O'Reilly, Accuser Air Their Cases

But Keith Appell, a conservative publicist with Alexandria-based Creative Response Concepts, said that "in the court of public opinion, it very much matters how you look. You can act innocent or act guilty. If you react with humility mixed with righteous indignation, a lot of people will give you the benefit of the doubt until more information is learned."

Vanity Fair critic James Wolcott, who writes about O'Reilly in his new book "Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants," said the host could become late-night comedic fodder. "If she's got the documentary goods, he's in real trouble," Wolcott said. "His only defense would be the Marion Barry defense," that he was set up by a scheming woman. "What will hurt him is there's so many weird and bizarre details, and weird details stick in people's minds, like Monica's blue dress."

In her suit against O'Reilly, Fox and Westwood One, which carries O'Reilly's radio show, Mackris said that in numerous phone conversations her boss suggested she buy a vibrator, boasted of having taught women to masturbate, discussed what kind of sex they should have together and launched into "a vile and degrading monologue" after interviewing two porn stars on "The O'Reilly Factor."

Mackris alleged in the suit that when she told O'Reilly in April that he had engaged in similar conduct with other staffers and should be careful, he replied: "If any woman ever breathed a word I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. . . . It'd be her word against mine and who are they going to believe? Me or some unstable woman making outrageous accusations. They'd see her as some psycho, someone unstable."

In his lawsuit, announced hours before Mackris filed her litigation, O'Reilly noted that not even the producer claims any "adverse employment action" based on their relationship. He noted that Mackris told a friend at CNN in a Sept. 7 e-mail that her life at Fox was "wonderful, amazing, fun, creative, invigorating, secure, well-managed, challenging" and that she was "surrounded by really good, fun people."

Green said Mackris had originally demanded $600 million but reduced the figure to $60 million -- the amount her lawsuit claims O'Reilly's TV show generates annually for Fox -- in settlement talks with Fox lawyers. Morelli called the two-week discussions "garden-variety negotiations."

"There is just no resolution to people asking for $60 million," O'Reilly said in the interview. "I don't know what they're after. I don't know what they want." But O'Reilly -- whose show has often dealt with such salacious cases as sexual charges against Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant -- said he cannot be drawn into "a trial by media."

He described yesterday's coverage of the case -- which drew the banner New York Daily News headline "O'REALLY!" -- as "let's get the hangman's noose."

Green said Fox and O'Reilly are amending their lawsuit to seek court permission to fire Mackris without that being considered retaliatory action. But Morelli said it was exactly that and called the extortion accusation "garbage."

"The fact that they brought a lawsuit against her and me is illegal," he said. "They're digging their own graves deeper and deeper."

Plato Cacheris, a former lawyer for Lewinsky, said potential plaintiffs negotiating for money is "very routine: 'I'm thinking of suing you but I'd like to discuss a settlement.' "

Debra Katz, an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment cases, said that when a company sues an employee who is about to file a harassment complaint, "the courts are more inclined to see it as a retaliatory lawsuit." Asked if Mackris's case was weakened by her decision to return to Fox, Katz said O'Reilly's alleged conduct "went from what could be seen as sexual banter about 'you should buy a vibrator' to really disgusting, unwelcome sexual remarks."

But Washington lawyer Lanny Davis said he would have advised O'Reilly to seize the offensive because "when a charge of sexual harassment makes the headlines, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. That's a reality, whether it's fair or not."

The lawsuits also have a political subtext. Morelli, a contributor to John Kerry and the Democratic Party who was once a regular on a Fox News Channel legal show, said in the lawsuit that Fox News and O'Reilly "preach the principles of so-called 'compassionate conservatism' espoused by George W. Bush and the Republican Party." In the extortion suit, Green said that by demanding quick action so late in the campaign, "Mackris and Morelli have sought to extract maximum leverage against Fox and O'Reilly right before the presidential election."

"He said he wanted to punish Fox and Bill O'Reilly," Green said.

"That's absurd," Morelli said.

Will the litigation hurt O'Reilly in the short term? "He lives for moments like this," said Philadelphia Inquirer television columnist Gail Shister. "He's a warrior. If anything, this will bring him even more publicity. This is juicy stuff for the show."

But an unusually downcast O'Reilly didn't sound like he was enjoying the combat yesterday. "Two weeks ago, I had no clue my life was going to take a turn like this," he said. "I have a 30-year record."

He said that while the case might be hard for journalists to write about, "it's a thousand times harder for me to sit here in my little chair and contemplate what people are saying about me."