FOX News - GE's Jeffrey Immelt showdown cheered by conservatives

The right side of the web is buzzing over a showdown between a FOX News producer who works for Bill O'Reilly and General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt.

First some background...

Anyone who's watched Bill O'Reilly's show knows he's not a fan of Immelt. In fact, Immelt is one of O'Reilly's favorite targets. The FOX commentator regularly boasts of his huge ratings advantage over any program at GE-owned MSNBC. And he frequently lampoons Immelt, mentioning yesterday that Forbes just ranked him one of the worst CEOs in America.

O'Reilly swears his distaste for Immelt isn't personal. He perceives Immelt being too chummy with President Obama and alleges the NBC network is a cheerleader for the president's policies.

Issue

The issue that ticked off O'Reilly this week was a comment that actress Janeane Garofalo made recently on Keith Olbermann's show. We told you about the incident here.

She doesn't think the tax day tea-parties were about outrage over taxes and spending at all.

"This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up. That is nothing but a bunch of ...rednecks," Garofalo said.

O'Reilly called the claim ridiculous but seemed more incensed that Olbermann didn't challenge Garofalo. He called the incident a "new low for NBC."

Ambush

Enter O'Reilly producer Jesse Watters. Well known for ambushing O'Reilly targets, Watters was sent to attend a GE stockholders meeting in Orlando, Florida. He's a stockholder so he could get in.

After Immelt's remarks, Watters asked a question during the Q & A session (see video below).

"Last week on MSNBC Janeane Garofalo said that Americans who attended tea parties and were protesting high taxes and government spending were racist rednecks," he said. "She was not challenged by the anchor on MSNBC. Are you OK with that and do you consider this a form of hate speech?"

Immelt couldn't answer the question immediately as Watters (who didn't identify himself) was applauded by stakeholders for the question.

"My own personal beliefs aside, I believe that MSNBC has some standards that they follow and that's what you are seeing," Immelt said.

But unlike Watters, Immelt was greeted with boos.

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