had won a Peabody Award, the most prestigious award in broadcast journalism.