John McCain managed to deflate some of the reaction to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech one week ago by naming Sarah Palin as his running mate the day after. Obama will look to keep McCain’s grip on the media cycle to a minimum by at long last appearing on the “O’Reilly Factor” with host Bill O’Reilly, one of the figures most loathed by the American left.

According to published reports, the O’Reilly appearance came only after high-level negotiations between Obama and the head of the Fox News, Roger Ailes, about the network’s coverage and Obama’s backhanded treatment of the cable news leader.