"Bias," the No. 1 book in America focusing on slanted TV news coverage, is a "dumb" piece of work written by a "remarkably dense" "disheveled and bleary eyed" "disgruntled has-been."

Those are just some of the adjectives being applied to the best-seller and its author, former CBS News correspondent Bernard Goldberg, who took time to defend himself on last night's edition of "The O'Reilly Factor."

Bernard Goldberg

"Most of the reaction has been positive," Goldberg told host Bill O'Reilly. "Even the negative reaction has been civil. But the personal stuff is real interesting, isn't it?"

Goldberg was responding to published statements made by Slate.com editor Michael Kinsley – a self-described liberal – and Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales attacking the veteran newsman in personal terms.

Kinsley was especially vitriolic in a Jan. 11 column where he uses descriptions such as "dim" and "drunk on self-righteousness" in his analysis of "Bias":

"The point is that this dumb book adds nothing to the argument, and it is the accusers who are offering it as evidence. Like a stopped clock, Goldberg isn't always wrong. He's probably sincere. But he's remarkably dense. And you have to wonder whether his glorifiers are just as dense, or deeply cynical, or living on a different planet."

Goldberg responded to the criticism by firing back directly at Kinsley.

"If you woke Michael Kinsley up at 3:00 in the morning, and said how do you define yourself, he'd say as an intellectual. This is what passes for an intellectual on the left these days. It's a 'dumb' book."

Shales of The Post referred to Goldberg a "no-talent hack," to which Goldberg replied, "Only a no-talent hack would use a clich? like no-talent hack."

When asked why he thought attacks would be so personally vicious, Goldberg said he had thought a lot about the matter, but didn't have a great answer.

"I think it's because they see this as a personal attack on their very being," he said. "They define themselves a certain way. They define themselves as liberal intellectuals or liberals or whatever. ...

"Somehow, they see this as an attack on everything they believe in. I mean, I say in the book, and I'll say again right now, there's nothing in the book that's an attack on liberal values. It's an attack on bias. Conservatives have been yelling about this for years, as you know.

"But guess what? I've heard from a lot of liberals who say this book has made me look at bias in a totally new way. But these guys, and it's a fringe ... this fringe takes it very personally, and then they lash out very personally."

Despite all the harsh name-calling back and forth, Goldberg adds he could have gone much further in his exposing of the industry.

"There's some stuff that you would never dream would come out of the mouths of liberal people, some really nasty stuff. That's not in [my book]. And it's not in there not because, you know, I was afraid they'd call me a liar. It's not in there because it would hurt the people very badly."

Meanwhile, O'Reilly, author of his own best-selling book, "The No-Spin Zone," told Goldberg he felt those in TV news and the "elite" media such as the Washington Post, New York Times and Boston Globe feel threatened, and he didn't understand why.

"The right gets mad at the left, and they diminish them," O'Reilly said. "Like Rush Limbaugh, what he does is, his game is 'these liberals are so stupid, they're just dumb.'"

Goldberg says he's even spoken to a psychologist about why some liberals are lashing out with personal attacks.

"She says it's not about journalism, it's not about television. It's about who they think they are. So few write about liberal bias."

Goldberg says he's getting some positive feedback from his former television colleagues, "but at the highest levels ... there's either no comment or – and my favorite is – that the president of CBS News, at a news conference, said 'I have not read the book and I will not read the book.'"

Goldberg pointed out that even the president of the United States has had time to read it, as President Bush was photographed on Jan. 25 with a copy of "Bias" in his hand as he left the White House.

O'Reilly, whose book was ousted from the No. 1 spot by Goldberg's work, expressed some jealousy regarding the free publicity from the White House.

"I sent them copies [of my book], hoping that maybe they'd give it to the dog and the dog would run out with it in its mouth," O'Reilly said. "I would have taken anything, and you get this."

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Goldberg discusses news 'Bias'

Bill O'Reilly in 'No Spin Zone'

Rush Limbaugh: Bill Maher 'was right'

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