Bill O'Reilly's 'Pinheads & Patriots' segment brooks no compromise--it's pinhead, patriot, or nothing at all. But the Fox News host made a rare exception when he declined to bestow the pinhead label on a sitcom legend.

We're speaking, of course, of The Fonz. O'Reilly began the segment by playing a clip of Harry Winkler, who played Arthur Fonzarelli on "Happy Days." In it Winkler was mocking Sarah Palin. "I do know that she is the most articulate member of her family," Winkler said with a smirk, mocking Palin with a quick glance at his hand. "I think that it's incredible, that this woman of very little knowledge is out there talking up a storm."

You might think the Palin-bashing clip would open the door for O'Reilly to vociferously declare Winkler a pinhead. But for once, Papa Bear held back. "Now, if you're liberal you may think Mr. Winkler is a patriot, and if you're conservative, the opposite of course," he drawled. "But I don't know why he does it. I don't know why these people continue to do this. It's boring."

Compared to "pinhead," "boring" is borderline praise from O'Reilly. Maybe the conservative titan once worshiped at the altar of The Fonz?

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