I don't think Bill O the Clown took a beating--for one thing, Bill O is an experienced (but poor) interviewer, so he won't let the interview get out-of-hand unless Maher ended up embarrassing himself somehow.
Bill O's ratings must be taking a hit for him to bother bringing on a person like Maher whom O'Reilly doesn't care to actually listen to.
O'Reilly, like all nitwit wackoes, believes every Liberal is a wannabe Revolutionista of some type and that there is a mass Radical Revolutionista movement underway, headed by MoveOn.Org and MSNBC. Maher pointed out that, NO, there is no Tea Bagger group of Liberal extremists out there. Because, there isn't.
Obama's problems all begin with his faulty decision to continue the Middle East Quagmire Occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. If only he would've stopped those messes and brought all troops, combat and contractors, home. The Dems in Congress could've helped him out on that but they're cowards.
I think people like Bill O realize they shot their "election wad" too early and people aren't going to march to the polls to throw out Dems. Yes, like all mid-elections, the majority will lose seats, but I don't see Republicans overtaking Congress....at best, they'll get within 5 seats of the House. They lose ground every day in the Senate.